Text-changing effect
Template:Navigation CR Certain cards in Magic have effects that can change the text of other cards and are referred to as "text-changing effects" or, informally, as "hacks". Cards with such effects may themselves be referred to as "text-changing effects" but are more commonly referred to as "hacks", a term that has been recognized by at least 5th Edition, by the Glossary of the Official Strategy Guide (5th Edition). Text-changing effects are considered exclusively within blue magic according to the historic and current understanding of the Color Pie, and all cards with a text-changing effect to date have been blue.
Text-changing effects replace each instance of a characteristic, of a permanent or of a spell, with another of the same genus (e.g., color) or type (e.g., basic land subtype, creature subtype).
Comprehensive Rules
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List of text-changing effects
Color word "hacks"
As of Dragon's Maze, four (5) cards can change a color word to another:
- Alter Reality (Torment)
- Balduvian Shaman (Ice Age)
- Glamerdye (Eventide)
- Sleight of Mind (Limited Edition, Unlimited Edition, Revised Edition, 4th Edition, Ice Age, 5th Edition)
Basic land subtype "hacks"
As of Dragon's Maze, one (1) card can change a basic land subtype to another:
Color word and/or basic land subtype "hacks"
As of Dragon's Maze, five (5) cards can change a color word to another or a basic land subtype to another:
- Crystal Spray (Invasion)
- Mind Bend (Mirage, 8th Edition, 9th Edition, 10th Edition)
- Spectral Shift (Fifth Dawn)
- Trait Doctoring (Dragon's Maze)
- Whim of Volrath (Tempest)
Creature subtype "hacks"
As of Dragon's Maze, one (1) card can change a creature subtype with another:
Other "hacks"
- Champions of Kamigawa featured Swirl the Mists, an enchantment that can replace all instance of color words in the text of spells and permanents with a chosen color word, chosen as it enters the battlefield.
- Unhinged featured Magical Hacker, a creature that can replace plus ("+") signs in text boxes with minus ("−") signs and vice versa.