Acorn

For the counter of the same name, see Acorn counter.

Acorn-shaped holofoil stamp

Acorn cards, which heavily overlap with discontinued silver-bordered cards, are Magic: The Gathering cards that are not tournament-legal and are not covered by the comprehensive rules.

History

Silver-bordered cards were introduced in 1998 for Unglued, the first Magic supplemental set and the first "joke set" and became a tradition for the following so-called Un-sets. Certain promos like the Holiday cards, the 2017 HASCON promos, and Ponies: The Galloping also used a silver border.

According to Mark Rosewater, the audience reaction to the silver border was somewhat of a problem for R&D. It most often didn’t get treated as “this is a different subset of Magic”, but rather as “this isn’t a real Magic card”.

Rosewater later explained that when silver border was originally dubbed "not for tournament play," that meant not for Vintage, Legacy, or Standard, but for every other format, especially the casual ones. Over the years, silver border slowly shifted to end up meaning "not for any official format, casual or not," which contradicted what it was originally intended to do. Rosewater realized that many cards in the set would be perfectly fine to be played in black border Eternal sets. R&D then looked for another way to express "silver border-ness" that didn't require a silver border and turned to holofoil security stamps.

Starting with the black-bordered Unfinity set in 2022 an acorn security stamp means exactly what a silver border used to. This is a card not meant for tournament play and should only be used in casual formats where all the players agree to its inclusion. These have been dubbed "acorn" cards. All acorn cards, of all rarities, have an acorn holofoil stamp. If a card has an oval security stamp (or no security stamp at lower rarities), it's legal in eternal formats (which includes Commander, Legacy, and Vintage). These have been dubbed "eternal" cards. This security stamp technology allows R&D to let the two different types of cards come in the same set. On common and uncommons the acorn stamp is printed on the card rather than embossed.

With the change to acorn cards, some earlier silver-bordered cards may now be reprinted in black-border. Most cards referencing "silver-bordered" (except for Border Guardian) received errata to include Un-cards that don't have a silver border. Player prejudice against silver borders was a factor in the change to black borders.

Despite this, acorn and silver border cards remain officially illegal in common casual variants such as Commander and Oathbreaker, and see only fringe "Rule Zero" play alongside the likes of Holiday cards, Mystery Booster Playtest cards, and Unknown event playtest cards.

Expansion symbol for acorn Unfinity cards (UNA) on Gatherer.

Mark Rosewater later concluded that the switch to acorn didn’t go over great and that players would have been happier with a silver border. To further differentiate the acorn cards in Unfinity from the eternal-legal cards, Wizards of the Coast quietly introduced a new set symbol and created a new set code for just the acorn cards — UNA. Eternal cards retained their preexisting atom expansion symbol and set code (UNF). As these changes were made post-release, they only appear on Gatherer and the set's Product Archive page, not on the cards themselves.

As of 2024, there are no plans to insert new acorn cards appearing in otherwise normal sets. The banning of all sticker and attraction cards from Eternal formats led some people to classify Unfinity as a "failed experiment". Although he refuted that, Mark Rosewater admitted that he future of Un-sets was questionable, because they had to compete against better selling products, especially with Universes Beyond products in the mix.

The same year, Acorn stamps were utilized to insert Alchemy cards in the Mystery Booster 2 set.

Categories

Acorn cards fall into the following categories:

• Cards that don't work within the official rules
• An element of "cards matter" that normal rules don't reference (flavor text, as an example)
• Cards that require interacting with people outside the game
• Cards that require a physical or vocal component
• Cards that reference a state external to the game (are they able to see something from their seat, for instance)
• Cards with some effects that just don't feel right in normal games

Un-sets

Silver-bordered card from Unhinged

Un-sets are light-hearted supplemental sets intended for fun casual play. These sets seek to break the tradition of other Magic sets, drawing on successful mechanical strengths and pushing them to the extreme — often using an outrageously humorous angle. Their common naming pattern gave rise to their slang collective name "un-sets", although they're also referred to as "silver-bordered sets", "humorous sets", etc.

Sets

The first four sets used silver borders.

• Unglued — 94 card booster set
• Unhinged — 141 card booster set
• Unstable — "216-ish" card booster set, plus 45 Contraptions
  • First un-set designed for standalone limited play
• Unsanctioned — 96 card set of primarily reprints (16 new cards), bundled as five ready-to-play half decks

Subsequent un-sets use black borders, with many of the cards marked as acorn cards and the rest legal for eternal play.

• Unfinity — 244 card booster set, plus 50 Attractions and 48 Sticker sheets
  • Acorn: 97 cards, plus 28 Attractions

Promotional sets

Several promotional card series and mini-sets are designed with the same fun aesthetic as un-sets:

• Holiday cards - One holiday card printed annually since 2006
  • Switched from using silver borders to using black borders with an acorn stamp in 2022
• HASCON promos - 3 silver-bordered cards
• Ponies: The Galloping — 3 silver-bordered cards
• Ponies: The Galloping 2 — 4 silver-bordered cards in a Secret Lair drop.

Un-games

Any card that previously referred to a "silver-bordered game" now refers to an "Un-game." It is any game in which at least one player is playing acorn cards or older silver-bordered cards from Un-sets or things like holiday promos.

Mechanics

They feature mechanics that would be impossible to print in a normal expansion.

There are some mechanics and cards, however, that were originally only in the Un-sets that would later be included in black bordered sets or were modified versions of these mechanics or cards. Some notable ones include:

• • Dice rolling: Originally a mechanic exclusively found in the Un-sets and on certain silver-bordered cards, cards that implemented dice rolling would later be included in the black-bordered sets. The first black-bordered card to implement this mechanic was Dungeon Master, a Dungeons & Dragons-themed 2016 Heroes of the Realm promo planeswalker, which involved the player rolling a 4 sided dice to determine its starting Loyalty and a 20-sided dice for one of its abilities. Cards that involved rolling dice would later be included in Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate and Fallout. The Dungeons & Dragons collaborations introduced cards that had players rolling 4, 8, 12, and 20-sided dice in addition to 6-sided dice.
  • Super haste: Originally printed on Rocket-Powered Turbo Slug, Mark Rosewater has stated that the card's "buy now, pay later or lose the game" mechanic later inspired the pact cycle in Future Sight
  • Rangeling: Only printed on the card Nearby Planet, lands with the ability Rangeling (A play on “Range” and “Changeling”) are all basic and nonbasic land types at all times. Two cards in Modern Horizons 3 adapted this ability to make it more playable in Eternal formats. Planar Nexus is a land that is all non-basic land types at all times, as including basic land types would make the card too strong for Eternal formats. Omo, Queen of Vesuva places Everything counters on lands, turning them into all land types.
  • Super-Duper Death Ray is an instant from Unstable that deals 4 damage to a creature, but also has trample, with the reminder text stating that excess damage is dealt to the target's controller. Flame Spill from Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths is a near-functional reprint of the card, sharing the same mana cost, card type, and damage.
  • Barren Glory from Future Sight is a near-functional reprint of The Cheese Stands Alone from Unglued.
  • Infernal Spawn of Evil has an activated ability that allows a player to pay and reveal it from their hand to deal 1 damage to an opponent, with the caveat that it can only be done once each turn and during its owner's upkeep. This mechanic would later be adapted as Forecast, the Azorius Senate mechanic in Dissension.
  • B.F.M (Big Furry Monster) is a creature from Unglued that requires two cards to play. This mechanic would later be adapted into Meld in Eldritch Moon.
  • Get a Life is an instant that allows a player and his or her teammates to exchange life totals, marking the first time teammates were referenced on a card. Effects that reference teammates would later be included on the card Imperial Mask, included in the Surge mechanic from Oath of the Gatewatch, as well as being the primary focus of the Battlebond set.

Rules

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (September 20, 2024—Duskmourn: House of Horror)

Silver-Bordered

Cards in certain sets and certain promotional cards are printed with a silver border. Silver-bordered cards are intended for casual play and may have features and text that aren’t covered by these rules.

From the Comprehensive Rules (September 20, 2024—Duskmourn: House of Horror)

• 100.7. Certain cards are intended for casual play and may have features and text that aren’t covered by these rules. These include Mystery Booster playtest cards, promotional cards and cards in “Un-sets” that were printed with a silver border, and cards in the Unfinity™ expansion that have an acorn symbol at the bottom of the card.

Tokens

Tokens created by silver-bordered and acorn cards.

Token Name	Color	Type Line	P/T	Text Box	Source	Printings
Ape	Green	Creature — Ape	1/1		Uktabi Kong
	Green	Creature — Ape	3/3		Side to Side
Beeble	Blue	Creature — Beeble	1/1		B.O.B. (Bevy of Beebles)
Contortionist	Blue	Creature — Octopus Performer	4/4	At the beginning of your upkeep, you may fold this token in half. (It becomes 2/2, then 1/1, ½ / ½, and so on.)	Octo Opus
Brainiac	Red	Creature — Brainiac	1/1		The Big Idea
Chicken	Red	Creature — Chicken	4/4		Chicken Egg
Construct	Colorless	Artifact Creature — Construct	X/X		Rapid Prototyper
Die	Green	Creature — Die	X/X		Pippa, Duchess of Dice
Dragon	Gold	Creature — Dragon	4/4	Flying	Sword of Dungeons & Dragons
Expansion-Symbol	Colorless	Creature — Expansion-Symbol	1/1		Symbol Status
Faerie Spy	Blue	Creature — Faerie Spy	1/1	Flying, haste Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, draw a card.	Faerie Aerie
Giant Teddy Bear	Pink	Creature — Giant Teddy Bear	5/5		Water Gun Balloon Game
Teddy Bear	Pink	Creature — Teddy Bear	2/2		Dart Throw Gift Shop Push Your Luck
Gnome	Colorless	Artifact Creature — Gnome	1/1		By Gnome Means Gnome-Ball Machine Gnome-Made Engine Very Cryptic Command
Goat	White	Creature — Goat	0/1		Everythingamajig
Goblin	Red	Creature — Goblin	1/1		Blast from the Past Box of Free-Range Goblins Garbage Elemental Gift Horse
Homunculus	Colorless	Creature — Homunculus	2/2		Handy Dandy Clone Machine
Rogue	Black	Creature — Rogue	2/2	Menace	Dispatch Dispensary Very Cryptic Command
Sheep	Green	Creature — Sheep	2/2		Flock of Rabid Sheep
Sketch	Colorless	Creature — Sketch	4/4	This creature has flying if it has wings in its art. The same is true for first strike and a sword, vigilance and a shield, menace and mean eyes, trample and horns, deathtouch and claws, lifelink and fangs, and haste and footwear.	D00-DL, Caricaturist
Squirrel	Green	Creature — Squirrel	1/1		Chittering Doom Earl of Squirrel Form of the Squirrel Squirrel Dealer Squirrel Farm Squirrel Stack Trendy Circus Pirate
Zombie Employee	Black	Creature — Zombie Employee	2/2		Night Shift of the Living Dead
A	Colorless	Artifact			Goblin Cruciverbalist
E	Colorless	Artifact			Goblin Cruciverbalist
I	Colorless	Artifact			Goblin Cruciverbalist
O	Colorless	Artifact			Goblin Cruciverbalist
U	Colorless	Artifact			Goblin Cruciverbalist