cataclysm80 wrote:
I've seen several examples that prove without a doubt that English Ice Age common sheet has two versions. Each version contains the same cards (1 or each common), but those cards ARE aranged differently on each version.
As you mention it, I remember having seen that, too. It really wondered me.
Regardless, it is proof that the card art can and has been moved around on the sheet, not just between languages, but within the same language for reasons that are not currently apparent.
Right. Here we must ask why the cards are put on the sheet at random and not sorted (like in preconstructed decks sheets for example). It should be, because otherwise they had to be randomized a lot before being packaged. There are some fixed shuffle algorithms to do it so that, if you can find them out, you are able to predict exactly what cards are in a pack (box mapping). Changing the sheet order could be one way to proceed against that.
I have heard that sets prior to Ice Age had a set print quantity (item is sold out when supplies are depleted), while Ice Age was the first set to have a set timeframe during which more cards would be printed if the first print run sold out, and this may also be the cause of the sheet variations.
I heard that, too. This was the case until The Dark, all Editions before (except Revised which had the post summer print run) were sold out within a few weeks. On the other hand, I heard that after the overprinting fiasko with Fallen Empires and Chronicles Wizards again changed it to the previous print policy. Now they did know how many cards were asked for approximately.
It is possible that my theory (shown above) could still be true for sets prior to Ice Age, but it should not be applied to Ice Age or any sets afterword. I also feel that it (along with the other examples we have mentioned) brings enough doubt about the accuracy of the theory that we should not rely on the theory for ANY conclusions.
This does not mean that the Drudge Skeletons/Swamp misprint is not a Swamp, it just means that we still don't know.
My mind. We will never know it for sure without insider information, however, the alignment argument still seems the strongest.
I started with the Hypnotic Specters as it was easy to tell which one was from which set with the lowercase i. They did show a difference, 4th being aligned higher than 3rd. Than I moved to the Manabarbs, which align the same as each other. That means the Manabarbs are from the same set, but does not tell me which set, so I compare Manabarbs to Hypnotic Specter using "e" & "n" which are in both card names and find that both Manabarbs match alignment with 3rd edition Hypnotic Specter.
The Earthquakes have different alignments, 4th being aligned higher than 3rd. The El-hajjaj & misprint Warp Artifact have the same alignment and are identified as 4th by the lowercase i. It is agreed that the Drudge Skeleton/Swamp misprint is 3rd, trying to identify the regular Drudge Skeleton was difficultdue to the very dark (black) color, but the "a" seemed to measure same as 4th Edition El-Hajjaj, and "e" seemed to measure same as 4th edition Earthquake, so I claimed it's 4th at first. (more in a moment)
Ornithopter was easy to identify by alignment & lowercase i. Cursed Lands have different alignment, 4th being aligned higher than 3rd.
Up until this point, it seems that 3rd cards all use one vertical alignment, and 4th cards all use another vertical alignment.
I believe in your measurements, I didn't claim all cards differ. Yet there are also some: Counterspell, Flight and Disenchant for example all don't match. They all have the lower "g" in the title, which sometimes touch the border of the art box and sometimes not.
Disenchant: DU touch clearly, 4th no touch
Flight: DU touch slightly, 4th no touch
Counterspell: DU see DU Flight, 4th touch very very slightly.
Then the basic lands show up.
They behave totally different. I have an almost complete basics set of both editions (1 card missing). For example, the Beta-introduced Forest art is aligned at lot higher than the other two versions. The DU version is still aligned higher than the other two versions of 4th.
Thus, you really can't be sure, if you compare different cards. The sole regular thing here is there is no regularity...
Now with a Swamp & a Drudge Skeleton, I try again to compare to the misprint and find that the misprint seems aligned the same as the Drudge Skeleton which I thought was 4th. After much comparison, I conclude that if the misprint is known to be 3rd then the Drudge Skeleton must also be 3rd as they are the same.
I also took that in consideration, however thought the misprint could be from 4th, because it is aligned uncommonly high for DU cards. But someone who pulled them told the big flavour version was DU and the small from 4th. (That's another unelegant circumstance, better would have been DL small, DU small, 4th large. Both small texted versions don't fit accutately in the wording, though.)
Even closer inspection reveals VERY slight difference as posted above, but regular Drudge Skeleton is definately not aligned higher than the misprint.
Very confusing as to what's going on.
This statement confuses me... Isn't it contradicting itself?
I am still the opinion that the above pictured Skeleton comparison is deficient. The misprint is placed higher than the corrected version. For that, it still seems they are aligned the same and thus the misprint is an art error. Sorry for that!