Trying to Undermine Scryfall is to Undermine MTGA
Disclaimer, I dont use the Gather to look up cards.
That out of the way, please make it easy for sites like Scryfall, to maintain THEIR database for new releases.
MTGA, like MTGO is a secondary database. This shouldnt be such a chore to maintain. Here is just ONE example of how product releases didnt happen cleanly and Scryfall's database for MTGA should be more complete but isnt.
MTGA search: "s:mh2" = 162 MH2 cards.
Scryfall search: "s:mh2 game:arena" = 17 MH2 cards are shown.
(//These counts are true as of 24 March 2025)
MH2 was never released fully for MTGA. Bit by bit, MH2 cards have been added to the client.
Work with the brilliant people at Scryfall to help to figure out a decent middle ground. Something that is sustainable for all parties.
(See comment for more details about what utility Scryfall offers that the Gather and WotC cannot do for Magic.)
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RE: I have been building a cheat sheet to learn Scryfall better. These are just some of the searches you cannot do on MTGA but you can do with Scryfall (well the documentation doesnt cleanly exist for MTGA):
PREFER() //can only be called once in a search.
Styles:
is:default //searches without any styles https://scryfall.com/blog/introducing-is-default-232
not:default //shows abnormal or atypical stylesprefer:nondefault //shows fancy arts but can show cards that never received an art treatment
is:sourcematerial //isolates screenshots
is:textless //searches for spells and lands that were not printed with textTime:
date<now game:arena is:default //cards that are currently on MTGA without any art variations
date:now or date:today
date>2020
//legal operators: >, /, >=, /, =, /, <=, /, <
//will search with the release datehttps://scryfall.com/blog/through-the-omenpaths-added-plus-english-printed-text-support-235
Navigating Out of Universe:
prefer:ub (or prefer:universebeyond)
//tries to find UB prints for each matching card, but will show non-UB prints if no UB prints match for that card.
prefer:notub (or prefer:notuniversesbeyond)
//tries to find non-UB prints.//We already have `is:ub`/`not:ub`, but using `not:ub` will mean a UB card will never show up in your search. Maybe you still want to find out what UB cards are there if there's no in-universe card yet!
Not Obvious Searches:
c=2 //colour is exactly any two to cast
m:{R/P} //cards with one Phyrexian red mana in their cost
kw:flying //searches only for the keyword than the string in oracle
tou>pow //searches for thick creatures, when toughness exceeds power
t:creature o:/^{T}:/ //Creatures that tap with no other paymentLogic Around Set Searches:
is:reprint
in:lea in:m15 //cards that were in both Alpha and Magic 2015
in:lea //only finds cards that once appeared in Alpha.
e:ktk is:unique //cards that were in Khans of Tarkir and not printed in any other set
-in:arena format:pioneer is:unique is:nonfoil //Pioneer legal cards not available on MTGA - with certain physical appearances