Cartheca™

From the workshop

Hotfix Updates

All the fixes and improvements to Cartheca, newest first. Overnight updates are listed under the day they cover.

Search engine fix

  • The people search results page is no longer listed by search engines, like the other search pages.

The Stack, round three

  • Choose targets for a Stack entry from its menu: click cards on the table, or You or Opponent. Hover the entry to see arrows to each target, and viewers on stream see the targets too.
  • While you drag a card somewhere other than the Stack, the Stack panel fades so you can see the table underneath.
  • Compact view now fits each entry on a single line.
  • The top entry has a larger picture and a Resolves next marker.
  • Entries you can drag lift slightly when you hover them.
  • Card names on the Stack are easier to read in light mode.
  • The ability picker shows mana and tap symbols instead of codes like {T}.
  • The ability picker shows the source card beside its choices, marks the chosen one clearly, and previews the ability with its symbols as you edit it.
  • Cards and your life total targeted by something on the Stack carry a crosshair badge, so you can see what is being aimed at without hovering.
  • Compact rows show targets as a crosshair and a count.
  • Countering an entry flashes it red and strikes it through before it leaves, so a counter no longer looks like a resolve.
  • Streamer View draws arrows from the top of the Stack to what it targets.
  • Target arrows start from whichever side of the entry faces the target, and skip cards hidden under the Stack panel.

The Stack, round two

  • Put a note on a Stack entry from its right-click menu, such as its targets or the value of X. It shows on the entry and in Streamer View, and goes when the entry leaves the Stack.
  • Resolve all resolves the whole Stack, top first, in one step that one undo takes back. The Stack stays on screen while its entries leave one at a time, each card flying to where it went, and closes once the last has gone.
  • Drag a card off the Stack onto a zone (Hand, Graveyard, Exile, Library, Battlefield) to put it there. Abilities and copies stay on the Stack.
  • Drag a card onto the Stack and a gap opens in the list where it will go; drop it there to put it in that spot rather than on top. New entries slide into place.
  • Point at a card and press Q to add it to the Stack: a spell is cast, and a Battlefield card puts up one of its abilities. It works on a selection too. With no card under the pointer, Q still opens or closes the Stack.
  • Each entry shows its mana cost beside its name, a short chip for where it goes (→ Battlefield, → Graveyard, Ability, Copy), and an edge in its colors.
  • Compact rows (the ☰ button) hide the pictures and show one line of rules, for long stacks. The choice is remembered.
  • An empty Stack says what it is for, and while the Stack is minimized, its pill and the Stack button glow when something new arrives.
  • In Streamer View, entries slide in as they arrive and fade as they leave.

A more polished Stack

  • Right-click a Stack entry to resolve it now, even if it is not on top, or to counter it. A countered card from your deck goes to the Graveyard; an ability, a copy or a card from outside your deck simply ends.
  • When something resolves, its card flies to where it went (onto the Battlefield, or into the Graveyard or Playable Exile) while the rest of its entry fades where it was, and the entries below close up after. An ability fades in place, and the card it came from glows.
  • Point at an ability on the Stack to light up the card it came from.
  • Long rules text on the Stack shows three lines, with More to read the rest.
  • Cards added from the Stack's search box are now labelled "Outside your deck", and the panel's header is just "The Stack" and its count.
  • Press Alt+↑ or Alt+↓ on a focused Stack entry to move it toward the top or bottom.
  • The Stack panel opens where you last put it, at the size you last made it.
  • On a phone, press and hold a Stack entry to pick it up and drag it, or let go to open its menu. Its grip drags straight away.
  • The game log now names the right card when the top of the Stack resolves.

Resize the Stack

  • The Playtester's Stack panel can be resized by dragging the grip in its bottom-right corner. Make it taller and more entries fit before the list scrolls, each keeping its usual height. It stays within the window and keeps a usable minimum size.

Reorder the Stack

  • In the Playtester, drag a Stack entry by the grip on its left to change the order things resolve in. Like a card in your hand, it follows the pointer and the other entries slide aside to make room where it will land.
  • Right-click a Stack entry to move it to the top or bottom of the stack, or one place either way. Each move can be undone and is written in the game log.
  • The Stack now lists the top first, in the Playtester and Streamer View: the entry Resolve top takes heads the list.

Stack panel stays on screen

  • The Playtester's Stack panel can no longer be dragged off the edge of the window, so its header is always there to drag it back. Shrinking the window pulls a moved panel back inside too.

Mana symbols sized to their text

  • Mana symbols in the Playtester and Streamer View stack are the size of the rules text again, instead of overflowing the card.
  • Mana symbols in text now match the text around them everywhere, including card details costs and Deck Builder rows.

Home search finds people

  • Home search now finds every Cartheca builder by display name, not only those with a public deck, and a user result opens their profile.
  • Deck and user results now show a picture: a deck its commander art, a user their profile picture.
  • Each group of results has a See more link when there are more matches, including a new Users page listing every builder whose name matches.

Spoilers keep up again

  • Newly revealed cards appear on the Spoilers page again. The hourly check could get stuck waiting on a slow reply from our card data source and quietly stop updating; it now gives up on a stalled reply and carries on with the next check.

Faster card search

  • Card Search results load faster: the result grid now downloads card images sized for how large they are shown, so a page of results downloads far less.
  • Search results and other site data now arrive compressed, cutting a page of card results from about 245 KB to about 30 KB.

Traffic monitoring

  • The admin monitor now recognises automated visitors that copy a real browser's name but not the rest of what a browser sends, so they count as suspected automated traffic instead of users.

Deck Builder fixes

  • Land recommendations no longer suggest a land that enters tapped over another copy of a basic you already play.
  • The card preview no longer blinks while you scroll the decklist or move down it; it switches straight to the next card.
  • Importing a decklist no longer needs a Preview step: paste a list and it is checked straight away, showing how many cards were recognized and any lines that could not be matched.
  • Saving Deck Settings or the Deck Primer now confirms it twice: a brief notice, and a green line under the Save button. Deck Settings stays open after saving.

Traffic monitoring

  • The admin monitor recognises more scanners and crawlers, including ones that disguise themselves as ordinary browsers, so they appear under suspected automated traffic instead of user traffic.

Opening hands

  • New Opening hand simulation: which opening hands of lands, ramp and card draw play best, and which hands to aim for.
  • A Games shown switch narrows every simulation tab to games that open with one of those hands.
  • Opening hand recommendations suggest land, ramp and draw counts that make good hands more likely.
  • Simulated mulligans now reshuffle each time, and the first mulligan is free in Commander.

Colour advice

  • Colour advice has its own button on the Colours tab; Land recommendations now covers land count only.
  • Colour advice can suggest trading a weak dual land for a basic, and only suggests a new dual when it clearly beats a basic.
  • Land picks note when a land also covers a colour you need, such as "Also fits: needs green sources".

Sharing

  • Inviting someone now uses one search box with suggestions and profile pictures. Members and pending invites can't be picked twice.
  • The Shared collection window has a member count, Manager and Pending tags, profile pictures, a menu on each row, and Leave below the list.
  • Answer invitation on a shared collection notification now takes you to the invitation's Accept button, including when you're already on the Collection page.
  • If you set your own collection aside when joining a shared collection, you can now switch between Shared and Personal on the Collection page. Card Search, Deck Builder and imports use whichever is switched on.
  • Deck Settings lets those members choose whether a paper deck is built from the shared collection or their own, so it only counts against that collection's copies. Decks made before joining start as your own, and new decks start with whichever collection is switched on.

Other

  • Card Search finds names containing "not", "or" or "and" without quotes. Not Dead After All now comes first when you type it; NOT, OR and AND still work as operators in capitals.
  • With a color identity chosen in Within mode, Card Search lists cards of those colors before colorless ones, so picking a color visibly changes the results.
  • Cards revealed during spoiler season can be found by name in Card Search as soon as Cartheca picks them up, instead of only after the nightly card update.
  • Searching every printing of a set now keeps your other Card Search filters, such as color identity, type, format and rules text, instead of quietly ignoring them.
  • Anywhere you change how many copies of a card a deck has, you can click the number and type the quantity you want instead of pressing + or − repeatedly. Press Enter to save or Escape to cancel.
  • Card Search no longer has a Mainboard/Considering switch at the top. The + on a result adds to the Mainboard; to add to Considering, right-click a card or use the new Considering counter just below the Mainboard one in Card details.
  • Your theme choice is now saved to your account, so parchment or candlelight follows you to every device you sign in on.
  • Settings is split into Preferences and Account tabs, with each setting on one compact row; changing your email or deleting your account now opens in its own window.
  • The updates window is easier to read: each update's points sit right under its heading, every day shows how many updates it holds, and the Got it button stays in view.

Invite people by user

  • Search for a Cartheca user when inviting someone to a deck or shared collection, without needing their email address. Invitations stay with the selected account if their email changes.

Card preview fix

  • Card previews no longer briefly show the previous card while the next image loads, including in Playtester.

Faster navigation from Spoilers

  • Calculating which decks spoiler cards fit now runs in the background, keeping the site responsive while those results load.
  • Spoilers color filters display mana symbols with readable color labels.

Reliable collection counts and set symbols

  • Collection plus and minus buttons update immediately and keep rapid clicks in order, without older updates making counts jump backwards. Failed saves show an error and correct the count.
  • Set symbols stay centered inside round badges, including when space is tight.
  • Set completion totals and recent activity refresh after collection changes finish saving.

Card Search right-click menu

  • Right-click a card in Card Search to view it, see its printings, add a copy to your active deck's Mainboard or Considering, take one off, add it to your collection, copy its name, or open it on Scryfall.
  • Start a new deck from any card in that menu, or, for a card that can lead a deck, a new deck with it as the commander. The new deck becomes the one Card Search adds to.
  • On a keyboard, focus a card and press the Menu key or Shift+F10.

Spoiler season

  • New Spoilers page: every card revealed for upcoming sets, newest first and grouped by the day it was revealed, with who revealed it and a link to the reveal.
  • Newly revealed cards are added within the hour, and can go straight into a deck's Considering from the Spoilers page.
  • Signed in, Spoilers shows which of your decks each card fits and why, with a Fits my decks filter.
  • Turn on a daily spoiler notice in Settings to hear how many cards were revealed and how many fit your decks.
  • Spoilers appears in the header while a set is being revealed, and is always in the footer.

Magic symbols in more places

  • Spells and abilities on the stack, in the playtester and Streamer View, now show {T} and mana costs as symbols.
  • Blog post titles and summaries, Hotfix Updates and update notices show Magic symbols too.
  • Blog posts can now include pictures, card images and a cover image.

Shared collections and paper decks

  • Share one collection with up to seven other people: use Share on the Collection page to start a shared collection and invite people by email.
  • When you accept an invitation, choose to set your own collection aside, which comes back if you leave, or merge your cards in, which gives you a full copy of the shared collection if you leave.
  • Everyone in a shared collection can add and remove cards, recent activity shows who made each change, and the manager invites, removes and hands management on.
  • In a shared collection, Used in lists every member's decks, and Card Search's free copies count cards in everyone's decks.
  • Decks can now be marked Paper in Deck Settings. Only paper decks count as using cards from your collection; every other deck, including existing ones, is online and uses none. Mark your paper decks to keep your free-copy counts accurate.
  • Paper decks show a Paper badge on deck cards, in Deck Builder and on the public deck page.
  • The Hotfix Updates page can now be found through search engines.

Commander decks and navigation fixes

  • Moving your commander out of the Mainboard, or removing it, now clears it from the command zone, with a notice saying so. With partners, only the card that moved is cleared.
  • A Commander deck with no commander no longer flags every colored card as outside its color identity; the missing-commander warning covers it.
  • New Commander decks can start blank: choose Start blank to build the 99 first and declare a commander later.
  • On the home page's Trending fan, the Save ribbon now sits on each card's visible left edge, so clicking it saves that deck instead of opening the one beside it.
  • Inside a folder on the home page, the deck count no longer counts the Back card.
  • The Account menu now closes with Escape or a click elsewhere, and opening it or Notifications closes the other.
  • On the Decks page, moving the active deck to another folder now updates the folder shown on its Active deck card right away.

Additional scanner protection

  • Expanded server protections to reject more observed credential-file and framework probes before they reach the application.

Card search and analysis improvements

  • Color identity selections keep working after clearing search filters.
  • Oracle text searches exclude reminder text by default. Use Include reminder text to search it too.
  • Analysis mana curves grow to show differences between crowded mana values.
  • Update notices now show changes you have missed, grouped by day, with overnight updates listed under the prior day.
  • Read the complete hotfix history anytime using Hotfix Updates in the footer.