[dagw]

Nobody would play M:TG if every time you lost a land it went into a shredder.

I haven't played M:TG in over decade, but at least then it was standard 'ante up' a card before each game that you would lose if you lost.

[evanelias]

Much more than a decade, I'd wager! Ante stopped being standard quite a long time ago. Personally I stopped playing in 1997 and ante had already ceased to be a common practice in my area several years before that, from what I remember.

Just googled it and the last card to even have an ante-impacting ability was printed in 1996. Seems it stuck around as an optional rule but wasn't common in my experience, probably because tournaments always skipped it.

[dagw]

...you're right. Fuck, I'm getting old.

[technofiend]

Yes I remember that, but it was only one card. :-)