[arvinsim]

I am not sure but I read somewhere that mechanical equivalents are covered by the agreement on the Reserved list.

[zachjbart]

This is correct, they included all functional reprints on the reserved list. That's why people are praying for snow-covered dual lands, but honestly those will never see the light of day.

[ufo]

This is correct. This issue even pops up from time to time when the developers accidentally create a card that is mechanically equivalent to something in the reserved list and have to change it to something else before the card goes to print. For example, one of the cards in the reserved lists is Thunder Spirit, a simple 2/2 flier with first strike.