Ashiok’s Style Guide Entry

Today in neat things we found, here is the official MTG Style Guide entry for Ashiok! This was written by our dear friend and Daily MTG copy editor Mike McArtor and is part of the extensive Style Guide we use internally to write MTG content both on cards and on the web. We thought you might enjoy it as much as we did upon reading it for the first time.

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The card Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver, from Theros, represents the Planeswalker Ashiok. Ashiok is androgynous and does not subscribe to the binary. The English language struggles with this. In general, you’re going to need to rewrite sentences to make them work right.
Pronoun to Use:
[none]. Currently, widely accepted “proper” English (including that used inside this building) does not have a gender-neutral singular pronoun to use that equates to “he” or “she.”
What NOT to Do: 
1.    Use “it”: No! Never refer to a person (including legendary creatures and especially Planeswalkers) as “it” for any reason. Magic cards that are not legendary creatures or Planeswalkers can be referred to as “it” regardless of the art on the card (for example, “I had a Banisher Priest and cast it on my second turn.”) because they don’t represent specific people (the pictures are just examples). Legendary creatures and Planeswalkers get to use gendered pronouns based on the character. Karn, by convention, uses male pronouns; it is entirely possible Ashiok will end up that way as well, but we should fight against that because it is incorrect.
2.    Use “they”: CMOS and “proper” English still resist “they” as a singular pronoun, and so do we. Don’t use it.
3.    Use “he or she”: Aside from being awkward when referring to a known individual, this doesn’t solve the problem since again it assumes the binary, which is what we’re trying to avoid with Ashiok.
What to Do: 
Just repeat Ashiok’s name: Whenever you’d want to use a pronoun, just use “Ashiok” instead. While this is super-common in Japanese, it can get a little cumbersome and unnatural in English: “Ashiok planeswalked to the corner store to pick up kitty litter for Ashiok’s cat, then walked back to Ashiok’s apartment for the exercise.” [Please note that it is not canon that Ashiok has a cat or an apartment.] 
Omit the pronoun: “Ashiok planeswalked to the corner store to pick up kitty litter, then walked back for the exercise.”
Use an article instead of a personal pronoun: “Ashiok planeswalked to the corner store to pick up kitty litter for the cat, then walked back to the apartment for the exercise.”
Revise the clause: “The corner store had kitty litter, so Ashiok planeswalked there but chose to walk back for the exercise.” or maybe “Ashiok, who planeswalked to the corner store to pick up kitty litter, walked back for the exercise.” [This is the catch-all; if you can’t make it sound good with one of the other methods, try recasting the sentence. Sometimes, even more extensive changes are needed.]

- Daily MTG Copy Editor Mike McArtor