The upcoming Magic: The Gathering set called Dominaria has had the Chinese version of its official release notes leaked online. This prompted Wizards of the Coast to unveil all of the release notes in every language much earlier than they had anticipated, due to a few major changes that were being introduced in the set.

One of the biggest changes to Magic: The Gathering that is coming into effect with Dominaria is the removal of gender-specific pronouns from the information on the cards. Words like "he" and "she" will now be replaced with "they" and "their."

The seventh page of the Dominaria English Release Notes details the change, as well as several other changes to the wording used on the cards.

The removal of gendered pronouns is something that Magic: The Gathering fans have been asking for for years. The alternating usage of "he" and "she" was never an ideal solution, but it was one adhered to for many years.

Mark Rosewater (the head designer of Magic: The Gathering) has explained the reason why this change took so long on his Tumblr. The problem with using "they" and "their" is that they can be used as both a singular or plural pronoun. Magic: The Gathering games can be played with more than two people, which means that the more ambiguous pronouns could be interpreted in multiple different ways, which can be a major problem in a game where the rules have to be clear, especially when people are taking part in tournaments where thousands of dollars are on the line.

Magic: The Gathering is not the first game to make this change. The early editions of Dungeons & Dragons came under fire for only using male pronouns when describing the actions or decisions made by the player. The later editions (as well as other tabletop RPGs) would use different methods of describing the player, such as switching between using "he" and "she" or using the Magic approach and removing gender pronouns altogether.

This change in terminology is happening while Magic: The Gathering is closing in on its 25th anniversary. Dominaria is set to be released on April 27th, 2018.