Card history row

Every state a card's gameplay face has been in, as observed by syncs: the face's fields flattened into the row. valid_to null = the current face, which equals the card record. A closed row is how the card played until valid_to; a printing released within a row's dates was printed with that row's values. Seeded with every card's face on 2026-09-09.

One row per state a card's gameplay face has been in, with the dates it was in force. Every card has exactly one open row, and it equals the card record.

Where it appears

registry.json → card_history[]
history/cards.json
inside cards/{codex_id}.json, without codex_id

Fields

Every field is present on every record; a value that does not apply is null, never missing. Types are from the release's schema; the schema itself is the contract.

Field	Type	Meaning
`codex_id`	codex ID, C plus six digits	The card this face belongs to.
`valid_from`	date, YYYY-MM-DD	Start of the range this face was in force. What the date means depends on source.
`valid_to`	date, YYYY-MM-DD or null	End of the range; null for the current face.
`source`	"api", "card" or "manual"	Where the face came from: 'api' when the registry observed it in the official API; 'card' when it was recorded by hand from what is printed on the card (data/errata.json), the case of a card whose printed text differs from the text the API serves; 'manual' for the face of a card the registry recorded by hand because the API does not serve it (data/manual.json).
`type`	string or null	Observed values: Artifact, Aura, Avatar, Magic, Minion, Site.
`category`	string or null	Coarser grouping: Spell (Minion, Magic, Artifact, Aura), Site, Avatar, Token.
`rarity`	string or null	The rarity printed on the card. Observed values: Ordinary, Exceptional, Elite, Unique; null on Avatars and some tokens.
`slot`	string or null	The rarity slot the card is distributed in. Agrees with rarity except for Avatars (no printed rarity) and tokens.
`subtypes`	array of string	In upstream's order, e.g. ["Beast", "Spirit"].
`elements`	array of string	In upstream's order. ["None"] means colourless (Artifacts, Avatars, most Sites).
`keywords`	array of string	Ability keywords the card carries (Airborne, Genesis, Spellcaster, ...), as upstream tags them.
`umbrellas`	array of string	Cross-subtype groupings rules text refers to (Evil, Knight, Royalty).
`cost`	integer or null	Mana cost. null for Sites and Avatars, and for X costs.
`attack`	integer or null	Printed attack; null when the card has none.
`defense`	integer or null	Printed defense; null when the card has none.
`power`	integer or null	Derived: Sorcery's power - equal to attack when attack equals defense, otherwise floor((attack + defense) / 2); null when either is null. Published so every consumer computes the same number.
`life`	integer or null	Only Avatars have a life value.
`thr_air`	integer, 0 or more	Air threshold: the number of Air the card needs in play to be cast. 0 when none.
`thr_earth`	integer, 0 or more	Earth threshold. 0 when none.
`thr_fire`	integer, 0 or more	Fire threshold. 0 when none.
`thr_water`	integer, 0 or more	Water threshold. 0 when none.
`rules_text`	string	Current text the card plays by, applying to every printing. Canonicalised: \n line endings, no trailing whitespace, one line per ability. Changes are recorded in rules_history.
`back`	face object: the gameplay fields of a card (see Card) or null	The back face at that time; null unless the card is double-faced.

Example

Card history row · from release v3.4.0

{
  "codex_id": "C000139",
  "valid_from": "2023-06-22",
  "valid_to": "2026-09-15",
  "source": "card",
  "type": "Minion",
  "category": "Spell",
  "rarity": "Elite",
  "slot": "Elite",
  "subtypes": [
    "Beast"
  ],
  "elements": [
    "Fire"
  ],
  "keywords": [
    "Airborne"
  ],
  "umbrellas": [],
  "cost": 5,
  "attack": 4,
  "defense": 4,
  "power": 4,
  "life": null,
  "thr_air": 0,
  "thr_earth": 0,
  "thr_fire": 2,
  "thr_water": 0,
  "rules_text": "Airborne\nIf Askelon Phoenix would take damage from a fire spell or ability, it gains +1 power this turn, instead.",
  "back": null
}

Reference: registry API contract and published object definitions. Report a data or documentation issue.