would sulfuric vortex be a better card or a worse card if it didn't trigger
on your turn?

Look at the triggers seperately:

Would you be more likely to play Vortex if it would only damage your opponent (and prevent lifegain)? You sure as hell would.
Would you play Vortex if it would only damage you (and prevent lifegain)? I hardly doubt that.

Hence one of them is detrimental.

This is the case for most symetric effects, as e.g. Howling Mine et all.

Ok, but then we're taking in game information into account when deciding if a trigger is detrimental or not, which I didn't think we were supposed to do. As I understand the quotation from the IPG below, we're only supposed to consider the trigger in the abstract without taking the gamestate (including whose turn it is) into account, and that leads me to say that Sulfuric Vortex's trigger is beneficial, no matter whose turn it is.

IPG 2.1 - “The controller of the missed trigger only receives a Warning if the triggered ability is generally considered detrimental for the controlling player. The current game state is not a factor in determining this.”

For Howling Mine, how do you figure out if its trigger is detrimental? based on the size of your library? Does controlling an underworld dreams change the status of Howling Mine's trigger?

You might want to check a newer version of the IPG.

IPG 2.1 - “The current game state is not a factor in determining this, though symmetrical abilities (such as Howling Mine) may be considered usually detrimental or not depending on who is being affected. ”

From the IPG (Sep 27, 2013… where do version numbers come from?)

“ The current game state is not a factor in determining this, though symmetrical abilities (such as Howling Mine) may be considered usually detrimental or not depending on who is being affected.”

Triggering on your turn I think would not be generally detrimental. So if you miss your trigger, you miss it.

If you miss the trigger during your opponent's turn though… that's generally detrimental to you. (You don't want your opponent drawing cards).

For game state, I think the idea here is that if you happen to be trying to mill your opponent as your strategy (or their library is empty), and you miss the howling mine trigger for their turn, it's still considered generally detrimental.

A few other people have mentioned the updated IPG issue, so I'll just add this.

According to policy, there's no such thing as a “beneficial” trigger – only triggers that are “usually detrimental” and ones that are “not usually detrimental.” This phrasing acknowledges that there are many triggers that are not unambiguously good for their controller, but still don't rise to the level of being “generally detrimental.” (The infamous Dark Confidant himself is a good example of such a trigger!)

This may seem like splitting hairs, but it isn't just about pedantic accuracy; it's also because language guides behavior. Choosing our words carefully can help us better communicate the philosophy underlying our policy.

(This idea isn't original to me, of course. My favorite Magic-related story about language influencing behavior comes from MaRo and his coining of the phrase New World Order: “I termed this phrase because I believe strongly that you need language to guide behavior. If you can't talk about something it's hard to think about it. The term helped cement the concept for R&D.”)

Edited Paul Baranay (Dec. 27, 2013 02:29:21 PM)

Thanks Joshua, I guess my copy of the IPG is getting a little old ;) Time to download the new one!

The new wording sorts out my issue with this :)