Someone asked the following question on facebook:
May I play Phantasmal Image without copying anything? (Since the Ability is a ‘may’ and I want to have Revolt active or trigger a LtB-Trigger)?

If I have a Glorious Anthem in play and (assuming Image doesn't need to copy something) I play an Phantasmal Image - will it still have “When this creature becomes the target sacrevice it”?

but then, when I look up phantasmal image in gatherer, all rulings have their date changed to 14/03/2017. Next to that, on magiccards.info one more ruling can be found:
You can choose not to copy anything. In that case, Phantasmal Image enters the battlefield as a 0/0 Illusion creature, and is probably put into the graveyard immediately. It doesn’t have the ability “When this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it.”

Did the rules somehow change or was the last ruling overlooked while updating the card due to the new printing in modern masters 3? I do not really see the point of changing the dates since all the other rulings remained the same.

I've now confirmed: neither the rulings, nor the text, nor the function, of Phantasmal Image have changed. Dates in Gatherer get updated, to reflect they've been reviewed and are current.

The function of the Image is, essentially, a choice; you can have it copy something and gain that additional ability text, or not. As Eli Shiffrin, Rules Manager put it when I asked, “we've just reduced the inclusion of ”you COULD shoot yourself in the foot if you want“ notes”. :)

d:^D