diff --git a/dot/core/service_test.go b/dot/core/service_test.go
index 49fd1252d79..965aa6a5d70 100644
--- a/dot/core/service_test.go
+++ b/dot/core/service_test.go
@@ -289,6 +289,7 @@ func TestHandleChainReorg_WithReorg_Transactions(t *testing.T) {
 	// create extrinsic
 	enc, err := scale.Marshal([]byte("nootwashere"))
 	require.NoError(t, err)
+	// we prefix with []byte{2} here since that's the enum index for the old IncludeDataExt extrinsic
 	tx := append([]byte{2}, enc...)
 
 	bhash := s.blockState.BestBlockHash()
diff --git a/lib/runtime/life/exports.go b/lib/runtime/life/exports.go
index e7382c674e2..a25475853b8 100644
--- a/lib/runtime/life/exports.go
+++ b/lib/runtime/life/exports.go
@@ -37,12 +37,13 @@ func (in *Instance) Version() (runtime.Version, error) {
 	version := &runtime.VersionData{}
 	err = version.Decode(res)
 	// error comes from scale now, so do a string check
-	if strings.Contains(fmt.Sprintf("%s", err), "EOF") {
-		// TODO: kusama seems to use the legacy version format
-		lversion := &runtime.LegacyVersionData{}
-		err = lversion.Decode(res)
-		return lversion, err
-	} else if err != nil {
+	if err != nil {
+		if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "EOF") {
+			// TODO: kusama seems to use the legacy version format
+			lversion := &runtime.LegacyVersionData{}
+			err = lversion.Decode(res)
+			return lversion, err
+		}
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
diff --git a/lib/runtime/life/exports_test.go b/lib/runtime/life/exports_test.go
index 3604d9bfa76..88a9dcb6281 100644
--- a/lib/runtime/life/exports_test.go
+++ b/lib/runtime/life/exports_test.go
@@ -237,11 +237,7 @@ func TestInstance_ExecuteBlock_KusamaRuntime_KusamaBlock1(t *testing.T) {
 	// block data is received from querying a polkadot node
 	body := []byte{8, 40, 4, 2, 0, 11, 144, 17, 14, 179, 110, 1, 16, 4, 20, 0, 0}
 	var exts [][]byte
-<<<<<<< HEAD
-	err = scale2.Unmarshal(body, &exts)
-=======
 	err = scale.Unmarshal(body, &exts)
->>>>>>> d2357261 (lib/runtime/life updates)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	require.Equal(t, 2, len(exts))
 
@@ -291,11 +287,7 @@ func TestInstance_ExecuteBlock_PolkadotRuntime_PolkadotBlock1(t *testing.T) {
 	// block data is received from querying a polkadot node
 	body := []byte{8, 40, 4, 3, 0, 11, 80, 149, 160, 81, 114, 1, 16, 4, 20, 0, 0}
 	var exts [][]byte
-<<<<<<< HEAD
-	err = scale2.Unmarshal(body, &exts)
-=======
 	err = scale.Unmarshal(body, &exts)
->>>>>>> d2357261 (lib/runtime/life updates)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	require.Equal(t, 2, len(exts))
 
diff --git a/lib/runtime/life/resolver.go b/lib/runtime/life/resolver.go
index 0700430ca65..2bf0e709480 100644
--- a/lib/runtime/life/resolver.go
+++ b/lib/runtime/life/resolver.go
@@ -431,8 +431,13 @@ func storageAppend(storage runtime.Storage, key, valueToAppend []byte) error {
 			return nil
 		}
 
-		// append new item, pop off first byte now, since we're not using old scale.Decoder
-		valueRes = append(valueCurr[1:], valueToAppend...)
+		lengthBytes, err := scale.Marshal(currLength)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		// append new item, pop off number of bytes required for length encoding,
+		// since we're not using old scale.Decoder
+		valueRes = append(valueCurr[len(lengthBytes):], valueToAppend...)
 
 		// increase length by 1
 		nextLength = big.NewInt(0).Add(currLength, big.NewInt(1))
diff --git a/lib/runtime/wasmer/exports.go b/lib/runtime/wasmer/exports.go
index d689303e0a1..6e4ed7e5266 100644
--- a/lib/runtime/wasmer/exports.go
+++ b/lib/runtime/wasmer/exports.go
@@ -58,12 +58,13 @@ func (in *Instance) Version() (runtime.Version, error) {
 	version := &runtime.VersionData{}
 	err = version.Decode(res)
 	// error comes from scale now, so do a string check
-	if strings.Contains(fmt.Sprintf("%s", err), "EOF") {
-		// TODO: kusama seems to use the legacy version format
-		lversion := &runtime.LegacyVersionData{}
-		err = lversion.Decode(res)
-		return lversion, err
-	} else if err != nil {
+	if err != nil {
+		if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "EOF") {
+			// TODO: kusama seems to use the legacy version format
+			lversion := &runtime.LegacyVersionData{}
+			err = lversion.Decode(res)
+			return lversion, err
+		}
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
diff --git a/lib/runtime/wasmer/imports.go b/lib/runtime/wasmer/imports.go
index dafcbc2a545..2bfed970265 100644
--- a/lib/runtime/wasmer/imports.go
+++ b/lib/runtime/wasmer/imports.go
@@ -1569,8 +1569,13 @@ func storageAppend(storage runtime.Storage, key, valueToAppend []byte) error {
 			return nil
 		}
 
-		// append new item, pop off first byte now, since we're not using old scale.Decoder
-		valueRes = append(valueCurr[1:], valueToAppend...)
+		lengthBytes, err := scale.Marshal(currLength)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		// append new item, pop off number of bytes required for length encoding,
+		// since we're not using old scale.Decoder
+		valueRes = append(valueCurr[len(lengthBytes):], valueToAppend...)
 
 		// increase length by 1
 		nextLength = big.NewInt(0).Add(currLength, big.NewInt(1))