As formats like Legacy and Modern get more popular, we need to remind players that they need to check their alters with the head judge before the event. Not doing so can cost valuable time during deck checks, as alters will always need to be cleared with the head judge when discovered during a deck check, adding at least a minute to the procedure. This came up several times last Sunday, when I was team lead for Deck Checks on the Legacy Premier IQ at the SCG Open Weekend in Syracuse, NY.
When I got home, I got an idea: We should have some form of altered card verification slip that the HJ can give to a player when their alters have been checked and cleared. It can list the date, player name, and the altered cards that were okayed.
The player could then leave this slip of paper inside their deck box so that if/when that player is deck checked, the deck check team would know that the alters were okay and not have to spend extra time verifying their legality.
I've thrown together a quick first draft here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K6T41-tnX7KGH6uX2V0-qyip0fFBTG5EWs6OImdmIsQ/edit?usp=sharing If you want to, please try it out at your next event and let me know how it worked.
This system likely wouldn’t be viable at the Grand Prix level, but at a moderate sized event (7 or 8 rounds), it could probably shave a few minutes off of the event overall.
What do you all think? Has anyone ever tried something like this before?