A problem that is popping up as of late is the availability of Origin's checklist cards. Many players use the Origin PW's but are having trouble getting the Origin's checklists, and are afraid the sleeves they are using may not be 100% opaque. So a player at an FNM I visited today showed me an SOI checklist card that he modified so it clearly said Jace (and made it obvious what card it was representing). Would this be legal in tournaments?

Due to this line from the MTR: Each individual checklist card used must have one (and only one) of the items checked, I would not allow this. You can't check a box that doesn't exist. I'd simply encourage the use/purchase of opaque sleeves in cases of limited availability of those checklist cards.

Originally posted by Nicholas Zitomer:

Due to this line from the MTR: Each individual checklist card used must have one (and only one) of the items checked, I would not allow this. You can't check a box that doesn't exist. I'd simply encourage the use/purchase of opaque sleeves in cases of limited availability of those checklist cards.

But you could modify the name on that line and it would still be checked, and it would still be clear what card is being represented.

I see checklist cards all the time where they have blacked out the entire card except one name, for cases like that I think it's obvious what the card the list is being represented is whether or not there is a check mark there or not. In cases like that I would except it.

To modify the line you are effectively creating a proxy. The rules on when to do that are pretty clear, and this doesn't fall under that. When a card is altered but the checklist box remains, it is clear what checklist card it was originally.

I could see being lenient if the alternate solution of buying/using opaque sleeves weren't so simple.

Writing “Jace, Vryn's Prodigy” on an SOI checklist does /not/ qualify that checklist card to be a stand in for Jace, Vryn's Prodigy. This is no different from a player who arrives at a sanctioned event with proxies for their Black Lotus and Moxen. It should be clear that this is not the proper use of checklist cards.

ORI checklists are readily available, as are opaque sleeves.

Originally posted by Cris Plyler:

A problem that is popping up as of late is the availability of Origin's checklist cards. Many players use the Origin PW's but are having trouble getting the Origin's checklists

There are currently 114 stores selling ORI checklists on TCGPlayer.com alone, for a median price of $0.33. And most stores are still selling ORI. This doesn't look like an availability problem to me.

Beyond that, I agree with Dan and Nicholas. Checklists substitute for a specific card, and aren't universal stand-ins.

I've conferred with Toby, we agree that this isn't something we do or should allow, and I'm predicting that no one from Wizards will come along to overrule us… ;)

d:^D

100% agree with all of the above at Comp REL (and this is the comp rel forum) but I'm not sure the conversation ends there.

I'm guessing our opinions change when it comes to an FNM at Regular? The important things to consider is that the player isn't cheating, isn't trying to cheat, and has made his representation as clear as possible using offical Magic cards at his disposal.

I'd have a hard time telling a player he couldn't do this at an FNM.

What cards a player has at their disposal is a very normal limitation on what a player can play at FNM. That it happens to be a checklist card is immaterial. Of course, there are no game losses for such errors at FNM.