Please keep the forum protocol in mind when posting.

Competitive REL » Post: Adventurous Alterations

Adventurous Alterations

Oct. 10, 2019 11:52:22 AM

Tristan Hof
Judge (Level 2 (International Judge Program))

German-speaking countries

Adventurous Alterations

Regarding the alteration policy and creature cards with adventure. Is the name of the adventure half considered to be the name or the card and therefore not allowed to be altered?

And what if I would paint the adventure text box completely black would that change anything regarding tournament legality of the card?

Oct. 10, 2019 04:01:11 PM

Isaac King
Judge (Uncertified)

Barriere, Canada

Adventurous Alterations

Disclaimer: I am not an official source. In fact, nobody is. ;)


Originally posted by Tristan Hof:

Regarding the alteration policy and creature cards with adventure. Is the name of the adventure half considered to be the name or the card and therefore not allowed to be altered?

The reason policy says not to cover the name of the card is because we need some way to know what the card is. Each adventurer creature card can only have a specific adventure on it, so as long as we can see the name of the creature, we can look up the name of the adventure just like we'd look up any other part of the card that's not legible.


Originally posted by Tristan Hof:

And what if I would paint the adventure text box completely black would that change anything regarding tournament legality of the card?

Covering the text box has never been an issue, I don't see any reason that it suddenly would be with adventures.

Oct. 10, 2019 04:18:14 PM

Scott Marshall
Forum Moderator
Judge (Level 4 (Judge Foundry)), Hall of Fame

USA - Northwest

Adventurous Alterations

Originally posted by Isaac King:

Disclaimer: I am not an official source. In fact, nobody is. ;)
I am also not an official source - but there are still some folks that are official. Wizards employees, by default (unless they specifically state otherwise); Toby Elliott (who rarely posts in here).

Because I'm no longer official, I now get to say things like this: why deface your cards and even *risk* making them unacceptable for tournament play? If you're only ever going to play Commander with your kitchen-table crew, then do what you want, or at least what your friends will tolerate. But if you're a Competitive REL player, why not stick to unaltered cards?!?

FWIW, I love cool alterations, and own more than a few - but it's rare that I'd try to play them in a sanctioned event.

d:^D

Oct. 12, 2019 12:23:35 AM

Tyrone Phillips
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Academy))

Australia and New Zealand

Adventurous Alterations

Originally posted by Scott Marshall:

why deface your cards and even *risk* making them unacceptable for tournament play? If you're only ever going to play Commander with your kitchen-table crew, then do what you want, or at least what your friends will tolerate. But if you're a Competitive REL player, why not stick to unaltered cards?

I can guarantee people will do it, and if they're doing it I feel like discussing why is kinda pointless. We can disuade players from making their cards illegal but it won't stop them. You can argue the same points about foils - why get judge foil Dark Confidants if there's a chance they warp and your deck is marked?

In my opinion, the spirit of the policy is to keep cards as instantly recognisable as an unaltered version. I feel if both of the arts on the card are recognizable, both the names and mana costs are visable, I would allow it. An art extension that expands the creature's art and completely covering the name, art and mana cost of the adventure would be no bueno for me. The text box being black would be fine.