I was asked to take the discussion out of the Project Recruitment & Help Wanted forum, so that's what this thread is for. Please post any comments/ask any questions you might have.





The survey results are available here. You will need to be logged in to a google account in order to view them. Unfortunately Google does not provide a view-only option, so please do not edit or delete anything. (I have the data backed up of course.)



Results I wasn't expecting:


The Forest/Island miscut: I expected this to be disallowed by almost everyone due to the name not matching the card. However 49% of judges allowed it as one or the other.

The Plains with a large white spot: I expected this to be allowed by nearly everybody- it's completely obvious what it is with absolutely no ambiguity. Instead it was disallowed by 37% of judges.

The Phyrexian Hulk test print: Again, I expected this to be allowed by pretty much everybody- it has the wrong art, but all the relevant characteristics are there and correct. And the art even fits the name flavor-wise. Instead, 85% of judges disallowed it.

The Soul Strings with a messed-up text box: This is a textbook legal alter, so I have trouble understanding why anyone is disallowing it. The oracle text can be requested from a judge, just like if it were a foreign card.

The comments section: Well I would not have expected anyone to think “I use the MTR” would be useful information about their decision-making process, but apparently I was very wrong.



Comments:


There seem to be two main camps of judges- those who go by what the whole card looks most like, and those go by the card name and nothing else. These are both reasonable points of view. However, it leads to a lack of consistency- there are cards that would be allowed as one thing by one judge, and another thing by another judge, .

Many judges decided to take the MTR completely literally and disallow anything with square corners. Many other judges were instead of the opinion that the “no square corners” line in the MTR is simply meant to disallow CE/IE cards, and are therefore acceptable as a misprint. The same was true for the “silver borders” requirement with regard to disallowing un-sets.

One thing I failed to consider is that the exact card in question might be relevant, specifically, whether it's a land. There were several judges who said that they would be more lenient on lands, since they tend to be more recognizable. Other the other hand, there were also judges who were harsher on lands, since they are more easily abused. Both of these viewpoints make sense in retrospect, and I should have done a better job testing for them.

Edited Isaac King (Sept. 20, 2017 12:02:15 AM)

Re: ulamog - I totally missed all of the reasons. I assumed it was a positive control q-:

Re: camps allowing based on art or based on name - I believe the MTR requires both. It is the card that the name it has, but it's significantly misleading if the art isn't recognisable.

Sorry, I'm missing the point on the Ulamog. What's the problem with it? Is the problem that it's from an FTV for some reason?

It has the wrong cost, and was never released in any product. It is a test
print that got out into the public somehow.


—
Rob McKenzie
Magic Judge Level III
Judge Regional Coordinator USA-North
Minnesota

It “costs” 10 instead of 11, and it has the new frame but has the FTV set symbol.