Subject: Article Submission - posted 1/23/98 MTG RULES Date: Fri, 23 Jan 98 13:21:00 PST From: John Thomas To: The Dojo ONE PERSON'S HISTORIC VIEW OF SLEEVES AND DESLEEVING (OR - SAFE AND UNSAFE MAGIC - CARD CONDOMS) by : John D. Thomas When Magic first came out, no one considered damaging cards. You played with them and that was about it. Sure there were collectors that wanted cards fresh from packs in the days of Alpha and those who would trade for only the best; but the collectors were much fewer than the players. The first innovation that I can remember in the way of deck protection came about with the advent of the "Play Mat." This was a 2'x3' soft cloth mat which could cover the playing surface and prevented getting debris on the cards as well as reducing the amount of scratching to the back from an uneven surface. Not everyone thought that it was important. Some said that it was 'just a game' and others said that it was a game and an 'investment' (whatever that means). Some people who used Play Mats were mocked for this. Along with this came the table shuffle. Putting your cards down into random piles until all of the cards had been 'shuffled.' Some felt that this practice was a way of stacking the deck. Others pointed out that this was a random method and also reduced on wear to the cards from friction and accidental collision of corners and edges. (It should be noted that while this was scorned - "Mana Weaving" was a common practice of the day and was hotly debated. This should be seen as obvious stacking. But "Mana Weaving" had a strong following as well.) Now, the next innovation came about were the first card sleeves. They were not new at all. The sleeves were the soft flimsy devices used to hold baseball cards, etc. They were easily torn, not incredibly effective and in general hard to shuffle. Others used the large hard card sleeves which made your deck effectively impossible to riffle shuffle. (I remember being at a Type I Tournament and actually having to take 1/4 of this guy's deck and shuffling it and then taking another 1/4 while he was doing the other 1/2.) Needless to say, it was both time consuming and potentially harmful to game play. Next came the "Hologram Sleeves." These were noted by the cool little hologram on one side of the card. They were hotly debated as well because you could effectively stack the deck by putting some holograms on the outside and some on the inside. The sleeves stuck together often and were easy to intentionally stick with a bit of spittle. (Rumors were flying at the Type I Nationals '95 of a guy doing this with Juzaams and Dark Rituals. Urban legend? Perhaps? But after a few field tests it wasn't that difficult.) At this time Alpha Cards followed the roughly 50/60% rule. This number fluctuated given the tournament and the organizer. I remember playing in the first Type I Tournament after play/draw was implemented with a 68% Alpha Deck and it was ruled legal. Everything in the Deck was Alpha that could be Alpha. Then came the dread ruling. The desleeving rule had been around for some time. It was pretty much an anamoly. During the 95 Type I Nationals at Andon my group of friends were demanding that everyone desleeve which led to many verbal confrontations. After the 95 Nationals there seemed to be much less resistance to the sleeves and practically everyone started trading their butts off for NM/Mint Cards. Sleeves became what they are today. 95% of all players using them. Alpha decks were ruled to have to be 100% Alpha effectively eliminating them from tournament play. The only other notable invention were the opaque or 'black backed' sleeves. These provided a hologram on the face of the card and an opaque back so that 'marked' or worn cards could be used. All hell broke loose for a short period of time as people started to say that Alphas were legal again, collector's edition cards should be legal, even cards which were so destroyed that they were practically illegible. For a time there was a strong question of their legality. The Wizards came out with a definitive ruling on this matter. They said that opaque sleeves were OK. However, Alpha decks still had to be 100% Alpha and Collector's Edition were still banned and decks still needed 'even wear.' This made sense because of the Collector's Edition was not ever intended for play and were not legal cards. Because you could be forced to desleeve for any reason or no reason at all; the rounding of Alphas could be brought back as an issue. The three riffle shuffle rule slid in around this point as well. This is where we are today. I have spoken to Jason Carl on a few occasions about the issue of desleeving. The reasons that the DCI currently supports the desleeving rule largely rest on the basis that card sleeves can be used as cheating devices. This can be achieved by marking the sleeves (which can happen due to wear), sticking sleeves together or in other ways preventing a random shuffle, making it difficult to see the number of cards in hand, and making it easier to draw extra cards. I personally feel that a more enlightened view on desleeving needs to be adopted. It is also my belief that all of the above are realistic concerns for keeping a level playing field. I have seen bad sports come to tournaments with the sole intention of using the desleeving rule as a means to gain a psychological advantage. They rely on the fact that they do not have to give reason to force their opponent to do something very unpalatable. They are using sleeves for a reason. The player wishes to protect his or her cards. I have also seen many posts on the usenets saying the very same thing. Intentional use to gain a psychological advantage and deliberate use to destroy the opponent's cards that they do not have. This presents us with a quandry. On one hand we have an issue of 'Fair Play' on the other hand we have a situation where one person can impose their beliefs or participate in unsportsmanlike conduct - often resulting in the desleeving player resigning the match. This does not seem fair or right to me. What we do need is a situation where a player can appeal to a judge to force desleeving or fixing of 'marked' sleeves if the player believes that there is cheating. In informal polls I have done in major tournaments almost no one thinks that the desleeving rule is good as it stands. Also, almost no one believes that Alphas should be essentially banned (as an effect of the 100% rulling) from tournament play if used in opaque sleeves. The future? Well, according to Jason Carl there are companies working as we speak to develop "Cheat Proof" sleeves. Evidently, JC has seen some but they are still in the testing/r&d stages. But let's assume for the sake of argument that these never see the light of day. The question then rears it's ugly head. Is the DCI desleeving policy doing what it intended to do? Is it allowing situations to occur that are unsportsmanlike? What can be done to change this? I hope that this has been a little bit informative if somewhat dry. I would like to hear some intelligent responses maybe even from the rules gurus on this one. I think that it's high time that the Rules Teams take a look at this issue long and hard. I do not believe that 'because we've always done it that way' is a legitimate reason for keeping a bad rule in power. I am sure that this rule was viable at one point but I think that the game, the cards, the sleeves and the players have evolved to a level far beyond this ruling.