How strict are the rules about sleeving at FNM?
Asked by Awded 11 years ago
I'm starting to amass a few expensive cards and I would like to have those, when stored, into perfect fit sleeves and when comes the time to play, have everything in normal sleeves, some therefore being double sleeved.
What I understand is that because of the varying thickness, my deck would not be legal at tournaments. However, would it still be acceptable for friday night magic?
Epochalyptik says... #2
Your deck should be sleeved uniformly or not at all (sometimes the latter is not an option).
At FNM, you might skate by because the rules are more lenient. It would be appropriate for you to either double sleeve the remaining options or remove the perfect fits from your cards.
January 17, 2014 2:09 p.m.
In casual games, I feel like having some cards double-sleeved an some only single-sleeved is perfectly acceptable. It might be possible to tell them apart with a bit of practise, but I feel like in many non-tournament settings players won't really care. I do partial double-sleeving of a good number of my EDH decks, and I can't tell the difference between single- and double-sleeved cards when I'm playing, but I haven't tried.
In a tournament, you should probably have every card be sleeved the same. It would be very easy (and reasonable) for players to accuse you of cheating if different cards are sleeved differently, and many judges and TOs would probably side with them. Consider that there have been scenarios where players have been cheating by having one or two playsets of cards in foil and nothing else; some people are, with practise, able to feel the difference between a foil and non-foil card, in part due to the bending which foils bring. PerfectFit and ProFit sleeves significantly increase the thickness of the card, and I would consider them marked in any sort of competetive setting.
Note: I am not a judge and rarely play in tournaments, but I play a lot of EDH. This is just what makes sense to me.
January 17, 2014 4:16 p.m.
Nightstlkr says... #4
Ask your local shop, as well. The one by me everyone knows eachother pretty well so the rules are very minimal, but that doesn't mean your place by you, or even an individual, would approve. assume that it wouldnt happen and be prepared to drop the few bucks for the perfect fits for every card, but it doesnt hurt to ask; especially if you know every person in a given event.
TL;DR- youre not supposed to, but some people will let it slide.
Devonin says... #1
If there is any way for you or anybody else to tell one card from another while they are hidden information (in your library etc) then it's not legal. If you're really worried about someome accusing you of rigging your deck by sleeving some cards one way and some cards another, you'll have to just suck it up and doublesleeve the whole deck.
Generally though, I'd say a perfect fit inside a dragonshield is pretty indistinguishable from a card in just a dragonshield. You'll most likely be fine. But if you have -any- way to tell them apart, it's not cool regardless of REL.
January 17, 2014 1:49 p.m.