Using the "Wald" Missprint in Tournaments

[Julian23]

So at GP Amsterdam, I was intending to run my setup of 2 basic Forest and 1 basic Plains as 2 copies of the FBB Missprint "Wald" with the Plains picture on it. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

So while I'm sleeving my deck, someone walks by and tells me I would surely get a game loss for doing so. Is that true? I'm almost 100% convinced I would not, but feel free to tell me I'm wrong on this. Of course, I'm not talking about using it to cheat, using it as a Plains or sth. like that. I know I could have just asked a judge but I decided to play it über-safe and just exchange them for two different Forests.

[Koby]

It's intentionally trying to misrepresent which card it is. Misprints are not allowed for tournament play, and you may end up getting a stern warning/gameloss/deck mis-reg for using them.

[aahz]

The last time I tried to play missprinted Wald in a tournament (SCG San Jose), I asked the judges first just to be sure and was told it was not allowed. Even if I explicitly explained to each opponent when it came into play what it was (i.e. not a plains).

They're awesome, but not tournament legal unfortunately.

[Julian23]

Ok, I didn't know that.

What about other Missprints? They aren't allowed in general?

[Zolek]

Any misprint that could easily confuse another player as to the card's identity should be avoided in tournaments.

[John Cox]

Crimped cards and miscut cards are often allowed though, I've played both at GPs. In any case, it's best to gets a judges approval first. The same goes for alters.

[thefringthing]

A good heuristic to use is to consider whether someone could correctly identify your misprinted or altered card at a glance. If not, you should probably avoid using the card at competitive tournaments like GPs. Either way, it's best to ask the head judge about it before the tournament, and keep replacements on hand in case the judge decides the alter/misprint isn't appropriate for the tournament.

[cdr]

So at GP Amsterdam, I was intending to run my setup of 2 basic Forest and 1 basic Plains as 2 copies of the FBB Missprint "Wald" with the Plains picture on it. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

So while I'm sleeving my deck, someone walks by and tells me I would surely get a game loss for doing so. Is that true? I'm almost 100% convinced I would not, but feel free to tell me I'm wrong on this. Of course, I'm not talking about using it to cheat, using it as a Plains or sth. like that. I know I could have just asked a judge but I decided to play it über-safe and just exchange them for two different Forests.

You wouldn't get a gameloss. If you were trying to use them to misrepresent or confuse you'd get a DQ; otherwise you'd get told to replace them.

Allowing misprints is up to the HJ's discretion, much like altered cards. The potential for confusion with something like the Wald is very high, so almost no head judge is going to allow it.

[Julian23]

Thanks for all your replies. Guess my Wald is gonna head back to my binder to hang out with all the regular basic lands ;-)

[Octopusman]

A good heuristic to use is to consider whether someone could correctly identify your misprinted or altered card at a glance. If not, you should probably avoid using the card at competitive tournaments like GPs.

I found this interesting because in my opinion most people seeing a revised Seredib Efreet know that it's Serendib Efreet and not Iff-Biff. Right? Wrong?

[DrJones]

Maybe that's true for Serendib because Ifh-biff, being an awesome card as it is on its own right, is sadly underplayed and 99% players can't tell you what the card does without looking at it at gatherer.

But I remember there being a lot of troubles with spanish Serra Angel/Time Elemental, and the less known case of spanish Burrowing/Strip Mine, because both cards were legal at the time and some of the people playing the misprints at tournaments didn't even know which of the parts was the real card.

[John Cox]

It was also really bad with the wald misprint in particular. Ernhamagedon players used to play them as both forest and plains (having plains with the same art in their deck) to mess with their opponents heads back in the day.

[dahcmai]

Odd to hear about some head judges not allowing those. I used one in GP Chicago after I asked the judge there about them. I had to ask them about the numerous foils I use also so I brought it up and they had no problem with it. Probably because I had no other plains or forests to get it confused with.

Interesting to know though.


Isn't there another of those odd misprints like the Wald that is actually a different basic land?

[Julian23]

Yeah, there is:

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6115/6385161125_b8762152a7_z.jpg

[CTCon]

Thanks for all your replies. Guess my Wald is gonna head back to my binder to hang out with all the regular basic lands ;-)

Is that Wald up for trade? I'm trying to collect them up for my EDH deck :)

[aahz]

Hypothetical question for the judgey types: Let's say I'm running Manaless Dredge in a tournament and there is only ONE basic land in the entire 75 just to run Reverent Silence in the board (i.e. 1 Forest/Wald and 4 green fetchlands in the sideboard, the only other lands in the deck are Dryad Arbor(non-FTV) and Dakmor Salvage). Would I be allowed to legally play the misprint Wald as the singleton Forest? Or is that particular misprint just "banned" in principle regardless of actual potential for confusion?

Because I can't see how in this specific case that the notorious Wald could possibly even approach the logic knot that is Manaless Dredge. It is hard to believe that any opponent, regardless of language barriers, could be unfairly tricked by the one Wald in this case but not be cheated just as unfairly, if not more so, by the whole idea of manaless dredge and having to play against it. Sure, there are neophytes that might get confused (even if many have never seen that particular Plains picture before), but isn't that still less confusing than Manaless Dredge for someone who has never seen it before? I can even play legally play that deck without a single card in a language my opponent can read, sometimes even with alterations that further confuse the issue. Some format knowledge is necessary to play Legacy (and other Eternal Formats), so why is the problem always with Wald and not with the players who allow themselves to be tricked/confused because they lack sufficient familiarity with the format?

Mostly just thinking out loud. Feel free to tell me I'm an idiot or shout profanities.

[barcode]

I would absolutely not allow a Wald to be played in a tournament (for any reason) I was HJ for. It's too open to abuse. Yes, we get it, it's neat that you have a misprint but please don't use it.

From the MTR:

Players may use otherwise-legal non-English and/or misprinted cards provided they are not using them to create an advantage by using misleading text or pictures. Official promotional textless spells are allowed in sanctioned Magic tournaments in which they would otherwise be legal.

The Head Judge is the final authority on acceptable cards for a tournament.

[cdr]

No HJ is going to allow a confusing misprint like Wald in a competitive event, sorry.

[stage]

I can't imagine "It's a confusing format already, so I should be allowed to use a misprint which misleads people about what card I'm playing" would persuade many HJ's to let you play the Wald misprint