League Standings Updates, Heading Into Home Stretch of Period 1!

Hey guys!
  I thought you'd all like an update on how the standings are going for Innistrad League.

Right now we have 6 players: myself, David "Ducky" McKnight, Marcus, Jenn, Wayne Eanes, and Tiff Higgins.

We started off strong with 5 of those 6 players starting 2 Saturdays ago. We have since added Tiff and she's got a League match and some trades under her belt.

Since the last update, we've had the following happen:

* Marcus completed one more match against Ducky, winning it 2-1.
* Wayne and I have completed 2 league matches (the most we can do against each other). He won both, taking one 2-1 and the other 2-0.
* I beat Tiff today, going 2-0.

The updated standings are as follows:

Marcus: 12 Points (UNDEFEATED! And needing 1 more match to count for points)
Wayne: 9 Points (Needing to complete 1 match to count his points)
Preston: 6 Points (and completed all my matches. :)  I'm going for replacement points now.)
Jenn: 0 Points (2 Completed and 3 remaining)
Ducky: 0 Points (1 completed, 1 in progress against Wayne, and 3 more needed after)
Tiff: 0 Points (1 completed, needs 4 more)

I've also run into a snafu with new player additions. I only have enough boosters left to add 1 more person this weekend, then I have to wait until I get a new box. What this means is that some players are gonna start further behind than they already are if they start within the next 2 weeks just because of a supply issue.

So we're fixing that (and I'll make a separate post about it here as well).

Since we have our quarterly Post-Release on February 11th, which is usually a League Saturday (where we finish up our Period matches, do prizes, and distribute the next pack), instead of counting for a new points period from January 28th through February 11th we'll do a "Bonus Period." You'll still get your pack on the 28th, but there will be no prizes on the line. You'll only pay $2.75 to get your next pack. Then, during those 2 weeks, you can complete up to 3 total matches (total may change based on feedback) to replace previous bad match scores with improved new ones. Then, after the Dark Ascension Post-Release, we'll start back on a normal schedule: you'll get 1 pack of Dark Ascension to add to your League pool and $5 will cover your entry for that period.

Again, I apologize for what may be some forced delays in getting started. I'm hoping the Bonus Period helps make up for it.

If you have any questions, let me know! I'd be happy to help. :)

Innistrad League, Week 1 Update!

Hey all! A few things to update you all on the Innistrad League:

1) Because deck building took so long today, I'm extending the time to earn points for the opening 2-week period to 1:30 PM on January 14th. At 1:30, I'll calculate the totals, we'll do prizes, and then add a new pack to our League pools.

2) From the 14th until the end of the League, you'll have until 1:30 PM 2 weeks later to earn your points for a certain 2-week period. This should allow time without having to worry about deck building/modifying time.

3) To be eligible for overall prizes, I'll keep registration open until the morning of January 28th. By that point we'll have 1 pack added to our pools with a second one coming at the end of the day.

4) Do you want me to get score pads for you to keep track of your matches and match records more easily?

5) We're looking to shorten up the League total run time from May to April, possibly sooner. What do you all think?

Remember, you can still get in on this first round of Innistrad League up through the start of the day January 14th. After that you'll be running for the second 2-week stint between the 14th and 28th. After the 28th, no new entries will be accepted.

As for how things ran today, we got 5 people initially signed up (and plenty of room for more! :) ). We also got 5 full matches done and here are the results so far:

Marcus: 9 points
Wayne: 3 points
Preston: 3 points
David: 0 points
Jenn: 0 points

I know I've already changed my deck around quite radically due to some unexpected variances in how a few of our players are running their decks. This sets up for an interesting League moving forward. :)

Don't Forget, Innistrad League Starts THIS SATURDAY (12/31)!

It's the moment we've all been waiting for...for months, literally!

We're set to start out Innistrad League this upcoming Saturday, 12/31!

Initial entry fee is $18.50. This gets you 6 packs of Innistrad to use in a Sealed Deck that will be used in part during the duration of the League, which runs through May unless we decide to shorten it (which we'll talk about Saturday).

The $2 over the normal entry fee goes to prizes. Here's what we'll have in the first 2-week prize pool:

* 1 pack of Innistrad
* 1 Animate Dead from Premium Deck Series: Graveborn
* 1 Exhume from Premium Deck Series: Graveborn
* 1 Buried Alive from Premium Deck Series: Graveborn
* Cards from 2 packs of Innistrad and/or Magic 2012


These cards will be placed on a table after the 2-week period is over and, starting with the player with the most points and working down and back around, each player will pick 1 thing from the prize table until everyone is either happy with what they have or prizes run out.

Also remember, you get a free Tormented Soul promo card just for playing the League!


If you have any questions, the rules are a few posts down from this one. Feel free to leave feedback or E-mail me directly (CardGameNut@gmail.com).

We hope to see you Saturday! :)

First Prize Pack for Innistrad League (Mostly) Decided

Here's what I'm looking to put into the first prize pool of Innistrad League for splitting, to be given out January 14th for the 2 weeks running December 31st through January 13th (assuming 6 players minimum):

* 1 full pack of Innistrad
* 1 Buried Alive from Premium Deck Series: Graveborn
* 1 Exhume from Premium Deck Series: Graveborn
* 1 Animate Dead from Premium Deck Series: Graveborn
* Contents of 2 packs of M12 and/or Innistrad, to be picked one card at a time

The 2 packs will be opened and their contents splayed out before the winner has to make any choices on whether they'd pick a single card or the full pack of Innistrad. So the prize table will have 33 single cards plus a full pack of Innistrad on it to be picked, starting with the winner of the 2-week period and working our way down and back around until all the prizes are picked or everyone is happy with what they have.

This leaves $2.25 left over if we have 6 players, so I'm thinking of storing that as "extra" toward more prizes into the overall prize pool at the end of League. What do you all think?

Updated Innistrad League Rules: Feedback Needed Still

Hey guys!

I have a new version of the Innistrad League rules up on Google Docs. Go here to view it:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BTJZZCZbTDOq2FkqvlnH81TjqbzZp9KHFao7Gikny8I/edit?hl=en_US


If you have any feedback on any aspect of the League or feel some rules could be clarified better, whatever the feedback is, feel free to leave it here or contact me directly (CardGameNut@gmail.com).

We will start on December 31. That's one week from this upcoming Saturday. Whatever I get no feedback on, I'm going to keep, so I encourage you to let me know if you disagree with any aspect of these rules.

Thank you for your time and effort to help ensure a fun League for everyone! :)

Innistrad Initial Rules Posted

Hey guys!
  Follow the link below for the initial Innistrad League details. Feel free to post any feedback here.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BTJZZCZbTDOq2FkqvlnH81TjqbzZp9KHFao7Gikny8I/edit?hl=en_US

Any and all feedback is welcome! :)

Preliminary Innistrad League Details (FINALLY!)

Okay, guys. Preliminary information about Innistrad League! (FINALLY! lol!)


Start date: December 31st


Run time: Roughly 14 weeks, give or take depending on feedback.


Basic Prize Support: Everyone gets a free promo Tormented Soul for playing (while supplies last). Devil's Play promos will be included at random periods as part of a bi-weekly further prize split. Other basic prize support TBD.


Entry Fee: $16.50 will get you 6 packs of Innistrad to use in constructing a minimum 40-card deck. Trades within the League will be allowed (details TBA). Also, add $2 to help with further prize support every 2 weeks (details TBA).


Pack Additions: Packs will be added every 2 weeks at $2.75 per pack, 1 pack at a time. This means on Week 3 you'll be at 7 packs, Week 5 up to 9 packs, etc.


Further Prize Support: I wish to incorporate the Graveborn pre-con deck somewhere in here (Premium Deck Series: Graveborn list link is about 4 posts below this). Also, I'll throw in packs of Innistrad either to the winner and/or to split among all the players.


EXACT details are still TBA, most likely tomorrow or Thursday. But I wanted to give a basic run-down and get some feedback before we get official details out.


Who's interested? Who would want to play?


PS: You WILL be able to use your League cards outside of the League. We'll have everyone type out their pack openings and any trades made so each player can have a record of what cards should go back into their League piles when playing for League games. Exact details on how this will work will be posted in the next few days.

Some (Long Overdue) Updates

Hey guys!
  It's been a while since I've done any updates. I apologize for that. School's been so hectic that I haven't had much time for anything else.

1) Innistrad League: I will have some preliminary procedures for Innistrad League this Friday, 11/11.

2) A bit of release news, we've had the front cover for Premium Deck Series: Graveborn. It confirms Entomb as a reprint alongside Buried Alive, Crosis, the Purger, Avatar of Woe (for its 5th reprinting and its 4th in about 2 years' time), and even an alternate art Animate Dead!

Image from DailyMTG.com

Also, on MTGSalvation.com, it's rumored that there will indeed be 1 Mythic Rare and it will be from Shards of Alara block. (Like we need any more foil Alara reprints??) The big contenders for that spot are Thraximundar, Sedris, the Traitor King, Sphinx of the Steel Wind, and Empyrial Archangel.

We'll see which Mythic gets the nod, along with possibly the full decklist, this upcoming Monday. I'll post the list when it goes up, so stay tuned!

3) Next Saturday, November 19th, we will not be meeting at the church for SMM.

4) I need tournament ideas. If you've got something you want to try, let me know and I'll see where I can fit it into the schedule. Remember, though, that you need to have at minimum rules and tournament procedures ready 2 weeks before the tournament date minimum. If you want something to go up for a vote, let me know and I'll post a poll here and on Facebook.

5) Personal request more than anything: I'm looking to pick up a Tundra (yeah, I know, that's ironic considering I traded my then-"extra" one. lol!). I'll take it in any condition, language, etc. as long as it's sleeve-playable. Cheapest tournament-playable versions are much more preferable. lol! I can trade toward it or mix cash and trades. E-mail me (CardGameNut@gmail.com) if you can help out.

That does it for me for now. Any comments or questions feel free to post them here or E-mail me.

Take care all! :)

Who's Interested: Innistrad League?

Hey guys!
  Nathaniel and I want to get a preliminary count of who would be interested in doing an Innistrad league.

  Here's the basics of how it will work: When we start the league, you'll get 6 packs of Innistrad and you'll build a Sealed Deck from your 6 packs and any trades you make from your league stuff only (ie: You can't use cards you didn't open in those 6 packs to trade for league stuff to use for your league deck). You'll play other people in the league each week to earn points. Every so often (time frame still TBD), you'll add 1 pack to your league collection and can modify your deck even more. (And at a certain point, we may up the minimum deck count, but that detail is still TBD). We'll continue battling and adding packs until a certain cutoff (still TBD). We'll figure out what we'll do, if anything, for prizes then.

  While we don't have specifics, we would like to get what the interest level is. Entry fee would be a minimum of $16.50 to get in (the price of 6 Innistrad packs) and $2.75 for each additional pack until we hit our cutoff date.

  Is there any interest so far? Nathaniel is working on details and hopefully we'll have those soon. I know he, I, Wayne, and one other are interested, so we have 4 so far. We'd like to get as many people as we can, though. But do note that telling us of your interest does not obligate you to play. It's just to gauge how many we can expect so we'll know if we need to buy additional product, know what kind of prizes (if any) we could do, etc.

Thanks! :)

Innistrad Post-Release October 8th! Details Here

Hey guys!

We're coming up on yet another new set. I can't believe how fast these things fly! But that's okay. It's just more Magic fun and goodness we get to have, right?


INNISTRAD POST-RELEASE TOURNAMENT


WHEN: Saturday, October 8th.

START TIME: 10:30 for announcements, 10:45 for actual drafting.
     NEW: I will take Pre-Registrations for the Post-Release. You do not have to pre-pay. This will help me determine how many people I can expect and plan out how the day will go roughly. Also, if you are Pre-Registered and running late due to traffic or unforseen circumstances, contact me and I might be able to extend the start time by a few minutes to allow you time to get here.

FORMAT: Innistrad Draft utilizing 3 packs of the new set Innistrad.

DRAFTING RULES: When you open a pack, write down any and all Rares and Foils you see in your pack. Then, pick one card and pass the rest to your left. Once everyone is done picking a card, reach for the next pack coming around, pick a card, and pass to the left again. Do this until everyone has 14 cards (I'll explain this later). Then, after everyone's had a few moments to review what they picked, do the same process for the second pack but pass to the right this time. Finally, open the 3rd pack and repeat the process, going back to the left for this final pack.

DRAFTING PODS: Should we have 9 or fewer people in the tournament, we will put everyone into a single "draft pod", or circle of people drafting. At 10-18 people, we will do 2 pods of ~5-9 people each (depending on what half of our total attendance is), and so on.

DECK CONSTRUCTION: You will build a minimum 40-card deck utilizing the cards you drafted PLUS any basic lands you may need. We will provide basic lands.
  NOTE: In Limited-type events, you are not limited by the "4-of maximum" rule. If you draft 8 copies of a card you really like and want to use all 8, nothing's stopping you from using all 8 in your main deck.

PRIZES:

1) While supplies last, everyone will receive...

    A) Mayor of Avabruck/Howlpack Alpha Double-Faced Card Pre-Release Promo

Both Images from Epic Puzzles & Games

    B) Ludevic's Test Subject/Ludevic's Abomination Double-Faced Card Release Promo

Images from Epic Puzzles & Games

    So new or returning players may be wondering "wait...Double-Faced Cards? What in the world??" Yes, you read that right. Double-Faced Cards are cards that are useable on either side of a Magic card, thus they don't have a traditional Magic: The Gathering card back. It's an experiment from Wizards of the Coast to try and make Werewolves, Vampires, and other horror tribes feel the way you'd expect them to: small and innocuous at first, but when the moon rises they turn into fierce creatures!

    You can read the rules on Double-Faced Cards here: Double-Faced Rules from Wizards of the Coast. As well, I'll go over all this before the draft starts.


2) In addition, depending on how many people sign up, I may give out 1-3 booster packs as prizes to the top couple of players.


3) In addition, everyone gets to reserve 1 (one) Rare/Mythic Rare or foil card from the packs they open themselves.
    Example: You open pack 1 and get a Rooftop Storm (a Rare). After all the cards are drafted from the first pack, you open the second pack and get a Garruk Relentless/Garruk, the Veil-Cursed double-faced card (a Mythic Rare). After the second pack is completely drafted and you open the 3rd pack, you see a Sulfur Falls (a Rare) and a foil Traben Sentry/Thraben Militia (a Common). You may choose only from among those 4 cards which 1 (one) you want to keep without worrying about it going into the prize pool.
    NOTE: You may wait to see what all goes into the prize pool before deciding if you want to reserve a card.

4) Further in addition, after the tournament is over, all players will put all Rares/Mythic Rares and foils into a big prize pool (except for the ones that were reserved). We may also add the contents of an opened Innistrad pack to the pile if money allows. Starting in finishing order, anyone who did not reserve a card from their packs will choose one card that's left and take it. The process continues down the finishing order until everyone has 1 (one) card. Then, starting back in finishing order and going until all cards are taken, each player will take 1 (one) card at a time.



INNISTRAD-SPECIFIC ISSUES
  Because of Double-Faced Cards and their Checklist Cards, we will modify a few things about the drafting procedure based on the nature of such cards.

A) Exclusion of Basic Lands from Packs: Because Checklist Cards take the place of Basic Lands, we will for the first time in SMM history exclude the Basic Land from packs. The Checklist Card, used essentially as a legal proxy for Double-Faced Cards, are not playable in and of themselves so must be removed. And since they take the place of Basic Land cards in 75% of Innistrad packs, I figure the fairest thing to do is to not only knock the Checklist Cards out of the pack but also the Basic Lands so that everyone has 14 cards with which to start drafting in their pack.

B) Distribution of Checklist Cards: This will depend entirely on how many Double-Faced Cards some people drafted into their main deck. Because there's 1 Double-Faced Card per pack but not necessarily 1 Checklist Card per pack, we may have to ration everyone to a certain number of Checklist Cards. I will give first priority on Checklist Cards to those who are not using opaque sleeves, then anyone else who wants to use Checklist Cards in place of their Double-Faced Cards will be able to while the Checklist Cards last.

C) Double-Faced Cards Themselves: Wizards of the Coast had a policy ready to go...then tweaked it last night. Here's the rules for drafting with Double-Faced Cards in general:
   1) Every pack has 1 (one) Double-Faced Card, so everyone will have to draft with them.
   2) While the card is in the pack, you may attempt to conceal it as best as you can.
   3) Changed from previous Wizards of the Coats policy: If you pick a Double-Faced Card, it goes on top of your draft pile and cannot be concealed until you pick another card and put it on top of the Double-Faced Card.
   4) If you are not using opaque sleeves, be sure to let me know so I can give you first priority on Checklist Cards. Then, as supplies from the packs last, it's first-come first-served on Checklist Cards. Finally, I'll have some available for $.05 each if we run out of the ones from the packs.




If you have any other questions or any concerns or suggestions, feel free to comment or E-mail me at CardGameNut@gmail.com

We hope to see you on the 8th! :)

Some Updates on Double-Faced Cards and Checklist Cards

Hey guys!
  I don't know if you've quite absorbed the Double-Faced Card (DFC) stuff from last night yet. If you haven't, be sure to read the post right below this one.

  Now, since last night a few clarifications have come up as to how often Checklist Cards will come out of packs and how Double-Faced Cards will be treated in gameplay and tournaments. I have no links for this stuff, unfortunately, but I'm sure once the set is released more of it will be officially posted.

1) (At least?) One Double-Faced Card will be in each Innistrad pack.
  One of the questions that came up overnight was due to the fact that Double-Faced Cards are in a way open information and that a player is not required to hide any facet of it.

  So the question came up, "Then how do you overcome some of the inherent disadvantages in drafting?" One of those disadvantages came as this: "If I and 2 others open a pack and have a Double-Faced Card, while 5 others at my Pod don't, that gives those 5 a HUGE advantage, doesn't it?"

  Some of that disadvantage was offset by the (extended) ruling that you CAN hide your Double-Faced Card using reasonable methods. But the fact that you're going to extra lengths just to hide a card shows you're looking at a Double-Faced Card.

  Well, now everyone at the table will be hiding cards. For Innistrad (and I presume the rest of the block), everyone who opens packs will have at least one Double-Faced Card. That way everyone will be scurrying to find a way to hide their card, so just doing that doesn't tip off anyone.



2) Converted Mana Costs of Night Side Up Cards
  Someone gets a Mayor of Avabruck (casting cost 1G) out and it has transformed into Howlpack Alpha. You get an Engineered Explosives sitting with 2 charge counters on it.

  Question: Can you use the Engineered Explosives to destroy the Howlpack Alpha?

  Answer: NO!!!

  Matt Tabak, head of the rulings side of Magic, posted on Twitter that the Converted Mana Cost of a Double-Faced Card showing the Dark part is 0.

  So by extension, this means if you wanna get rid of Howlpack Alpha by way of Engineered Explosives, you'll have to force it to transform back into Mayor of Avabruck and then use the Explosives.

3) Face-Down Double-Faced Cards?
  A question came up about how Ixidron would work with Double-Faced Cards.

  The answer: It doesn't. Double-Faced Cards have no "face-down" side. Both parts of the card are considered to be face-up at all times, thus they can never be turned face-down.


  This also means you can't use Illusionary Mask with Double-Faced Cards either.

  "What about using Checklist Cards?" Checklist Cards are effectively legal proxies. They behave exactly the same as any Double-Faced Card. So, while that idea is clever, it won't work.



4) Checklist Card Frequency
  Another issue that came up was this: "So we can use Checklist Cards if we're not using opaque sleeves or just prefer all our cards to have the regular card backing. But how often will I come across these in packs?"

  The answer came from Mark Rosewater on Twitter. Roughly 3/4ths (75%) of Innistrad packs will have a Checklist Card in place of the land for the pack.


Does this mean the Checklist Card is a draftable card? I don't know. What I'd assume is we'd start putting Checklist Cards and land cards in with the Tokens/Tips & Tricks when we draft. We'd have to ditch the Checklist Cards because they have no value unless you're using them in place of a Double-Faced Card. At that point, they're not additional cards for your decks but rather more like proxies. Then, to even out the pack count for everyone, since Checklist Cards take the place of Innistrad basic land cards we'd probably just also ditch the basic land for Innistrad block only.

Of course, more official details will come as to how to deal with drafting and what to do with the Checklist Cards. I'm just speculating on how I'd expect things to go.


What do you think? Do you like Double-Faced Cards from a casual perspective? Tournament perspective? In general? How about these new rules about them?

The Big Mystery of Innistrad: Day/Night Mechanic EXPLAINED!

(All information comes from here: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/157b)

A funny thing happened a few days ago. A promo image came up on MTGSalvation.com, seemingly showing two sides of the same creature.

Image from MTGSalvation.com Forums

It looks like this is a Mayor of Avabruck that can somehow become Howlpack Alpha. Notice the "3/3" and the arrow-like direction signaler pointing to the right side of the card. One part of the card appears to have a sun symbol and the other a moon symbol, seemingly depicting a Day and Night side.

"Wait...what does this mean?" people asked. They examined the card picture. "It's gotta be 2 sides of the same creature. I wonder how they'll pull that off..."

"Are we sure it's the same creature and not 2 different cards?" Answer: "It's 193a for the Mayor side and 193b for the Howlpack side."

"Maybe they'll use tokens for the Night side?" "Maybe they'll put the Night side on the back of the card's Day side." "Fools! They never printed an alternate card back BECAUSE of problems playing with different card backs."


Well...tonight we got our answer.

It's PAX Prime this weekend, and since at least last year Wizards of the Coast throws a party to celebrate the upcoming new set.

They revealed 3 Night/Day cards...but didn't reveal HOW they'd work.

Then we got our answer at Midnight.

DAY/NIGHT MECHANIC RULES


1) The Basics
Day/Night cards will be double-sided cards. That's correct! For the first time in a tournament-legal Magic release, some cards will not have a traditional "Deckmasters" card back.

Day and most Night cards will have a "transform" ability. This will be a condition that, when met, forces you to flip the card from one face to the other.

FOR EXAMPLE...

From MTGSalvation.com

So let's say it's your turn. On your upkeep, you check to see if anyone cast any spells in the previous turn. If they did not, you get to transform (flip over) Gatstaf Shepherd into this...

Image from MTGSalvation.com

So if you can somehow keep your opponent from casting spells, you'll get this guy on your next upkeep. Not bad, eh? 2 mana potentially nets a 3/3 Green Werewolf creature with Intimidate.

"Wait...it's got no mana symbols. Do you know it's green because of the border?"

Nope! There's an official way to tell the color. See the green dot right directly to the left of the word "Creature" in the type line (just below the illustration)? That dot denotes the creature's color(s). So Gatstaf Howler is green because the colored dot next to "Creature" is green, not because the frame is green.

But now we see another Transform Trigger: At the beginning of each upkeep, if a player cast two or more spells last turn, transform Gatstaf Howler. So on ANY upkeep, if ANY player cast two or more spells during the last turn, guess what you get back?

And on your turn, in order to get your 3/3 back, you'll have to cast nothing so on your opponent's upkeep you can transform into the Howler.

Easy as mud? lol!

Let's try this again. Pay attention to Screeching Bat in this 3-card picture.

Image from MTGSalvation.com

Screeching Bat is normally a 2/2 black Bat creature with Flying and a Transform Trigger. You may pay 2BB on your upkeep to transform the bat. What does it transform into? Just FLIP THE CARD OVER!

Image from MTGSalvation.com

It now becomes a black 5/5 Vampire creature named Stalking Vampire with ANOTHER Transform Trigger. (Quiz question: How do I know it's a black creature? If you said "because of the black dot next to 'Creature'", you've got the hang of it!) If you pay 2BB again during your upkeep, you transform Stalking Vampire. What does it transform into?

If you guessed the Screeching Bat, you're right! You would just flip the card back over.

NOW, then, here's the million dollar question...HOW THE HELL DOES DECK-BUILDING WORK WITH THESE DOUBLE-SIDED CARDS!?!?!?






2) Deck Construction with Double-Sided Cards


Since Double-Sided Cards don't have a normal Magic "Deckmaster" card back, if left unsleeved they'd be marked cards and you'd get penalized.

Wizards of the Coast thought of 2 solutions to this.

A) Play with Opaque Sleeves
The easiest way for a player to solve the problem is to just get opaque sleeves. Then the sleeves' backs will be showing and you'll have no problems. If you need to Transform a card, just take it out of its sleeves, flip the card over, and put it back in the sleeve.

If you do use opaque sleeves, be sure that the DAY side is the one that's showing initially face-up at all times except when in the transformed state, which can only happen on the Battlefield. The day side is the side with the mana cost, making it the default position.

B) Play with Checklist Cards
In most packs of Innistrad, you'll find what's called a "Checklist Card" and looks like this...

Image from MTGSalvation.com

Checklist Cards have a normal Magic back side. If you are not using sleeves or do not wish to use the actual double-faced cards in deck construction, you can replace them with these Checklist Cards and use them to stand in for the double-faced card on a 1-to-1 basis (that is, for every one double-sided card you take out, you use exactly 1 Checklist Card to replace it).

To properly use a Checklist Card, first take a double-faced card from your deck and set it off to the side. Then, take a Checklist Card and fill in the bubble next to the DAY SIDE'S CARD NAME. Then put the Checklist Card into your deck. There, it'll act as the double-faced card you said it'll represent until you're ready to actually use the double-faced card in play.

If you use a Checklist Card to replace at least one double-faced card, all other double-faced cards MUST be replaced by Checklist Cards. Also, a single Checklist Card replaces exactly one double-faced card.

So lets say you have no sleeves but want to use a Gatstaf Shepherd/Gatstaf Howler and a Screeching Bat/Stalking Vampire.

First, take out the Gatstaf Shepherd/Gatstaf Howler. Set it off to the side.
Next, take a Checklist Card and fill in the bubble next to Gatstaf Shepherd. Remember, only the DAY names are listed, so don't go looking for Gatstaf Howler anywhere on the Checklist Card.
Finally, put the Checklist Card in your deck face-down like a regular Magic card.

Repeat that process to replace your Screeching Bat/Stalking Vampire, but instead fill in the bubble next to Screeching Bat instead of Gatstaf Shepherd.

BE SURE TO USE A WRITING UTENSIL THAT WILL NOT SHOW UP ON THE BACK OF THE CARD. Any issues with that will result in your card being considered marked.

Clear as mud? GOOD! Play Magic Online. It'll be a lot easier, I'm sure. lol!!!

Now here's yet another question...what about drafting!?!?!?!?






3) Drafting with Double-Faced Cards
Drafting can get pretty tricky with double-sided cards. While they're still in their packs (as in, not yet picked), they are OPEN INFORMATION. A player may choose to show either side of a double-faced card and is not required to hide any information on it. However, players may take reasonable steps to conceal the identity of any double-faced cards. Regular-faced cards still follow the same hidden information rules: No player can look at a single-sided card except the person who's currently picking from among cards in that pack.

As for when you do pick a Double-Sided Card, you have a few options. Universally, as of Innistrad, you are not required to keep your drafted cards in the same pick order as how you picked them. While we do things more casually at SMM and already follow this new rule, keep in mind for the next few weeks at DCI-sanctioned events that technically you should not be putting cards out of order from how you picked them.

What this now allows is for you to be able to hide more effectively any double-sided cards you pick (though it's not just double-faced cards that can be put in out of order). For example, if your 5th pick is a double-faced card, you could grab a Checklist Card, put it on the bottom of your draft pile, and start piling up your double-faced cards right above it however you wish ("face up"/Day version showing once you go through your pile, or "face down"/Night version showing as you go through your pile).

Other than that, there's no change in how they're drafted.


And to wrap up, we have a mechanics issue...WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU COPY A DOUBLE-FACED CARD?






4) Copying Double-Faced Cards
This one actually gets pretty simple. See, cards that make copies don't have a double face. So if they were to "transform", they'd just turn face-down...if they transformed.

There's a new rule to take care of this, mostly for "copy" cards.

Any non Double-Faced Card that would transform instead does not.


So let's say you have Clone copy a Gatstaf Howler, the Night version of Gatstaf Shepherd. Then a player casts 2 spells after you copy the Howler. On the very next upkeep, you check. A player DID cast 2 or more spells, so Gatstaf Howler transforms back into Gatstaf Shepherd. BUT CLONE, on the other hand, has no back side to transform into. Therefore, Clone just sits there, still as a copy of Gatstaf Howler. :)


I hope that was all clear as mud for you all. lol! I'm sure there will be lots of questions. Feel free to post them here or E-mail me.

I'll be back later today with more reveals from Innistrad...including some enemy-paired dual lands, a new keyword, and a new Aura supbtype. :)