Limited Grand Prix Day 2s as well as the limited portions of Pro Tours are played with regular Magic cards that have been stamped so they can be uniquely identifiable.

 

 

Why do we stamp product?

 

Card Pool Registration

 

So that limited tournaments are fair, it is It is essential that players do not alter the content of their limited card pools. To achieve this, we make players register a card pool that doesn’t belong to them.

Note: That’s why we’ve for years used the “deck swap” system, which was flawed in terms of player experience.

 

Because the card pool was registered by somebody else than the owner, then the owner cannot safely add cards to their limited decks as these decks would not match their decklist. Indeed, why would the registrant help the player to cheat in any way?

Note: That’s why we nowadays discourage making a Seat All Players by name

 

 

Stamping Product

 

Card Pool registration does hinder Cheating quite a bit, but doesn’t prevent it entirely. That’s why at Professional events, we aim at providing a better player experience by providing stamped product:

• Players can in a glance check that the cards played by their opponents actually belong to the current Booster Draft (or Team Sealed for Team Trios)
• It is stamped by a 100% unbiased party, making a coincidence of two players knowing each other sitting in front of each other irrelevant.
• It does avoid the lengthy process of card pool registration by another player.
• And as a corollary prevents secrecy of the content of a player’s booster draft.

 

In essence, stamping product is the equivalent of having your card pool registered by another player, with more benefits to players.

 

 

 

Lost cards and Stamped Product

 

Stamping does bring incredible benefits. However, there is one drawback: If a player loses the original stamped card, there is no way they can prove they legitimately drafted or opened this card.

Indeed, the accuracy of their Card Pool has not been confirmed by another party, which could lead to the following:

A player first picks three rares. They register on their decklist three other rares that they brought with them.

When the first round begins, they call the judge to claim they lost three cards. After the judge fetched the decklist, the player has ten minutes to find them, which were conveniently brought by them.

Obviously, this case is extreme and looks suspicious. Nevertheless, there are quite a few ways to do it in a way less visible way (by replacing commons which would go unnoticed for instance)

 

The (O)fficial Ruling

Therefore, because maintaining integrity of our events is important,

Judges cannot allow players to replace lost cards during any limited portion using stamped product. If a stamped card is lost, it needs to be replaced by a basic land for Game 1 if it was part of the Main Deck.

 

Kevin Desprez.