Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

$8 "entrance fee" for all upcoming BR's

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facism101

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so i just got back from a BR in Ohio, and am now $8.58 poorer due to the new "entrance fee" for the pinnacle of competitiveness that is battle roads. unfortunately, it appeared as though my Giratina pre-release sleeves had damages "beyond the realm of normal wear and tear" and i was forced to buy new PACKS of sleeves. what blew my mind was that the "markings" on my sleeves were so hard to see, you had to hold them up to the light, and move it around until it was at that perfect angle to be able to notice a tiny little scratch. It is obvious to me now that that is the most effective way of playing with marked cards because it looks absolutely normal to hold your cards to the light and observe them as such mid-game to determine whether the prize card your about to be drawing is a rare candy or an energy......

this alone is frustrating enough, having to pay money to enter a free tournament, and then add on top of this the hypocrisy that is selling card sleeves in packs of 50. Is it just me, or is there some serious logic missing there. I cant think of a single TCG that uses 50 card decks. so i have to buy 2 packs of sleeves, and now have 40 left over sleeves with absolutely no value.

this is not just me ranting, i would like to get the input of other players, and if you have experienced similar events. also i would like to let this serve as a warning to everyone planning to go to battle roads. bring money with you so you can buy a new set of sleeves or else you will have to play with unprotected cards, because as of recent everyone is playing with "marked cards".
 
The radical and authoritarian rule of faces.

I think the "entrance fee" you speak of is a very limited, local, isolated event- likely due to the cost of having the event there. It's a rare occurence in the US for this to happen, but if a (P)TO is being charged to have the event at a particular venue, they may have passed that cost onto you.

As for the sleeves, this irks me to no end. What really bothers me is that even Pokemon sleeves only come in sets of 60. What happens when a sleeve breaks? Why not do 65? 63? Packs of 50 are just kind of silly too. You can buy 4 set of 50 (two 100 packs) and have 3 60 sets of sleeves with replacements- this is what I usually do.

This marked card trend is so bothersome. I've had judges make me re-sleeve decks that were sleeved IMMEDIATELY before deck check in BRAND NEW sleeves.
 
When I saw the title I was like "???!" I think it must have been something to do with the TO, not the tournament itself.

Anyway, I agree that it must be very hard to make use of marked cards as you say, and though I hope I am offending no judges, the rule should be lightened. I had to buy 100 new sleeves at a BR once back when I didn't know that my sleeves were illegal. But seriously, how can having multicolored sleeves benefit you? At least the dude I played against played through the game before telling a judge. I hate the idea of having to buy new sleeves before every tournament.
 
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Multi colored sleeves:

Energy in Green, Basics in Red, S1 in Blue, .....

This is why it is not allowed.

Actually, IMHO, I think the "Marked Sleeve" issue has been one where it was allowed to go so casually for too long. With last years events having a growth in Marked Cards/Sleeves, it was time to drop the hammer to get players ready for the rest of the season.

New Seasons always start of rough for some. Interestingly, for the small amount of "these" posts, there are HUNDREDS of players not complaining. Are they afraid to voice it... not really, just know that these are the RULES.. wait we have these ... and they need to be followed.

Any other Event, form Football to Chess, have rules and the players follow them and the Judges enforce them. Lighten up!

Fish
 
I would recommend changing the title of the thread. The event was FREE, you had to buy replacement sleeves. Player responsibility. We always go to tourneys with extras. A lesson to be learned.

Now, if the judge making the rulings on the resleeving issue(s) is also the store owner, then you may have an issue. Of course, you didnt mention if you were the only one to resleeve or if there were multiple others.

Keith
 
facism101 said:
I cant think of a single TCG that uses 50 card decks. so i have to buy 2 packs of sleeves, and now have 40 left over sleeves with absolutely no value.
Click to expand...
YuGiOh has a 40 card minimum. So, that TCG can use 50 card decks.

You want extras because card sleeves get damaged and even break. Extra card sleeves are not a bad thing.
 
It boggles me to no end as to how much Criticism Ohio has been getting here over the past couple of weeks. Between the "old geezer card shark" and now this. It's making Ohio look like there are a bunch of rules lawyers here everywhere.

It's in the tournament rules that you are responsible to have your own sleeves for your deck, and this means any extras that you may also need. For having 40 sleeves that are a waste to you? You pretty much said that there. You now have 40 extra sleeves in case a couple of them are damaged. Problem solved. Come to a prerelease and get some of the sleeves there. They might not last forever, but at least you'd have an extra pack or two if needed.

We are trying to lay down the hammer on the sleeves issue, so we better prepare those for the higher end tournaments, where nothing is going to be allowed to slide. I'm sorry that this happened to you, but at the same time, it was a learning experience for you. Always learn that extra sleeves are key.
 
Definitely a misleading title, lol.

But yeah, the reason I think sleeves are in packs of 50 is akin to the old hotdog/bun trick: you get what, 10 hotdogs a pack, but buns only come in 8. Really annoying as heck, but they do it to sucker you out of money. Definitely an insult.
 
Wow the title is so off I thought you actually paid 8 bucks just to play lol but ya as every one else said BE PREPARED you never know what will happen so I mean I have sleeves upon sleeves to make sure I am fully ready so noi would also like to know was the pto the store owner ?
 
facism101 said:
so i just got back from a BR in Ohio, and am now $8.58 poorer due to the new "entrance fee" for the pinnacle of competitiveness that is battle roads. unfortunately, it appeared as though my Giratina pre-release sleeves had damages "beyond the realm of normal wear and tear" and i was forced to buy new PACKS of sleeves. what blew my mind was that the "markings" on my sleeves were so hard to see, you had to hold them up to the light, and move it around until it was at that perfect angle to be able to notice a tiny little scratch. It is obvious to me now that that is the most effective way of playing with marked cards because it looks absolutely normal to hold your cards to the light and observe them as such mid-game to determine whether the prize card your about to be drawing is a rare candy or an energy......

this alone is frustrating enough, having to pay money to enter a free tournament, and then add on top of this the hypocrisy that is selling card sleeves in packs of 50. Is it just me, or is there some serious logic missing there. I cant think of a single TCG that uses 50 card decks. so i have to buy 2 packs of sleeves, and now have 40 left over sleeves with absolutely no value.

this is not just me ranting, i would like to get the input of other players, and if you have experienced similar events. also i would like to let this serve as a warning to everyone planning to go to battle roads. bring money with you so you can buy a new set of sleeves or else you will have to play with unprotected cards, because as of recent everyone is playing with "marked cards".
Click to expand...

Many card games have a forty card deck size for drafts, so fifty is a good size so that you have extra. If you buy two packs for a sixty card deck, you have lots of extras for scratches, sideboards, etc.

As it is, I buy penny sleeves for any tournament I will be in and sleeve my deck in brand new sleeves before the tourney and keep the extras for resleeving some between matches.

I always have extra sleeves on me for my decks, I just slide them into the deckboxes, but if there were a marked card situation and I either had to buy new sleeves or play with unsleeved cards, I would most likely play unsleeved.
 
If it was that bad that you had to buy new sleeves, why did you feel that you had to post a misleading thread title?

If the markings were distinct enough to be spotted during a deck check, they were distinct enough to be spotted during a game. Unless you had the world's smallest Battle Road, judges do not have time to hold up every single card and look at it from every possible angle.
 
for the sleeve problem.

you know what you can do?

buy kmc/players choice sleeves.they are the BEST sleeves to use for card games. there is no other in terms of quality.

come in packs of 60.
 
Since there were only a few BRs in Ohio this weekend I'm betting that you are discussing one of them at which I judged in the Columbus area this weekend. And yes, both of the events were FREE. We tried to be very accommodating at both events WITHIN the rules. Our first BR on Saturday was at a library and we knew that players would not have the option to purchase sleeves. I brought many extra of my own as did the PTO. Our second BR on Sunday was at a retail location so we could not simply give away items since you and every other player had the opportunity to purchase what you needed if you did not come prepared. For instance, one player brought a younger sibling and asked for a deck for the sibling. We pointed them to the display of starter decks next to the cash register. There were multiple decks that needed resleeving (sidenote - most were gold garchomp sleeves) and every deck that we requested to be resleeved was checked by ALL THREE JUDGES to see if we could detect the same cards as damaged/marked, etc. I'm sorry if you felt singled out but let me assure you that you were not. We checked every deck at our events to ensure that everyone had a fun and fair tournament.
 
I am interested in knowing which Ohio Battle Road you was at as well. I was the PTO of the Columbus event on Sunday. I am not the store owner, nor am I an employee, as I run multiple events in multiple stores. Also, my judges for that event are also not store employees either, and they work multiple events as well.

The sleeve issue became a hot topic, thanks to what happened last weekend, judges let sleeves slide, and then it became an issue during top cut. So yes, my judges got a little more strict on the sleeves this weekend. It's only going to get stricter during Cities, States, Regionals, Nationals, and Worlds.

But yes, it is the player's responsibility to have extra sleeves or to be prepared to resleeve at an event. Just like dice and damage counters are also the player's responsibility.

We aren't picking on anyone, we are just trying to prevent issues before they come up in the tournament.
 
*sigh*

Is it the judge's fault that the sleeves were not legal? No. Is it Ohio in general? No. Most people know that the sleeves we get from the pre releases are not the best out there, and they wear very easily . Now I am not sure if those are the type of sleeves you were using, is so, then yeah, I would use those for league play, and use better quality sleeves for events. It is not the PTO or the judges fault if you 'believe' there to have been a fee to play, because there was not. It is the players responsibility to bring sleeves legal in the eyes of the judges, and apparently all 3 judges agreed they were not. They were not singling you out, if anything your doing that to yourself by this post.

Also a list of card games that use 50 cards or under

Yu-Gi-oh!
Naruto
Dragonball
Battle Spirits

those are games that still have OP
 
Ware-n-tare, by itself, is not an issue. Yet, more and more, I'm hearing about PTOs/HJs/players who are equating ware-n-tare to "marked cards." By doing so, they are in error.

FYI, here's how the penalty guidelines define "marked cards:"

Penalty Guidelines said:
Cards in a player’s decks that are clearly distinguishable from other cards in the deck are called marked.
Click to expand...

If every sleeve in the deck is randomly worn, then they are not "marked", plain and simple. Any PTO/HJ/player who says otherwise is misinterpreting the Penalty Guidelines.

I'm NOT saying that happen in this situation. I'm saying that ware-n-tare, buy itself, is NOT a penalty.
 
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Unless, of course, Steve, that a few of the cards had those "corner creases" or other edge wearing that was not the same as the other cards.

Even wear is very tough, and I consider myself one of the more lenient on it.

Vince
 
meganium45 said:
Unless, of course, Steve, that a few of the cards had those "corner creases" or other edge wearing that was not the same as the other cards.

Even wear is very tough, and I consider myself one of the more lenient on it.

Vince
Click to expand...
Yeah Vince, like the guidelines state, the "marked" cards/sleeves need to be clearly distinguishable. Random ware-n-tare, where you can't really separate the good from the bad, should not be an issue, nor penalty.

"Even wear" should not be a tough call Vince. So long as the cards/sleeves are uniformly worn, there is no basis for applying a penalty or requiring a re-sleeve.
 
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