Afternoon everyone,

A friend of mine asked me the other day about the legality of using altered/alternative checklist cards in comp REL events.
He wants to strip down a card to the base foil and do another design on there to represent Archangel Avacyn and other cards of that ilk.
My instinct here is to say no, that he should use the real thing or a checklist card but I wanted to check with others before I give him a definite answer. If this is the case as well I'd like to be able to give a good valid reason so that when he comes back with the inevitable ‘why?’ I can answer it.

Thanks,
Aaron

Edited Aaron Strawbridge (June 10, 2016 12:10:02 PM)

No.

All cards played in sanctioned events must comply with all the restrictions in the MTR, and altered art can not change a card to represent a different card. This holds true for checklist cards.

Otherwise, I could turn all my extra Forests into Tarmogoyfs, and Swamps into Black Lotuses … cats and dogs, living together!

d:^D

Could he do a full alter to rest of card as long as he leaves the archangel check box and name intact?

Sure! I've seen some very cool checklist alters; as long as it's clear what card it is, I'm likely to allow it.

It's an interesting question, however, because it doesn't quite fit the criteria for altered art, as stated in the MTR: “provided that the modifications do not make the card art unrecognizable”; arguably, there isn't any recognizable art on checklist cards. However, I think the last sentence in that paragraph is more applicable here: “Artistic modifications also may not obstruct or change the mana cost or name of the card.”

I found a couple of very nice examples, here and here.

However, I'd highly recommend one slight addition to both of those examples - actually fill in the circle next to the card name it represents. As is, those aren't quite compliant, and the Russian ones could cause some problems. (Yes, it's Thing in the Ice - but I had to look, to be sure.)

d:^D

The P/T box is also helpful to recognize cards.