Recently I took part in entering a state tournament where one of the deck checkers told almost every player to re-sleeve their decks. Now I completely understand that some should have probably been, but when I noticed that it was a majority out of just one of the lines having to, it jumped to my attention. I had talked to many players who seemed pretty upset about it, considering upon my look at their sleeves I noticed that they probably shouldn't have had to re-sleeve. After I noticed, and had people tell me of, players that had some nasty sleeves or damaged sleeves that went through other lines that were not told to re-sleeve when they probably should have, making the system very inconsistent. Now I personally think it's no big deal but several people I talked to had to go and purchase new sleeves from the store before the tournament. Now since POP tournament's are usually free some people might not have the money to go spend on sleeves, except for maybe food money, and some people might not carry extra sleeves on them. This might also be discouraging and inconvenient for new or younger players who are just getting into the game and are getting told to buy brand new sleeves after most likely already just purchasing sleeves or using POP legal sleeves that they got from a pre-release that are now being deemed not tournament legal when they are in decent, legal condition. It also seemed pretty silly that everyone kept complaining about how the deck checks were taking too long. It probably would have gone smoother if everyone in one line didn't have to take the deck apart, then buy new sleeves, then re-sleeve their decks.
Also I'd like to say that I know of one situation that someone didn't have "Pokemon themed" or "solid color" sleeves on their decks and were forced to buy new sleeves and re-sleeve. Now I agree with and understand why other images are not allowed on people's sleeves, but to be honest the official POP sleeves are not worth playing with. They look amazing and very pretty and do cover the card enough to protect it. However, having said that, that's all they do. I have (and several others, I'd say most people I've played against) had nothing but problems with all the sleeves manufactured post-Stormfront, and most recently I have played in 2 HGSS Pre-releases and both sets of sleeves were completely torn up and ruined after about 4 games (and I take the utmost care of my cards too, I'm a very delicate player). Also I'd like to address the reflective/mirrored ruling on sleeves. I don't think that they should be allowed period, but I've noticed that in most tournaments I play in have someone who slipped through and gotten away with them. I would immediately bring this up to the judge but I never happen to play those players and I don't even find out until after the tournament that someone has played with them. Some sleeves might just be slightly reflective and you probably couldn't see anything reflected on them but I think there should be a more clear rule on them. Furthermore, I'd like to point out that the Arceus Pre-Release sleeves are highly reflective and I can clearly see and image mirrored on them and because of that I wont use them in tournament play. These sleeves should probably be checked out.
If someone could please just read over this and give me some feedback that would be excellent. I'd also like to say that the reason for this message is because I've noticed this stuff for a long time now and have had enough players come to me about the standing problem and have had some negative feelings on the current rulings which turn into negative feelings on those who are judging and running events. It just seems that the rules concerning sleeves in general are very inconsistent and hazy and left up to the judge's discretion where it's an issue that I believe should be more specific and concrete so we as judges have no question about the rulings so we in turn can better enforce the rules. I'd also like to say that after that kinda slow and unsettling deck check, the judges were very professional and did an amazing job at running the state championship.
Thanks you!
