Cards 55 and 56: Rustling Specter and Mud Plains

The Plains is from Joonas Himmanen and the very special Hypnotic Specter is from Pekka Ahonen. Thank you, gentlemen!

I got these cards during yesterday's FNM.  Joonas's Plains has been worn trough unsleeved play and has accumulated an impressive amount of grime. Pekka's Hypnotic Specter hasn't technically been damaged, but it is utterly unplayable due to a manufacturing error.

The Hypnotic Specter is a Player Rewards foil that Pekka got when they were originally distributed. It has an over sized foil layer due to a manufacturing error, which makes a delightful rustling sound whenever you touch the card. It is literally hypnotic; kind of like popping bubble wrap. Wizards of the Coast kindly sent him a replacement, but he held on to the flawed copy as well. It probably wasn't easy to let such a unique card go, so Pekka deserves superplusthanks for his contribution!

Cards 51 to 54: Worn Goods

All of the above cards were sent by user Jamu from mtgsuomi. Thanks!

The pictured batch of cards arrived in the mail a few days ago. All but the Crashing Boars had been lying on a shelf mixed with a random pile of junk. This has left them with quite a bit of wear and tear. The Crashing Boars was found in a box of cards and Jamu has no idea what had happened to it, but the damage seems deceptively similar to the other cards.

The Torch Song and Crashing Boars have missing corners so they are obviously damaged enough for Wear 'n' Tear. The Plains has a torn left edge but is otherwise not in completely horrible condition and the Swamp has a folded left corner. Basic lands are more than welcome additions, since Wear 'n' Tear has and will probably always have severe mana problems. The Plated Spider however also has a fold line across it, but the damage is hard enough to see that I decided to set it aside for now.

Card 50: Swidden Plateau

This Plateau is the second card sent to me by redditor Zombiesquisher. I owe him a huge debt of gratitude for this and the Sword of Reddit and Tumbling.

I knew to expect something special when I saw another envelope from Zombiesquisher, but I still shed a single manly tear when I opened it and saw what was inside. I cried both in horror of what I witnessed, and in gratitude for getting something this spectacular for Wear 'n' Tear. This card is the very definition of practically mint.

This Plateau comes from another one of Zombiesquisher's friends who was the unfortunate victim of a house fire. Miraculously his Magic cards survived the blaze, but while helping with clearing out the property and moving to a new house, his mother-in-law threw his Legacy and Commander decks in a trash bag. The trash bag was in turn left in a burn pit, but the fire was extinguished by rain during the night. In another miraculous recovery, most of the cards survived the second assault by fire and being doused by rain, except for his Plateau, Underground Sea and Volcanic Island. Zombiesquisher later got his hands on the Plateau and was kind enough to contribute it to this project.

I don't think I need to describe the damage this time, since the pictures above make it painfully obvious what has happened to this card. You can even see the blue layer that Magic cards have inside them as an anti-counterfeiting method. Only thing the photographs fail to capture is the strong smell of smoke emanating from the Plateau. Fittingly, it just became the thirteenth land in Wear 'n' Tear.

Cards ??: Recycled Gold

This time we have a slightly problematic batch of cards to deal with. The Food Chain pictured on the top row came from alias Prote from mtgsuomi earlier this week. The rest of the cards are from alias Jamu from the same site.

Prote got the Food Chain from the collection of a friend of his who had quit magic a long time ago. Among cards that were mostly in good condition he found one Food Chain that wasn't exactly in mint condition. His friend had gotten it in as a throw-in in a trade back when the card was practically a worthless junk rare. This individual card later saw play in a Goblin Food Chain deck in Type 1 but for the past ten years or so it has been tumbling in a desk drawer among other cards.

The Food Chain has a creased fold line across the middle and a curve created probably by pressing it with a thumb on one edge. Both instances of damage look irreversible, but the damage is still subtle enough that I will probably not add it to Wear 'n' Tear even though I wouldn't be comfortable playing it in a tournament nor selling or trading it. It is pretty high on the list of cards that almost made it and might be reconsidered at a later date.

The Angelic Page from Jamu is a very similar case to the Food Chain, but its bends are even more subtle. The rest of his cards are a bit more interesting though, since they aren't really real magic cards. They are the remnants of a 1998 Brian Selden World Championship deck, which was printed with gold borders and the nonstandard back you can see on the top row, so the cards have never been legal in any sort of official play. The deck had been tumbling in another deck drawer roughly since it was first printed and the remaining cards are indeed in a very worn state.

I have been thinking for a long about the inclusion of gold and silver bordered cards and I am still unsure about what to do with them, but I will set these aside for now at least. Every card in the deck is already illegal for tournament play, so these wouldn't technically change anything, but I feel it might be more dramatic if each card in Wear 'n' Tear has had at least some value as a sanctioned magic card before their demise. Feedback on what should be included and what should be excluded is welcome as always.

So far the pile of cards that haven't quite been practically mint enough contains about 25 or so unique cards plus some duplicates, which is a disturbingly large number, so some of them may get another chance at a later date, since it feels bad to reject this many contributions.

Card 49: Mirror Damage

Jaakko Vuorela found the pair of the previously seen Wolf-Skull Shaman. Thank you!

The Rhox and Dimensional Breach are from Jukka Jääskelä, thanks Jukka!

It is time for some more loot from FNM! Jaakko found the Bramblewood Paragon that wears the upper half of the Wolf-Skull shaman I got from him earlier. On it the most distinctive damage is on the reverse side, though it has some material stuck to its front as well. This is what I'd call synergy in a deck!

Jukka had found me yet another foil Rhox and a Dimensional Breach. The Breach has a severely bent bottom edge, but it is probably in too good condition to count for Wear 'n' Tear. The Rhox has the foil layer peeling off from its bottom edges, but since I will probably build this deck using the Singleton rule, I will include two Rhoxes in the deck only for initial 60-card games and remove one of them once we get closer to one hundred cards. This is why the official count is still at 48 cards.

Cards 44-48: Borderline Benchers

Dear readers, please help me figure out where the line between bad enough for Wear 'n' Tear and a playable card goes!

The day after the fat envelope from Oulu, I find an even fatter one in my mail from Vantaa, the maze of suburbs that is almost the capital of Finland. Most of the cards are from the collection of Kalle Saleva, alias Salevanen, one of the L1 judges in the south, but the Ajani's Chosen and Bile Blight are from Toni Routasaari, alias Routton.

Routton's cards are victims of a tragic accident involving a glass of the sugary drink Sprite. Fizzy drinks clearly aren't good for cardboard, since both of the cards are bent badly enough that they almost resemble turbine blades.

Salevanen's contribution to the cause is a massive pile of mostly green and white cards that have been damaged in various ways involving water, rolling around the floor for years et cetera. Not all of the cards have the damage visible enough to count, so I will only mention some highlights.

My favourite inclusion is the fabulous Sphinx Ambassador that came from an anonymous friend of his. It has gotten slightly moist in a pile of cards and the cards had gotten so intimate with each other that she still carries a piece of some other card's back on her. You can even make out the text ''Deckmaster'' on it. The other easy inclusion is the water damaged and slightly worn Pili-Pala that is barely rustic enough for my tastes.

A third standout is the chewed up Remodel, but since it is an un-card I am not entirely sure what to do with it. Since all of the cards in Wear 'n' Tear are technically illegal to play, adding an un-card wouldn't really change the legality of the deck for any format, but I am still tempted to use cards that would be legal for some format if they were not destroyed. I'd like to hear the readers' opinions on this!

The rest of the cards are fairly lightly damaged, and since I have a high tolerance for wear on cards I use in my real decks, most of them feel fineish to me. The played Forest gets a pass because most people don't save destroyed basic lands, so I will have to lower, or raise, my standards when it comes to basics if I am ever going to cast any spells with this deck. The rest of the cards will have to wait on the team bench. Reader feedback about these cards would also be welcome!

Cards 40, 41, 42 and 43: Oulu Ruins Everything

When I came home yesterday, I found a mysterious envelope from the northern city of Oulu in my mailbox. The Magic players of Oulu are known for their fondness for multiple substance abuse with a mix of Magic and alcohol.  In a recent gaming session in a local bar a group of fine gentlemen had pooled their practically mint cards together and sent it to me. I find this awesome.

The Ninja is from Vesa Kauppinen, alias Naabi. It bears marks of a rather typical bending accident, which is more clearly visible on its back side. Those of you who have made the mistake of storing decks in a Fat Pack box certainly know the cardboard ledge inside the lid of the box. I know I do, and this Ninja is evidence that Naabi found out about it when he was a fresh Magic player. The consensus in Oulu is that the creature must have used Ninjutsu to save some more expensive card and entered combat with the box in its stead. Kids, be careful around Fat Packs! There won't always be a Ninja around to save your investments.

The Mind Bend and Crookshank Kobolds are from Sami, alias Neuroosi, who is the diligent gentleman who gathered these cards. The Mind Bend matches its name by being more than a little bent. It comes from a shared pool of cards and none of the involved players know or admit what exactly has happened to it. It seems safe to assume it has had beer poured on it when games have gotten a little wild. The kobold that kept it company on the journey to Central Finland isn't actually destroyed, but Neuroosi thinks that all proper decks need a kobold. I am not convinced, but I do know that all proper decks need a Tarpan, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt in case they also need a kobold.

The NM- Deep Spawn, Swamp and Morinfen are from the alias Edvin. The Deep Spawn was found behind the radiator of his old rental apartment. How it got there will forever be a mystery, but the card looks like it has been lovingly played with for quite some time. The Swamp and Morinfen were included in a cheap purchase of bulk cards Edvin made. The Swamp has its foil layer partially peeled off very much like the Rhox from the previous post, but this is a bit harder to see on it. I still find it barely bad enough for Wear 'n' Tear. The Morinfen is a bit wavy and has probably been damaged by water, but the damage is so light I am not comfortable with adding it to the deck.

Cards 38 and 39: Collegial Veterans

These practically mint cards were given to me by a fellow student Otto Ikäheimonen at the Department of Physics. Thank you!

The Practically Mint editing office has received a veritable flood of cards the past few days, the first two of which are these two creatures that have seen a good amount of play. I saw Otto in the university yesterday and he surprised me by donating a foil Rhox and a practically mint Urborg Drake for Wear 'n' Tear.

Both of the cards have been damaged trough continued use and slight carelessness, so there is no specific event that led to them being this way. The Rhox has had its foil layer partially come loose and the drake has had both of its top corners folded or crushed. Damage like this on foils is often hard to see in photographs, but luckily the top right corner of the card happened to catch light in just the right way so you can see the damage.