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.

Cards 34-37: FNM Spoils

These three cards were donated by Jaakko Vuorela.

The Aetherling is from Ville-Veikko Vähäaho and the Sunstrikers are from Antti Kosonen.

The environmentally conscious Magic players in Jyväskylä recycled some more cardboard yesterday, when I was given the above cards during Friday Night Magic. It's a win/win for everyone and everything. Trash gets properly recycled and my deck gets bigger. Thanks to everyone involved in this!

The Shadowmage Infiltrator, Wolf-Skull Shaman and Goblin Replica from Jaakko are otherwise unrelated to each other. The Finkel he got as a throw-in with some trade and the Goblin Replica has suffered the sorry fate of being stuffed in the pocket of young Jaakko's pants way back when. Carrying Magic cards in your pockets really isn't a good idea, but we can forgive little boys that mistake. The Wolf-Skull shaman has had some sticky drink spilled on it and a bunch of other cards. The distinctive damage is from the drink getting it stuck to some other card and the surface layer ripping off when the cards were separated. Jaakko was unfortunately unable to find the other half of this puzzle yet, but we might see a mirror image of this pattern on some other destroyed card in the future.

The Aetherling from Ville has suffered typical water damage, but I am sadly unable to remember the details of how this happened. It lacks the typical white spots, but it is instead so wavy that you can even see the sexy curves in the picture.  The Ajani's Sunstriker from Antti actually came with an identical pair. They have both been folded to act as protectors for sleeved cards in an envelope. Since they have been intentionally destroyed, I came to the conclusion I can not use them here, so one of them is fulfilling its original purpose again  and is on its way to Sweden bravely protecting some cards I sold via magiccardmarket. Sorry for mistakenly saying they are OK, Antti!

Card 33: Rainstorm Kolaghan

This practically mint Kolaghan was sent by redditor strionic_resonator. Many thanks to him, and everyone else on reddit!

This Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury was destroyed by another storm's fury when strionic resonator was caught in a rainstorm. It was in his backpack along with the rest of the cards of his unsleeved deck from previous night's FNM. I am glad he saved this card so I can give it a new home in Wear 'n' Tear.

The card has very typical water damage with white splotches on the most badly soaked parts of the card and bending and waves all over the card. Unfortunately the disfigurement is poorly visible on a photograph, but when handled, it is obvious that the shape of the card would stand out in a deck like a skinhead in a hippie rally.

Cards 31 and 32: Catling and Growing Pains

All of the above cards were given to me during a board game night in my neighbourhood yesterday. The Thornling is from Risto Sarja, the man who most actively organizes Cube nights in Jyväskylä and the Giant Growth, Abu Ja'far and Guardian Agel are from Ismo Virtanen, another player who lives near me. Thanks to them both!

The Thornling has had its upper edge chewed by Risto's epileptic cat Rölli, who was kind enough to pose for us with the card. Otherwise the card is in excellent condition, but the tear on top makes the card both worthless and illegal to play, so it qualifies for Wear 'n' Tear, Cats certainly are eager fans of Magic, judging from the number of cathandled cards I get.

The set of older cards was found by Ismo while searching his collection for forgotten valuables. Both of the white cards have been damaged by water, though the damage is light enough that I am not adding them to Wear 'n' Tear, at least not yet. The Giant Growth has a large tear in the middle, but no one knows where it may have come from.

Card 30: Black Armageddon and Too Mint Welder

This heavily altered Armageddon was sent by Väinö Hirvelä, an active player from Tampere.

This Goblin Welder was sent by Johanna Virtanen, an L3 Judge and the Regional Coordinator for Northern Europe.

As of this post, Wear 'n' Tear includes a total of 30 cards. We are at the half-way point to a 60-card deck, or roughly at one third of a highlander deck. The thirtieth card added was the Armageddon pictured above.

The Armageddon has been so heavily altered it is barely recognizable as a magic card anymore. Väinö originally had it in one of his Commander decks, but when he was forced to swap it to an unaltered Armageddon even in Commander tournaments, he got so frustrated with swapping it in and out of his deck, he decided to send it to me to get rid of this nuisance. Even though the card is physically fine and the altered artwork is rather amusing, the card has indeed lost all of its value as a Magic card, and is fit for this project.

A day before Väinö's letter, this Goblin Welder arrived in my mailbox. It is badly bent and worn from having been loitering on Johanna's floor and who knows where. Even though the damage is absolutely horrible for such a nice foil card, it is in so much better shape than other cards in Wear 'n' Tear, that after extensive Pondering, some Brainstorming and a little bit of considering the Preordained criteria, I decided to leave it out of the deck.

A big thank you to Vainö, Johanna and everyone else who has helped me get this project this far!

Cards 28 and 29: Bend Test Dummies

These cards were sent by user Reflektio from mtgsuomi. Thank you, Reflektio!

Both the Demigod of Revenge and Inferno Fist have been badly bent in the middle of the card. Even though the damage on these cards is almost identical, their stories are not actually related by more than having the same original owner.

The Demigod has been used way back when in an attempt to test or demonstrate how the Bend Test works. The Bend Test is a well known way to test for counterfeits, since a normal undamaged Magic card can be bent several times and it should return to its original shape without folding or creasing, whereas counterfeits usually break when bent. This Demigod stands as a proof that the Bend Test is not suitable for every card, as foils, played or old cards usually do not survive it, and this card definitely did not.

The Inferno Fist on the other hand was not used in a Bend Test but was instead folded to act as a cap for packaging another card in a sleeve. After folding it in half, Reflektio found out he did not actually need a cap for that particular package, so this card died in vain. I am glad to be able to provide both of these fine cards a new home.

Cards 21-27: Mystery Cards from a Mystery Contributor

These seven cards were in the mail on the same day as the cards from Co and ruusuv were, but they came in an anonymous brown letter which had no postmark on the stamp. Normally this would mean that the cards might have been delivered directly to my mailbox, but since they arrived at the same time as my regular mail and Finnish postal workers have been pretty lazy with their markings lately, I can not be sure about it. If my anonymous benefactor wishes to identify themselves and share the story of these cards, they may do so in the comments below.

The Lonely Sandbar, Remote Isle and Aether Spellbomb are severely bent and spotty in a way that is typical to cards damaged by water. The spots are light brown and the cards have a faint smell of coffee, so I deduce that they must have had coffee spilled on them. The forest has similar damage to it, but the spots on it are clear and it has a scratch on the artwork, so it might have been damaged in some other incident.

The Swamp has been badly scratched and it has been bent on the lower half, but I am unable to guess the source of the damage. The Ulamog's Crusher is otherwise practically mint but it has been folded badly enough that the two halves of the card have been partially torn loose. The Death Denied has probably been under the leg of a table or some other heavy piece of furniture as it has a very heavily dented perfectly round shape in the middle of the card.

Cards 19 and 20: Crushed Avenger and Top Tier of Cat Meta

This batch of practically mint Magic cards was sent by user ruusuv from mtgsuomi. The users of that site are really diligent with properly recycling their cardboard!

The pictured Firemane Avenger is another card that has fallen victim to a speeding office chair. The driver of this hit-and-run vehicle has been more thorough than the previous ones, since the ridge on this roadkill Creature is very hard to miss and makes the card definitely marked and definitely destroyed.

Office chairs are not the only destructive force of nature to make a comeback today, as ruusuv also sent me this Skeleton Ship that his cats had been playing with for quite some time. Judging from how much wear it has gained from frequent play, Skeleton Ship must have been a real staple in the metagame of catkind's favourite gaming venue under ruusuv's sofa.

With the addition of Firemane Avenger, Wear 'n' Tear is now officially a five-colour deck.

Cards 15, 16, 17 & 18: Monoblack Projectiles

These uniformly damaged black cards were sent by alias Co from mtgsuomi. Thank you!

These Nether Spirit, Pox, Dark ritual and Tombstalker all come from the same deck, and there is an amusing story explaining why they all have their bottom left corner crushed. Once upon a time Co was arranging their cards and toppled a drinking glass on them.

You are probably thinking that this does not look like water damage, and you would be right. It turns out that almost all of the wet cards survived the incident in playable shape, but before noticing this, Co had thrown the deckbox with their old casual deck in it against the wall in rage. Hitting a wall at high speeds did do more permanent damage than the actual accident, which is why these cards ended up in my mailbox.

Card 14: Sword of Reddit and Tumbling

This absolutely fabulous Sword of Feast and Famine was sent by redditor Zombiesquisher, an obviously awesome person.

This Sword of Feast and Famine has tumbled trough a washing machine after one of Zombiesquisher's friends forgot to empty her pockets before washing her pants. This tragic accident has left the card in a sorry state, but amazingly all of the text is still legible! I am glad to be able to add it to my collection, as this card will both be one of the more powerful plays in Wear 'n' Tear and one of the finest examples of what this project is all about.

In the previous post we concluded that office chairs are a low-end threat to magic cards, but now we can supplement that observation by the fact that washing machines are among the worst threats to cardboard. Dear readers, always check you pockets before doing the laundry!

Card 13: National Deed

These cards were sent by Ville Kovelo, a judge and a long time staple of the Finnish Magic scene.

You can clearly see that the damage on the Curse of Inertia is visible only from the right angle.

This Pernicious Deed was found on the floor of the venue of the second to last Finnish Nationals. The owner was not found, so Ville had held on to it until now. It was accompanied in the mail by this roadkill Curse of Inertia, which Ville rolled over on his office chair while taking apart a Commander deck for selling.

The Deed has been rather badly worn by being walked over, but the damage on the Curse is surprisingly hard to see unless you look closely, so it will be left out of the deck for now.  It will keep company with the Soulflayer that was also run over by an out of control office chair. I may add both of them to Wear 'n' Tear once we get to the point where it is only a few cards away from first playtests. It turns out that being rolled over by furniture isn't among the worst things that can happen to a card.

In other news, I passed my L1 Judge exam during the weekend. Yay!

Card 12: Rip Stream

Greetings from the Prerelease at Tampere. While I was working as an assistant judge at the tournament, I was handed this beautiful Full Art Foil Premium Mythic Rare Expedition (Sounds like Yugi Oh doesn't it?) Prairie Stream as a devious bribe.

As those readers who have been exposed to the darker side of the Internet will likely guess, this card has been horribly abused in a game of ''Flip it, or rip it''. While I do not normally accept cards that have been destroyed on purpose, I consider giving this poor card a loving home an act of charity worth making an exception for.

The lower half of the actual card is completely ripped off, and the stripped foil layer is just lying loose on it.

With the addition of an Island Plains, Wear 'n' Tear can produce all five colours of mana and even the fetchland has a target now.

The Deck Needs a Name

For inspiration, this is what we are currently working with.

Some friends of mine pointed out that, since there already is an established The Deck in Magic, the name I am using for the deck I build on this blog is a big misleading. I agree. The Deck is unlikely to become a version of The Deck, so it needs a name of its own.

I am making a Reddit thread where I will link this post. The most upvoted suggestion will be The Deck's new name.

The Thread

In other news, I am going to the Oath of the Gatewatch Prerelease this weekend where I will work as an assistant Judge and take my L1 exam. If any attending players have some practically mint cards to spare, please bring them along.

Card 11: Mysterious Delta

This Polluted Delta was sent to me by Markku Rikola, the baldest man in Tampere. May his scalp shine brightly forever.

This Polluted Delta was included in the collection that came to Markku from the Finnish Champion Mikko Airaksinen and Magic Online World Champion Anssi Myllymäki. This happened during the bygone era when it was common to pool collections together to enable a larger variety of decks to be played in tournaments.

The card is otherwise in very good condition, except for one corner that has been neatly sliced off with some sort of sharp tool. None of the three gentlemen know when or how this happened, but by the time Markku got it, the card was already in this condition. I am glad to be able to add it to The Deck, even though there are no islands or swamps to search with it for now. Markku sends the readers his greetings with: ''I hope this card makes the final cut''.

Cards 7, 8 , 9 and 10: Surprise Shreddings

These cards came as a nice surprise in the mail from the alias kanslerioikein from mtgsuomi. Thank you kanslerioikein!

These blue cards were reportedly found among the singles sold at a local game store. Both have seen a lot of wear and tear and the Contempt is missing a corner. The enchantment has also apparently been used as a proxy at some point in its history, as there is ''drake'' written with black marker on its back.

The Evolving Wilds and Jungle Hollow are both badly mangled, which is to be expected as kanslerioikein used them in an attempt to teach their dog to play Magic. It looks like the attempt failed, but I commend them for trying.

''Please, let there be no deck check!''

Card 6: Soul Chew Toy

This Soul Warden was sent to me by the alias Infrapunatulkku from mtgsuomi. Thank you very much!

Once upon a time, this wonderful white weenie was a veritable workhorse of gaining life, until Infrapunatulkku's dog got its teeth on it. Now the card suffers from severe teeth marks and a corner that is almost torn off. Fortunately, I am able to give it a home where it can spend its retirement still doing what it does best.

The Deck now contains all five colours! Unfortunately white, blue, black and green are found only in mana costs and our mana sources only produce red. There are still at least 54 cards to go, so there is a fair chance I'll get at least one source for every colour by then.

Card 5: Deceptive Rancor

This Rancor was given to me by Arto Liukkonen, a local player in Jyväskylä. He was kind enough to throw in a Mind Stone for my Pauper Cube along with it. Many thanks to him!

The fifth card added to The Deck is this Rancor Arto got as a throw-in when he bought the Rancors for his Infect deck. At first glance it looks practically mint, other than the wear on the left border. You'd almost think it wasn't in bad enough condition to qualify for this project.

On further inspection you just keep finding more and more damage, until the real state of the card becomes apparent. There are significant scratches and dents scattered all over the surface and it is bent and dented badly enough in the middle, that there is no hope that the cardboard could ever be forced back into shape.