Note: BossHoggAtog actually submitted this article over a month ago, right after the invitational. Somehow it got lost in the crack. Sorry Boss. :( - MB

LOS ANGELES, CA (MT) - Sadly for Magic: the Gathering Invitational players, not all foil Jittes are created equal. This weekend, at the end of the Magic: The Gathering Invitational, each player received a sealed prize packet containing premium alternate-art versions of popular Standard-legal rares. Unfortunately, somehow they were not received well at all, leaving most players complaining that they were unplayable.

The promo cards, the brainchild of Saviors of Kamigawa set designer Brian Tinsman, were intended to be a unique way to reward the Invitational players for their participation, and to celebrate the co-incident Saviors of Kamigawa Prerelease. Each sealed packet contained one each foil alternate-art version of Sakura-Tribe Elder, Umezawa's Jitte, Sensei's Divining Top, and Vedalken Shackles. "We expected these to be very popular for playing or trading," said Tinsman. "After watching the phenomenal chase-rare status of foil versions of Intuition and City of Brass, we realized the potential value to our celebrity players."

However, this was far from true. After excitedly tearing into the packet and slipping the foil promo Jitte into his green-white aggro block deck, Antoine Ruel watched helplessly in dismay as his new, shiny Jitte sat turn after turn with no counters on it. In fact, it was utterly useless, falling limply off creatures to which he tried to attach it. Ruel switched it out for a regular Jitte and complained to Mark Rosewater, who happened to be still on the Convention Center premises chatting with judges about imprinting Evermind on Panoptic Mirror.

"Several players complained to me that the [cards] didn't work as printed," Rosewater said. "It's important to remind players that sometimes the cards don't always work as printed, and in those rare cases one should look to the artwork for the correct templating." Rosewater pointed out to Ruel and others that the Jitte was, in fact, pithed as per the alternate art.

Invitational Champion Terry Soh and Japanese visiting players Masashiro Kuroda and Tsuyoshi Fujita, who had already departed for home, left their packets lying on the table in disgust. Fujita hadn't even opened his. After seeing fellow players' suicidal Tribe Elders botch the job again and again, he dropped it on the table and walked away. "WOTC will hear from us in writing. This is an outrage," he muttered.

DCI Level 5 judge and rules templating guru John Carter has agreed to look into the mechanism of the matter, but was unable to comment on it before the closing ceremony late this afternoon. He was reportedly engrossed in figuring out why the promo Top didn't spin. "It's still round, and pointy on the bottom, but just falls over. Doesn't even roll."

UPDATE: RIPPED PROMO FOIL CARD FRAGMENT KEY TO UNDERSTANDING INVITATIONAL PROMO FIASCO

RENTON, WA (MT) - Early this morning, Wizards of the Coast R&D staffer Randy Buehler had given up on making the Invitational promotional cards work and in despair ripped up a foil alternate-art "pithed" Tribe Elder. Much to his surprise, a few rips into the process, the Tribe Elder screamed and a land suddenly appeared in Buehler's play area, tapped.

"Apparently one of the rips ran right between the Pithing Needle part of the art, and the Tribe Elder part of the art, separating them," said a fatigued but elated Buehler. He proceeded to rip away or Sharpie out the Needle artwork from the rest of that pack, and lo and behold, the cards now worked as printed.

"Excellent work, but we've already got the puzzle figured out," remarked Mike Flores, another Wizards employee. "We've issued pith helmets to the respective cards, and now they work fine," he said, holding up a Tribe-Elder sporting a tiny new pith helmet, carefully Sharpied in. It, too, leaped readily into a barrel of broken glass, surrendering a tapped land.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ACQUIRING PITH HELMETS FOR DEFECTIVE PROMO CARDS, CONTACT CUSTSERV@WIZARDS.COM

Discuss this article in the Magic: the Gathering Forums!

Related Stories

• Thoren Nervously Awaits Invitational Card
• Invitational Invitees Decide to 'Just Go Draft'
• Magic Online Invitational 2002

Note: BossHoggAtog actually submitted this article over a month ago, right after the invitational. Somehow it got lost in the crack. Sorry Boss. :( - MB

LOS ANGELES, CA (MT) - Sadly for Magic: the Gathering Invitational players, not all foil Jittes are created equal. This weekend, at the end of the Magic: The Gathering Invitational, each player received a sealed prize packet containing premium alternate-art versions of popular Standard-legal rares. Unfortunately, somehow they were not received well at all, leaving most players complaining that they were unplayable.

The promo cards, the brainchild of Saviors of Kamigawa set designer Brian Tinsman, were intended to be a unique way to reward the Invitational players for their participation, and to celebrate the co-incident Saviors of Kamigawa Prerelease. Each sealed packet contained one each foil alternate-art version of Sakura-Tribe Elder, Umezawa's Jitte, Sensei's Divining Top, and Vedalken Shackles. "We expected these to be very popular for playing or trading," said Tinsman. "After watching the phenomenal chase-rare status of foil versions of Intuition and City of Brass, we realized the potential value to our celebrity players."

However, this was far from true. After excitedly tearing into the packet and slipping the foil promo Jitte into his green-white aggro block deck, Antoine Ruel watched helplessly in dismay as his new, shiny Jitte sat turn after turn with no counters on it. In fact, it was utterly useless, falling limply off creatures to which he tried to attach it. Ruel switched it out for a regular Jitte and complained to Mark Rosewater, who happened to be still on the Convention Center premises chatting with judges about imprinting Evermind on Panoptic Mirror.

"Several players complained to me that the [cards] didn't work as printed," Rosewater said. "It's important to remind players that sometimes the cards don't always work as printed, and in those rare cases one should look to the artwork for the correct templating." Rosewater pointed out to Ruel and others that the Jitte was, in fact, pithed as per the alternate art.

Invitational Champion Terry Soh and Japanese visiting players Masashiro Kuroda and Tsuyoshi Fujita, who had already departed for home, left their packets lying on the table in disgust. Fujita hadn't even opened his. After seeing fellow players' suicidal Tribe Elders botch the job again and again, he dropped it on the table and walked away. "WOTC will hear from us in writing. This is an outrage," he muttered.

DCI Level 5 judge and rules templating guru John Carter has agreed to look into the mechanism of the matter, but was unable to comment on it before the closing ceremony late this afternoon. He was reportedly engrossed in figuring out why the promo Top didn't spin. "It's still round, and pointy on the bottom, but just falls over. Doesn't even roll."

UPDATE: RIPPED PROMO FOIL CARD FRAGMENT KEY TO UNDERSTANDING INVITATIONAL PROMO FIASCO

RENTON, WA (MT) - Early this morning, Wizards of the Coast R&D staffer Randy Buehler had given up on making the Invitational promotional cards work and in despair ripped up a foil alternate-art "pithed" Tribe Elder. Much to his surprise, a few rips into the process, the Tribe Elder screamed and a land suddenly appeared in Buehler's play area, tapped.

"Apparently one of the rips ran right between the Pithing Needle part of the art, and the Tribe Elder part of the art, separating them," said a fatigued but elated Buehler. He proceeded to rip away or Sharpie out the Needle artwork from the rest of that pack, and lo and behold, the cards now worked as printed.

"Excellent work, but we've already got the puzzle figured out," remarked Mike Flores, another Wizards employee. "We've issued pith helmets to the respective cards, and now they work fine," he said, holding up a Tribe-Elder sporting a tiny new pith helmet, carefully Sharpied in. It, too, leaped readily into a barrel of broken glass, surrendering a tapped land.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ACQUIRING PITH HELMETS FOR DEFECTIVE PROMO CARDS, CONTACT CUSTSERV@WIZARDS.COM

Discuss this article in the Magic: the Gathering Forums!

Related Stories

• Thoren Nervously Awaits Invitational Card
• Invitational Invitees Decide to 'Just Go Draft'
• Magic Online Invitational 2002