Foreign cards...

[TheOneManMafia]

Are foreign cards legal in Tournaments?  I have 4 Italian Chain Lightnings and I don't really want to spend a crap-load of money to get ones that are in english...

[Jacob Orlove]

Yes, they're legal.

[BurningIce]

It's best though to have knowledge of exactly what's written on the card, since it's unlikely you'll be able to read the foreign cards... to help out with rulings during games.

[Matt]

gatherer.wizards.com

Go there to obtain full Oracle wordings of your foreign cards and print them out and bring the printouts with you to tournaments. This will avoid confusion. You should also do this with any English cards you have which have been errata'd.

[Toad]

All the serious judges have an updated Oracle available at their tournaments anyways

[Dante]

on a somewhat related note, is there a site/list that will translate the title?

I've been looking at some lists on theabyss.biz and some of the lists use the Italian card names.....   

[BurningIce]

I would try dumping them into some sort of translator program.  It might not always work, but at least it would give you an idea.

Risucchia Potere =>It sucks Power

Hmm.  Maybe that doesn't work (that's supposed to be Mana Drain, but the result is rather amusing).

[Dante]

I've tried that....a bunch of them don't come up with anything useful....

[Komatteru]

For the record, I've noted that Japanese cards capture the original text of the card pretty accurately (at least the ones I can read), since words that don't have any real Japanese equivalent (nearly all the game terms, for instance) are often translated in katakana.  But I don't know that much Japanese, so maybe JP can provide a little more insight.

[Matt]

I've tried that....a bunch of them don't come up with anything useful....

Can you give us examples?

[Dante]

I've tried that....a bunch of them don't come up with anything useful....

Can you give us examples?

Ossidare - I assume it is Oxidize (a deck with green)
Terrivoro - Terravore?  the magic names obviously wouldn't translate
Uccelli del Paradiso
Colline Boscose  - land of some sort based on where it was in the decklist
Landa ventosa
Pirocinesi

[Matt]

Well bablefish translates that as:

To oxidize (duh)
Terrivoro (probably terravore)
Birds of the Paradise (duh)
Wooded Hills (r/g fetchland i bet)
ventosa Chain plate (no idea...empyrial plate? cranial plating?)
Pirocinesi (probably pyroclasm but i could be way off)

[Luiggi]

"Pirocinesi" sounds like it's Pyrokinesis.

"Colline Boscose" is, in effect, Wooded Foothills, and "Terrivoro" is Terravore.

Luiggi

[Dante]

thanks guys!

[JACO]

Dante,
Matt is using BabelFish:
http://babelfish.altavista.com/

This will translate most things, and the things that it doesn't translate exactly usually you can get a pretty good idea (Wooded Hills, for example).

[Dante]

thanks, I had tried some other online dictionaries, but obviously they weren't so good..

[Wagner]

http://www.magiccards.info/ will seach all cards in all languages they have been printed in, even if you provide only a partial card name.

Here is Colline Boscose
And Pirocinesi

[BigMac]

A question about this one. A lot of people play with Asian cards. I for one am not that familiar with the newer sets and will not recognise a card by its picture most of the time. Whose responsibility is it to know what name it carries and what a card does?

I think it is pretty stupid having to ask what a card does with every card. This happens more with type 4 at the moment because those are cards that are almost never played anyways, but it happens on regular tournaments as well.

[Komatteru]

Whose responsibility is it to know what name it carries and what a card does?

It is your responsibility to find out what something does if you don't know.  Call a judge and get the Oracle wording.  If there's no judge in the place that can recognize the card, you have a sizable problem.  Heaven help you if that happens.

[Upinthe]

This is why I hate decks of foreign cards. I would rather play against someone with a deck of proxies written up with a sharpie than play against someone who uses mostly foreign cards

If the judge couldn't tell what it is, out of curiousity, would he/she be entitled to penalize the player?

Also, can a judge rule out the use of foreign cards prior to an event?

[Revvik]

This is why I hate decks of foreign cards. I would rather play against someone with a deck of proxies written up with a sharpie than play against someone who uses mostly foreign cards

If the judge couldn't tell what it is, out of curiousity, would he/she be entitled to penalize the player?

Also, can a judge rule out the use of foreign cards prior to an event?

Half of my deck you would hate.
And no, he shouldn't be allowed to penalize you for his ignorance (although a lot of the time that may seem to be what happens with judges  ).

[Komatteru]

Also, can a judge rule out the use of foreign cards prior to an event?

Not in sanctioned play.  That violates DCI rules, which allows for all language cards to be played.  Such an action would likely get the judge striped of his judgeship and the TO stripped of his sanctioning permissions if it got back to the DCI.  You need to remember that DCI play is international, and requiring people in Spain to have all English language cards when they come here for a tournament would be similar to forcing you to Japanese-out your entire deck if you went to play at PT Toyko, for instance.  Completely ridiculous.

For unsanctioned tournaments, you can do anything you want, but I can tell you that it would be a very unpopular action.  I would not come to a tournament that required me to have all English cards, cause then I'd have to go out and buy the ones I only have foreign versions of (there's a lot of them too).  I'd be even more pissed if a judge made such an announcement before round 1.  What you suggest would be similar to not allowing people to play with Ice Age cards because they don't look good or something.  Also, not allowing foreign cards means that 70% of the Mana Drains wouldn't be playable.

[forests failed you]

Yeah, foreign cards are sweet as hell.  One should feel privileged to sit across the table from someone who has foil Asian Goblin Welders in his or her deck, just for the opportunity to see those rare gems.

[Ivantheterrible]

What you suggest would be similar to not allowing people to play with Ice Age cards because they don't look good or something

Thats just about the worst example you could give. I hope you dont really think that Ice Age cards look bad JD. I know having everything foil and asian make distrot your perception of good looking but can you seriously say Ice Age Mountains are crappy. I agree with your overall point but not the best choice of a set to make an example of.

[Matt]

Ice Age mountains are some of the worst mountains. Now, swamps and plains and forests...those are nice.

[dandan]

Plains suck too. And Forests. Swamps and Islands I don't even remember. Sure IA has that funky join up the picture thing but the pictures look lifeless and dull.

[oldbsturgeon]

i believe the exception to this is in China. If i understand correctly, the government only allows chinese cards to be used. Its a communist thing i guess.

[Inferno]

I've tried that....a bunch of them don't come up with anything useful....

[cut]
Landa ventosa ?

Landa ventosa is Windswept Heat, the R/G fetchland.
I'm italian, if you have any question on card translations, feel free to message me.

[prosbloom225]

Anyone have any ideas about foreign proxies?  I don't think they will be a problem, and they look damn cool

http://students.uww.edu/osieckimj21/MTG.html
Thats my first print run, they didn't turn out too good, but my later runs look awesome.

[dandan]

i believe the exception to this is in China. If i understand correctly, the government only allows chinese cards to be used. Its a communist thing i guess.

Presumably Red deck always wins over there.