I haven't been able to find any tournament document for L5R that specifically states some of the more procedural rules for official tournaments/running a tournament, so if one exists then I just missed it. Long story short, I'm wondering if it's permissible in official FFG sanctioned tournaments to use clear sleeves with deck backers. I've heard that just clear sleeves are a no-go due to the possibility of marked cards (which I'm totally understanding of despite really liking the new card back art!).

For anyone wondering what I'm talking about, I've attached a picture of some deckbackers on their own and in sleeves with actual cards on the non-backer side. They're basically just cards with nothing but art on one side.

It would be very cool if we could use clear sleeves + deck backers, because deck backers are very cool.

How are the deck backers any less vulnerable to marking than the cards themselves?

I mean at that point I suppose you could ask "how are sleeves not vulnerable to marking?" Unless the FFG policy specifically states that sleeves must be completely solid colors to make any marking readily apparent. I don't know, I'm asking to find out. If they don't have to be a solid color, I could probably find that pack of Daigotsu sleeves I have laying around somewhere...

Long story short I've got a bunch of Spider flair from the old days and I'm going to make every attempt possible to subject everyone to it!

Well, that's not the question though is it - it's "Can I use clear sleeves with backers?", when the rules state that clear sleeves are out because of marking reasons. Unless you can demonstrate that they're more resistant, I think it'll probably be a "no, you can't" from the big official tournaments. The smaller and local ones probably won't care though.

That said, to answer you in return, plastic card sleeves are orders of magnitude harder to mark than bits of card, which can be easily dented, scuffed or scratched in certain places. Sleeves tend to resist this - more's the pity as I'm terrible and could do with any advantage I can pull together.

That's entirely fair. Do you know if there a tournament procedural rules doc/some doc that covers this (and other similar things) for L5R? Or does FFG maintain a doc like that for all it's LCG games? Not that I don't believe you or anything, but I haven't played a FFG LCG since like a year into Netrunner v1 when all my stuff got jacked from my friends car, so I'm way out of the loop.

https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/de/e7/dee78f63-c1b3-4690-97a6-b396e4e32cc2/l5c_tournament_regulations_v10.pdf

Is the PDF to the tournament document which says that card sleeves must be "opaque".

laff yeah, just found that on the reddit and was about to post it here. Thanks, and blessings of Jigoku be upon ye friend!

Just for clarity though. You would only need to worry about this until you get to what would be considered Regional level event structures. Relaxed event structures for all these local tournaments these rules do not apply for clear sleeves. It should just be known to keep them uniform. If they are getting trashed basically you should replace them; as would make sense. But, if you are going to these big tournaments it might be best to just go opaque from the start.

Quote

Players are required to sleeve each dynasty deck and conflict deck in opaque card sleeves for Formal and Premier events.

and Formal and Premier events are

Quote

The Formal Tier is used for Regional Championship events.

Quote

Premier events are the highest level of competition for Fantasy Flight Games tournaments. At this top level of tournaments, players are expected to have a moderate amount of experience. Players should be familiar with not only the game rules, but also the Rules Reference and tournament regulations. The focus is on a competitive and fair environment.

whereas

Quote

At Relaxed events, if a player is not using opaque card sleeves, he or she must make sure that all card backs in each of their decks have a uniform appearance.