Hello!

If I wanted to run a very smash-mouth team that likes a little hindering, would it be legal (and if legal, non-jerky) to bring one of the old 13x13 Universe maps in case I won map choice?

Thanks!

Is the map color-coded?

From Universe?

Almost certainly not.
I can not say for sure since I do not remember the map, but they didn't start using color-coding until much later.

And so no color-coding means not legal.

I think it being 13 x 13 knocks it out of tourney place as well.

Thanks, all! Not color-coded, ergo gone.

Some venues will make exceptions for older maps.

One thing to note is that, during a tournament, all maps need to be the same size. This was a line in one of their rules documents for some time, at least.

So no having one player bring in the itty bitty Street Fighter set map of Chun Li's Chinese Street while the other player brings in the old 3' x 3' of Axis Chemicals from, I think, Icons.

At our venue any map is playable. Even a Horrorclix Map! Yikes!