Magic Judge Monthly: March 2015

Hello and welcome to the March edition of your favorite magazine for the busy judge! Take a few moments to breeze through the news in our worldwide community, we’re sure you’ll find something interesting and useful.
Until next time, happy judging and enjoy the wonderful spring (or autumn) weather!

Content Table
Important
Documents
Community
Questions & [O]fficial Answers
Policy
Projects & Jobs

Generic Certification Tests Removed

Generic certification tests are no longer available in the Judge Center. In case you encounter a problem while generating exams or while entering a review, please contact Brian Schenck directly.

Suspended Players Page Updated

The cases for January 2015 have been processed and added to the Judge Center. The Suspended Players page has been updated accordingly. Details about the disqualification process can be found of the judge resources blog, along with a players’ FAQ.

New Blog Communication Sphere

A new judge blog is up and running! It primary goal is creating effective communication channels. It’s creator, Alfonso Bueno is looking for volunteers to help out and lead various projects.

Second Wave of Judge Exemplar

A big thanks to everyone who has submitted recognitions! After reviewing submissions, we’re pleased to announce the exemplar judges! You can also view your recognitions very conveniently in the Judge Apps under Exemplar Project.

Judge Articles March 2015

Find a list of all the articles on the Judge wiki.

Judge Blog and Wiki Updates- March 2015

Blog Whats Up, Docs: PT DC Report, Preventing Serious Problems™ and PR DTK : A judge report from a player
Wiki Missed Trigger Guides project: Missed Trigger Guide for DTK and Detrimental Triggered Abilities in KT block
Blog The Battlefield Forge: Houston – Floor Judge Report, IC Made This Late, The Verbose Tale and PPTQ Modern in Bourgoin-Jallieu
Blog Judge Conference: Conference Content Update: March 2015
Blog Policy Perspectives: DTK Policy Changes – For Judges and For Players
Blog Bearz Repeating: SCG Regionals Wrap-Up: Part Two, Introduction Deductions, Building Teams and Eternal Questions
Blog The Exemplar Program: What happens next and FAQs

Knowledge Pool March 2015

If you would like to submit a Knowledge Pool scenario, here’s how to do it.

Judgecast

Judgecast #114 Limited FNM Format Fun
Judgecast #115 Dragons of Tabakir Release Notes Part 1
Judgecast #116 Dragons of Tabakir Release Notes Part 2

Happy Anniversary! March 2015

The celebrations continue into March as we cheer on our fellows into another year of growth and fun! Check out features on Nick Fang, Frank Wareman, and, MJM’s own Stephan Classen!
Keep up to date with Johanna Virtanen new anniversaries thread here.

Judge Advancements March 2015

: “Hello everyone. It is time to say welcome to the new judges worldwide and to everyone who advanced to a new level last month.
I am often asked what kind of date i use to determine this list. The date entered the advancement review is what counts for this list, because that ensures that i wont miss anyone.”

Judge of the Week

March

132 April King level 2 from Minnesota, USA
131 Sergio Perez level 3 from Spain
130 Even Lindell Heggø level 2 from Norway

February

129 Angela Chandler level 2 from California, USA
128 Callum Milne level 2 from Canada
127 Jarrod Williams level 2 from Ohio, USA
126 Dominick Riesland level 2 from Wisconsin, USA

Welcome to L4, Alfonso!

writes this piece to usher in a newly minted L4, .

Congratulations on Promotion to L3!

‘s good ole L3 thread is back with more news! A round of applause for , and !

Favorite Mnemonic Devices for Rules

While it proves, on one hand, that there is simply a ton for us judges to remember, this thread on recall tools came up with a really awesome entry for layers c/o Pedro Gonçalves. Check it out!

Judging as a Professional Skill

Read about various perspectives on how the intersections of job and judge would go beyond just sharing first letters here.

GP Travel Guides

unloads a new batch of travel guides for upcoming GPs around the world!

Questions asked in the month of March and an [O]fficial answer, just for you!

1. If I play a Silumgar Butcher and, in response to its exploit trigger, it becomes a copy of Sidisi, Undead Vizier, will I get to Demonic Tutor if I sacrifice a creature?

A creature’s exploit ability is not linked to its “when this exploits” triggered ability. If your Silumgar Butcher becomes a Sidisi, Undead Vizier in response to the exploit ability, you will indeed get to tutor if the Butcher-Sidisi exploits something.
Approved by Callum Milne, Forum Moderator, L2, Nanaimo, CA
Source: http://apps.magicjudges.org/forum/topic/17109/

2. A creature, enchanted with a totem armor aura, is dealt lethal damage by a spell like Anger of the Gods. Are the two replacement effects trying to replace the same event, so that the creature's controller chooses which to apply first?

Totem Armor (e. g. Hyena Umbra) is looking for the creature to be destroyed, while Anger of the Gods is looking for the creature to die, which is what would happen if it gets destroyed.
We apply Totem Armor’s replacement first, and it replaces the destruction event entirely. This means the game never gets around to the creature dying, so Anger of the Gods never has a chance to apply.
Approved by Callum Milne, Forum Moderator, L2, Nanaimo, CA
Source: http://apps.magicjudges.org/forum/topic/16936/

3. If a Hooting Mandrills becomes a copy of Soulflayer, will it have the abilities of the creature cards it Delved?

Yes; your Hooting Mandrills-turned-Soulflayer will have abilities based on the creature cards you delved away to cast it originally, while it was still a regular old Hooting Mandrills.
Approved by Callum Milne, Forum Moderator, L2, Nanaimo, CA
Source: http://apps.magicjudges.org/forum/topic/16169/

4. Anton is playing vs Nate in a GPT. During the declare attackers step Anton declares Anafenza, the Foremost and Rakshasa Deathdealer as attackers and immediately places a +1/+1 counter on the deathdealer. Nate asks Anton to hold on as he wants to respond to the trigger from Anafenza with bile blight. Anton responds to that with activating the +2/+2 ability. Players move on to the declare blockers step and from that to the damage step. Anton notices he forgot re-resolve the Anafenza trigger and calls a judge.

Anafenza, the Foremost requires a target and Anton chose one at the appropriate time, so no Missed Trigger; it is a GRV.
Approved by Scott Marshall, L5, Lakewood, CO, USA
Source: http://apps.magicjudges.org/forum/topic/17304/

5. You are in the middle of the deck construction portion of an individual sealed prerelease event. While collecting pack trash from tables, you notice two players looking over a pool of cards in the center of the table between them. Thinking this odd, you investigate and ask whose cards they are. They answer “both ours, why?”
Now, you have seen these players at other prerelease events in the past, but only for Two-headed giant events. You investigate further, and the players state that they genuinely thought the event was Two-headed giant sealed rather than individual sealed. You ask a few more questions and find their story believable. It is effectively impossible to separate a vast majority of the cards back into their correct individual sealed pools.
What do you do?

f you can, convince the TO to let the players pay some amount to reenter the event with the correct product set. TO doesn’t lose money, and players have a consequence for their error.
If not, choose a fix that seems the most fair:
Try to recreate the packs to my best ability, or take all rares, shuffle them, then give each player 6. Shuffle all uncommons, give each player 18. Same for commons. Not ideal, but you more or less gave each a random pool and I guess tournament integrity has not been damaged.
Approved by Scott Marshall, L5, Lakewood, CO, USA.
Source: http://apps.magicjudges.org/forum/topic/17139/?page=1

Judge Center Issues

There is a bug in Judge Center in which it does not always display odd mana symbols properly – for example, an exam might display hybrid symbols incorrectly. However, there are presently no known examples of a question leading the reader to the wrong answer as a result – for example, there may be a question which displays hybrid symbols incorrectly, but asks about converted mana costs, such that the bug doesn’t matter. Because this cannot be fixed on a case-by-case basis, filing bugs for such cosmetic issues isn’t helpful.

Mobile Devices: CR, IPG, MTR, Oracle

Judge projects and tools such as the the Mobile Docs project have been updated with Dragons of Tarkir content by now, so be sure to update them before any event in which you might use them.

Find out which Judge Conferences, Pro Tour Qualifiers, Grand Prix and SCG Opens have available worldwide staffing positions! You still have time to apply for GP Hong Kong, GP Atalanta and GP London

Check out the Grand Prix Solicitations and Selected Staffs such as GP Krakow and GP Toronto.

Public projects (such as List of Official Rulings and Communication Sphere) are looking for looking for translators, writers, programmers and general contributors. So if you want to get more out of your Judging experience and give back to the community, sign up to something that interests you to help out!