You are the head judge of a Grand Prix Trial and entering into the final round when floor judge Justin approaches you with an appeal. Justin has issued a game loss for Tardiness to Amy. Amy admits that she was not in her seat at the start of the round, as she had gone off site with friends for breakfast. Amy protests, “but you announced the last round would end at 10:05, and I was back before that!”

What is the most appropriate way to handle this situation?

Judges, feel free to discuss this scenario on Judge Apps!

[expand title=Answer]As several of you have noted there is (most likely) no infraction here!
According to the MTR if a player returns before the announced round start
time (or in this case the announced end time) then there is no infraction.
The head judge should explain the confusion and overturn the infraction and
allow the players to play on with an extension.

Kudos to Marc DeArmond for correctly dissecting the situation and citing
the appropriate documents. According to the Magic Tournament Rules if a
round has begun early and the player has arrived at their seat before the
schedule round time we do not wish to issue an infraction. Fantastic work!

I would also like to take a second to recognize James Butler for mentioning
fantastic customer service in having the head judge assist with the
explanation to both players and of course in withdrawing the game loss.
Players are never quite as happy as seeing the correct ruling and the head
judge can go a long way in smoothing over potentially tricky situations.

Everyone also mentioned issuing a time extension and that’s absolutely what
we want to do! As Rene Oberweger noted we absolutely want all of our
matches to have the same amount of time and not be penalized for something
outside of their control.

That about wraps things up here, thanks for participating and please check
back soon for another edition of Knowledge Pool.[/expand]