Level Two – adjustment to July requirements

Please read  the new adjustments of the July 9th Level Two Certified Judge requirements. Toby’s blog explains the philosophy behind the changes caused by the new  Pro Tour system.

For more questions please ask your Regional Coordinator or any L3 nearby.

Regional Coordinator Advisory Committee (RCAC)

In an on-going effort to be responsive to the Magic Judge Community, Wizards of the Coast created an independent group for judges to provide feedback about Magic and the Judge Program. These people (Regional Coordinators and Magic Pro Tour Hall of Fame member) will listen to judges around the world and voice their ideas, thoughts and concerns, all in hope of increasing the enjoyment of Magic .

Suspended Players Page Updated

Eric Shukan has processed the May and June cases and updated the suspended players list. As you all know, it’s always a good idea regardless of the REL, to remind players that randomly determining a winner is a BAD idea so be sure to spread the word around!

September Articles 2014

• Writing Effective Cover Letters by Paul Baranay and Evan Cherry
• A Change to the L2 Certification Process by Toby Elliott
• How I learned to stop worrying and love the Morph by Kim Warren
• Morph Rules Problems by Nathan Long
• The Feedback Process by David de la Iglesia
• KTK Policy Changes by Toby Elliott
• What’s the Most Famous Steak in the World? by Riccardo Tessitori

Find the list of articles on the Judge Wiki and feel free to join the discussions on JudgeApps.

Rules Tips September

• Ashcloud Phoenix won’t come back if it’s face-down when it dies
• Force Away on your only 4+ power creature – No looting for you
• Meandering Turtle and Act of Treason

Knowledge Pool September

• A Grizzly Mess
• I Heard You Like Triggers
• Temple of Beats, the bad ones
• Kataki to the Maternity Ward, Your Pod is Waiting

Happy Anniversary!

The October edition of anniversaries is up and again it is time to see if a name or two rings up an opportunity to raise a mug (or two, why not). While you’re at it, why not check out the features on Michael Lopez (the chunk of hunk formerly from Dominican Republic, now state-side) and Alfonso Bueno (L3 from Spain who has an uncanny semblance to a particular guy from a particular rock band – and it ain’t just about the piercing) as their peers share approving thoughts.

Judge Advancements

Michael Wiese – “Hello everyone, The examplar has just started and the following new judges might be part of the next wave, who knows? Anyway, last month was again very busy with more than 200 advancements again. I am happy to be part of this community.”

Judge of the Week

• 108 Chris Lansdell level 2 from Canada
• 109 Sean Catanese level 4 from Seattle, Washington USA
• 110 David Truitt level 2 from Wagener, South Carolina USA
• 111 Jason Lemahieu level 5 from Madison, Wisconsin USA

Congratulations on L3

More updates from Christopher Richter as the L3 roster of judges continues to grow!

New Rules NetRep!

Daniel Kitachewsky bids au revoir from his stint as NetRep (which lasted a good 4+ years) and gives way to his successor. Find out who the new guy is here.

New Blog!

Battlefield Forge – A tournament reports blog

Tournament aftermaths are usually found on blogs from tournament organizers and other media entities. Battlefield Forge is a special blog about tournaments from the judge perspective. Check out this new collection of experiences shared from people on the frontlines here.

MOJO Holidays

More MOJO fun is in store for everyone! Get to know about the latest on MOJO for December 27, in particular, from this post by Adrian Estoup.

[expand title=”1. Player A has Keranos in play, and has just untapped for his turn. He reveals the top card, it is a Magma Spray. He says to his opponent “3 to you” puts the card in his hand and they both record the life lost on paper. Player N also writes down the Magma Spray. Player A then draws a card. He immediately notices his mistake, and calls a judge. The opponent explains that from a Thoughtseize, he knows the identity of every card (written down) in A’s hand. What is the infraction and fix?”]
As currently written, the IPG defines this as Drawing Extra Cards, and the downgrade does not apply (i.e., the identity of the card was not known to all players before being put in hand. This is a Game Loss.
Approved by: Scott Marshall, L5, Lakewood, Colorado, USA
[/expand]

[expand title=”2. Arnold controls a Jeskai Ascendancy and casts a noncreature spell. He indicates the card, says “triggers,” and only resolves the second ability (draw a card, discard a card). On Nancy’s turn, she declares attackers, at which point Arnold realizes that he never untapped his creatures.”]
What did Arnold mean when he said “triggers”? Was he pointing out that there’s multiple triggers? or, as Sean noted, was he using “triggers” as a verb?

Even if meant “this card triggers”, that doesn’t rule out the possibility that he didn’t miss either trigger, but forgot to untap (i.e., didn’t resolve correctly/completely).

But, to really simplify this, I’d just say to Arnold “so, why did you forget that trigger?” and let him convince me he didn’t.
Approved by: Scott Marshall, L5, Lakewood, Colorado, USA
[/expand]

[expand title=”3. If a player sees his opponent scooping up their cards after a game without revealing their morphs, when are they required to point it out? When would the game loos be applied?”]
You aren’t required to prevent your opponents from making mistakes – you just have to call attention to them right away.

As for the timing of the Game Loss, R&D and Policy agreed this should always apply to the game in which the error occurred (and yes, that includes the game that was just concluded by scooping up face-down cards without revealing them). This is true whether or not that Game Loss changes the original result of that game.

Approved by: Scott Marshall, L5, Lakewood, Colorado, USA
[/expand]

[expand title=”4. So I witnessed a player opening a sealed Khans of Tarkir booster box from a sealed case and pulled out about 8 rares from without the foil stamp at the bottom, the rest of her rares all had the stamp. The player asked me if these cards were tournament legal and I advised her they were most likely not legal as those stamps, to my knowledge, are supposed to be an anti-counterfeiting indicator. I’ve advised her to contact wizards but my questions is: Is this a known issue with Khans of Tarkir cards and are these cards in fact not legal for sanctioned play due to the missing stamp?”]
If they’re real cards, then they’re tournament-legal, foil stamp or no; stamps are not required in order for the cards to be legal.

The lack of a foil stamp is just a misprint like any other.
Approved by: Callum Mine, L2, Nanaimo, Canada, Forum Moderator
[/expand]

 

Your Monthly Caution about DCIR

Andy Heckt reminds us here and here that DCIR is no longer supported. Events must be reported in WER, other than Grand Prix main events… and it seems like even that will soon change, as they were using new software in Orlando.  As noted in the second thread, WER will handle tournaments slightly differently than DCIR did – in this case, the minimum Opposing Match Win % for each opponent changed fractionally around the time that WER was released.

Your Monthly Cautions about WER

While judges are perfectly free to play in FNM events that they judge, WER has recently taken to disallowing this.  It helps to enter all judges before entering any players.  If the problem isn’t noticed until players have been entered, restarting the program may get WER to allow the event to proceed.

As noted in the past, WER will sometimes refuse to allow an event to be recorded if it ends after midnight.  Changing the system clock back to the previous day will often get around this.

Another Set, Another Wave of Judge Resource Updates

The missed trigger team is on the case again, providing Khans of Tarkir updates for the overall project.  They have also broken the detrimental triggers out into their own page.

The Mobile Docs project, providing files suitable for most mobile platforms, has updated its copies of the CR, Oracle, IPG, and MTR.

MTG Guide for iOS has updated its copies of these documents as well as its card database.

The Judge Core App for Android has been updated as well.

 

Judge Conferences, Pro Tour Qualifiers, Grand Prix and SCG Opens have available worldwide staffing positions! You still have time to apply for GP Baltimore, GP Denver, GP Shizuoka, GP Omaha and GP Mexico City.

Check out the Grand Prix Solicitations and Selected Staffs such as GP Madrid and GP Strasbourg.

New GP Travel guide for Madrid and Strasbourg are available! Find a list of other guides right here.

Public projects (such as Rules Translation, Judge related survey and Recorded Comprehensive Rules) are recruiting! If you want to get more out of your Judging experience and give back to the community, sign up to something that interests you and help out.