A: The root issue here is that this player probably believes they’re doing the right thing and that they are trying to comply with policy. But he’s not, and we, as judges, need to educate him in that way. If the player has the original Nexus of Fate cards with them, simply educate him and approve those proxies to use in this event. There’s no infraction, so do not issue any penalty.

Approved by Scott Marshall
Cards: Nexus of Fate

A: As I recall, cards like Rhystic Study and Frost Titan influenced the quotes you included, especially that phrasing in the IPG. What we wanted was to avoid the “gotcha” that could be achieved by remaining silent in hopes that Study would let you draw, or Titan would protect itself.

While your example is a bit different, the wording of policy confirms that Cynthia failed in her obligation to both point out the Chancellor’s trigger, and confirm that Dave was using the floating mana to pay. Instead, she assumed and the cost of that assumption is Dave gets to act as though she forgot her trigger; Dave’s position (really, his assumption) is defensible, because it’s Cynthia’s burden to point out the trigger and have Dave choose whether or not to pay 1. Or, short version: players who assume things usually don’t like the outcome.

Also: this is very much a “you had to be there” scenario, as so many fine details of the player’s communication could change the outcome.  This answer is based on the original presentation.

Approved by Scott Marshall

Cards: Chancellor of the Annex; Faithless Looting; Daze; Brainstorm

A: The IPG allows incomplete but not incorrect answers – Derived Information. Also, bluffing is a part of Magic. Even at Regular REL, you can say “I’ve got lethal burn in hand, can you win this turn?” when your hand only contains basic lands. If an opponent believes you and scoops, score one for the bluff – it’s legal. At Competitive REL, bluffing about Derived information is one of the skills we allow. Sometimes, it feels wrong for the “victim”, but most instances point to that “victim” not asking good, or good enough, questions. So, no infraction, nor penalty.

Approved by Scott Marshall

A: The cards are known, so they can be shuffled into the random portion of the library before turning our attention to that GRV.

The point of a backup is to return the game state to as close as possible to what it was before. Backing up cards to the top of the library does not accomplish this, since now they’re known to the player when they should have been unknown. However we also don’t want to shuffle away random cards from a player’s hand, as that is extremely disruptive and can give the player a large advantage or disadvantage just based on a roll of the dice. That’s why we put unknown cards from the hand on top of the library. When the card is known to both players, and more importantly, known to the judge, there’s no risk of shuffling away the wrong card. We know exactly which one isn’t supposed to be in the hand, so the reasons for wanting to put it on top of the library don’t apply. I wouldn’t get tripped up over the exact way those cards made it into the hand, what matters is that they’re there and not known to the opponent. Most methods of putting a card into a hand that isn’t drawing it have it revealed to both players.

Approved by The Forum Moderators, Cards: Karn, Scion of Urza