During a deck check in round 4 of a PPTQ, you quickly spread out the player’s deck, face down.You notice that five of the cards seem to be in sleeves that are a millimeter or two smaller than the rest. Those 5 cards are a , an , an , a and a . You […]
Category: Silver
Back to the Drawing Board
With 12 minutes left in the last swiss round of a PPTQ you’re head judging, two players, Allison and Nate, call you over. They tell you that they intentionally drew their match during game 5, and didn’t know how to report it. You ask what happened, and Allison tells you, “Well, we’re best friends, and […]
A Weak Link in the Chain?
In a Legacy GP match that you are observing, Apollo is at 3 life while playing against Neptune, who is at 5 life. Apollo casts , tapping one of his two , targeting Neptune, who has several red mana available. Neptune says “it resolves” and marks herself down to 2. Apollo looks at you, waits […]
Mutually Beneficial Assistance
Aidan is playing against Naaraa in the top 8 of a large Competitive REL tournament that has video and text coverage. Both players were given access to each other’s decklist prior to the start of the match, as they had been previously posted online. During Game 2, you turn around from watching another match and […]
Not all Gideons are Allies
Abel is playing in a Standard PPTQ against Nick. Abel taps 4 , declares ‘Cast ’, and puts a card from his hand onto the table. He then says ‘make a knight’, and puts a 2/2 Knight Ally token into play, and says ‘your turn.’ After he draws for turn, Nick is evaluating the board […]
Once again through the Grizzle
Andy is playing against Nole in a Competitive REL Legacy tournament, and controls a morph and a . During Andy’s declare attackers step Nole casts targeting Grizzly Bears. Andy responds by paying ‘s morph cost and turning it face up. Andy puts the Grizzly Bears into the graveyard and says “draw trigger”. Nole casts in […]
Light in the Darkness
At a Modern PPTQ Atari is playing against Nintendo. On her first turn Atari plays an and passes the turn. Nintendo plays a and a and passes after both players have revealed their top cards. During Nintendo’s end step Atari casts targeting herself, it resolves and she puts the top 3 cards into her graveyard, […]
“Meat and eggs. We eat!” – Borborygmos
Peyton and Penelope are playing in your PPTQ. During round 3 they finished their match early, and went and got lunch from the Chinese restaraunt next door. They returned to their table and ate their lunch. You just announced pairings for round 4, and notice that they left their to-go boxes at the table they […]
Strictly Surgical Sideboarding
During a deck check at a Modern PPTQ, you notice that Percy has an extra card in one of the sleeves of his sideboard. The sideboard contains two copies of , and the extra card is a third copy of . It is faced backwards behind another sideboard card. Other than that, his deck is […]
Nobody Expects a Missed Inquisition
You are the Head Judge for a Modern PPTQ. On her first turn, Andrea plays a Swamp, then casts . Naomi reveals her hand: three , two , and two . Andrea writes down every card in Naomi’s hand, and when finished, says “pass the turn.” Naomi picks up her hand, draws a card for […]