Where’s Gilbert?
TO: Channelfireball Events
Total players in main event: 1815
For GP Copenhagen, I was originally selected as a Standby judge. This was until about two weeks before the event. The GP page (gpcopenhagen.com) listed 437 available seats. A couple of days later, it was updated and now said 147 seats. Soon after, I was contacted by the judge manager and accepted as a floor judge at the GP. This was from Friday to Sunday. Because of my previous standby status, I had spent some testing a deck for the event. Had I played the GP, this is deck I would have played this deck: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/vizier-chord/
Along with a schedule of mostly late shift, I were also scheduled to Head Judge the Modern Masters sealed deck event on Sunday. This would be time I’m Head Judging a public event at GP. I just decided that I were up to the task, despite having about less time for preparation. For all three days, I was scheduled for the public events in a “float” role.
Friday:
This was first day of the GP, mostly about the public events. This was also the day, I learned my own role through the weekend. Then, what was the “float” team main tasks? Well, we’re the people who substitute for judges on break, help events that need another judge and/or sometimes head judges the event while the head judge i away. Depending on your knowledge of the rules, this is actually a challenging job. You not only have to be aware of the system the TO use to run GP public event, but also be ready to answer any and all types of rules question as well about public events in general. Flexibility is a requirement. After the GP, I counted that I had judged a total of 5 different formats, 6 if you count two different Chaos sealed deck events. The formats were: Standard, Modern, 2HG Sealed, Modern Masters Sealed, Chaos Sealed (1 event with Kamigawa block, and both Ravnica blocks, another with a random pool of both newer and older sets.)
Each public event had the same structure: 4 rounds of 50 minutes, no playoff. Regular REL. Players would collect their prices at the “Prize Tix Station,” by bringing their result slip for the last round. If the event was limited, the deckbuilding time was 30 minutes. Only a few events were competitive REL. This were mainly the Mega Last Chance trial on Friday, other LCT and the PTQ on Sunday.
Friday began with a staff meeting at 9:00. Before the doors opened, we prepared the Mega Last Chance Trial sealed pools. I were at that event until my lunch break at noon. Then I went on to judge a 160 player modern event. Because the event was included in the Fanatic package, players also received a Progenitus promo for just signing up. My responsibility was to distribute those promos to the players during the first round. Unfortunately, we hadn’t enough promos with us, so a few received during the second round of the event along with an apology. After that event was finished, I had my afternoon break, then I substituted the Head Judge of a 2-Headed Giant Amonkhet Sealed. This was his lunch break. In addition to answer question from the players, I also had to end the current round and start the next round of the event. This event was my training ground for Modern Masters event on Sunday. The event was a great introduction to the concept of subsituting Head Judges.. I ended my day judging the late modern event (Also part of the Fanatic Package), this time with about 200 players.
Saturday:
For Saturday, I was scheduled as part of the late shift. My shift began at 11:45 by Head Judging a Standard event along with another judge. We were substituting for the event Head Judge while he had lunch break. It went so well, that by the time the judge returned, he wasn’t needed anymore. Both of us handled the event better than before.
In this Standard event, Sphinx of the Final Word were a problem for many players. This was most likely because a lot of players played Dynavolt Tower decks. Players thought both that their instant and sorceries couldn’t be targeted by counterspells (like Disallow), sometimes they wanted to target their own spells to gain more energy off of the Tower. We also had some players, who allowed a spell to be countered even though they had the Sphinx. By the time we took the call, two turns had already passed, so we couldn’t change the outcome in any way.
The Head Judging of the standard event also helped me prepare for my own event on Sunday. I became more confident in the role while also learning more about the system used to run the public events. We were in charge of bringing the slips to the scorekeeper, cutting result slips and doing everything else. The event wrapped in the late afternoon and we had a lunch break.
After the break, I was asked to judge a Chaos sealed event. Several of the players complained about the pool of booster packs. I also discovered that most of cards in the event were from both Ravnica blocks and Kamigawa. I encouraged some players who were unhappy about that to tell the people in the red shirts about it (The Channelfireball staff). The event was expensive because the intention had been to use Revised starter packs. That event sold out on Friday, and a different solution might not have been found in time. As a compensation, every player who participated in this received an additional 20 prize tix and a playmat.
Sunday:
Sunday was my “big” day. I was scheduled Head Judge for my first side event at a GP, the 13:00 Modern Masters Sealed deck. My shift began at 11:00. Before I needed to prepare for my own event, I had time judge another modern event. Following that, we prepared product for the Modern Masters sealed, and also checked with the scorekeeper about registration (I estimate the event had 99 players, but forget to check with the scorekeeper). The players had 30 minutes to build their deck, mostly consisting of 3-5 colors. A lucky player also opened a foil Tarmogoyf at the event.
We had couple of problems during the event, some of those involved the players with either wrong dci-number or name. A player also lost his deck and couldn’t find it before 10 minutes had passed in the round. He was dropped from the event, found his deck and was re-enrolled. While the last round of the Modern Masters event was in progress, a Pauper event nearby was doing end of rounds. The Head Judge had to leave, just as he called time for last round. He asked me to help with the last two matches. My floor judge took charge of that, while I concentrated on the Modern event.
My own event finished, followed by some more Chaos sealed. This time had way greater diversity of packs and that allowed for some interesting questions. At the very end of my shift, I returned to the last modern event of the weekend until it was finished.
In the evening, We had a party at the cafeteria in the convention center. We played with some of our Amonkhet sealed deck, a gift from Channelfireball. Later we had some Aether Revolt-Kaladesh Drafts. I drafted this mono-red deck: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/gpcph-judge-draft-aer-kld/ and this was my sealed deck and pool: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/gpcph-staff-sealed-akh/
Here is some of the interesting questions I received at the GP. The questions come from variety of formats on Regular REL. You’ll find both Standard, Modern and Chaos Sealed:
1. In an Modern event, the active player pays 2 for his opponents Leonin Arbiter. He then sacrifices a Sakura-Tribe Elder. In responses, the opponent actives his Eldrazi Displacer targeting the Leonin Arbiter. What happens when the active players wants to fetch?
Show Answer!
2. In one of the Chaos sealed events, a players imprinted a Lambholt Butcher on his Duplicant. Which side are the Duplicant “duplicating”?
Show Answer!
3. Also in Chaos sealed, a Ojutai Interceptor was face-down with a -1/-1 counter on it. The player turns it face up. What happens?
Show Answer!
4. In the Saturday Chaos sealed, players had some difficulties with the Haunt mechanic from the first Ravnica block. To make it more difficult, the Haunt mechanic exist in two variants, one for spells and one for creatures. It says “When this creature dies, exile it haunting target creature”, for spells, replaces the first part of the ability with, “When this spell is put into a graveyard after resolving,….” In addition to this, each card with haunt has ability that triggers both from battlefield and the exile zone. Mainly, the trigger “When the creature [This] haunts dies, [effect],” triggers from the exile zone. That confused several players a the event, who were unsure about how this works. Let’s all hope this ability doesn’t return any time soon. (702,54)
5. In the Two-headed Giant event on friday, a player asked how Sandwurm Convergence works in the format. Because Two-Headed Giant don’t have an attacking/defending player, it uses attacking/defending team instead. This is way the card affects both players on the opposing team. (810,7c)
6. In a Modern event, a players casts Faithless Looting, discarding Emrakul, The Aeons Torn and another card. He then casts Goryo’s Vengeance in response to the trigger from Emrakul. He is then unsure about how resolve everything, and need a bit of help. At this time, this is the stack: From Bottom to Top: Faithless Looting, Emrakul Trigger, Goyro’s Vengeance. First, the Faithless is put into his graveyard, then Goyro’s Vengeance resolves, putting the Emrakul onto the battlefield. Finally, the player shuffles his or her graveyard into his or her library.
7. During another modern event, a player shows me his Atarka’s Command in his hand. His opponent controls a Spellskite and he asks whether Spellskite can target it or not. Because the card is in his hand and I don’t want to signal anything to his opponent, I just give him “yes.” Following that, I would actually explain to him how that works, away from the table. He doesn’t want to, so I leave at that but continue to watch the match anticipating a follow up question. It luckily never happens, because the players manages to kill the opponents Spellskite. After the Match, I give the player full explanation, that while Spellskite could target it, it wouldn’t do anything. Remember, that the answer is always “Yes” to whether a Spellskite can target a spell or ability. The effect of that ability depends upon the target’s own target requirements. For the Atarka’s Commans, none of the modes have any target, therefore Spellskite would have no effect.
8. At the Modern Masters sealed event, a Basilisk Collar were attached to a Mudbutton Torchrunner. The Torchrunner dies. What happens when the damage is dealt from it trigger?
Show Answer!
9. This card were created by a player in the Modern Masters sealed event. Can you figure out which three cards are mashed together:
