{"id":434,"date":"2016-10-04T16:08:09","date_gmt":"2016-10-04T16:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/playerexperience\/?p=434"},"modified":"2016-12-28T08:30:02","modified_gmt":"2016-12-28T08:30:02","slug":"communication-in-magic-tournaments-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/playerexperience\/2016\/10\/04\/communication-in-magic-tournaments-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Communication in Magic Tournaments – Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"
Read part two\u00a0here<\/a>, read part three here<\/a>.<\/em><\/div>\n
\"Written<\/a>

Written by Salvatore La Terra
\nLevel 3, Italy<\/p><\/div>\n

Magic<\/b> is a complicated game. Each turn, several trivial choices are assumed but never explicitly said out loud, to prevent the game from dragging through extremely boring rules minutiae. It\u2019s therefore necessary to have rules on what can be left untold, and how.<\/span><\/p>\n

This article is the first installment of a series of articles where I\u2019ll explain how players are supposed to communicate with other players and with judges. Let\u2019s start by looking at communication between a player and a judge.<\/span><\/p>\n

Communicating with a judge<\/span><\/h1>\n

Magic Tournament Rules <\/span><\/i>are very clear on communication between a player and a judge:<\/span><\/p>\n

MTR 4.1 <\/i><\/b>[…] Players must answer all questions asked of them by a judge completely and honestly, regardless of the type of information requested. Players may request to do so away from the match.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

If a judge asks you a question, you must say the truth and all the truth. If you fear that your opponent can overhear and gain information that you\u2019d rather keep private, you can always ask to the judge to move away from the table, whether you want to ask a rule question or the judge is asking you something. If you aren\u2019t truthful with a judge, the penalty is, without exception, the disqualification from the tournament:<\/span><\/p>\n

IPG 4.8 Unsporting Conduct \u2014 Cheating<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Definition<\/i><\/b>
\n<\/span><\/i>A person breaks a rule defined by the tournament documents, <\/span><\/i>lies to a Tournament Official<\/span><\/i>, or notices an offense committed in his or her (or a teammate\u2019s) match and does not call attention to it.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re going to learn a single thing from this article, let it be this: if a judge asks you a question, <\/span>you say the truth and all the truth<\/span><\/i>. To be honest, many disqualifications don\u2019t stem from the deductive skills of the judges or their capability to spot a manipulation attempt from across the floor; they are caused by players who try to outsmart us and \u201cadjust\u201d their recounting of an event.<\/span><\/p>\n

If a judge summons you to ask questions, follow my advice:<\/span><\/p>\n