{"id":40,"date":"2014-03-26T01:50:55","date_gmt":"2014-03-25T14:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/regular\/?p=40"},"modified":"2015-07-20T17:34:17","modified_gmt":"2015-07-20T16:34:17","slug":"guest-post-why-so-flexible-on-missed-triggers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/regular\/guest-post-why-so-flexible-on-missed-triggers\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post: Why so flexible on Missed Triggers?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This ended up a little delayed due to some unexpected travel on my part, so many thanks to Joe Hughto<\/a><\/span><\/span> for stepping up with a post explaining why we leave so much flexibility on Missed Triggers at Regular REL!<\/p>\n

********************************************************************************
\nTwo pages. \u00a0That\u2019s the length of the document that guides judges working at Regular Rules Enforcement Level (REL). \u00a0A majority of events are played at this REL and, in fact, a vast majority of local tournaments are run at Regular REL. \u00a0Is two pages sufficient to cover all of the varied environments that players will see at Regular?
\n

<\/p>
\nLet\u2019s explore one part of one section to see what kind of limits are set on judges at these events. \u00a0Here is how we are instructed to handle missed triggers at Regular REL:
\nA player forgets a triggered ability (one that uses the words \u201cwhen,\u201d \u201cwhenever,\u201d or \u201cat\u201d usually at the start of the ability’s text).
\nThese abilities are considered missed if the player did not acknowledge them in any way at the point that it required choices or had a visible in-game effect. If the ability includes the word \u201cmay,\u201d assume the player chose not to perform it. Otherwise, add it to the stack now unless it happened so long ago that you think it would be very disruptive to the game – don\u2019t add the ability to the stack if significant decisions having been made based on the effect not happening! Unlike other game rule errors (which must be pointed out), players are never required to point out their opponent\u2019s missed triggered abilities, although they may do so.
\nConsider this scenario: \u00a0Jane is the Head Judge of her local store\u2019s Standard Constructed FNM. \u00a0This week, like most weeks, there are about 60 players in attendance. \u00a0The normal prize pool adds two packs per person, and she\u2019ll be giving out more than half a case of boosters tonight. \u00a0Her store normally hosts a very competitive environment since many of the players use this FNM as training grounds for the deck they\u2019ll be bringing to the nearby GP coming up next month.
\n

<\/p>
\nIt\u2019s round four. \u00a0Niko controls Soldier of the Pantheon<\/a>. \u00a0Annette casts Detention Sphere<\/a> and wishes to exile both of Niko\u2019s Desecration Demons<\/a> with Detention Sphere\u2019s first triggered ability. \u00a0Annette notices that Niko didn\u2019t mention anything about the Soldier\u2019s trigger. \u00a0She dances a little dance in her head because she had just enough to take him out on her next turn if she casts Frostburn Weird<\/a> now. \u00a0She casts Frostburn Weird and doesn\u2019t leave up mana for her Dissolve<\/a>. \u00a0Annette passes the turn, Niko untaps, draws, and then notices his error. \u00a0He calls Jane over.
\nShe takes a quick look at the JAR to refresh since this seems like it can be an important call. \u00a0One phrase sticks out as important to her: \u201cdon\u2019t add the ability to the stack if significant decisions have been made based on the effect not happening!\u201d \u00a0Given this environment, she feels that there were significant decisions made by Annette. \u00a0She decides to not put the Soldier of the Pantheon trigger on the stack.
\n—–
\nNow let\u2019s consider a slight different scenario.
\nJonah is running his store\u2019s weekly Booster Draft on Sunday. \u00a0His store is in the local mall and it gets a very casual crowd who likes to come in and spend a couple hours playing a fun game. \u00a0The normal prize structure for an 8-player pod gives three packs to first, and one pack each to second through fourth.
\nIn the second round, Anton is playing against Nicolette. \u00a0Anton controls an Oreskos Sun Guide<\/a> and attacked Nicolette with it during his previous turn. \u00a0Nicolette has ended her turn and passed back to Anton. \u00a0Anton untaps, draws, plays a land, and casts Loyal Pegasus<\/a>. \u00a0He then moves on to attacks. \u00a0While figuring out who he should attack with since he may need to leave up a blocker or two, he notices that he missed his Orsekos Sun Guide trigger. \u00a0Jonah gets called over.
\nHe also double-checks the JAR. \u00a0He determines that while Nicolette may have made some decisions about the game, they weren\u2019t significant ones that determined her line of play. \u00a0He decides to add the trigger to the stack and tells the players to try to be more careful when they have triggered abilities.
\n—-
\n

<\/p>
\nEach trigger led to a gain of life so why did these judges rule differently at each of these events? \u00a0There is one very important word here that made these rule different ways: significant. \u00a0There are lots of things that can influence whether a judge thinks a decision was significant. \u00a0One of those factors can be environment. \u00a0Remember that the goal of Regular REL is to promote learning, fun, and fairness. \u00a0If your FNM is very competitive and players expect you to emphasize fairness heavily, you might rule like Jane from the first situation. \u00a0On the other hand, if your local environment is more casual, you might rule like Jonah.
\nRemember that we as judges are not simply rules robots who just regurgitate the rules and relevant policy. \u00a0We are there to make sure that our players enjoy their experience and it\u2019s also fair for everybody. \u00a0We are expected to use our best judgement at each call to find out the remedy most appropriate, which is especially true at Regular REL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This ended up a little delayed due to some unexpected travel on my part, so many thanks to for stepping up with a post explaining why we leave so much flexibility on Missed Triggers at Regular REL! ******************************************************************************** Two pages. \u00a0That\u2019s the length of the document that guides judges working at Regular Rules Enforcement Level […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[],"language":[20],"class_list":["post-40","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-philosophy","category-triggers","language-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/regular\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/regular\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/regular\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/regular\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/regular\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/regular\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/regular\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions\/144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/regular\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/regular\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/regular\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/regular\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=40"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}