Tasha Jamison, L3 USA

How do you introduce a tournament report? My first PTQ in Oregon was August 10th, hosted by Addictive Behaviors at the Hilton Eugene’s convention space. I arranged this opportunity with Brock and Zinaide at GP: Portland in May, where we also discussed some staffing options. I don’t do a lot of PTQs, but when I do, I try to focus on L2 development opportunities, so I hand-selected my staff rather than posting through JudgeApps. In the future, I plan to use JudgeApps instead and simply encourage candidates to apply.

Going into the weekend, one of the judges on staff had some reservations about judging on Saturday. My blanket policy for withdrawing from an event is that if you contact me in advance, you will be off the event, no questions or harm to your reputation (but sympathy offered if appropriate). I would rather have a smaller judge staff than a staff where a judge is distressed, distracted, or even distracting others. Usually, we can also find another judge who is willing to step into the role, as happened this weekend.

 At the start of the day, the staff consisted of myself,  Aaron Henner (L2), Bob Narindra(L2), Brock Sprunger(L1 & store owner), Sean Canet (L1), and Michael Divers (L0 who judges many of Addictive Behaviors’ events in store). We also had interest from another L0, Jason Batz, who in Salem was a bit of a hike from the nearest L2. By the end of the day, we’d added two additional levels to the staff — please welcome Michael and Jason to the judge community!

 The Tournament Organizer provided a really lovely tea/coffee station (which saved me when I finished my first coffee) and a selection of pastries. Players really seemed to love this, and it was a great way to push attendance to a record-breaking 180 players.

 In the last year or so, WotC has decided that in the US, PTQs with a projected attendance of 120 or higher should have an L3 judge as Head Judge. If an L3 is not available, then the most experienced judge available should be selected in conjunction with the Regional Coordinator. Obviously, there are fewer L3s than L2s in the United States, and many of us work a lot of events (alongside day jobs). It can seem like a major hassle to follow through on this instruction, but an L3 can bring a lot of value to an event. Because of the experience required to become an L3, we typically have a lot of insight into “critical moments” of events, which can make or break players’ experience. We also usually have worked with a wide enough variety of TOs and venues that we can improvise solutions to problems before they become apparent.

 For example, one issue that came to mind early was that Addictive Behaviors had a set of laminated table numbers… by 3’s: 1-3, 4-6, and so on. As we laid these out on the table, it was pretty clear that if the judges were struggling to identify which was the correct table, players would, too. This can lead to delays and even unnecessary tardiness penalties. Instead, I asked about some masking tape and used that and a sharpie to label table numbers. I recommend having some blue painter’s tape and a sharpie in your event kit!

 There’s a lot of overlap between judging issues and TO issues when it comes to organizing event — think logistics team. Where do you put the pairings boards? How many? Who manages the registration line? And so on. You’ll find some divides on who considers it a “TO issue” and who considers it a “judge issue.” Ultimately, I don’t really care whose problem it is; I just want to see someone take ownership and solve it. We started out with three pairings boards because that was what the TO provided, and shifted to two as the Game Day started and needed one. Payment for entry was taken by the store (who had a vendor booth), then registration slips were delivered to the scorekeeper. Lines were initially left for players to sort out till I broke them up into neater lines.

We had a delay for registration as we put in the last players to the event. A piece of tech I picked up from a European scorekeeper: if you want to guarantee your event starts on time, have a TO staffmember or judge stand in line 15 minutes before the event is scheduled to fire. When the judge gets to the stage, the scorekeeper focuses solely on getting the event started; late players are enrolled with a round 1 loss or not at all. This works great for scheduled side events, especially at a convention. For the main event, the TO may make a decision to allow new players to register right up until the scheduled start time — which can lead to some delays.

WER can throw a couple of errors on entering DCI numbers. “DCI Number not found” simply means that it’s a new DCI number to the database; enter the player’s name and continue. If the “Enroll” button is still grayed out after a player’s name populates, check the country field. If you have to enter something, enter it and tab away.

A USB 10-key is a timesaver, especially if you or your scorekeeper does not have a full 10-key on their laptop keyboard. It runs about $15 at any office supply store. (I’d recommend picking up a USB hub at the same time…)

Once the event began, things ran pretty smoothly. We had a couple interesting Game Losses that came to my attention in the same round. One was a player who activated Domri Rade’s first ability but didn’t reveal before putting the card into his hand.  Since the player was required to reveal this hidden information but didn’t before putting the card into his hand, it is a Game Play Error: Game Rule Violation with a mandatory upgrade to a Game Loss. I applied the same rule of thumb to distinguish Game Play Error: Looking at Extra Cards and Game Play Error: Drawing Extra Cards–that is, did the card touch the player’s hand? Sometimes one player will insist it could be tracked the entire time–it is *this* card, on the right of my hand–but it’s a bit disingenuous. Just stick with the line and the upgrade.

 The second Game Loss was for Game Play Error: Drawing Extra Cards. Player A passed the turn to Player N, who activated Nephalia Drownyard twice in A’s end step. After milling his six cards, Player A forgot whose end step it was and… drew his card for the turn. Since the card entered his hand, DEC (and a Game Loss) applies.

We provided a 30-minute lunch break between rounds 4 and 5. This was the first event I’ve ever done with a lunch break, and perhaps unsurprisingly, I’m not a fan. Although many players dropped in round 4, we still started round 5 about 5 minutes after we planned to with many no shows. I did not hear complaints from players who expected to continue playing — I suspect they just dropped without informing us. It did provide a nice lull for the judges (who had already received lunch breaks with box lunches).

Whether you are judging or organizing a PTQ, one of the top priorities for speed of the tournament is the printer. The printer experienced quite a few phantom jams, which led to essentially a manual feed of paper… which slowed things down considerably. The third set of pairings usually came out two minutes or so after the first set and we had delays with getting match result slips out.

Speaking of match result slips: if you witness a result, or if you are filling out a tardiness no-show… ask the players to complete the slip. Even if you are impatient, the players are more invested in the right outcome. It’s no fun as a player–or a scorekeeper correcting the issue–to have your results entered incorrectly because the judge filled in the slip wrong.

In all, the PTQ in Eugene was a fantastic experience. My only regret was not sticking around to play on Sunday! Brock and Zinaide really went above and beyond to give their players and judges a great experience. It was a privilege to work with (and in some cases, meet) Aaron, Bob, Brock, Sean, Michael, and Jason! If you have an opportunity to work with any of these gentlemen, be sure to ask questions so they can share their wisdom.