Event Name: Star City Games Weekday IQ
Event Venue: Kings Games, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Event Format: Standard
Event Turnout: 45 Players

Head Judge: Rob Blanckaert L1

This was my first time as head judge of a competitive REL event, and also the first competitive REL working without the assistance of any other judges.

Player Registration

During player registration it was discovered that WER downtime made it impossible to launch WER at all on the stores computer. WER would just hang at the splash screen. The following steps saved us from the brink of disaster, and got our tournament back on track.

1. We got a somewhat ancient version of WER to launch in offline mode on a laptop used to lookup card prices.

2. Unfortunately the primary computer didn’t have a backup of the local player database, I was able to get the database over to the laptop by copying the entire “%APPDATA%\Wizards of the Coast\Event Reporter” directory over via flash drive.

3. Some players not in the local database. We were able to look up using the old DCI-R database.

4. It was taking a very long time to get the printer drivers to work on the laptop. An ingenious store employee was able to speed things a long by taking a picture of the “Seating’s Alphabetical” screen with his phone and printing that, hoping to get real printing done by the end of the players meeting.

All in all these delays pushed our start time from 6:30pm back to 7:45pm. Astonishingly we had registrations all the way up until around 7:30p, which would have otherwise been an hour late for the tournament.

Opening Announcements

I was pretty happy with how I delivered the opening announcements. Going into the event this was one of the things I was most worried about, and I feel like I did an okay job. In the hurry to get the show on the road, I forgot to give players time to double check their decklists and write their table number on them. This oversight resulted on me getting the deck lists that were only somewhat in alphabetical order.

At the end of opening announcements while I was collecting decklists, a player asked me quite publicly “Due to recent events, are we allowed a final cut after our opponent shuffles.” No wanting to get any into that drama whatsoever, I answer with a simple “No” and continue collecting lists.

Round One

8:01p – 8:51p

The TO announced they would give free coffee and tea to the players. I announced the start of the round and got to work counting the 45 decks lists. From each “almost sorted pile” I pulled lists one letter of the alphabet at a time, and it didn’t seemed to slow me down very much. However judge calls ‘mid-list’ would often result in having to start that list over again.

I applied three match losses for tardiness. I assume these players got tired of waiting during the technical problems around and left.

I’m called to a table where a player shuffling his opponent’s deck mishandled the cards, resulting in a few of them landing face up on the table. Warning for L@EC applied.

With about 20m left in the round I decide to run a chunk of the deck lists down to the TO to see if he could assist in counting them. He’s happy to help.

A player asked me out of match what’s he is required to do for Keranos, God of Storms’s ability. He wanted to know if he can just flip the card, of if he has to say “trigger”. I explained that the revealing is not a triggered ability, but what happens when the card is revealed is. I also clarified that he needs to specify a target and resolve the ability before he does anything in his main phase, and that an opponent can respond with the trigger on the stack based on the revealed card. I also reminded the player that clear communication is important, and saying “trigger” can’t hurt.

I went to snag the decklists from the TO. He was busier then expected, and only got through 3-4 of them. Furthermore poor instruction on my part resulted in him not putting the counts on the top of the list, so I end up having to recount these anyway. He did however found a list with 59 cards.

Round turnaround time 54m.

Round Two

8:54p – 9:44p

I applied a tardiness penalty at the beginning of the round and tell the player to call a judge after 10 minutes or whenever his opponent shows up. His opponent showed up 4 minutes later, explaining that someone from the store had moved his backpack behind the counter and he was scrambling to find it when the round began. I reminded the player that in the future he should talk to me if first if a situation like that arises and waive the tardiness penalty with a 4 min time extension. I later asked the staff down stairs about this, and the player’s story checks out.

I’m called to a table at the beginning of a round by a player who noticed that one of a player sleeves is a different color than the others. An inspection of all the cards including the sideboard revealed about half of the sleeves seemed to be darker. Sorting them I don’t see any pattern to the cards. I instructed the player to reshuffle his deck and to change sleeves between rounds. During this process, I heard another judge call, and forgot to write out the warning on the match slip, though I did issue a 7 min time extension.

Called to a table by A who activated Stormbreath Dragon‘s monstrous ability, attacked with it, and confirmed N’s question of “Move to Blocks”. While blockers were being assigned A asks N “You took 3 from Stormbreath, right?” I ask A to clarify when the ability was activated, A says “Beginning of Combat” while N says “First Main Phase”. I remind N that A controls the flow of his own turn, and rule the ability was activated beginning of combat. Trigger is ruled missed because it wasn’t acknowledged when it would first affect game state. I explained that the monstrosity ability and adding the 3 counters is separate from the triggered ability, and the ability must be acknowledged.

I finished counting list, and double checked problem list with 20m to go in the round. I found one hand written list with no “Total” and 61 cards in the main board, and one deck list with 59 cards in the main board.

Round turnaround time 59m

Round Three

9:53p – 10:43p

After posting pairings I visit the two tables with decklist problems and tell those players not to begin playing when I call for the round to begin.

At the beginning of the round the player with the wonky sleeves approached me with new sleeves in hand lamenting he didn’t have enough time to switch them between rounds. I instruct him to see me immediately after his next match and I will help him re-sleeve.

I start with the 61 card list as I assume it will be the fastest to resolve. When I go back to the table the player immediately says “Yep, I know why I am being deck checked. I accidentally listed 61 cards, and I am playing 61 cards.” I tell the player his list didn’t include the total, and I quickly count his main and side board finding 61/15. No penalty issued, 4 min time extension. When I was returning the deck to the player, the way I was holding the deck, the opponent could see through my fingers a red card on bottom of his library. The player quickly took the deck from me hiding this, but didn’t seem too worried.

On to the 59 card list. I summon the player and have him review the list while I start breaking the deck down. He can’t seem to find a problem, and when a judge call comes in I instruct him to continue the process. When I come back from the call, the player had found a 1 of card he forgot to put on his list. List corrected, D/DL – Game loss issued. Players instructed to play without sideboards, player with GL choosing to play or draw.

Round turnaround 52m.

Round Four

10:50p – 11:52p

While players are sitting for pairings, I set out to find the player with the discolored sleeves, planning to make him re-sleeve his cards now and apply any tardiness policies that might come up as a result. The player had lost his last game and dropped.

I set my watch for 7 minutes and start a beginning of the round deck check. After getting through the first deck, I glance at my watch and see 1:20 left. I decide to just check the sideboard and sleeves of the second deck. No problems, 10m time extension.

Only judge call was a player asking away from the table if Gods Willing can stop Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker’s -3 if he chooses red. I tell him the ability will be countered because of an illegal target.

Round turnaround time 52m.

Round Five

11:56p – 12:46a

After posting the pairings, I ran downstairs to fetch the match slips. Before I instructed players to start the round, I find some matches that have already begun despite no instruction to begin the round. I instructed those players to restart their games, especially because one of those tables will be receiving a deck check.

Performed a beginning of match, and mid-round deck check checking one deck from each match fully, and just the sleeves (and the sideboard for the beginning of round) on the other.

Round turnaround time 59m.

Round Six

12:55a – 1:45a

I got a call early in the round by a player that drew extra cards. There were two cards face up on the player’s library when I approached the table and a Courser of Kurphix in play on his side. I have some difficulty getting the story straight, and ruled Drawing extra cards with a downgraded penalty due to the card being known with all players. The opponent said he strongly disagreed, and under further investigation I learn that only one of the first cards was revealed at the time it was drawn. Player confirmed this was true. DEC Game Loss Issued.

I started a mid-round deck check, however due to multiple judge calls during the deck check, I only had time to check the sleeves.

Judges calls where for oracle text on a foreign card, and if a player can cast Thoughtseize at one life to see his opponents hand before game three.

During the end of the rounds a player asked me if his record is good enough for top eight. I told him that I don’t really know the answer to that, but to not leave quite yet, as it might be possible with good tie breakers. Another player warned him that judges shouldn’t answer questions like that, and proceeded to crunch the number for him.

Round turnaround time 51m

Top Eight

1:55a – 2:51a

The players at this point pretty much know their marching orders.

One judge call on where a spell that is played of Chandra, Pyromaster’s +0 ability end up after it’s played. I tell them the spell resolves normally and goes to the graveyard.

I noticed an especially chatty group of players at one match while the players where shuffling their cards. A spectator and both players in a match where all discussing the pros and cons of an alternate line of play in the last game. I cautioned the spectator to hold off on such conversations until after the match has concluded.

Several players questioned me about the ordering of the draws from Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker’s Emblem. I told the players that at the beginning of their draw step they draw a card, and then this ability goes on the stack, resolves, and they draw two cards. Most players assumed it was the other way around, and seemed happy that this sequencing would allow for better plays when Courser and fetch lands were involved.

Round turnaround time 56m.

Top Four

2:51a – 4:10a

The players had already started playing at spots other then the top four area I had played the play mats out at. I asked if they would mind moving. They seemed really tired, and just wanted to play where they were, which I accepted.

A mirror match of control decks made this round a bit longer then normal. Pace of play seemed good, but both players had effects that reset their life totals, plenty of counter magic, and a lot of draw-go.

Round turnaround time 1h 19m

Finals

4:10a

The players wanted to split, and talked about if which of them need the invitation. I explain they can agree on any prize split they would like, as long as it was only for the prizes being offered inside the tournament, and at that point either of them are free to drop. They agree on an almost even split with the person taking the invitation getting $20 less than the other. Players shake hands and we all go home.

Final Thoughts

Having a good watch can help you quite a bit. There was no round timer visible in the playing area, and having a countdown timer on my watch made it so I could easily answer the numerous “time left in the round” questions without being distracted from what I was doing at the time. (In the previous few tournaments I’d judge I had been using the round timer built into MTG familiar, and had quite a few problems with it.)

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