{"id":261,"date":"2017-06-20T21:59:01","date_gmt":"2017-06-21T04:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/road-to-l3\/?p=261"},"modified":"2017-06-22T04:09:20","modified_gmt":"2017-06-22T11:09:20","slug":"a-phantom-vizier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/road-to-l3\/2017\/06\/20\/a-phantom-vizier\/","title":{"rendered":"A Phantom Vizier"},"content":{"rendered":"

What does a complete real-life investigation look like? Today I’m showing you an interesting one I had to handle at GP Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This was taking place in the Modern GP. The floor judge had separated the players and told me one was accusing the other of having played a\u00a0Vizier of Remedies then taking it back to his hand.<\/p>\n

Here’s a picture of the board state I took shortly after starting:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Before reading on, please take a few minutes to think about what you would do. What would you ask the players and how? What information can you extract from this board state?<\/p>\n

Keeping in mind cards might already have been moved a bit as the players were explaining their side, try to reconstruct the game and see where there might be a mismatch.<\/p>\n

Read on only if you struggle to recognize the cards from the pictures.<\/p>\n

A couple of hints about the cards visible:<\/p>\n

AP on the left has Raging Ravine<\/a>, Forest<\/a>, Blackcleave Cliffs<\/a>, Blood Crypt<\/a>, 2 Thoughtseize<\/a>, Fatal Push<\/a>, 4 cards in hand.<\/p>\n

NAP on the right has 2 Temple Garden<\/a>, Swamp<\/a>, Forest<\/a>, a hand of\u00a0Vizier of Remedies<\/a>,\u00a0Gavony Township<\/a>, Rhonas the Indomitable<\/a>, a graveyard of 2 Chord of Calling<\/a>, Marsh Flats<\/a>, Verdant Catacombs<\/a>, Devoted Druid<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now please read on only after thinking about it.<\/p>\n

Ready?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Here’s how I went about it:<\/p>\n

Given that a player was accusing the other of cheating, I decided it was important to get written testimonies of what happened in the game. It’s turn 4 so I went with the full game, but this method can also work later by counting turns backwards. The way I chose was to talk to each player at the table while keeping the other player away. This makes it easy to look at cards, check facts (unpopular as it may be these days), and makes the discussion with the player natural. You can also ask how cards were manipulated, which might be important.
\nAs each player was telling me how the game went I wrote down the turns. AP’s story I noted as:<\/p>\n

NAP T1: Temple Garden tapped.
\nAP T1: Bloodstained Mire fetching Blood Crypt, Thoughtseize taking Chord of Calling.
\nNAP T2: Unspecified basic land, Devoted Druid.
\nAP T2: Raging Ravine, Fatal Push of the Druid (timing unclear).
\nNAP T3: The other basic land, Vizier of Remedies.
\nAP T3: Land, Thoughtseize taking another Chord of Calling.
\nNAP T4: Marsh Flats.
\nAP T4: Land, Scavenging Ooze, call the judge.
\n(NB: I originally inferred land #3 to be Forest, but it was likely the Blackcleave Cliffs with the Forest played on turn 4<\/em>)<\/p>\n

As I noted down this I checked for clues on the table. I was pleased to see the cards for Thoughtseize written down. Before going to the opponent I needed a couple more pieces of information:<\/p>\n