MTR 1.7 Head Judge - Rules Resources

Sanctioned tournaments require the physical presence of a Head Judge during play to adjudicate disputes, interpret rules, and make other official decisions. The Head Judge is the final judicial authority at any DCI-sanctioned tournament and all tournament participants are expected to follow their interpretation. Although it is beneficial, the Head Judge does not have to be certified.

The Head Judge of a tournament is not necessarily a certified Judge. Often the Head Judge of an event will simply be a store employee or the Tournament Organizer themselves. Most Competitive Rules Enforcement Level events will have a certified Head Judge but this is not necessarily required. Note it is recommended that you have at least a Level 2 judge for any Competitive REL events.

The Head Judge’s responsibilities include:

Ensuring that all necessary steps are taken to deal with game or policy rule violations that they notice or are brought to their attention.

In larger events the Head Judge may not be the primary individual fielding judge calls. Sometimes the Head Judge will be handling other tournament aspects and be unable to take calls, or the Head Judge will be trying to let an available Floor Judge answer the call.
The Head Judge should be a ready resource for Floor Judges to assist in making sure players get the best possible call. In addition to appeals discussed in the next bullet, investigations that may lead to a disqualification are among the most important tasks a Head Judge performs.

Issuing the final ruling in all appeals, potentially overturning the ruling of a floor judge.

Players are allowed to appeal the decision of any Floor Judge to the Head Judge. The Head Judge is the final arbiter of all rulings and sometimes that will mean reversing the decision of a Floor Judge. If a decision is reversed, it is vital that the Head Judge explain the reasoning behind the reversal to both the players and the judge.
Coordinating and delegating tasks to floor judges as needed.

In tournaments with multiple judges, the Head Judge is responsible for assigning and organizing Team Leads and teams. The Head Judge creates the teams (at big events sometimes with the assistance of the Tournament Organizer or Judge Manager), and makes sure everyone’s tasks are understood. The Head Judge is also responsible for overseeing other judges at the event. Not all tasks assigned are always strictly tournament operations and may be other things needed by the organizer.

If necessary, the Head Judge may temporarily transfer their duties to any judge if they are unable to fulfill them for a period of time. Also, in exceptional circumstances, if the tournament’s integrity would be damaged otherwise, the Tournament Organizer may replace the Head Judge.

At store level events this is most common during lunch breaks but this can also happen if the Head Judge becomes ill or ends their shift and a new Head Judge takes over. This is incredibly rare for Premier events but for side events the person acting as Head Judge may be more fluid. The Tournament Organizer has final say about whether the Head Judge needs to be replaced due to exceptional circumstances.

Certain Premier tournaments have multiple Head Judges and/or different Head Judges for different portions of the tournament. All Head Judges share the same responsibilities and exercise the same authority while they are serving as a Head Judge.

Large events will often have several judges acting as Head Judges (usually noted by wearing burgundy judge shirts at Premier events or red at Star City Games events). It is also possible that a tournament may be organized into multiple flights, each with its own Head Judge. No Head Judge is more ‘ahead’ of another and each of their rulings is final. Each of the Head Judges can take appeals, run investigations, and satisfy all of the other duties that the Head Judge of record is afforded.