Players may drop from a tournament at any time. If a player drops from a tournament before the first round of play has started, they are considered to have not participated in the tournament and will not be listed in the finish order.
They are also not considered to have contributed to the attendance total for the event.
Players choosing to drop from a tournament must inform the Scorekeeper by the means provided for that tournament before the pairings for the next round are generated.
The best way to do this is to designate you are dropping on the match slip. However, you can go to the SK and drop directly. If you are dropping from an event, please let the SK know. After they start generating the next round, they arent going to undo that work to remove you from the event. You will get paired, and someone is going to be sitting across from an empty seat. They came to play Magic, and now have to be bored for an hour.
Players wanting to drop after the Scorekeeper begins pairing for the next round will be paired for that round.
The other alternative would be to withdraw all pairings that were posted, do a repair, repost everything, and make several announcements to try to avoid confusion among those who saw the first set of pairings. Overall this could add noticeable delay to the event.
If a player does not show up for their match, they will be automatically dropped from the tournament unless they report to the Scorekeeper. Players that repeatedly and/or intentionally drop from tournaments without informing the scorekeepers of those tournaments may be the subject of penalties up to and including suspension.
Players who frequently drop and don’t inform anyone are bad for the community, as they force someone to sit around for 10 minutes doing nothing, and then for another 40 minutes also not playing Magic. It primarily affects lower tables, who are there at that point just to play Magic, not to win anything.
The suspension line details the fact that Wizards of the Coast can suspend players for repeated no-shows, but that doesn’t happen in practice.
Players who drop during limited tournaments own the cards that they correctly have in their possession at that time. This includes any unopened or partially drafted boosters.
This was clarified for Grand Prix Vegas in 2013 (Modern Masters). Players can take what they have in their hands and go home. This used to primarily cover players who wanted to drop before passing packs for value, but with the new registration procedure, players open the packs they will use, then have another player register. Players can still drop during this portion if there are time constraints/etc, and they get the boosters they originally were handed.
If a player drops from a tournament after a cut has been made, no other player is advanced as a replacement. If the remaining part of the tournament is single elimination, the highest ranked remaining player receives a bye for the next round instead.
It is rare for a player to voluntarily drop after a cut has been made, but emergencies do happen. However, sometimes a player is dropped involuntarily due to a disqualification. If that occurs, judges should not advance any other players into the Top X. The dropped player’s opponent just gets a bye for that round.
Players who have dropped may reenter a tournament at the discretion of the Head Judge. Players may not reenter a portion of the tournament that requires a deck built during a construction period that the player missed. Players may not reenter a tournament after any cut has been made.
When considering whether or not to reenter a player in the event, the Head Judge should look at how disruptive that it would be to the event as a whole.
Players may not enter into a portion of the event that requires a draft or sealed deck as they would not have a legal deck with which to play their matches.
Players may not drop from a tournament in exchange for or influenced by the offer of any reward or incentive. Doing so is considered Bribery (see section 5.2).
