Communication Policy Part 1: What is “Public Information” ?

It is important to make sure you communicate clearly with your opponent during a tournament.  First, it makes the game flow much more smoothly and, second, the game is a lot more fun if you don’t have to argue about what happened.

The first type of information laid out by the Magic Tournament Rules is Public Information.  Public Information is information to which all players are entitled complete access; this information must be clearly presented, without error or omission.  Generally speaking, this information includes all those items immediately visible in the game.  Public information includes the following specific information:

* The name of any object in a public zone.
* The physical status (tapped/flipped) and current zone of any object.
* Player life totals, the number of poison counters a player has and the game score of the current match.
* What step or phase that the game is currently in.
* Details of current game actions and past game actions that still affect the game state — for example, whether a land has been played this turn.

If asked about public information, it is vital for you as a player to communicate this information clearly and completely to your opponent. If you are unwilling or unable to do so, it is important to call a judge.

As always, be sure to answer questions from a judge completely and honestly regardless of what type of information is requested. It is perfectly acceptable to ask to do so away from the match.

If a player accidentally misrepresents any of this information, it will be considered a Player Communication Violation, an infraction carrying a warning as the initial penalty and a game loss for repeated infractions.  Note that the key here is that it is accidental; if you deliberately misrepresent this information, the head judge will consider it Fraud — a serious infraction indeed!

Today’s Rules Tip was submitted by David Hibbs, a level 2 judge from League City, Texas, United States.