Tournaments might seem intimidating. I mean, you’ve got to record your matches on slips of paper, all these people in black are handing out penalties, everything seems so official. But it doesn’t mean we don’t want you to have fun! We also most certainly don’t expect you to remember what exactly each and every card does.

This is where we come in. During a tournament, you are allowed to ask a judge for Oracle text on any card if you can provide a unique identifier (usually name, but if you can’t remember that, other attributes that identify the card clearly are also okay).

Cards may have received errata for a variety of reasons: due to printing errors, to add/change a creature type, or to update text on an old card that can’t actually function under current rules as it’s written. It could just be that a card is in a language you can’t read or has been altered in a way that you can’t read all the text.

So any time you want to see the Oracle text for a card, for any reason (it doesn’t have to be a card that is currently visible in the game), just call a judge and ask. You can even ask away from the table, to avoid giving your opponent information.

Today’s Tournament Tip written by Eddie Cheung