Continuing our series about Judging at Regular REL (JAR), today we’re going to examine what’s known in Competitive REL as “looking at extra cards.” Have you ever played in a casual game where, during your turn, your opponent took a peek at the next card he or she was going to draw? It may have been a harmless error at the time, but it’s still against the rules (and can actually become a Serious Problem if done intentionally during a sanctioned event). You can also run afoul of the JAR if you look at six cards (instead of five) using Garruk, Caller of Beasts’s first ability, or if you reveal the top card of your library after forgetting that your Garruk’s Horde died last turn. It might be something as simple as accidentally flipping over a card while cutting your opponent’s deck or when drawing for the turn. Regardless of the reason, if a player sees a card in a library that he or she shouldn’t have seen, we have rules to fix it.

The first thing to do is make sure that any cards in the library whose positions are known stay where they are. For instance, in the scenario with Garruk, the judge will ask you how many times Garruk’s ability has previously been activated, and how many cards you sent to the bottom of the library. Next, the known cards (if any) should be separated from the rest of the deck (still face-down). Finally, any cards that were improperly looked at should be shuffled into the library by you or the judge. If you looked at too many cards with Garruk’s ability and can’t tell which one was improper, the judge should choose one at random to be shuffled in. Then you will be allowed to continue resolving the ability, as normal.

Today’s Tournament Tip written by Jen Wong