<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n The top moments a player may want information about what their neighbor is drafting are:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is therefore crucial to not pick up trash at these moments. <\/strong>While we do want clean and professional-looking tables, we primarily need to protect the tournament\u2019s integrity. You can safely wait until picks 5 or 6 to pick up trash on tables<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n If there is only one thing you should remember after reading this article, you just went through it. I\u2019ll repeat: NEVER STOP THE DRAFT. <\/strong><\/p>\n When I say NEVER<\/strong>, I mean NEVER<\/strong>! A judge should NEVER<\/strong> shout \u201cstop the draft\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When players call a judge, you should fix the situation and call the draft for that table individually.<\/p>\n If you need assistance, ask for the help of another judge (to either deal with it or fetch the Head Judge)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Indeed, while your local PPTQ or even a GP Top8 can easily be stopped as soon as there is a mistake happening, if a mass draft needs to be stopped every time one table has an issue, it is likely the draft will stop more than five times during each booster, which is detrimental to the players\u2019 concentration.<\/p>\n Additionally, while making everybody stop at the same moment is quite doable, it is unlikely all players will have stopped at the same moment, requiring even more time to make sure they\u2019re all at the same point before the draft can be safely resumed. To sum it up, whenever you\u2019re stopping the draft because you want to fix something at a table, you are overall causing more chaos than you fix.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stamped cards<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here is what a stamped Draft Set and a stamped Booster look like:<\/p>\n (images courtesy of Rick Salamin<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A card from the current booster is revealed<\/u><\/p>\n <\/p>\n As mentioned earlier, each booster contains one upside-down card. Tell the player to turn it face down and resume counting.<\/p>\n (images courtesy of Jeph Foster<\/a> Since the player is about to look at the booster anyway, this is not worth acting at all. They also didn\u2019t gain more time to think about their pick since they don\u2019t know the other 13 cards.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n It does happen that (most of the time when removing the general paper wrap) a card from another booster slips and becomes visible. In such a case, there is a potential advantage to be gained by the player.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Exchange the booster with a replacement booster. The booster you just took can be used to replace another booster later (although at another table). Indeed, the booster did not have any issue, it was simply an information leak.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Wrong number of cards in a booster<\/u><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n After the content of the booster has been looked at<\/em><\/p>\n At this point, you should make sure the Head Judge has been involved already, since several minutes have probably elapsed. While it is likely that the draft will need to go on with a card missing, not having resolved the case with these five steps is very unrealistic.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Marked cards <\/u><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is endangering the integrity of the draft since any player who has noticed the card is marked and knows which card it is can therefore knows who has picked it with a simple glance.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Before the content of the booster has been looked at<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n After the content of the booster has been looked at <\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Common Problems during drafting<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Double common in the same draft pack<\/u><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is perfectly legal and does not require to replace the booster.<\/p>\n The only thing that\u2019s guaranteed is the rarity distribution inside a pack.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n If a card fell on the floor, pick it up, making sure it remains as face down as possible and place it back in the appropriate booster.<\/p>\n If it fell in a way that it was revealed to other players, there is nothing that can be done. It happens.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Card from another set<\/u><\/p>\n <\/p>\n If the first pick hasn\u2019t been done, replace that card with a card from the correct set.<\/p>\n If it is discovered after the first pick has been done, involve the Head Judge as this is worth investigating.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Replacing or Sleeving a pack<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ideally, you want to replace as few packs as possible.<\/p>\n If a logistical reason (the number of replacement packs available is not infinite) immediately comes to mind, the main reason is about protecting the tournament\u2019s integrity:<\/p>\n Once the content of the pack has been disclosed to a player, replacing the pack may either not be possible or may be dangerous<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Indeed, once one card has been drafted from the pack, the pack can obviously not be replaced since at least one player has made a decision based on that particular booster.<\/p>\n But more importantly, if a player opening the pack sees that the rare is crap and they only need to drop a card on the Floor to get it replaced, that\u2019s opening the door to Cheating.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There ideally should be judges (Area leaders and\/or Head Judges) who have replacement packs and sleeves. Make sure you replace a pack with a pack of the same letter. While it doesn\u2019t really matter if the GP only uses one set (random is random), this will give you a good habit so you don\u2019t screw up when the GP is, for instance, Aether Revolt<\/em>\/Kaladesh<\/em> Sealed!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Engaging a problematic table<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n When there is a judge call, evaluate the situation and if, it is worth pausing the table:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Restarting a table<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n If fixing the issue was so quick that the table has not been delayed by one pick (usually a card falling on the floor and you\u2019re just next to it), let the table continue drafting following the draft caller\u2019s instructions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If the problem took longer to resolve, time the table individually.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n When it comes to mass drafting versus drafting, the scale is what primarily matters. Just like in many other aspects of management of large events, you need to consider the greater good. Minor adjustments should never interfere with the global procedure, or you cause more chaos than there initially was. Yes, it would be technically cleaner to fix a problem and keep that table coordinated with the others, but the rish it causes more problems is so important that the potential benefit is completely overridden.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/strong>Watching players\u2019 eyes is likely the most important part of why judges are really needed during drafts. Privacy of the picks is important since a player knowing what their neighbor is drafting does gain a huge advantage. That\u2019s why this is Cheating.<\/p>\n
\n
\nTo determine what is the first pick of the player drafting just before<\/em><\/li>\n
\nTo check for a second color or confirmation of the first<\/em><\/li>\n
\nIndeed, cards are now passed to the right so the Left Player is now the one passing cards
\n<\/em><\/li>\n<\/p>Review Period 1, Right player
\nIs the player getting cut a color?<\/em><\/li>\n
\nChecking for a color-changing bomb opened<\/em><\/li>\n<\/p>NEVER STOP THE DRAFT<\/strong><\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/whatsupdocs\/files\/2017\/02\/GP-Stamped-Draft-Set-1-300x300.jpg\")
\u00a0![](\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/whatsupdocs\/files\/2017\/02\/GP-Stamped-Booster_individual-1-300x147.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/span><\/span><\/em>)<\/p>\n
\n
\nIf you have pods of more than 8 players, players need to be seated manually at seats 9 and\/or 10<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/p><\/u>Common Problems at booster opening<\/strong><\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/whatsupdocs\/files\/2017\/02\/GP-Stamped-booster_fanned.jpg\")
![](\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/whatsupdocs\/files\/2017\/02\/GP-Stamped-booster_fanned2-1024x646.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/span><\/span> and Rick Salamin<\/a>
<\/span><\/span><\/em>)<\/p>\n
<\/p>A card from another booster is revealed<\/u><\/p>\n
<\/p>Before the content of the booster has been looked at<\/em><\/p>\n
\n
\n
\nNote that in regular drafts, checking whether a card has been forgotten in the booster wrapper is a good idea<\/em><\/li>\n
\nThis is meant to exclude one player has picked twice in the same booster (This admittedly doesn\u2019t exclude Premeditated Cheating).<\/em><\/li>\n
\nThis is meant to exclude Premeditated Cheating (Player intentionally picks twice then says the correct number. They\u2019ll throw a crap card of the same rarity later.)<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/p><\/u>A marked card inside a booster can take several forms:<\/p>\n
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\n
\nThis is by far the quickest way to resume drafting at this table. All cards from that booster need to be sleeved with the same sleeves of course.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/p>Card Fall<\/u><\/p>\n
\n
\nMention their pod number loudly to avoid the neighboring pods to stop due to confusion.<\/em><\/li>\n
\nMost of the time they should place them face down on the table, if they aren\u2019t already.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
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