First off, if this isn't the right forum, I apologize. I am still a relatively new Judge and haven't posted much here yet. We had an interesting scenario come up recently at an event I judged, and I wanted to hear some opinions on how you would tackle it. Those of you who know how this was resolved, please don't say anything! I'd like to get some input from those who weren't present before revealing how it was resolved.

The event is six-pack KTK-FRF sealed. It is midway through Round 1. Players A and B have just completed game 1 and are sideboarding. Player A was victorious in game 1. While sideboarding, Player B hears players talk about the 40-card deck minimum. He flags down a judge and says “My deck in game 1 was 60 cards. When building, I was told by a judge that the deck size minimum for this event was 60 cards.” The judge in question is flagged down and upon speaking to them, the head judge confirms that this judge incorrectly told the player that the deck size minimum was 60 cards.

How do you resolve this situation? How does it change if the REL of the event is Competitive or Regular? Is there a infraction of any sort? Does this affect the tournament schedule or matchmaking at all?

It's a real headscratcher.

Edited Sam Barrows (March 11, 2015 11:56:33 AM)

Well, if it's regular REL I would say make any changes quickly so as to not hold up the tournament, and between rounds if possible.

Competitive, if there are decklists being used I wouldn't change them. I would probably give the player a feel-good booster pack or two, but I don't think this is any sort of infraction. While it is the judges' responsibility to be familiar with the formats and tournament procedure, it is also the player's as well.

This sounds like enough of a significant and exceptional event to
deviate on. Letting the player pick 20 cards to cut from their 60
would be how I'd handle it at Comp REL. I'd want to chat to the TO
first though to offer the player a refund if they want to drop because
their day has been ruined by the judge, without that offer it doesn't
look like the staff is willing to make good on it's mistakes.

At regular REL there is much less to worry about, continuous
construction is used there so there is nothing to worry about. The
offer to drop and get a refund would make sense though, the players
day can still have been ruined already.

Regardless whether it's Regular or Competitive, we should not let a judge's mistake ruin a player's day (beyond the initial problem, of course). I would explain the correct rules re: deck construction, and allow the player to submit a new deck list; I don't expect it would take him very long to cut down. (I'm not sure if I'd start a timer for that, nor what I'd set it to … maybe “before next round is paired”?)

d:^D

Good answers. I was not directly involved in this, so if I get a detail wrong someone feel free to correct me, but: the event was at Regular REL (it was a convention event). The eventual solution was that the players were unpaired, each was given a bye for that round, the one game completed was not recorded, and the player with a 60-card deck was allowed to rebuild to 40.

What do you think? Would you have suggested that solution, or signed on if it were suggested to you? Personally I really like it; obviously this could never fly at higher than regular, but it seemed a good way to avoid any player suffering too unfairly from the judge's mistake.

Maybe not breaking up current match, and simply allowing extra time to submit a new, final, presumably-40-card decklist?? Immediately I mean, and away from table in current match for obvious reasons :)

I strongly prefer giving +10 or +15 minutes (dont think more time is needed to cut down the list) than a free victory for BOTH players. Even in Regular REL :)

Originally posted by Sam Barrows:

the players were unpaired, each was given a bye for that round, the one game completed was not recorded

This is the sort of thing I was advocating against, in another thread. I understand the motivation, and that you had the best intentions - but it still looks remarkably like tournament fraud by manipulating pairings.

As Joaquín suggests, just give that match a time extension to offset the “extreme sideboarding” (i.e., the player removing up to 20 cards, to get down closer to 40). Then let the player rebuild between rounds - but this is Regular REL, so they can do that anyway.

d:^D

I was the head judge at this event. The event in this case was not regular REL, it was competitive. This was the one competitive REL event of the weekend.

The player had to re-register his deck completely. Since players are allowed up to 30 minutes to build their decks, I had to make a decision based on this information. We can say that he's just going to do “extreme sideboarding,” but this is a multicolor set, so the odds of him having to completely rework his deck and Mana base are very high. Not only this, but this player was one of many players that went to time during deck construction.

Additionally, game one should not count as a loss in my book. The player was given instructions to create a far inferior deck than his opponent. If someone disagrees I am welcome to hear dissenting opinions.

If that is the case, then we have to give the players a 30 minute (deckbuildling time, which the player seems likely to use) + 20 minute (when the call was brought to my attention and we started the resolution) time extension. We can't have a private round for two players at a convention where players are not there to only play Magic. It is unfair to them and a poor use of our resources – both judging and space.

I agree with Uncle Scott, hand pairing rounds looks very bad. But in this case when the options are extend the tournament by a round or create a bad-looking round, I opted to preserve punctuality.

Originally posted by Samuel Nathanson:

The event in this case was not regular REL, it was competitive.

Sorry, my misunderstanding. As you noted, that changes the end result / objective of that player rebuilding and then registering a deck. Sounds like you made the best of a tough situation!

d:^D