Not sure if this is the right forum. Mods, feel free to move.

So my LGS is hosting Game Day tomorrow as well as a GPT, and a player asked me if he could be enrolled in both at the same time (since the events tend to be staggered). I honestly didn't know how to answer that. I don't think there's anything explicit in the rules against it apart from worrying about tardiness penalties, but promised I'd check here. Can anyone clarify one way or the other?

While there are no policies preventing this, the player will still have to
show up to each event on time and will be subject to the tardiness
policies and penalties for the respective event if they arrive late to
their match. I have seen some players successfully manage this with
certain events, but it is difficult. You can certainly assist the player
in doing this, but I would not go out of the way in doing so. I hope this
helps. Thanks!

I recall Andy Heckt posting something about this, possibly 2-3 years ago; someone else, with unrestricted 'net access, might be able to find that post and share it here.

What I recall: if not disallowed, it should be discouraged - perhaps due to the disruption?

d:^D

My take on it mirrors what has already been said here, but I'd personally frame what you tell the player into something like “You may be able to technically play in both, but we can't do anything to help you accommodate both, and you'll likely have no fun in either if you're stressed about running between rounds and making sure you're not late to your Comp REL event, and making it pretty unfun for your Game Day opponents who have to sit waiting for an opponent until the last minute as well.”

And from there it's their call as to how much fun they really want to have.

For what little it's worth, at Magic Weekend Paris 2011, Paul Rietzl simultaneously Top 8'd the Pro Tour and went deep into Day 2 of the Grand Prix, and had a lower than expected number of Tardiness penalties (I think it was 1 GL).

Having said that, it's highly risky, and I would never recommend it, but as far as I know, there's nothing against it. A friend of mine even did this at GP Toronto last year with the main event and the “Saturday morning special” side event, and I know she was able to play most, if not all, of her matches without incident.

Originally posted by Scott Marshall:

I recall Andy Heckt posting something about this, possibly 2-3 years ago; someone else, with unrestricted 'net access, might be able to find that post and share it here.

What I recall: if not disallowed, it should be discouraged - perhaps due to the disruption?

d:^D

I tried to find it, and failed. If I recall, it was the first season after the introduction to the Planeswalker Points system (and when Planeswalker Points directly provided PT invites) (so: end of 2011). I went to a few GPs that season, and players were double/triple-queuing like crazy, and it was causing disruption. I thought double-queuing was eventually disallowed as a result, but my memory could be faulty and maybe it merely was ‘discouraged’.

Even if it isn't explicitly disallowed it isn't explicity allowed, so
it is well within a TOs rights to decide to disallow it.

–
Gareth Pye - blog.cerberos.id.au
Level 2 MTG Judge, Melbourne, Australia

Originally posted by Gareth Pye:

Even if it isn't explicitly disallowed it isn't explicity allowed, so
it is well within a TOs rights to decide to disallow it.

What is not explicitly disallowed is allowed by default. I honestly see no reason for disallowing it.

MTR and IPGs give us the legal framework to avoid such a player to delay both tournaments.

In most cases (famous examples aside), players will have a hard time keeping up with the pace of both tournaments, and probably end up dropping on one of them.

Originally posted by Seth Black:

For what little it's worth, at Magic Weekend Paris 2011, Paul Rietzl simultaneously Top 8'd the Pro Tour and went deep into Day 2 of the Grand Prix, and had a lower than expected number of Tardiness penalties (I think it was 1 GL).

Here is a tale of that adventure.