At a PPTQ I was HJing over the weekend, I had a player who signed up for the event, handed in a deck list during collections, but had no deck at the start of round 1.

Players friend had his deck, and was running rather late. He ended up getting there 13mins into round 1. I ruled Tardiness on the subject, gave a GL at round start, and a ML after 10mins.

Now the reason I went with the not-in-their seat philosophy. Tardiness does cover losing their deck, and we try and replace the lost cards within 10mins, and give an appropriate extension…they didnt lose their deck, just never had it.

The player did notify me of their being a delay (I was aware of this shortly before the round) but couldn't give me any ETA for the friend/deck.

I could have also gone with a D/DLP…and upgrade to a ML(?) doesnt make much sense to give a GL, and tell them to go to game two…still with no deck.

What would you have ruled in this sort of situation?

Edited Jarrett Boutilier (Feb. 23, 2016 01:07:44 PM)

If the player was not in their seat ready to play, they are tardy. I agree
with what you did. Since Tardiness seems to solve the situation, I don't
really see a need to try to get a Match Loss out of D/DLP.
On Feb 23, 2016 2:02 PM, “Jarrett Boutilier” <

Tardiness is the way to go. The player didn't sit down and present a
0-card deck. They just weren't ready to play. If the friend had shown up
9 minutes into the round, they would have played with the GL for Tardiness.

What you did is baseline. We are beyond 10 min marker in the round and thwt equals ML. One thing thwt i would coneider there, thst I did at my PPTQ would be to deley start of the tournament as a whole. I got a call thwt 2 players would be late around 15 min more than announced before time of start. I told them that its fine but I will post parings at that same mokent when they enter the venue.
What is most important and vital for that kind of situations is what you can arange with TO and how it affect tournament as a whole. We edned up with 17 players so and few of them asked me just before that if they can get break for smoke. If I would have larger event with venue time-constricted I assume my answer would be different.

I'd not recommend delaying the entire event for one or two players. After
all, everyone knew when the event would start. You might feel that you're
delivering excellent customer service to that one player, but think of how
much of your other players' time you're wasting?

I completely agree with Dan. Just imagine being another player in the event who has made the effort the be there on time, fully ready. It is disrespectful of a player to expect the tournament to adjust to his failure to plan ahead. This is tardiness, and there are no two ways about it.

Depending on how many players you could just “feel” out if there would be anyone extremely bothered by someone showing up late..

I wait almost anytime 15 mins for my tournaments to start if someone calls me he will be late due to some travel problems. But then i do know my players and what they want, and if i know it beforehand i ask anyone when he signs in if its okey, then i can see the reaction and noone cares anyway where i live ^^

Just saying “I WONT DELAY” is not right. Do whatever you can to make the experiance the best there is!

I'll add another observation, or reason not to delay: if you do delay for a few players, then you're teaching all of the players in the room that it's OK to be a few minutes late, next time. Dangerous precedent, to be sure…

d:^D