Welcome back to another installment of Knowledge Pool. This week we're back to a Silver scenario, so L2s should wait until Friday to join in.

With 12 minutes left in the last swiss round of a PPTQ you're head judging, two players, Allison and Nate, call you over. They tell you that they intentionally drew their match during game 5, and didn't know how to report it. You ask what happened, and Allison tells you,

“Well, we're best friends, and we both make Top 8 if we draw and the match at the next table doesn't draw. We both know this, so after we each won a game we intentionally drew the next two after about 10 turns. The next match over did finally end with a winner, so we're drawing the match now. Nate thinks intentional draws are always supposed to be 0-0-3, but I'm confused because we played 5 games. Who's right?”

You talk to a judge who's playing in the event, and he says they were playing pretty quickly the whole time he watched, but then abruptly drew the game when the match next to them ended. What do you do?

In this situation, we refer to articles 2.4 and 5.2 of the MTR

2.4 States : “If a game or match is not completed, players may concede or mutually agree to a draw in that game or match. A match is considered complete once the result slip is filled out”

5.2 States : “Players may not reach an agreement in conjunction with other matches. Players can make use of information regarding match or game scores of other tables. However, players are not allowed to leave their seats during their match or go to great lengths to obtain this information.”

In the described scenario, both player were playing at a relative speed, therefore TE-Slowplay or USC-Stalling is out. As the match is not yet complete, and both player now agrees that the match is a draw, under 2.4, they can legally declare a draw. Now for 5.2. As far as the scenario describes the interaction, they have been playing magic, which induces they were in their seat, and they were observing the match right next to theirs. So they remained in their seat and did not go to great lengths to gather that information, so I would rule this legal under article 5.2

No penalties, game ends in a draw, But they have played 4 games of magic up to date. each player won 1 and they intentionally drew 2 more. they are now drawing their 5th game and drawing the match. As each player won a game, it has to be reported 1-1-3 in the WER, since they played 5 games of magic. This is no different than if the game ended a draw as part of another effect ( IE : both player losing at the same time).

I agree with Maxime, and would just like to call out the particular line in the MTR that addresses Nate's concern:

Intentional draws where no games were played are always reported as 0-0-3 or by using the “draw” button (0-0) in Wizards Event Reporter

Nate's belief is understandable, but he's forgotten the bolded portion of the rule. Since games were played, the match should be reported with its actual game score, 1-1-3.

I’m not a native English-speaker so I may misunderstand the documents. Nervertheless, as Maxime said, the Bribery section of the MTR (5.2) states :

Players may not reach an agreement in conjunction with other matches. Players can make use of information regarding match or game scores of other tables. However, players are not allowed to leave their seats during their match or go to great lengths to obtain this information.

In the scenario, Allison and Nate drew games (game 3 and 4) until the match at the next table ended. I feel that this behavior is a way to go to great lengths to obtain this information. Of course, they didn’t stop playing or play really slowly but what is the difference in the end ?

Because they played 10 turns in game 3 and game 4 and were already playing a game 5, I think it’s legitimate to assume that their match should have normally been over before they knew the result of the next table match.

Without their “delay mechanism”, Allison or Nate should have won their match and made the Top 8 and the loser shouldn’t have made the Top 8. This means that one of them has taken the Top 8 spot of another player. In my opinion, this behavior damages the integrity of the tournament which is exactly the definition of a disqualification in the IPG…

Thanks everyone for joining in this week. There were a few relevant pieces of policy to apply here.

Originally posted by IPG 4.7 Stalling:

A player intentionally plays slowly in order to take advantage of the time limit. If the slow play is not intentional, please refer to Tournament Error — Slow Play instead.

Originally posted by MTR 2.4 Conceding or Intentionally Drawing Games or Matches:

If a game or match is not completed, players may concede or mutually agree to a draw in that game or match. A
match is considered complete once the result slip is filled out or, if match slips are not being used, a player leaves
the table after game play is finished. Until that point, either player may concede to or draw with the other, though
if the conceding player won a game in the match, the match must be reported as 2-1. Intentional draws are always
reported as 0-0-3.

Originally posted by MTR 5.2 Bribery:

Players may not reach an agreement in conjunction with other matches. Players can make use of information regarding match or game scores of other tables. However, players are not allowed to leave their seats during their match or go to great lengths to obtain this information.

Neither player was playing slowly, so this is not Stalling. While intentionally drawing single games doesn't have a lot of strategic value, it is within players rights to draw the current game if they wish. They haven't gone to great lengths to find out this information, so this isn't Bribery. If they had simply played a long match without these draws, they would have gotten the same information, so I would hesitate to call this “going to great lengths.”

There is no infraction.
Instruct Allison that she's right - because they each won a game before eventually drawing three games and the match, and all games that are played are expected to be reported, their match slip should list one win for each of them, and three draws, 1-1-3.

The MTR specifies 0-0-3 for Intentional Draws; this applies if players just agree to a draw without playing any games. Once a game has begun, it should be reflected on the result slip.