Hi Judges.

As many have seen there have been basic lands with different statements at the MagicFest+ in Richmond.

“trans rights are human rights”
“no terfs on gruul turfs”
“white male rights are human rights”

Those are some I have seen on social media. I see that this is a topic for very different opinions and dangerous for our image as judges and our professionalism if we don't treat this with care.

And I am very honest I have no idea how I should react if someting like this comes up during my next events, Grand Prix, Sides or even just smaller events in my area.

How are we suppossed to treat those different statements? I think this topic can be problematic for us as whole community or as individuals and I do not want to react in a way that puts me as jude in a position where my own beliefs are influencing my tournaments.

Greetings, Eser

Originally posted by Eser Unger:

And I am very honest I have no idea how I should react if someting like this comes up during my next events, Grand Prix, Sides or even just smaller events in my area.

If you see something at a MagicFest (like your example of “white male rights are human rights”) that you believe might make players uncomfortable, speak to a CFBE staff member in a red shirt (the show lead, sides manager or closing manager).

At local events, you'll have a point of contact serving as tournament organizer - this person can give you guidance on how to handle these situations.

Edited John Brian McCarthy (Nov. 11, 2019 12:14:41 PM)

Any advise for the “They allowed it at MagicFest!!!” backlash should the tournament organizer/shop owner forbid such cards?

@Brian, you can follow up with something along lines, that It's not a judge/rules issue but TO policy, and connect that player with TO, who probably made that decision at your tournament.

Originally posted by Brian Dombroski:

“They allowed it at MagicFest!!!”

I thought that Wizards specifically asked them not to use those lands, at least during an on-camera match; I'm not sure “they allowed it!” is entirely accurate.

Also, as with any similar argument (“this other judge said…”), we just remind players that they aren't at that other event, and circumstances can change.

Again, the key point made by John Brian: if someone is, or might be, uncomfortable because of something, the TO should probably address it. As Judges, we should bring that to the attention of the TO.

d:^D

Scott, Wizards were unhappy with the original lands which were a specific reference to the artist, but permitted an updated version of them which just had the messages, but were on random lands. I don't know if they appeared on camera or not.

While deferring this to the TO is certainly one option, I do think that in the general case we do have obligations as judges under USC:minor or major to deal with situations which might affect the comfort of other players. For example, card alters or peripherals featuring inappropriately sexualized artwork I think judges can and should be asking to be changed independent of the TO (although possibly with some guidance on the tone of the event for edge cases).

That said, for the moment while there is no official policy on the matter I think it is safest to defer judgement to the TO to keep us out of any arguments, but I do think it's something it would be good to have a program-wide statement over how it should be handled. I don't know what that means in the new world any more though. Perhaps WOTC will update the MTR wording about card alters to help us?

Matt