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Competitive REL » Post: Outside Assistance?

Outside Assistance?

July 24, 2013 06:38:33 PM

Vincent Roscioli
Judge (Uncertified)

USA - Midatlantic

Outside Assistance?

Originally posted by José Moreira:

if not telling the full oracle text is ok, if i play rakdos return for 5, my opp is at 5 and he asks me what it does, i say you discard x cards.

is this ok too?

Yes, giving an incomplete-yet-correct answer to a question about derived information is allowed by the Player Communication Policy. If your opponent wants to be sure they've gotten an accurate answer about Oracle text, they can call a judge and ask for it.

July 24, 2013 06:45:36 PM

Scott Marshall
Forum Moderator
Judge (Level 4 (Judge Foundry)), Hall of Fame

USA - Southwest

Outside Assistance?

This was a recent Knowledge Pool Scenario!

The blog is here; the Forum thread is here.

July 24, 2013 07:19:25 PM

Cris Plyler
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Academy))

USA - Great Lakes

Outside Assistance?

Thanks everyone. I agree, based upon the wording of the IPG it indeed would not be TE-OA even though it seems like assistance was given that could influence the decision a player would make.

July 24, 2013 07:25:09 PM

José Moreira
Judge (Level 1 (Judge Academy))

Iberia

Outside Assistance?

Originally posted by Scott Marshall:

This was a recent Knowledge Pool Scenario!

my bad. ty. will read that thoroughly

July 25, 2013 06:22:23 AM

Jeremy Christensen
Judge (Level 1 (Judge Academy))

Canada - Western Provinces

Outside Assistance?

So I realize this is probably a newbie question but I better ask it before it comes back to bite me :D
I do agree that the spectator should be informed they should not interfere with the match as they did, and in the future to call for a judge instead.

So I know that telling half truth's about a cards ability is allowed as long as you don't lie, as your opponent is free to read the cards for themselves. However, in this case using a Foreign language card that the opponent cannot read seems like 3.3 in the tournament rules could take affect here. When I first read this my thought was he was trying to take advantage of the foreign language card to help it get resolved by not telling the whole truth of the card knowing the opponent cannot read it.

3.3 Players may use otherwise-legal non-English and/or misprinted cards provided they are not using them to create
an advantage by using misleading text or pictures.


So my question is, am I misreading/misinterpreting this?

July 25, 2013 06:27:57 AM

Adam Cetnerowski
Judge (Uncertified)

Europe - Central

Outside Assistance?

> 3.3 Players may use otherwise-legal non-English and/or misprinted cards
> provided they are not using them to create
> an advantage by using misleading text or pictures.
>
>
> So my question is, am I mi sreading/misinterpreting this?
>
>
This rule mostly applies to misprints, which were more common in the
heyday. the most famous is the German forest (Wald), which had the
illustration for Plains (so free Savanah!). I can't recall any recent
issues like that.

July 25, 2013 10:30:27 AM

Dustin Jones
Judge (Uncertified)

USA - Great Lakes

Outside Assistance?

Originally posted by Vincent Roscioli:

José Moreira
if not telling the full oracle text is ok, if i play rakdos return for 5, my opp is at 5 and he asks me what it does, i say you discard x cards.

is this ok too?

Yes, giving an incomplete-yet-correct answer to a question about derived information is allowed by the Player Communication Policy. If your opponent wants to be sure they've gotten an accurate answer about Oracle text, they can call a judge and ask for it.

Expanding further on this. Upon getting this answer, if the opponent asks “Is that all the cards does?” The AP would be required to answer “No” correct?

July 25, 2013 10:45:07 AM

Dennis Xiao
Judge (Level 2 (International Judge Program))

Southeast Asia

Outside Assistance?

Expanding on it, and considering that it is Competitive REL, as a floor judge, while hearing the answer given by Nancy, would you offer players whether they need any oracle text?

July 25, 2013 11:11:00 AM

Ji Li
Judge (Uncertified), WotC Staff

Greater China

Outside Assistance?

I've met a similar situation.

It's a GPT event, format is RTR block sealed.

Player A casted “Pithing Needle”, as it enters battlefield. He tried to name a card but he forgot the name.
Player A discribe as belows, “It's a 2cc 2/2 creature, it can let creature has intimidate or can create 1/1 tokens.”
Player S said “it should be ‘Korozda Guildmage’.”
Player N called judge.

I thought this situation is a little different, Player S is advising Player A. So it shoud be an OA, am I right?

July 25, 2013 11:17:45 AM

Michael Shiver
Judge (Uncertified)

USA - Midatlantic

Outside Assistance?

The only reason to step into a game unsolicited is if there's an actual problem that warrants an infraction. Otherwise, you just go on about your business in the regular way. If I overheard a player give a definitely incorrect answer to a question like this, I would hang back and watch until the players resolved the effect and then take action accordingly (it would end up being either a GRV or shenanigans).

July 25, 2013 02:16:12 PM

Paul Baranay
Forum Moderator
Judge (Level 5 (Judge Foundry))

USA - Northeast

Outside Assistance?

Ji: For cards such as Pithing Needle, the player has to identify a card uniquely. This doesn't have to be by name. “It's a 2cc 2/2 creature, it can let creature has intimidate or can create 1/1 tokens” is perfectly fine.

I don't think Player S is giving play advice here. Instead, he is trying to clarify the game state.

I would ask him to stop doing that, and remind him to call a judge if he thinks there is a problem. But I would not issue Outside Assistance. As Scott said early on, it's only actually the Outside Assistance infraction if the spectator is giving play advice or revealing hidden information.

July 25, 2013 02:29:18 PM

Alexis Hunt
Judge (Uncertified)

Canada - Eastern Provinces

Outside Assistance?

Originally posted by Ji Li:

I've met a similar situation.

It's a GPT event, format is RTR block sealed.

Player A casted “Pithing Needle”, as it enters battlefield. He tried to name a card but he forgot the name.
Player A discribe as belows, “It's a 2cc 2/2 creature, it can let creature has intimidate or can create 1/1 tokens.”
Player S said “it should be ‘Korozda Guildmage’.”
Player N called judge.

I thought this situation is a little different, Player S is advising Player A. So it shoud be an OA, am I right?

No, because a player is required only to identify the card uniquely, not to actually give its name (MTR 3.6). Since he has uniquely identified the card, S is not providing any play advice, only derived information. I would treat this like the original scenario: a lecture, but no penalty.