Had an interesting situation come up at a competitive REL PTQ side event this weekend that we thought we'd float here.

Bob is sideboarding for game 2 in a Modern competitive REL tournament. As he's flipping through his deck he sees Chromatic Star and Chromatic Sphere. He mumbles under his breath “These are pretty much the same card…”. Aaron playing his own game next to him casually points at one of them and says, “That one is better.”

Bob's opponent calls judge.

Note: Aaron does not know Bob and there had been no prior discussion.

How do you resolve?

EDIT: Investigation was done. Nothing fishy, just a slip of the tongue.

Edited Adam Zakreski (Oct. 28, 2013 10:51:06 AM)

Unless I'm missing something, it looks like Aaron has committed TE - Outside Assistance by providing strategic advice to Bob during Bob's match. No, he did not say much, but even that little bit of advice has the potential to change how Bob would sideboard during his match (perhaps he was trying to decide which of them to side out?), so the advice is definitely significant. Aaron should be assessed a Match Loss penalty.

Bob has not done anything wrong - while he was muttering under his breath, it doesn't seem like he's soliciting advice, he's just thinking out loud, something that I've seen players do a lot while sideboarding. Since he didn't ask for the advice from Bob, then he can't be guilty of OA, so the match between Bob and his opponent will continue as normal.

Bob's opponent has a legitimate concern that the match has been influenced by Aaron giving that strategic advice to Bob, but since Bob was given the advice unsolicited, Bob has not committed any infraction that we can penalize him for.

Edited Casey Brefka (Oct. 28, 2013 10:56:57 AM)

Chromatic Sphere
Chromatic Star

If they were functionally identical (Say Runeclaw Bear and Grizzly Bears) then we may be able to believe that it is just a joke. However, since they are different and work in different ways, we can't just assume it's anything other than play advice.

I agree with my colleague, Mr. Brefka, the advice does not seem solicited if Bob was just looking through his deck. Many players think aloud as they play and that is not at all an invitation for advice.

Edited Sam Nathanson (Oct. 28, 2013 11:04:19 AM)

Minor nitpick, here: Slaughter Games (for one example) doesn't think Runeclaw Bear and Grizzly Bear are identical. :)