Yesterday I was HJing a local GPT, and the store had the Pro Tour coverage playing on large TVs in the background. At the time this seemed innocent and actually pretty neat - gave players who were finished with their matches something to be excited for, and root for their respective pro player favorites.

This morning, though, it struck me that this may not have been a good idea after all. In particular, since the early coverage was on M15 limited (the same format as the GPT), coverage on clever plays / combos, or recommendations on high-pick cards in a draft could very easily be considered outside assistance.

Thoughts? If a TO wants to stream PT (or other event, for that matter) coverage in their store, should you talk with them about turning it off during the in-store event? Does the format their playing at the streamed event play a contributing factor?

Edited Talia Parkinson (Aug. 3, 2014 09:44:07 AM)

Imho, it's only outside assistance if someone specifically directs
strategic advice at a player. The chance that a player will be paying
attention during a game and notice some piece of strategy from the coverage
at the specific moment it is relevant to his gamestate is rather low. I
wouldn't show draft coverage during a draft though.


2014-08-03 10:44 GMT-04:00 Aric Parkinson <

That being said, the large TVs shouldn't be loud enough to be distracting
in the play area.


2014-08-03 12:28 GMT-04:00 Dominik Chłobowski <toriniku.kun@gmail.com>:

It is no more outside assistance than having other players in the room also playing that format, which I assume you do as we don't allow sanctioned events with just two people. :)

-Chris

One actual concern is Slow Play. I think that it is worth being aware of
when players are watching coverage rather than playing Magic.

Originally posted by Christopher Richter:

It is no more outside assistance than having other players in the room also playing that format, which I assume you do as we don't allow sanctioned events with just two people. :)

-Chris

That's an excellent point of perspective that I suppose should have occurred to me more quickly. Thanks. :)

Jason Flatford
One actual concern is Slow Play. I think that it is worth being aware of
when players are watching coverage rather than playing Magic.

Yes, that I was paying heed to. Slow play ended up not being a big deal, though - in fact, we managed to get 3 out of 5 Swiss rounds finished prior to the time limit!