We actually had an issue right in thise vein at my LGS last friday. Two brothers (brand new) had purchased the Duel Deck: Sorin vs Tibalt, and each took half of it to play. We went through a few options, including “lose, but play for fun”, but what we ultimately settled on was the LGS donating a couple of the two player starter sets (the $10 ones that come with two packs and some semi-random cards) to them. I then had their opponents (regulars, thankfully) help them build standard decks to use the in the later rounds.

Obviously, I wouldn't expect every LGS to just pass out free product like that, but I think it was a huge success from a customer service perspective, and from then on they had a great time.

I have loaned a deck to a new player in an event I was judging before. This past states I had a bant midrange deck sleeved up missing a land that the store let me borrow. I tried to explain the deck in the 10 minutes I had before the player's meeting and wrote up his deck registration sheet.

He didn't win a game, and actually had his opponent no-show on him 2 rounds in a row. but that kid had a lot of fun he told me, It made me feel good I was able to do that.

I try to have at least one loaner deck on hand for the smaller events I work.

I personally don't like the “free bye” option, even in the most casual Regular REL possible. This damages the tournament, as players paired with those “bye players” get effectively a free win. Too random, and it can be avoided. There are a few solutions:

a) let that two players play for fun together, outside the tournament, and with other players that there are in the LGS but not playing in the tournament, or after a few rounds, probably some of them will drop anyway.

b) Give them a legal deck to play with. It's a good idea, from the point of view of a TO or LGS owner, to have some decks (not tier 1, beware of thieves!!) to let new players play, both in and out of a tournament.

c) Tell them they can't play with that deck and come back when they have a legal deck. I strongly dislike this option, but that's more a TO matter than a judge one.

Early in my judging career, I remember judging a GPT for a newer store out of town with a very casual player base. They wanted to put on a Modern GPT to let players use the biggest scope of their casual decks, but it didn't come up in planning whether or not the players actually knew what sets were legal in Modern. Whoops.

We had a player bring in a Gravestorm deck he'd purchased recently and register it. During the initial list count, it became apparent that the deck contained illegal cards for Modern.

In my inexperience, I went to the IPG and followed it straight: replace all illegal cards with basic lands of their choice and update the list. The TO offered to refund their entry fee if they didn't want to continue. But the player did continue in the tournament with his watered-down reanimator deck.

Moral of the story- These people want to play, even if it means changing decks or losing a lot. Talk to the TO and the player, and work out something fair, and the players will be really agreeable and appreciative.

I'm really not sure we need to re-start discussion on a topic that is almost a year old, there is useful information here and I don't think there is much need to revisit with more of the same suggestions so I'm closing this.