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Competitive REL » Post: "I thought time was called..."

"I thought time was called..."

June 8, 2014 07:53:21 PM

Matt Braddock
Judge (Uncertified), Scorekeeper

USA - Midatlantic

"I thought time was called..."

During a PTQ, there is also a GPT running alongside. The round for the PTQ ends approximately 12 minutes prior to the round for the GPT.

When time is up for the PTQ, an announcement is made clearly stating that it is time for the PTQ. Al, a player in the GPT, asks his opponent Ned if they are now in turns, and Ned confirms yes. They finish their 5 turns, and turn in the result of 1-0-1 (in favor of Al), with 10 minutes remaining in the round.

If you are the scorekeeper and notice this result slip before time is called, what do you do? As head judge, what do you do?

(This happened to a friend of mine, who would be Al in this situation, and it was 100% accidental. However, no one noticed the result slip before time was called.)

June 9, 2014 12:20:53 AM

Riki Hayashi
Judge (Uncertified), Scorekeeper, Tournament Organizer

USA - Midatlantic

"I thought time was called..."

Do nothing. They've turned in a signed slip. Although they came to the match outcome based on a bad understanding of the circumstances, they've agreed upon this result, and there isn't really time or a good way to fix this.

June 9, 2014 10:26:49 AM

Beau
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Academy))

USA - Midatlantic

"I thought time was called..."

My first instinct when you mentioned this scenario was, given that neither player reached 2 game wins (and they hadn't opted to ID the match), the players were (unintentionally) violating tournament procedure. Before time is called, it's not possible to turn in a match result of 1-0-1; the losing player would either have to concede a second game or drop. I decided that the technically correct answer would be to warn each player for Slow Play, as they did not begin their third game in a reasonable amount of time. This would be an extremely pedantic fix, though. While I felt that it was technically correct, and it both (1) educates and encourages the players to fix their error, and (2) accounts for the potential advantage gained by Al, it might not seem an appropriate fix to the players, who will likely see the judge awarding them Slow Plays as simply finding an excuse to penalize them.

Upon reviewing the MTR, though, I'm more inclined to agree with Riki. Section 2.4 says that “A match is considered complete once the result slip is filled out…” So once the players both sign the slip, there aren't any further actions expected of them this match. Warnings for Slow Play would be inappropriate. The players did still violate tournament procedure by not correctly deciding the match, so if an opportunity arises to educate them I'd take it, but there isn't really an applicable fix; the players have agreed to the match result, so it ought to stand as-is.

June 9, 2014 01:23:42 PM

Dustin De Leeuw
Judge (Level 3 (International Judge Program)), Tournament Organizer

BeNeLux

"I thought time was called..."

Originally posted by Matt Wall:

Before time is called, it's not possible to turn in a match result of 1-0-1; the losing player would either have to concede a second game or drop.

I have to disagree here. Players can Intentionally Draw a game at any time, for any reason (with the usual caveat of no Bribery/Collusion, of course). It's perfectly legal to declare the current game a draw, sign the slip, hand it in and have some time for food or just a break.

That they drew the game because of a wrong “time limit” is a different story, but doesn't make the end result illegal in any way. If you are convinced that Al didn't trick his opponent (which would probably be a DQ), no infractions have occurred, and no penalty should be invented here.

June 9, 2014 02:10:49 PM

Trevor Nunez
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Academy))

USA - Southwest

"I thought time was called..."

Dustin, the issue is that an ID match must be reported as 0-0-3. A match
slip of 1-0-1 shouldn't exist prior to time, it should be 0-0-3 (ID), 2-1
(concession), or their match is in progress.

That said, I agree with “leave it be”

June 9, 2014 02:34:45 PM

Dustin De Leeuw
Judge (Level 3 (International Judge Program)), Tournament Organizer

BeNeLux

"I thought time was called..."

Trevor, when players agree to ID the whole match, it should indeed be recorded as “ID” or 0-0-3. But if they finished 1 game, draw the second game but not the match and don't play any further games, the result is simply a 1-0-1. While I agree it is unusual for this result to happen prior to time, it is definitely not impossible.