Judge Talk - Tips for players at Competitive REL

Here’s a few. Follow the link for all of them!

Before the Event:

• Write your name on your belongings. Having a name and phone number on a deckbox makes it approximately 4000% easier to return to you.
• Call the TO or check his/her website to confirm when registration starts. You don’t want to start the day with a game loss for walking in the door 15 minutes late.

During Your Match:

• Present your sideboard along with your deck. This avoids any problems with having cards in your deck box that could be considered part of your deck.
• Count your deck and sideboard while shuffling at the start of the game, and check that your sideboard is 15 cards after sideboarding between games.
• Shuffle. Shuffle a lot. Make sure your opponent shuffles a lot. Remember that dealing your cards into piles is NOT shuffling and needs to be followed by proper shuffling. Shuffle your opponent’s deck after it’s presented before each game.
• Taking notes: During a game you can only use notes taken during your current match. Between games you are allowed to refer to notes you wrote earlier, e.g. sideboard notes.
• Record your and your opponent’s life totals on paper, and announce all life total changes. If you notice a discrepancy, stop the game and call a judge.

Triggers:

• You’re always responsible for your own triggers; intentionally missing one is fraud. If you accidentally miss one then remember later, call a judge.
• At Competitive REL, you’re never responsible for your opponent’s triggers; you can ignore them entirely. At regular REL (FNM, etc.), you must still always point out your opponent’s triggers.
• If your opponent misses a trigger he/she controls that you want to happen, call a judge.

Judges:

• And the most important one of all: If you’re unsure of what your opponent is doing, ask! If you think there is any sort of issue in your match or you’re unsure about something, CALL A JUDGE. They’re there to help you. You’re not dragging them away from something more important. You’re not annoying them. They exist to help the players have a good tournament. =)
• It can get loud and busy at tournaments, so when you need a judge, call out “Judge!” loudly and stick your hand up until a judge reaches your table.
• If you think something has gone wrong in a match you’re watching, ask the players to pause their game and call a judge. Don’t jump in and point out what you think is wrong as you may be giving them information they hadn’t noticed.