The ArrivalIt’s Friday 7th November at 10.25 p.m. in Little Rock, AR and I’m tired, specifically tired of driving! I’ve been on the road for 5 hours and haven’t had nearly enough hot tea in that time. I catch up with the TO at the Motel and head out to Imagine games: site for Arkansas state championships the next day. When we arrive there are about 20 players testing, but I’m more interested in how many tables and chairs we have at our disposal and where the best place to set up is going to be. We have room for just over 100 people, however the locals tell me that we should get around 70-80. Time for bed!
Preparation - 9.00 a.m. We don’t start round 1 till 11.00 a.m. but we need to start registration, get tables numbered and find a good spot for pairings to go up each round. We also have a new volunteer for judging and a spectator who wants to test that I’ve been emailing for a couple of weeks. The two floor judges arrive and I talk to them about my expectations for the day – Smooth and fast! Let’s not keep players waiting and set a target of 60 minutes max. turnaround time.
At about 10.30 I’m approached by a player concerned about foil Figure of Destiny cards in his deck. Strictly speaking, having foils in a deck doesn’t automatically make the deck marked, but we all understand how foils bend. I take a look at the deck and shuffle the foils in. The acid test for me is: Can I spot the foil cards face down in the deck? I pretty much cut to one of the Destiny cards each time. The player is disappointed but understands and seeks replacements. After 10 minutes he asks if I can supply proxies for the destinies, however UTR 34 explains that proxies can only be used for cards in sealed tournaments that are damaged out of the pack or cards damaged during a sanctioned tournament. The current situation is neither scenario and therefore I have to insist the player finds replacements if he wants to play with Figures.
Round 1 - 11.25 – 12.15 p.m.83 players and off they go for 7 rounds of swiss. Meanwhile the new boy, Kevin Lowrey and I are checking decklists. There are a few questions on the floor but Dan is able to handle everything just fine! With five decklist problems to correct it could slow us down next round when we only have two floor judges. I decide to quietly notify the players involved during the current round and get the problems sorted now. Next round is then a simple matter of penalty application without lengthy extensions on a couple of tables.
As we fix the last decklist problem the player asks if he can offer his opponent a draw before he is aware that he’s getting a game loss this round– ouch! The penalty guidelines for Fraud (PG 152) are quite clear. To quote in part, “…intentionally misrepresents procedures, personal information, or any other relevant tournament information in an attempt to gain advantage”. I have a friendly but firm talk with the player and feel assured that he’s been properly educated.
Round 2 - 12.23 – 1.13 pmSmooth sailing. Penalties applied and matches go on.
Round 3 - 1.22 – 2.12 pmThe start of the round deck-check brings up an additional swamp in a players main deck. So we have a deck/decklist mismatch and fix the deck to match the decklist by removing the swamp (deck still legal). At Regular REL this is just a warning, but I’m still inclined to quickly ask how this happened. He says it’s probably his opponent’s land from the last round. I immediately check at the appropriate table to talk to his last round opponent. After all, if it’s his opponent’s swamp then he probably presented a 59 card deck. However, he’s only playing forests and his deck checks out at 60 cards as I count facedown. The extra swamp in the first player’s deck still concerns me. He may indeed genuinely think the swamp came from his opponent, but not only is his opponent playing mono-green, he’s also got his cards in sleeves (and his opponent’s deck is sleeveless), but more on this later.
Interesting Rules QuestionsQ 1: Player A has an Everlasting Torment in play. Player B plays Runed Halo and names ‘Everlasting Torment’ as it comes into play. Has he just allowed himself to gain life and use damage prevention spells again?
Runed Halo WWEnchantment
As Runed Halo comes into play, name a card.
You have protection from the chosen name.
Everlasting Torment 2(B/R)Enchantment
Players can't gain life.
Damage can't be prevented.
All damage is dealt as though its source had wither.
Think of protection as DEBT; can’t take damage from that source or quality; can’t be enchanted or equipped; can’t be blocked; can’t be targeted. Everlasting Torment isn’t trying to do any of these things to the player. The abilities on Torment are just static abilities that generate continuous effects. Note that spells and abilities that replace or redirect damage still work with Torment out and damage prevention spells can still be played, but they won’t do anything!
Q 2: Player A has two reflecting pool lands and a vivid meadow without counters on it. What colour of mana can he produce with the Vivid Meadows?
Reflecting Pool Land
TAP : Add to your mana pool one mana of any type that a land you control could produce.
Vivid Meadow Land
Vivid Meadow comes into play tapped with two charge counters on it.
TAP : Add W to your mana pool.
TAP, Remove a charge counter from Vivid Meadow: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
Reflecting pool doesn’t care about any costs to playing the mana ability (like removing counters) it just cares about what kind of mana can be produced! So they can both produce any colour of mana. Note that if the Vivid Meadow leaves play and leaves him with just two Reflecting Pools they would become useless. Also, if he controlled a land to produce colourless mana, the reflecting pool could produce colourless (since colourless is a mana type). Be aware that Reflecting Pool does care about replacement effects like the one on River of Tears –
River of Tears - (Not std anymore!)
Land
TAP : Add U to your mana pool. If you played a land this turn, add B to your mana pool instead.
If a land has been played this turn (even the River itself) then it only allows Reflecting Pool to produce B mana that turn (plus any other mana types from other lands).
Q 3: Player A plays a Hell’s Thunder and attacks. Player B plays Snakeform during combat targeting the Hell’s Thunder. What happens?
Hell's Thunder 1RRCreature - Elemental 4/4
Flying, haste
At end of turn, sacrifice Hell's Thunder.
Unearth 4R (4R: Return this card from your graveyard to play. It gains haste. Remove it from the game at end of turn or if it would leave play. Unearth only as a sorcery.)
Snakeform 2(U/G)Target creature loses all abilities and becomes a 1/1 green Snake until end of turn.
Draw a card.
The Thunder has lost its haste ability, but we only care about that when attackers are declared in C.R. 308.2a..So Thunder is still attacking and is backed up by C.R. 308.2g – “….It remains an attacking creature until it’s removed from combat or the combat phase ends, whichever comes first”. Note that the triggered ability to sacrifice the Thunder at the end of turn is while Snakeform is still affecting the creature and therefore doesn’t trigger. It will however trigger at the end of his opponent’s turn when Snakeform has long finished.
Q 4: Player A plays Vendilion Clique and player b responds with Guttural Response, but is this legal?
Vendilion Clique 1UULegendary Creature - Faerie Wizard 3/1
Flash
Flying
When Vendilion Clique comes into play, look at target player's hand. You may choose a nonland card from it. If you do, that player reveals the chosen card, puts it on the bottom of his or her library, then draws a card.
Guttural Response (R/G)Instant
Counter target blue instant spell.
The Flash ability on the Clique changes the allowed timing of the spell being played, but it doesn’t make the card an instant. G.R. is looking for something that is blue and an instant and therefore the Clique does not fit the bill.
Q 5: Player A targets his opponent with Puncture Blast and his opponent has two Empyrial Archangel’s and an Elspeth, Knight-Errant in play. What can and can’t happen?
Puncture Blast 2RInstant
Wither
Puncture Blast deals 3 damage to target creature or player.
Empyrial Archangel 4GWWUCreature - Angel 5/8
Flying, shroud
All damage that would be dealt to you is dealt to Empyrial Archangel instead.
Elspeth, Knight-Errant 2WWPlaneswalker - Elspeth 4
+1: Put a 1/1 white Soldier creature token into play.
+1: Target creature gets +3/+3 and gains flying until end of turn.
-8: For the rest of the game, artifacts, creatures, enchantments, and lands you control are indestructible.
We have three replacement effects trying to change the same event. C.R. 419.9a explains in part, “If two or more replacement or prevention effects are attempting to modify the way an event affects an object or player, …..the affected player chooses one to apply…..Once the chosen effect has been applied, this process is repeated (taking into account only replacement or prevention effects that would now be applicable) until there are no more left to apply….
Also note that none of these effects are self replacement effects or effect control of anything (for the purists). Assuming the player is not completely without skill, he chooses one of the Angel replacement effects first. The second one and the replacement effect of damage to the Planeswalker Elspeth are no longer applicable. If the player about to be on the receiving end of the damage chooses to apply the Planeswalker damage redirection effect first (I know, I know), then the opponent (who played the Puncture Blast) chooses whether to redirect the damage. If he does, the 3 counters are removed but a Planeswalker NEVER gets wither -1/-1 counters.
For more about non-combat damage redirected to Planeswalker’s read the FAQ, but the important part says, “The player affected by the damage chooses the order in which to apply such effects, but the controller of the source of the damage chooses whether the damage is redirected.”
Additional note – When you apply one of the Archangel replacement effects, it’s redirecting the damage to that specific Empyrial Archangel. The damage is not divided between two or more Archangel you control.
Additional, additional note – My answer to this question was a lot less convoluted, “You choose the order to apply the replacement effects as long as their still applicable”. Always be wary of coaching players. If he asks, “What will happen?” You can always reply, “Why don’t you try it and find out!”
Round 4 - 2.33 - 3.23 p.m.We perform a deck check at the start of the round, but this time I want to perform a mid round check as well. For the mid-round, I choose the table where our previous deck check target, the gentlemen with an extra swamp is playing. I just want to be sure that the extra swamp hasn’t reappeared in his deck. The swamp has not reappeared and so I’m satisfied that the player was honest.
Round 5 3.35 – 4.25 p.m.Another smooth round.
Round 6 4.48 – 5.38 p.m.Just after I call for the start of the round, I become aware of a player who is protesting with the T.O. that he didn’t drop at the end of the last round. We find the match slip quickly and there is a tick in the box next to his name. He says he didn’t make the mark, but he DID bring up the match slip. He’s got a 4-1 record and would still be in contention to make the top 8. His opponent didn’t drop from the tournament either, so he didn’t just tick the wrong box. What to do?
The signing of the match slip should be thought of as a bit like signing a contract. Also, I did announce at the start of the tournament that the winner was responsible for the match slip. However he did protest before I started the round, just not to me. Normally at higher levels of competition I might consider this too late to change, but and this is a regular REL event. I’m not going to be a ‘Judge Nazi’ just to save 5 minutes and ruin somebody’s best day of magic. We stop the round and repair to let the lad in. Our turnaround time suffers for the first time, but we’ve been having a quick day and I want as many players happy as possible.
Round 7 5.52 – 6.42 p.m.An easy finish to the swiss and we are ready for top 8.
Summary
The eventual final was a faeries mirror match up with a nail biting finish. All went well. Round times were mostly at the hour mark or less, except for round 6 as explained. The top 8 quarter-finals and semi finals were timed at 60 minutes and 90 minutes respectively. I’m a big fan of this, since it communicates to players that they still have to play in a timely fashion and they are less likely to fall sleep. Our two floor judges were complimented by some of the players and I had lots of fun. Thank you Arkansas, it was a pleasure! Congratulations also to our two new level 1’s – Kevin Lowry and Bruce Mills.
Many thanks to the living legend that is Rashad Miller for proof reading this document and pointing out my inability to measure the passage of time.....
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