So take a look at wave 13 exemplars- we have judges doing good work, I’m personally glad to see it featured. Be aware of some of the policy changes upcoming with M19 (especially in the near future with team policy), and the recent changes of Proxies.

As we transition into summer, I’d like to take a moment to thank all of you amazing judges for enjoying our newsletter, as well as those of you who’ve submitted images for the Sugar On Top section. We’ve gotten more images submitted that we can feature this month, and it shows what an great community and cool things we can see at events.

A recent change to the interaction between Squee and Ixalan’s Binding

601.3a has been updated. This changes the answer to whether or not you can cast Squee from under Ixalan’s Binding. Everyone’s favorite immortal goblin is no longer strong enough to break his shackles and the Plane of Ixalan keeps him stuck in the treasure filled sands. For a less colorful and more detailed explanation, head over to this forum post.

Exemplar Wave 14

Exemplars for Wave 14 are open! Submit your exemplar today! Remember that there’s also an update from the wave 13 release in the Community section.

Judge Apps Updates

Some updates for you from the Judge Apps development team. You may have noticed you need to verify your email, and there’s some security updates too!

Judge Articles and Blog Posts from June 2018

More judge blogs can be found at the Judge Blog Portal.

In case you would like to discuss an article, visit our Judge forum. Don’t forget to regularly check our Judge blog

Do you need a quick rules or policy answer? Ask a Magic Judge!

Judge Anniversaries

Congratulations to all of the judges who celebrated an anniversary in June 2018, including Peter Jahn , QJ Wong , Casey Brefka , Josh Stansfield , Bryan Prillaman , and Jason Wong !

Judge of the Week — June 2018

260:CJ Crooks , L3 from Garner, North Carolina

261:Christian Gawrilowicz , L3 from Eastern Europe

262:Brook Gardner-Durbin , L2 from Bozeman, Montana

263:James Hockman , L1 from Peoria, Arizona

(A hidden sugar on top image appears! Here’s Brook Gardner-Durbin , caught once again, in a favorite pose of his!)



Welcome to the Fold: A big welcome to the following judges who worked their first GP in 2018!

GP Copenhagen

GP Las Vegas

GP Pittsburgh

GP Singapore

GP Barcelona

Exemplar Program

Wave 13 is now live! Read about the updates, and check out who got recognition on Judge apps! Don’t forget to nominate an awesome judge in the recently opened Wave 14!



The Coaching Sphere

The Third and continued portion of How to handle feedback in real life! More thoughts to consider on what feedback means in the program. You can find the first two portions of the article at The Coaching Sphere blog page.

Questions asked in the Month of June and an [O]fficial answer, just for you!

1. AP gains control of NAP’s Darigaaz Reincarnated with an Hijack. It dies during this turn and AP exiles it with 3 egg counters on it. Who will controls its upkeep triggers?

A: That would be NAP, its owner. “Cards in the exile zone are not controlled by any player, since in a normal game only emblems plus things on the stack and battlefield have controllers. (CR109.4) And since Darigaaz Reincarnated doesn’t currently have a controller, the words “you” and “your” on it refer to its owner, so that’s the player whose upkeep it’s looking for. (CR109.5) When its ability triggers, that ability will be controlled by Darigaaz’s owner, since Darigaaz has no controller. (CR112.8) And of course, the controller of a triggered ability is the player who carries out its instructions. (Unless specified otherwise, which isn’t happening here.). It doesn’t matter who controlled Darigaaz when it was exiled, nor who controlled the effect that caused it to be put into exile in the first place–all that matters is that it is in exile, and has an egg counter on it.” Approved by Callum Milne

Cards: Darigaaz Reincarnated; Hijack

2. In a game of Commander, player A convinces player B to Assist him casting Huddle Up. B taps a couple lands to assist A and at this point A renegades, choosing not to pay the remaining mana. At this point, Huddle Up gets backed up and B has 2 mana in his mana pool, until this phase or step ends. Is this correct?

A: “The rules for casting spells (CR 601) describe what happens if a player is unable to finish casting a spell, say because they’re unable to pay its costs: the casting of the spell is illegal, and the game returns to the moment before the casting of that spell was proposed. This means that not only will the spell be back in its owner’s hand, but the mana abilities Player B activated will also be undone. Player B’s lands will be untapped, and they will have no mana floating.” A DQ for Cheating could be considered, as this interaction is very similar with the Goblin Test Pilot + Suppression Field. Approved by Callum Milne Cards: Huddle Up

3. NAP controls Lantern of Insight. With an Island on top of his library, AP resolves Sleight of Hand. Does NAP know where the Island goes to?

A: “Lantern of Insight doesn’t change anything about how Sleight of Hand works – NAP is not entitled to know which of the two cards AP puts into their hand, regardless of whether or not the top card of the library happens to be revealed at the time. In paper play, NAP may be able to figure out which card was picked by tracking the physical motion of the cards as AP performs the actions Sleight of Hand calls for, but that’s on them to pick up on–it’s not information the game provides.” Approved by Callum Milne Cards: Lantern of Insight; Sleight of Hand

4. AP controls two Bramblewood Paragon and one Primal Vigor. If he casts a Warrior creature spell, can he choose to apply first the replacement effect of one Bramblewood Paragon, then the Primal Vigor and then the other Paragon? If so, with how many counters will the Warrior enters the battlefield?

A: “Once the first Bramblewood Paragon has been applied and both of the remaining effects are applicable, the player may choose to apply whichever one they prefer, and then the remaining one will be applied afterwards. If they want to apply the effects in that order, they can do so. For your second question, the number of counters the creature will be entering the battlefield with is recalculated every time an effect is applied. Applying the effects in the order Paragon -> Vigor -> Paragon, it goes from being: (Creature will enter with no counters) -> (Creature will enter with one +1/+1 counter) -> (Creature will enter with two +1/+1 counters) -> (Creature will enter with three +1/+1 counters) So it’s not likely that players will choose to order these replacements in this manner, because it will result in fewer counters, but it is a possible option.” Approved by Callum Milne Cards: Bramblewood Paragon; Primal Vigor

The Knowledge Pool

The two latest scenarios in the Knowledge Pool are Team Bonding Exercise and All Aboard!

Judging for the Win

This month’s article is actually a tournament report summing up the experiences judging on the deck checks team for both days of an SCG Open. You can check it out here.

Planar Bridge

We are happy to share with you the second article from the Planar Bridge Project covering what happened during April and May in terms of the meetings organized at eight different GPs.



Find out which Judge Conferences, Grand Prix and SCG Opens have available worldwide staffing positions! You still have some time to apply for SCG Open Dallas and SCG Open Baltimore! If you prefer Scorekeeping, you can also apply for Grand Prix that take place between October and December!

Check out the Grand Prix Solicitations and Select Staffs for more details on individual tournaments and to know if there are some last minute solicitations you can apply to!