A Player's Guide to Judge Calls Jackie Lee 1/9/2013 9:55:00 AM Tweet » Print «

I wanted to follow-up my previous article on playing at a Competitive Rules Enforcement Level with one about the judge call.This seems especially relevant in light of the recent game loss that LSV suffered at GP Denver for calling a judge after he'd accidentally drawn an extra card."Getting a game loss after you call the judge on yourself" is pretty high on the list of nightmarish things that could happen at a tournament. It falls slightly above "getting a game loss after you call the judge on yourself (and you are LSV)," yet somewhere below "all of the walls flake into rust and my opponents become zombie-like manifestations of unaddressed psychological trauma."Even though it can be tempting to avoid calling a judge for fear of penalties or annoying your opponent, judges are professionals who have the same enthusiasm for their role as a player does. Judges are also players, so they understand the concerns you might have and are skilled at addressing them.Are there "bad" judges? Sure, just like there are "bad" players. It's dangerous to oversimplify people's varied skill sets, though. By presenting them with an uncomfortable situation, you are really presenting them with a chance to learn and improve the tournament experience for everyone.You might still worry that by calling a judge, your opponent might think you're a jerk. There's a simple solution for this: are you a jerk? Is your goal to annoy your opponent?If the answer is no, then don't worry. The judge will do what is most fair to both players, and if the opponent has a problem with it, rest assured that they are only projecting; you know your true intentions, and if you have no ill-will, you shouldn't be made to feel badly. Your opponent is probably not cheating, and so, there will probably be no issue.Calling a judge does not mean you are judging.Additionally, judges are only instructed to behave appropriately for the level of the tournament. In other words, if at FNM, you think, "Whatever, it's not a big deal," the judge is likely to rule, "Whatever, it's not a big deal." Therefore, it's helpful to call one and get the situation sorted out efficiently and painlessly.Similarly, I have frequently heard players complain about receiving a 'Warning' for something they did wrong. Usually, it sounds like this is one of the reasons they don't like to deal with judges.Warnings don't mean anything.Okay, that's not true. When you do the same thing wrong repeatedly, the third warning may be upgraded to a Game Loss. But this has to be for the exact same infraction (like Game Rule Violation or Missed Trigger), and is so rare that warnings effectively don't matter. They are mainly for reminding you to be more alert and tracking a player's behavior over many tournaments. If the DCI notices that a player repeatedly racks up warnings for looking at extra cards, they might investigate. But to you, the average player with no ill intentions, there is no need to fear them. Even with the new Missed Trigger rules, Warnings only accumulate when you forget your detrimental triggers. If you miss a Blood Artist trigger, that will never get you a Game Loss.Finally, if you don't think your ruling was correct or fair, you are always allowed to appeal to the head judge. Judges sometimes make mistakes, like anyone else, but by appealing, you can be more confident that the outcome was the best possible solution.Even if it's just a simple mistake, it's literally a judge's job to solve the problem in the most efficient and fair manner possible. Beyond that, by calling a judge, you absolve yourself of all responsibility for what happens next and can focus on playing good Magic. If you propose a solution and it turns out to give one of you an advantage, it's going to end up more awkward in the end than if you simply asked a judge to rectify the problem immediately.This also goes for matches you're watching. If you see something that couldn't happen on Magic Online, like a Detained creature attacking, go explain the situation to a judge without informing the players. This happened to me during GP Taipei when I was observing a match between two players I didn't even know. It might feel a bit strange to intervene in someone else's game, but imagine how much worse it would be to point out the problem later, after the game has ended. Conjecture about whether or it might have changed the outcome of the game doesn't help anyone and just makes the situation more awkward for everyone.Caveat: If the error is a missed trigger, don't do anything! Don't even breathe! Okay, you should probably continue to breathe—at your normal rate and volume!Now that triggers can be missed, you are only responsible for your own. No onlooker, including judges, should indicate that a trigger has been missed.There are also situations where calling a judge can result in a downgrade of penalty. For example, if you draw an opening hand and realize that you've failed to desideboard, just call a judge. They will usually downgrade the game loss to a warning and a mulligan after you fix your deck.Whether your confusion is about how cards interact together, you want to see the complete, updated Oracle text on a card, or you're just not sure if something is "okay" within the rules of a tournament, call a judge. You can step away from the table if you don't want to give away information to your opponent.Most problems can be avoided by asking a judge before something goes wrong, so it's always safest to ask first. If players always asked first, judges wouldn't have to make that announcement in the last round, reminding us not to determine our match outcome with a die roll. No subsequent disqualifications, either! What a rosy place that would be.If you feel uncomfortable, for any reason at all, judges are there to help.For one particular Grand Prix Trial last year, I was pretty tired and out-of-it. I had gotten a couple Game Rule Violations in a row for boneheaded mistakes that I wouldn't have made if I'd been more awake.For the second one, my opponent put a card on the bottom of my library with a Brutalizer Exarch . This card was not frequently played in Standard, and I hadn't really drafted during Scars of Mirrodin block, so I scanned over the text as I put the card on the bottom of my library.Then my opponent pointed out that I was actually shuffling. Whoops.It's pretty upsetting to feel like you're not in control of your own body. Being tired, in general, tends to heighten emotional responses. Like the one you have when you realize that a third mistake will cost you a game.When I appealed to the head judge, Steven Zwanger, he explained that the warning could not be downgraded. However, he also told me that if I needed to take some time to use the restroom or get a drink of water, he would give me a time extension.This helped put things in perspective for me, and I realized that I should be calling judges more frequently, not less. They truly are there for the players' benefit.To call a judge, hold a blade of grass between your thumbs and gently blow on it until it vibrates. The judge will stop drinking from the surface of a lake and attend to you.Just kidding. To call a judge, just hold up your hand and shout, "Judge!"—much like you would call a waiter at a restaurant.Uh, don't do that in a restaurant, either.Anyway, when you call a judge,. This will protect you from most penalties—especially if you asked about any confusion beforehand.Some people get nervous and feel pressured to obscure the facts, but this is lying to a judge, and it will get you disqualified. An extreme example is the case of Olivier Ruel telling judges that he couldn't see any cards in the reflection of glasses worn on the opponent's shirt. Because he'd just come off of a six-month suspension, he was extra skittish, and ended up lying about something that wouldn't have been a disqualifiable offense to begin with. Ideally, he would simply have asked about the legality of the action beforehand.Next, when you call a judge, note the time on the clock. If the ruling takes more than a minute,. Judges will usually do this on their own, but sometimes they forget. In most cases, you won't use it, but if it happens that you need those two minutes, you are going to be really sorry if you didn't ask.Special mention should be given to slow play, because it's a situation in which the only clear-cut thing is the ensuing awkwardness.Slow play is sticky business because it's all based on feelings and judgment. However, it's an important topic because time one player uses is time taken away from another. Furthermore, intentional slow play is stalling, which is a cheating infraction. Usually, though, it's unintentional.In my opinion, slow play is among the worst parts of the game, so improving our knowledge and ability to deal with it can improve our tournament experience dramatically. Since my Level 1 judge test a couple months ago, I attended an excellent panel on the topic by Christian Gawrilowicz in Taipei.Slow play is entirely based on a judge's discretion, but some basic math can help set rough guidelines. Between games, players are allowed 3 minutes to sideboard, shuffle, and present their decks. That means you have 44 minutes of actual gameplay in a standard 50-minute round. If you go to game three, you have a bit under 15 minutes per game. The number of turns a game lasts depends on the format and the decks involved, but we can guess 14. This is intentionally on the high side, because we are discussing a match that is likely to go to time. In this case, each player's individual turn would need to take about 30 seconds for the match to complete on time.Now, this is obviously only a guideline, because different turns with different amounts of choice will take varying time.Other indicators are repeatedly reviewing the graveyard, taking unreasonably detailed notes when casting Slaughter Games , reading the same card on the battlefield multiple times, and onlookers getting bored. This last indicator is especially ironic, because judges will often turn to watch another match instead of intervening. This isn't because they're bad judges, though. It's because slow play is a difficult thing to catch unless you're looking for it, and the judges are usually watching for errors in gameplay.As a player, you should call a judge if you suspect slow play from your opponent. You can ask away from the table to avoid offending the player, but even so, this will not always get it done. You may need to appeal to a higher level judge, because inexperienced judges tend to be timid about making the call. I have also heard of people prompting their opponents themselves. It all depends on how important the match is to you, how likely it is that you'll go to time, and what the consequences of that are.One way to take measures into your own hands is pre-planning for various plays your opponent could foreseeably make. This should improve your play in general, because it will keep you focused on the opponent's possible intentions and the best way of thwarting them. However, it is also helpful to prevent yourself from going to time against an opponent who may be playing a deck that takes long turns or draws out the game.As a player, it's important to take the time you need, so make sure you do. However, often, the underlying reason for slow play is inadequate tournament preparation.We all love to hear stories about how someone won a tournament with a deck they were handed that morning. However, unless you're very experienced in the format and the deck archetype, you may end up overshooting your reach and playing slowly. It's important to take responsibility if this is the case, because it is something you can improve if you try. A tournament setting isn't necessarily the place to do it, though. In fact, much of the reason slow play is so awkward is because it is such a personal matter.—————————I hope that I've cleared up any confusion about judge calls and conveyed the impression that they aren't a big deal. Because they shouldn't have to be. There may be corner cases that don't end up the way you like, but dealing with those issues through the proper channels of a judge call is the only way that we can learn. This is true for players as well as the makers of the policy; after all, the Infraction Procedure Guide didn't just fall out of the sky on a golden tablet. (Or did it… Toby Elliott?!)Love and battle,Jackie Lee——@JackieL33 on Twitter