Mekka - Copenhagen Gaming Center, Denmark
Michael Kastberg
I was not originally asked by the event organizer to help judge the
tournament, I simply voluntered to help, once I saw how many people had
turned up. The head (and at that time only) judge was Martin Beck (Lv.
III), and I figured that he would have his hands full, if he was both to
make rulings, hand out warnings and take in result as the matches ended.
So I gave up my pre-registration in order to have the oppotunity to
judge under his supervision.
Due to the troubles of dealing with all the people that had turned up
for the event, we where a bit delayed. Something like one and a half
hour! We had to bring extra tables and chairs from other rooms, and that
took a considerable amout of time, since these were, well, less
accessable...
But we ended up with almost 60 people in the tournament, which, by the
way, was a seven round swiss event, with sealed-deck being the format.
But we got started, and it went just fine from there. At least to
begin with. I walked along the tables, and checked that all players had
written their name and DCI number on the registration papers. Last
tournament we had several warning concerning deck lists. Amasingly,
everybody had done it right...
The tournament went on for awhile, with no real problems. Only there
was a minor misunderstanding. Some of the players were under the
impression, that when time was called, the current turn, would not be a
part of the six turns. But this was easily corrected, we just adressed
the issue before allowing round 2 to begin.
The few questions that did came up, was mainly about the way that 6ed.
worked. Timing of spells and activated abilities, are still a problem
for some people. Even some of the regular tournament players. But it
seems like just about everyone, has a good understanding, of how the
stack works during combat. There was only a few interesting problems:
A player calls me over, and asks me, if a Phyrexian Ghoul could be
sac'ed to itself. My quick response was a: "Sure", and I walked away, as
it seemed like the players had gotten the answer they were looking for.
But I should have collected more information, since they now thought,
that it was possible to sac' the Phyrexian Ghoul to itself and put four
damage on the stack. I think I learned an important lesson there.
Another minor problem that arose was, when a player wanted to make
sure just how cards like Planar Collapse worked. Apparently, the card
had been ruled two different ways, during a tournament the player had
participated in recently. I told him, that PV would only be sacrificed,
if its condition was also true when the psudo-spell resolved from the
stack. This was based on rule:
410.8. Triggered abilities with a condition [for example, "When(ever)
<trigger>, if <condition>, <event>"] check for the condition to be true
as part of the trigger event; if it isn't, the ability doesn't trigger.
The ability checks the condition again on resolution. If it's not
satisfied, the ability does nothing.
Since the sac' is a part of the resolution, then even though the trigger
is on the stack, PV should not get sac', if the condition is no longet
true on resolution.
Nothing really spectacular happend, until, I think it was during round
6, where we disqualified two players. It went like this: I was walking
through the room, waiting for somebody to require my help.
One of the players comes up to me, and tells me, that I should probably
watch a match at a particular table. The player had player at the table
next to them, and had seen one of the player cheat. At least he felt
very sure, that he had cheated (taking back lifepoints, when his
opponent was not looking). The player had adressed this to the cheating
player, who had told him not to interfere, and just mind his own
buisness. So I sad down, and watched the game. It was during the second
game, and it quickly ended. The score was now 1-1. But there where only
a few minuts left. The players started to talk in swedish, and since I
don't understand one word of swede, my thoughts drifted for a few
moments, while they where shuffling and talking. Suddenly another
player, also watching the game "woke me" and told me that the players
where about to use a dice, in order to determind, who should win the
game, and thereby the match. I quickly adressed the situation to the
players, and asked them, what the dice was to be used for. One player
asked:"Can't we just roll a dice?" with a small grin on his face. I said
that Collusion was illegal, and that I would have to disqualify them
from the tournament, if they proceded. They then started talking in
swede again. I should, of course, have instructed them to conduct the
remaining part of the match in english. At that point a player asked me
a question, and I turned my head one second. The two players tried to
take advantage of that, and quickly tossed the dice, covering the result
with their hands. But it was too late. I saw it. No doubt. I called the
Head Judge (Beck) and explained the situation to him. He told the
players, that they had already been warned, and therefor disqualified
them. His first disqualification ever.
This was pretty much the highlights of the event, at least from a
judging point of view. The rest went smooth. But my God, it was late
when we finished...
Michael kastberg, Lv. II judge, Denmark
Kastberg@vip.cybercity.dk
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