---

Published on 08/12/2024

From North Dakota to Maryland

By Carsten Haese, Nathan Long, and Justin Hovdenes
This Article from: Justin Hovdenes

Cranial Translation
Deutsch Français

---

On July 20th I drove three and half hours to Head Judge a RCQ in Dickinson, North Dakota. We had a healthy 18 players in a very cool brand new store, made up to look like an old-timey tavern. Then on July 26th I flew out to Baltimore, Maryland to help judge StarCityGames Con. I nearly didn't make it because of a flight delay, where I was still in the air while my next flight started boarding. I shacked up with two judges I met on the weekend (Reuben from the Philippines & Josue from Puerto Rico) and a judge I've worked with many times (Sashi from Malaysia). Its really neat how many friends you make from all over the globe when you judge Magic. So for today's article, I'm going to use questions and situations that came up at these two events held more than 1,600 miles apart.

If you would like to see a question of yours answered in one of our upcoming articles, chances for that go way up if you send them directly to us. For short questions, you can send them to our Twitter account at @CranialTweet, and if you have a longer question, you can send it to our e-mail at moko@cranialinsertion.com . Most questions sent to us get answered in less than 24 hours.

---

Dickinson, ND - Pioneer RCQ - 18 Players - REL: Competitive

---

Q: Judge, does my Awakened Skyclave help my devotion when I tap Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx for green mana?

A: Although it is green, Awakened Skyclave has no green mana symbols in its mana cost. It does not help your devotion to green.

---

Q: Judge, my opponent cast Fatal Push targeting my Keruga, the Macrosage. The opponent "had revolt", I let the push resolve. When I didn't put Keruga into the graveyard, the opponent realized their mistake and is now asking to back up to before the spell was cast, since it had an illegal target. What do we do now?

A: We do nothing. Fatal Push can target Keruga, with or with out revolt. In either case it will fail to destroy the Keruga. This was a completely legal play.

---

Q: Judge, I'm playing the deck Niv-to-Light. It plays several double faced cards. I put new sleeves on this deck today before the tournament began, and it's currently turn 2 of this game and I just noticed I can tell the top card of my deck is Valki, God of Lies as the sleeves are slightly transparent. What do I do now?

A: If this issue had been discovered during a deck check, the penalty would have been a Game Loss, it's an upgrade from the normal warning for Marked Cards penalty because of how easy it would be to gain an advantage from knowing not only when a double faced card is on top of your library, but also what the card specifically is. However, as you called this on yourself as soon as you became aware of it, I'm going to only give a warning along with 10 minutes to buy fully opaque sleeves and resleeve your deck.

---

Q: Judge, during my opponent's last turn, they jump-started Thoughtseize from their graveyard because they control Niv-Mizzet, Supreme. My opponent looked at my hand, made me discard a card, and then passed to my turn. After drawing a card for my turn, I realized Niv only lets you jump-start two-colored cards, so the opponent should not have been able to Thoughtseize me. What do we do now?

A: As Head Judge, I feel that we can safely back the game up to just before the opponent cast the Thoughtseize. Luckily you don't have a way to manipulate your library like a fetchland that might make this situation more tricky. Because both players have seen every card in your hand, other than the one drawn since the Thoughtseize, we can take the new card from your hand and put it back on top of your library. Re-tap all lands you had tapped during the opponent's last turn. Return to your hand the card that was discarded to Thoughtseize. The opponent regains 2 life lost to Thoughtseize, places the Thoughtseize back in their graveyard from exile, untaps the black source they used to cast it, and places the card they discarded to pay Jump-Start back in their hand. The game now continues from that point. Your opponent gets a Warning for Game Rules Violation. You also get a Warning for Failure to Maintain Game State. However, it's important to note, your opponent's Warning could upgrade to Game Loss if they repeatedly make the same category of error, whereas Failure to Maintain Game State doesn't upgrade under repeated mistakes.

Note: Backups are limited to the Head Judge or anyone the Head Judge has given permission to do backups to.

Other Note: A quick investigation did take place during this call to make sure the Niv player wasn't knowingly playing this incorrectly hoping to pull a fast one on their opponent.

---

Baltimore - Modern 10k - 349 Players - REL: Competitive

---

Q: Judge, I control Hedron Crab. Earlier this turn I played a land, then cast and resolved Grief against my opponent. After they discarded the card, I then remembered my landfall trigger and want to put it on the stack. Can I?

A: Missing your non-detrimental triggers is not a penalty. However, we don't back up for them. Instead, your opponent is given the option to put that trigger on the stack now if they wish. If not, then the trigger was just missed.

---

Q: Judge, I'm attempting to bestow Springheart Nantuko onto my Arboreal Grazer. My opponent responds by making the Grazer deal 6 damage to itself with Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar's last ability. Does my Nantuko go to the graveyard from loss of target?

A: The Nantuko will enter the battlefield as a creature. You are correct that most Auras that lose their target on the stack go to the graveyard when they try to resolve. However, a unique part of the rules for bestow is that if the spell loses its target, it enters the battlefield as a creature instead.

---

Q: Judge, I have met the condition to use Shelldock Isle's last ability, but my opponent controls Threeferi. If during my main phase I use the Shelldock Isle to cast the Fatal Push it has "hidden away", will Teferi stop me?

A: It is an honorable attempt to try and cast the Fatal Push during your main phase, but Teferi will still stop you. When you attempt to cast the Fatal Push, the activated ability of Shelldock Isle will still be on the stack. This means the stack is not empty, and because of Teferi you can only cast spells during your main phase while the stack is empty.

---

Q: Judge, I have a Delighted Halfling with Springheart Nantuko bestowed on it and three token copies of Delighted Halfling. My opponent activated The Filigree Sylex's second ability while it has no oil counters on it. Do my Halfling tokens die?

A: Most tokens have a mana value of 0, so usually the Sylex would kill them. However, tokens that are copies of cards do copy the mana cost of what they are copying, so they have the same mana value as the original. In this case those tokens have a mana value of 1, making them safe from the Sylex.

---

Q: Judge, my 0/0 Germ token wielding Kaldra Compleat is being blocked by an Arboreal Grazer. Do I trample over it for 2 or 4 damage to my opponent?

A: You only trample over for two damage. If Kaldra Compleat gave deathtouch and trample, then you would trample over for 4 damage. However, it has a triggered "exile touch". The "exile touch" is not considered lethal damage, and only exiles the creature it hits if the creature survives the initial combat damage.

---

Q: Judge, the women's bathroom is down for repairs, where am I supposed to go?

A: Next to the men's bathroom there is a single feminine//non-binary stall available. If however the line is too long, just outside the main hall is a functioning women's bathroom.

This question may seem strange here, but a great deal of judging is helping with logistics not directly related to tournaments. We are often resources for non-rules information. I would guess about 5-10% of questions we get are bathroom related, such as: Where is the bathroom? Do I have time to go to the bathroom before next round? Can I have a time extension to go to the bathroom?

---

Baltimore - Bloomburrow Sealed Full Box Pre-release - 22 Players - REL: Regular

---

Q: Wait, we are going to make a sealed deck with 36 packs of the new set?

A: Yes, yes you are.

---

Q: Judge, whats the minimum deck size for Sealed Full Box?

A: There are no official rules for Sealed Full Box in the Magic Tournament Rules. I have seen it run with a minimum deck size of 40 and with a minimum deck size of 60. For this weekend, Starcitygames ran these with a minimum deck size of 40.

---

Q: Judge, I have 5 copies of the rare Valley Rotcaller, can I run all 5 in this sealed full box tournament?

A: Yes, you can. As with all Limited formats, there is no 4-of rule.

---

Baltimore - Legacy 5k - 157 Players - REL: Competitive

---

Q: During a deck check we found a player had presented a 59-card dec with a 16-card sideboard. What penalty, if any, should be applied?

A: The penalty is a Game Loss. Alfred presented an illegal deck (less than 60 cards main board). The infraction here is Deck Problem, which is normally a Warning, but upgrades to Game Loss for presenting an illegal deck.

---

Q: During a deck check we found a player had listed two copies of Misty Rainforest in their main board, but were actually playing one Misty Rainforest and one Flooded Strand. What penalty, if any, should be applied?

A: This depends on an investigation. If the player intended to play what was on the list, they only get a Warning if they can quickly swap out the Flooded Strand for a second Misty Rainforest. If they forgot to update the deck list, they get a Game Loss and we make the deck list match the deck. The player, as it turns out, last minute swapped out the second Rainforest for a new cool version of Flooded Strand he traded for and forgot to update his list. He was given a Game Loss and we updated the list.

---

Q: So, to make this a little sillier, the last two issues were discovered during the same deck check, and were both committed by the same player, Alfred. Should the deck check team give Alfred only one Game Loss or two as part of this single deck check?

A: Only one Game Loss. If more than one penalty would be given at the same time, only apply the more detrimental penalty (but still make note of both infractions).

---

Q: Judge, it's currently my turn. During my last turn my opponent opponent free-casted Force of Will to counter my Psychic Frog while they controlled a Vexing Bauble. Since then each of us has used a fetch land and drawn some cards. What do we do now?

A: First we investigate the Vexing Bauble player for cheating. If they knowingly played the Force of Will into their own Vexing Bauble hoping their opponent wouldn't notice, that is cheating and is a disqualification. However, with this investigation, I believe the Vexing Bauble player honestly made the mistake, so we look at the possibility of a backup. Unfortunately too much has happened to back this up, so we will leave the game state as is. It has been too long to put the missed trigger on the stack and it wouldn't do anything anyways. Usually missed triggers present no penalty. However, because this missed trigger is detrimental to the Vexing Bauble player, the penalty is upgraded to a Warning and additional errors that player makes in this category can upgrade into a Game Loss penalty later.

---

Q: My opponent has Harbinger of the Seas and I cast and resolve Dress Down. Can I now use my Ketria Triome to make mana?

A: You can't. This is rather unintuitive, but because of layers, Harbinger starts functioning in Layer 4, overriding all non-basic lands into Islands. Then in Layer 6, Dress Down removes Harbinger's land changing ability, but because its effect started applying in an earlier layer, it continues to function even though the ability gets removed.

---

Q: Judge, If I use my Thespian's Stage's last ability to become a copy of my Urza's Saga that has two lore counters on it, what does the Stage look like when its ability resolves?

A: You will have an Urza's Saga with zero lore counters on it. It will also have the ability ", : This permanent becomes a copy of target land, except it has this ability.". It won't have the ability to tap for colorless mana and it won't have the ability to make Constructs. It will gain those abilities one at a time over the next couple of turns as it gains lore counters.

---

Q: Judge, there is a card on the floor next to my feet. I'm sure that card fell out of my hand during this game. What do we do to fix this?

A: This took some time. We first need to determine if the player was in fact missing a card. To do this we needed to account for all cards not in libraries and determine the turn number. We will call the player "missing" a card Amber and her opponent Nigel. It's currently Amber's third turn. Amber had to mulligan once this game, but Nigel didn't. Nigel got the first turn of this game. This means Nigel should have nine cards outside his library. (7 cards opening hand, then draw a card for turn 2 and then again for turn 3). Amber also should have 9 cards outside the library (6 cards opening hand, then draw a card for first turn, then draw for turn 2, and then draw for turn 3). To get to these numbers you have to reduce for cards that self replace (like fetchlands), draw cards, or somehow move cards from the library to other zones.

Nigel has three cards in hand, three lands and an Orcish Bowmasters on the battlefield (he also has a Orc Army token, but we don't have to worry about tokens). In his graveyard he has a fetchland (which was used to get a land on field) and two cards discarded by double Grief. This makes ten cards outside the library, but we reduce by one as the fetchland is self-replacing, making a count of 9, exactly where he should be.

Amber has two cards in hand. She has two lands, a Grief and an Animate Dead on the battlefield. In exile she has a black card from Griefing. In her graveyard she has a fetchland (which was used to get a land on field), an Entomb, an Atraxa, Praetors' Voice (placed there by Entomb), and a Brainstorm (which did resolve). This is 11 cards, but reduce one for Brainstorm, reduce one for fetchland, and reduce one for Entomb. Leaving a total of 8 cards. This is one card lower than Amber should have at this point in the game.

This means what likely happened is that Amber accidentally dropped a card from her hand onto the floor at some time during the first three turns each player took.

However, the card on the floor turned out to be a Force of Will. This is a very good card to be suddenly adding to your hand in the middle of a turn. Could she have been trying to swap a card from her hand with one in her lap and accidentally dropped the card in the process? Did she intentionally put the Force of Will on the floor as the game began, intentionally drew one less card in her opening hand, and as soon as she knew she needed it called attention to it? These are possibilities, but it's also worth noting that nearly every card in Legacy is amazing, so nearly any card dropped would be suspicious even if it truly was an accident. We did a quick investigation, talking to both players away from the table. Nothing seemed out of place, so we returned the Force of Will to Amber's Hand, gave them a time extension, and let the game continue from there.

---

Well, it was two weekends of lots of travel, much judging, and not nearly enough catching up with old friends. Hopefully you found these questions useful, and maybe I'll see you at my next big event, Magic-Con Las Vegas in October. Later.

- Justin Hovdenes AKA Hovey
Level 2 Magic Judge
Rapid City, SD

---