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Published on 01/27/2025

Georgia, the Spotlight's on You

Justin went to Georgia. Not sure which he did more, hand out rulings or eat.

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

Cranial Translation
Deutsch Français

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On January 3rd - 5th, I was in Atlanta, Georgia helping to judge the Magic Spotlight event hosted by Star City Games. The main event had over 1500 players and ran Saturday and Sunday. I ended up judging Standard events all three days.

On Friday I had a half day shift finishing off the ReCQs.

On Saturday I was on the main event, working the half deck checks half floor team. We split responsibility between getting a few deck checks done and making sure the floor had good coverage. The main deck check team made sure that many deck checks were completed.

On Sunday I was judging on the 10K RCQ. Specifically, on the breaks team. We took over different teams' responsibilities while they went on break for lunch.

The questions and rulings below all happened while I was at these events. Any names of players have been changed, and some of the rulings were done by judges other than myself.

If you have any Magic questions burning at the back of your brain, you can send them to us. We may even use them in a future article. If you have a short question, you can send it to us via our Twitter account at @CranialTweet, and you can send us longer questions at moko@cranialinsertion.com .

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Friday
ReCQ Standard 4pm
Players: 262
Single Elimination all 5 Rounds
Sudden Death Rules apply - no Swiss rounds

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Q: Judge! I had my opponent Allen's Beanstalk is under my Lockdown. Allen then played a second Beanstalk. At the end of that turn, I flickered my Temporary Lockdown (so I could lock down both Beanstalks). Allen then drew two cards thinking he would draw for each Beanstalk when he should have only drawn one card. What do we do?

A: Assuming no cheating happened, this is a Hidden Card Error. We have at least two cards in Allen's hand and one shouldn't be there. We do the "Thoughtseize" fix: Allen reveals his whole hand to you, you choose any card (can even be a land), and that card gets shuffled into the random portion of the library. (If the bottom cards were scried there we keep them at bottom after shuffling. If Allen had scried farther down than these two cards and knows what is now the top card or more, then that order is maintained as well.)

We give Allen a Warning. If he commits that same infraction (Hidden Card Error) for the third time in this tournament, that penalty upgrades to a Game Loss.

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Q: Judge! I control Bloodletter of Aclazotz and attack my opponent with Deep-Cavern Bat. I know they lose 2 life from this, but do I gain 1 or 2 life?

A: You only gain 1 life. Damage that is not prevented causes life loss. Aclozotz doubles life loss, not damage. The bat only deals 1 damage, which gains you only 1 life. The 1 damage causes 1 life loss that then gets doubled to 2 life loss.

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Q: Judge! Time was just called, and then my opponent won this game. I won the first game of this match. Do we move on to game three, even though time was called, since this is a Single Elimination Sudden Death match?

A: Yes. Because you're in a Single Elimination Sudden Death round, the match continues until there is a winner.

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Q: Continuing on with the last question: Can I win that third game by casting Seed of Hope before either of us take any damage or lose any life?

A: Yes, the game ends as soon as one player has more life than the other. The winner being the player with the greater life total.

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Q: Judge, I'm going to play in tomorrow's main event. Can I have sideboarding notes?

A: Yes, you can. This is covered in the Magic Tournament Rules document, or MTR. I suggest all players who play in Competitive events read through it every year or so as it has some very important information in it.

The relevant part of the MTR here is found in 2.11, Taking Notes.

Between games, players may refer to a brief set of notes made before the match. They are not required to reveal these notes to their opponents. These notes must be removed from the play area before the beginning of the next game. Excessive quantities of notes (more than a sheet or two) are not allowed and may be penalized as Slow Play.

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Saturday
Magic Spotlight Foundations Standard
Players: 1453
15 rounds (9 rounds day 1, 6 rounds day 2)
Cut to Top 8 after round 15.

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Q: Judge, my opponent activates Warden of the Inner Sky. I Go for the Throat it in response. Does my opponent still scry 1, even though they have nowhere to put the +1/+1 counter?

A: They do still get to scry 1. Warden's ability has no targets, so it will resolve to the best of its ability. It will fail to put a +1/+1 counter on anything, but can still scry 1.

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Q: During a deck check, we found a decklist didn't match the player's deck. (Although most deck lists for this event were handled through melee.com, a few were handed in as physical lists). He had 2 Go for the Throat on his list, but none in the deck. He had 4x Get Lost listed but crossed out and replaced with Temporary Lockdown, but only 2 Temporary Lockdown in the deck and 4 Get lost still in the deck. Upon investigation we find the player had at the last minute tried to add two Temporary Lockdowns to his list by replacing the Go for The Throats. He accidentally crossed out Get Lost and wrote in Lockdowns, when he meant to cross out Go For the Throats, probably because they both start with the letter G. What penalty, if any, is given, and what fix should there be?

A: The infraction in Decklist Problem. The penalty is Game Loss. The fix is to change the decklist to match the deck.

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Q: Judge, my opponent controls Novice Inspector enchanted with Sheltered by Ghosts. If I use Lithomantic Barrage to try to kill it, do I have to pay the ward cost?

A: You don't have to pay the ward, the ward trigger can't counter Lithomantic Barrage.

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Q: Judge, I can make my Manifold Mouse a 3/3 double strike trampler this turn. If I do and I attack with it and my opponent chooses to block with their Glissa Sunslayer, will my Mouse deal any trample damage to my opponent? Would it kill Glissa?

A: No trample, but that is a dead Glissa. Both creatures will deal lethal damage to each other during the first strike damage step, therefore both creatures die during the first strike damage step.

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Q: Judge, my opponent and I are still resolving mulligans and we just got called to the feature match area. What do we do?

A: I, the judge, will take both players' current hands and move them to the Feature Match area, while the two of you pick up your decks and bags and follow me there. Once set back up over there, I'll give you back your hands and you can continue mulligans from that point.

Note: At large events there are sometimes "Feature Matches". Usually one or two matches per round of the tournament with either interesting decks or well known players are moved to an area where they can be more easily watched by spectators. These matches may even be on video, broadcast live online, and/or even have color commentary.

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Q: Judge, my last match went long, can I go to the bathroom before I start this match and get a time extension when I get back?

A: Yes, you can. I'll wait here and watch your stuff.

Some variation on "Where is the bathroom?" or "Can I use the bathroom?" is usually the most common question we get while judging large events. We aren't interested in torturing players or there being accidents, so in most cases we let players use the restrooms during games and accommodate with time extensions.

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Q: If I block Screaming Nemesis with my Mosswood Dreadknight can I use the new combat damage rules so I only deal 1 damage to it with my Knight?

A: The new combat damage rules have no effect here. You must still deal all 3 damage to the Nemesis since it's the only creature Mosswood Dreadknight is blocking.

The new combat damage rules only ever come into play if one creature is blocked by multiple creatures, or one creature blocks multiple attacking creatures.

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Q: My opponent cast Tranquil Frillback. After it enters, he paid , choosing to "gain 4 life" and target my Stormchaser's Talent with "destroy target artifact or enchantment". I respond to this by Scrollshifting my Stormchaser's Talent. Will he still gain 4 life?

A: The opponent will not. The reflexive trigger has only one target (your Talent), which has left the battlefield and returned as a new object. The whole reflexive trigger fails to resolve because it lost all of its targets.

However, if he had paid one more and also targeted you to exile your graveyard, the reflexive trigger would still have one of its original two targets and would resolve as best it can (gain 4 life, exile that graveyard).

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Sunday
RCQ 10k Standard
Players: 320 players
9 rounds with cut to top 8

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Q: Judge, I just told my opponent, "I attack with all my creatures, but before blocks I use my Floodpits Drowner to shuffle it and your only creature (a 6/6 Demon token) into our libraries, that's fatal damage, I win." My opponent responds, "It's not fatal damage, you didn't tap your Kaito, Bane of Nightmares with the other creatures when you attacked, so it didn't attack this turn, you are 3 damage short of fatal". Who is right?

A: The attacking player clearly attacked with the Kaito, but didn't tap it to indicate the attack (they did the math and understood that to be fatal, and would only be fatal if Kaito is included). Kaito did attack.

Note: This sort of Judge Call can go either way, with rather small changes to the details or better probing questions from the judge.

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Q: Judge, I control two Resolute Reinforcements and two 1/1 Soldier tokens. I cast Case of the Gateway Express and have its trigger target my opponent's Screaming Nemesis. My opponent now claims they can deal 1 damage to each of my creatures with Screaming Nemesis's trigger, but I think he can only have it deal 4 damage to one target. Who is right?

A: So this question came up several times on Thursday, and it kind of stumped all the highest level judges we had on hand, with some falling on both sides. In the end, it was decided that for the weekend, the answer would be, only deal 4 damage to one target based on rule 608.2f.

608.2f Some spells and abilities include actions taken on multiple players and/or objects. In most cases, each such action is processed simultaneously.

This doesn't fully answer all the problems, but it was decided that a consistent answer for the weekend was important, fully acknowledging that the Rules Manager at Wizards of the Coast may either confirm this ruling or rule the opposite with some clarification. It could even lead to adding a new rule for handling this type of situation in the future.

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Q: My opponent activates Kaito, Bane of Nightmares's +1 loyalty ability to try and make an emblem. I respond with Tishana's Tidebinder to counter Kaito's activated ability. Is Kaito still a creature?

A: Yes. Kaito will be still be a creature during its controller's turns, however, Kaito won't have hexproof while the Tidebinder is on the battlefield.

This is a layers question. Kaito's ability that animates him into a creature is a type changing ability, this is applied in Layer 4. Parts of this one ability take effect in different layers (Creature - Ninja Layer 4, Hexproof Layer 6, power toughness 3/4 Layer 7b). Once an ability starts to take effect in a earlier layer, that ability being removed in a later layer doesn't stop it from taking its full effect. In Layer 6 abilities are added and/or removed. Gaining Hexproof and the removal of all abilities by Tidebinder happens in Layer 6. They are applied in time stamp order: Gain hexproof, then lose hexproof.

We end up with a Kaito that is a legendary Creature - Ninja with no abilities that's a 3/4 during its owners turn, otherwise is a Legendary Planeswalker - Kaito with no abilities.

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Q: My opponent casts Overlord of the Boilerbilges for its impending cost, targeting me with the 4 damage trigger. I respond with Tishana's Tidebinder to counter the damage trigger. What happens to the Overlord?

A: Its damage ability gets countered, but that's it. Because it was cast for its impending cost, the Overlord is not a creature when Tishana's Tidebinder's triggered ability resolves. The Tidebinder's ability doesn't check whether the source of the ability might become a creature at some point in the future, it only checks whether it's a creature right now. Since the Overlord is not a creature, the "that permanent loses all abilities for as long as Tishana's Tidebinder remains on the battlefield" effect does not get created. The Overlord keeps its abilities, eventually it will lose its last time counter and become a creature, and there is nothing that takes away its abilities when it becomes a creature.

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Q: Judge, I control a Sheoldred and my opponent drew a card during her turn, played a land, and tried to cast a spell. At that point I said "hey, you lost 2 life to Sheoldred". The opponent said "You missed the trigger, so no I don't". That is when we called you over. Who is right?

A: After asking both players a few questions, I felt like the opponent played too quickly and you can't do that to force triggers to be missed. So I ruled the trigger did happen, and would back up to when it was missed. The opponent appealed my ruling.

You may not know this, but if you don't think a floor judge got a ruling correct or you would like a second opinion on a ruling, you can appeal to the head judge. This may take time to find the head judge and get them caught up to what's happened, but a time extension will be given so everything should work out.

I get the head judge, fill them in on what's happened so far as we walk to the table. The head judge asks each player to walk through the pace of how quickly the card was drawn, the land was played, and the spell was cast. (I didn't do this, but I should have.) Both players agreed on a pace with more time and pauses between each action than I had initially thought. The head judge overruled my ruling and ruled that the trigger was missed.

We judges are human and sometimes make mistakes. This is good for both players and judges to know. This is a major reason for allowing players to appeal, it gives a second set of eyes to catch mistakes. For judges, it helps to know every judge gets some number of calls wrong, so they aren't too harsh on themselves when it's their turn.

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Q: During my opponent's last turn, she killed my Mosswood Dreadknight. Now that it's my turn, can I cast its Adventure and then in the same turn cast the Dreadknight from exile?

A: Yes, you can. You can cast an Adventure spell and then cast its creature (or enchantment or artifact) part in the same turn.

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Well, it was a long fun weekend. I spent a little time catching up with old judge friends and far more time making new ones. In two weeks I'll be in Portland judging the Regional Championship, which also happens to be hosted by Star City Games. If you see me there, don't be afraid to say hi.

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

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