Published on 02/17/2025
Keep Portland Weirdly About Magic
By Carsten Haese, Nathan Long, and Justin Hovdenes
This Article from: Justin Hovdenes
Cranial Translation
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Wait, the Pre-release was this weekend?
On Saturday I was on the main event, working the Deck Checks team. We paired off in mini teams of two judges that aimed to check four decks per round: two at the start and two mid-round after players had sideboarded.
On Sunday I was judging on the 10K RCQ. I was again on Deck Checks. We had an additional goal of trying to make sure every player that could make it to top 8 was deck checked before the end of round 10.
While I worked on them, both of these events were run at Competitive Rules Enforcement Level. All questions today are the fixes that should be applied at Competitive REL. At your local FNM or Prerelease you should be using the JAR (Judging At Regular REL) instead.
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 .
Saturday
Regional Championship Modern
Players: 1,184
Open deck lists for the whole tournament, extra 2 minutes at the start of each round to review your opponent's deck list.
9 Rounds of Swiss Day 1
6 Rounds of Swiss Day 2, then cut to Top 8
$100,000 in prizes spread across top 128 players.
Q: Judge, I just drew my opening hand for this game and one of the cards I drew was a token that got shuffled into my deck during the last game. How do we fix this?
A: Remove the token, and draw a card to replace it. Tokens are not cards even if they are represented by one. You thus far have only drawn six cards, so draw to seven and we move on from here.
Q: Judge, my opponent cast Kozilek's Command choosing to scry 3 and draw and also exile my Llanowar Elves. He looked at three cards for the scry and put one card face down in front of himself, then placed the other two back on top. He then said "Wait," grabbed the top two plus one more, trying scry 3. While looking at those three, he realized he was planning to put the face down card in front of him at bottom of library and now is accidentally scrying 4. How do we fix this?
A: This is a Hidden Card Error or HCE for short. I as the judge would like to do the "Thoughtseize" fix, but to do so, I have to get approval from a team lead or a level 3 judge. You two hang tight, while I get approval.
Important Note for Judges:
This fix, which is correct to apply in this situation, if applied in the wrong situation, can do some pretty big damage, including revealing hidden information to the wrong player. If you are not the head judge, or someone the head judge has labeled to approve HCE fixes, you should find someone who is.
I have gotten approval. Your opponent will reveal the three cards he is currently looking at to you. You will chose one to get shuffled into the random portion of their library, saving locations for any cards that may have been scried to the bottom of library earlier. The remaining two plus the face down card will now be the three cards affected by the scry.
Q: Judge, my opponent controls two Amulet of Vigor and Spelunking and just played Simic Growth Chamber. She claims she can choose whether her land enters tapped or not. Is she right?
A: She is. Simic Growth Chamber has the replacement effect "This land enters tapped" and Spelunking has one also, "Lands you control enter untapped."
When multiple replacement effects attempt to affect a permanent or spell, the controller of the object chooses the order in which those effects will take place. After each one changes it, the next will still apply, if able.
Both of these are trying to affect Simic Growth Chamber. Since your opponent controls it, she decides the order to apply each replacement effect. She can apply Simic first followed by Spelunking, making it enter untapped, or reverse the order to make it enter tapped.
Q: While deck checking a player, we found the player "Phil" had 4x Marsh Flats and 3x Arid Mesa on his deck list, but had these numbers swapped for the cards in his deck. After discussing it with Phil, he meant to play what was on his list, not what was in his deck. Leading up to this event he had changed his mind back and forth several times. Phil also happens to have a fourth Marsh Flats with him in his binder. What is the infraction, penalty, and fix?
A: The infraction is Deck Problem, the penalty is Warning, and the fix is to have Phil make the deck match the list by swapping one Arid Mesa for the Marsh Flats from his binder.
When did Chandra steal Keneda's bike?
A: If it's clear to both you and your opponent. I don't have a problem with it, though other judges may disagree. Playing the technically correct way will be safer if something goes awry.
If you ended up in a Feature Match, you would be asked to play the technically correct way for the sake of the viewing audience.
Q: Judge, I just targeted my opponent's Seasoned Pyromancer with the trigger from my Static Prison. In response, the opponent sacrificed the Pyromancer to their Goblin Bombardment to deal me 1 damage. Do I still get the energy from the Static Prison's trigger?
A: You do not. If a spell or ability is put on the stack with one or more targets, but loses all of its targets before it resolves, then then that spell or ability will get removed from the stack as it tries to resolve.
Q: Judge, my opponent cracked a Mishra's Bauble targeting me. While I showed the top card of my library to my opponent, I accidentally saw the card, too. This is the second time during this tournament that I was given a Warning for Looking at Extra Cards. Do I get a Game Loss now?
A: You still only get a Warning. However, if you get a third Warning for Looking At Extra Cards, that one will be upgraded to a Game Loss. This does reset tomorrow, if you make it into day 2 of this tournament.
Q: My opponent cast and kicked a Sowing Mycospawn. I responded by tapping the only two untapped lands I had, both Islands, to cast Consign to Memory, replicating it once. I say "Counter the Eldrazi and its trigger." My opponent is now asking me "which trigger are you stopping?" I'm confused. Didn't I just stop all of the Mycospawn?
A: You did not stop "all" of the Mycospawn. When Mycospawn is cast without kicker, it is a spell and one cast trigger. When Mycospawn is cast with kicker, it is a spell and two different cast triggers. To fully stop it, you would need to cast Consign to Memory and replicate it twice.
Because your statement wasn't clear which of its two triggers you were stopping, and the game hasn't really progressed from there, you must choose now which of the two triggers you are stopping.
Q: Judge, I was trying to draw seven cards as I moved into my first mulligan. I accidentally drew eight cards. How do we fix this?
A: We have a specific fix for this. Mulligan Procedure Error, which gives you a Warning and you are forced to mulligan this hand. You will shuffle up and draw seven, then if you like that hand, you must put two cards on the bottom of your library. If you don't like that hand, you continue to mulligan as normal.
Q: Judge, this is game 1 of a new match, and I just noticed I have a sideboard card in my opening hand. I just checked my sideboard, I forgot to swap three cards in and three cards out. How do we fix this?
A: This infraction is Deck Problem and assuming you had no other Deck Problems earlier today during this tournament, the penalty is a Warning. We find and reveal to your opponent the three cards in your deck that were supposed to be in the sideboard and then move them to the sideboard. We then reveal to your opponent the three cards that were supposed to be in your main deck. They choose one card to put into your hand to replace the one we removed, and the other two get shuffled into your deck.
Q: Judge, my opponent cast Emrakul, the Promised End, I countered it with Counterspell. When Emrakul tried to go to the graveyard, it got exiled by my Dauthi Voidwalker. Can I now sacrifice Voidwalker and cast Emrakul before my turn? And if so, how do the next few turns work as now the opponent and I have both resolved an Emrakul cast trigger?
A: You can not normally cast creatures using Voidwalker during an opponent's turn. Voidwalker gives a duration for how long you are allowed to cast the card it has exiled ("You may play it this turn without paying its mana cost"). That means you have to follow any timing restriction the card has, such as sorcery speed for most creatures. You would need something like Vedalken Orrery to cast Emrakul during the opponent's turn using Voidwalker.
This makes your second question kind of moot.
Q: Judge, my opponent's Skyclave Apparition is currently exiling my Mockingbird. The Bird was copying Ranger-Captain of Eos when it got exiled. If the Apparition dies, do I get a 1/1 Illusion or a 3/3 Illusion?
A: You get a 1/1 Illusion. The token's stats are determined by the stats of the card as it exists in exile, not as it last existed on the battlefield.
Q: Judge, I just cast Ranger-Captain of Eos. When I went to resolve its trigger I began searching what I thought was my library. It turns out my opponent and I have the same sleeves and this is my opponent's deck. I figure out my mistake quite quickly as I don't run Eldrazi cards in my deck. What now?
A: At other tournaments I might spend a little time investigating this action for Cheating. However, this is a tournament with open deck lists and this is game one, so there doesn't seem to be any way to gain advantage from this "mistake" if done intentionally. That leaves this as Looking at Extra Cards, and you get a Warning. We will shuffle what's supposed to be the random portion of the opponent's library, maintain any scry placements if they weren't already destroyed by the search.
Ohh wow, some people had this card
in their deck during the 10k.
in their deck during the 10k.
A: Is it possible your opponent was stacking your deck, or at least putting this bomb to the bottom of your library intentionally? Yes. I have seen a player stack the top of their opponent's deck to force mulligans. Is it likely? Probably not more likely than the random chance that this card was at the bottom multiple times. We, the judges, will investigate this, you as the player can go on playing in the tournament.
From here we did two things. We first watched the opponent from a distance and more than one angle to see how he shuffled his opponent's deck. Second, we targeted that player for a mid-round deck check. We checked the order of both his and his opponent's deck to see if anything seemed off. In both cases nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Is it possible this player was stacking decks? Seems unlikely. The player who introduced the issue may have exaggerated the coincidence, either intentionally or by misremembering, maybe the coincidence just happened, or the player was not cheating while we were watching.
If you come across anything that seems out of place, don't hesitate to ask a judge. If you want to bring the issue to us without your opponent knowing what's being said, take a card from your hand and/or sideboard and ask to talk to us away from the table. It will seem to the opponent that your question is rules-related to the card you brought with you.
Sunday
$10k RC Qualifier Modern
Players: 497
10 Rounds of Swiss, then cut to Top 8
$10,000 in prizes
Q: Judge, at the end of my opponent's turn, I cracked a Fetch and found a Surveil Land. I then untapped my lands, started to draw a card, saw the card, but before putting it into my hand, stopped and asked my opponent if I can make this my surveil trigger. They said no. That's when I called for you. Did I miss my surveil trigger?
A: You did miss when you were supposed to do the surveil trigger. This is rather obvious as you untapped your land and began to draw for your turn. Some good news, this missed trigger does not incur a penalty. Since it hasn't been more than a turn cycle, your opponent may choose to put the missed trigger on the stack. They don't have to, and likely won't, but it is their choice.
Q: Judge, my opponent put Solitude onto the battlefield with a finality counter using Emperor of Bones's triggered ability. The opponent then attacks with Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd to Flicker the Solitude. My opponent claims the Solitude both comes back from exile and no longer has a finality counter. Is this correct?
A: This is correct. The finality counter only exiles the Solitude if it would go to the graveyard, so it goes to exile with no problem. When it returns from exile, it will be a new object and will not have any counters it left with.
Q: My opponent cast Malevolent Rumble while they controlled a Chalice of the Void with two charge counters on it. They revealed four cards from the top of their library and were in the middle of choosing which permanent to place in their hand, when I pointed out they missed the Chalice trigger. What happens now?
A: The first thing I will do is investigate for Cheating. The opponent intentionally forgetting this trigger for advantage is a big deal. If I feel this was an accident (which is easy to do), we will rewind to when the Rumble was still a spell on the stack. We will put the revealed cards back on top of the library and shuffle the random portion of the library, keeping scried cards on the top or bottom if there are any. Then the Chalice trigger will be added to the stack. This is also a Warning for the Chalice player as it is a detrimental trigger for them.
Most Missed Triggers will not get a rewind like this. There are specific criteria that need to be meet for it to be warranted. For more info, you can read section 2.1 of the IPG.
Q: After keeping my hand for this game, I revealed Devourer of Destiny. My opponent played a tapped land, then passed the turn. I drew a card for my turn, then immediately remembered the Devourer trigger. Did I miss my Devourer trigger?
A: You did miss the trigger. This mistake does not give you any penalties, you are permitted to forget your non-detrimental triggers. Since this is within a turn cycle, your opponent may add the missed trigger on to the stack if they want.
Q: Judge, my opponent's Trinisphere has been exiled by my Static Prison for several turns. This turn, I declared attacks and forgot to pay the
to keep my Prison alive. I still have . What is the fix? A: We are within a turn cycle, so the opponent gets to choose whether to put the trigger on the stack or not. However, this is a detrimental trigger and you will get a Warning for missing it. Additionally, I will likely investigate the possibility of Cheating as intentionally missing this trigger could be of huge advantage.
Yet another successful event. I had a ton of fun and can't wait for the next big event, Spotlight Series Denver in April. If you are there, don't be afraid to say "Hi".
- Justin Hovdenes AKA Hovey
Level 2 Magic Judge
Rapid City, SD
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