Should You Call a Judge?

You owe it to the community to raise your hand and make the call.

[PharaohofAtlantis]

This is one of the most important things about all levels of Magic play.

[ImJustHereToWatch]

Before casual FNM players get worried about getting a bad reputation for their lack of card knowledge or nerves, this is aimed at people playing in PTs and GPs, particularly the later rounds. I know I make errors based on card knowledge all the time, particularly if I'm playing a new legacy or modern deck. There's no game loss punishments at regular REL. There's just stern reminders and getting booted from the tournament if you do something egregious

edit: that said, you can and should still call a judge, especially if the other player is not admitting their error or as in the example, does so twice in a row

[pegdriscoll]

i have been judge called once, and it was when i scryed and when i put it on the bottom i accidently put it second from bottom because a card was left behind when i picked up the deck. once the judge got over my opponent was insisting that i should get a round loss and i should be dq. i just got a warning and i ended up getting 4th in that event and that person dropped after i beat him.

[jameselliott]

Thank you! I had to call a judge a couple of times in vegas, (I'm just starting to get into that level of play) and I felt bad when I did. This makes me feel better, and will *hopefully* prevent me from focusing on it after I do it.

[sirhamalot]

Well said...er, well....good point!
Cheaters are everywhere trying to win cash and preventing you from doing so. Who cares what your opponent thinks of you – do the right thing!

[Nightwishmaster]

This is EXACTLY why you should always, always, ALWAYS read an opponents card if you're not 100% what it does. It's always your right to understand exactly what is happening for every single play. Never feel "embarassed" or uncomfortable about not knowing, you'll see a lot of pros reading cards that are even well known at PTs, GPs, etc. It's always better to be safe than sorry!

[cmlegos]

Love this. Thank you for verbalizing that we should call a judge when ANYTHING fishy happens, not just when you are sure that someone has intentionally misplayed. Keep it up with the great tips!

[joybarber]

Good he got a DQ that is not fully resolving a spell. That isn't "oh I forgot a trigger" bs even, he straight up omitted text from his resolved spell.

[stevenmorgan]

yeah i had an issue with an opponent draining the clock on purpose at the last pptq i did. he honestly kept walking away from the table it was infuriating when we were both playing control and the win got me top 8 to play for the invite but instead i got a draw. the first time i was like whatever he has to go to the bathroom but then he stops on his way back to watch another game. then left the table after game 1 was done and watched his other friends game. it was honestly infuriating and i wish i actually called a judge, this made me change how i think about calling over judges for sure i don't care if i'm that guy now when others are clearly abusing my kind nature.

[soroya]

As a judge: THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH. Players of your caliber have a huge impact, and this vidéo is really really really really great.
So: THANK YOU again and again.

[alexisadriaanse]

I wish there was a mega-like button. Couldn't agree more.

[facufacu]

As a Judge, I thank you and congratulate you for this video. Hope all the ProPlayers spread this kind of thought. Parabens!

[SpawnofHastur]

I'm more likely to call a judge on myself than on my opponent, but I do agree that you should call a judge whenever there is even the mildest concern.

[Heidar]

This is also good advice in your professional life, regardless of what you do for a living. I personally am happy when people point out mistakes in my work, because I wouldn't have known otherwise. If people get hyper defensive about me calling out an error, it's incredibly suspicious of them doing something unethical. When someone points out an error, they're not doing it to make you lose or get dq'd. They're doing it because they want the game to go according to the rules.

[Kestral]

While it's not really within the thrust of the video, I do think there are two related points that are worth addressing.

#1 is to not be afraid to call a judge about a rules interaction you're not sure of. I've seen players not want to look dumb in front of their opponents make a play that doesn't work like they thought it did and lose because of it. Higher-level players are, from my viewing and experience, always willing to ask the question. In watching SCGCharlotte, one moment stuck out where a player (Ben Friedman, I think) paused the game to ask a judge about the interaction between Collective Brutality and Grim Flayer if his opponent got delirium because of the discard on Brutality. The result-- Flayer won't die-- makes sense if you consider things like the Bolt-Goyf interaction, and in hindsight is pretty obvious. But because Ben took the time to ask he avoided making a pretty bad play and was able to make a much better one. These things matter. Looking smart is nowhere near as important as being smart.

#2 is to not be afraid to speak with the judge about an issue that you don't think is actually there. This story is from a different card game (Force of Will), but its rules are nearly identical to Magic and it's not the specifics that matter anyway. I had a game where a judge tried to give me a warning for a missed trigger; essentially whenever I cast an instant or sorcery I got to give a creature negative power or toughness depending on the spell in question. I cast a discard spell when there were no creatures in play, and didn't acknowledge the trigger. The reason I did that is because the trigger had no targets, so it wouldn't go on the stack in the first place. But I had to explain that to this judge, and he wound up not giving me the warning. That mattered a great deal, because on day 2 I accrued a couple warnings for the same thing when it was actually legitimate-- just nerves and stress getting to me-- and I would have gotten a game loss in Top 8 if I'd had one more warning. Since I wound up winning the Top 8 match 2-1 (losing round one), that would have knocked me out of a GP that I wound up winning. If you think the judge is wrong, don't be afraid to discuss it or appeal it. Be civil, be polite, but if you're right stand up for yourself.

[eduardoprudente]

Very important for people (me included) to see this video

[Jabadamazo]

This should just be a 5-second video of the word "Yes".

[Froschritter]

What you say actually surprises me a little. At my first "real" tournament I kept my box with commander and other random cards next to me on the table like always. A judge noticed and since it was a sealed format and I had some few cards in my box that weren't in my sealed pool but were in the edition I got a "game lost". Nobody thought I was cheating but since then I only was on like 4 other real tournaments like 2xPTQ and 2xGrand Prix and I was "randomly" selected twice so a judge could look at my deck and deck list. Since then I feel like I am being watched and controlled to check if I'm a cheater. I really feel a little bit pressured at such tournaments now.

[colgatelampinen]

When you should call the judge:

1. There has been rules violation. For example one player control 2 planeswalkers with same subtype or player with only 1 brack mana source has cast Hymn to Tourach. Tell judge what happened and when you noticed mistake. Sometimes game is rewinded to state prior to violation sometimes just violation is corrected and game continues otherwise on. Judge will know. It likely becomes just bigger mess later, if you try to correct it by yourself.

2. There's disagreement or uncertainty about game state. If you are not sure in which zone some card should be or which phase/step of turn it is or even whose turn it is, call a judge. Judge will hear both players' sides of the game state and if players' views differ a lot from each other judge investigates by asking additional questions from players and possible witnesses.(no clue tokens created by judge investigation) Cheating to a judge to gain advantage only gets you disqualified, so just answer the questions truthfully.

3. Opponent does something shady. Tell judge you want ask question farther away from the table. Tell judge what you saw and what you suspect. Judge might ask some questions from opponent or opponent's opponents from former rounds. If there is enough evidenece about cheating, cheater will get disqualified, otherwise game goes on AND JUDGE MIGHT KEEP EYE ON OPPONENT TO FURTHER INVESTIGATE INNOCENCE/GUILTYNESS. There is no witch hunt, so everyone is innocent, until judge investigation says otherwise.

4. You see any of 1.-3. in another match. If you see 1. on competitive or regular rel, ask players to pause the game and call a judge. If you see 1. on professional rel, just call a judge. If you see 2. on any rel, ask players to call a judde. If you see 3. on any rel, tell the judge your doubts without alerting players so judge can start the investigation.

5. You have question about rules. Usually you want to ask these questions away from table. Asking rules question to make sure the play works the way you want to do it. In regular REL judges may actually answer the question you want to, even if you represent a wrong question. In competitive and professional rels though you need to answer the right question, because judges can only answer what you ask for, because they can't give tactical help. For example to question "Can I counter Dark Depths trigger with stifle?" answer is "yes." Although that is probably not what you really wanted to know. You could ASK "If I counter Dark Dephs trigger, when it triggers again?" and answer would be "It triggers again after previous trigger has left the stack." and that would probably be the answer you are looking for.

6. You want to know oracle text of a card. If you want to know what some card exactly does and you do not speak the language, it is textless card, just want to check for possible oracle updates or the card is not in the visible zone, you can ask judge to provide you the oracle text of a card. There is no need to know exact name of the card, specific enough description is sufficient.

7. Other problem, that affects gameplay. These include, but are not li ited to asking permission to go to toilet, inappropriately acting opponent, broken chair, broken table, playmat left on table from previous round. Although resolving some issues are responsibility of TO, but judge is the closest player for player to appeal to and judge then either solves the problem or delegates it to correct person.

8. You are not sure whether you should call judge or not. If you call judge when you would not need to, it only takes few seconds from judce. Damages are more severe, if you do not call judge, when you should.

Source: [ARTIKKELI] KUINKA TUOMARI KUTSUTAAN PAIKALLE 30.12.15 by Nastaboi in mtgsuomi

[vegetin]

Six people are angry about losing their freerolls...