MTG Magic The Gathering Ask A Judge - 「 T H U R S D A Y ' S C H I L D 」

I not to worried about the time, I love the game and I tend to have to act judge at my LGS as is. So it be nice to have the title to go with it

You can. When you cycle the Monitor, you'll have two triggers that triggered from it- the "Search for a basic land" one, and the "Pay 1 for a Drake" one. They're both yours, so you can stack them as you like, meaning you could have Monitor's resolve first, find your basic land, and then have it available to pay for Drake Haven.

Absolutely. You'll cast Voice, putting it on the stack and paying all the costs, which will include the discard, and this triggers Alchemist. It ALSO shunts the Madness card into exile, and triggers Madness. You can put the Thermo-Alchemist "untap me" trigger above the Madness trigger, let that resolve, tap to ping, then cast the Madness card and probably untap the Alchemist again.

That said, you could also just stack it the OTHER way. Cast your Madness spell, untap Alchemist from that, ping with it, then let the ORIGINAL trigger resolve and untap it again.

Not quite. L4s and L5s were expected to travel a lot because they were the only ones allowed to Head Judge big events like GPs and Pro Tours, but a while back they nixed 4 and 5 and rolled those few judges into 3. Now, L3s can apply for an additional certification for Grand Prix Head Judge to be able to do it. "Regular" L3s aren't expected to travel all over, and as I understand it, the Head Judges are contracted directly from Wizards, so it's not like they're paying all their costs directly out of pocket like the Floor Judges are.

Yeah, if what you're after is just being the designated Judge at your store, L1 is probably plenty. L1s are basically 'store level'.

are you a l1 or l2? Do you do store level or bigger shits?

I'm L2, and have been for about 2 years now. I don't do a ton of actual judging lately, since my local shop closed down, but when I do it's usually regional-level stuff like PPTQs or Grands Prix.

Is it true that if you lose your judge certification you can never be a judge again?

It is not! The main way most people "lose" their certification is by letting it lapse- basically, failing to do the stuff they need to maintain their certification. If that happens, they can always just recertify, though they'll usually have to start from L1 again.

It's possible to get hit with what we call W2L0. It's very rare- basically, you fuck up enough that your certification is suspended or outright revoked. Even then, you have to do something HEINOUS to not only get decertified, but blacklisted entirely.

Newbie question: How does Necropotence works and why is it so powerful?

So, Necropotence makes you skip your draw step, and will make you exile any cards you discard. In exchange for that, it lets you pay 1 life to exile the top card of your library face-down and put it into your hand at the beginning of your next end step. In effect, you can pay 1 life to pseudo-draw a card later in your turn.

It's powerful because winning with 1 life counts exactly as much as winning with 20. Life, like cards and mana, is a resource, and Necropotence lets you leverage that resource. You can drop it on turn 3 and then just pay 10 life on the spot, then end your turn. You 'draw' 10 cards, and keep the best 7 out of those (plus the hand you had). It lets you dig very deep into your deck, very quickly, which is great for combo decks. It's even stronger in formats like EDH, where you have twice as much life to play with.

Thanks for the explanation!

Does Protection recognize "colorless" such that "Protecton from colorless" works just like protection from colors?

Sure. Protection from Colorless would mean that the thing couldn't be Damaged, Enchanted/Equipped/Fortified, BLocked, or Targeted by any colorless spells, creatures, or abilities from colorless sources.

What happens if my opponent casts an Ulamog, and as response, I spin Marvel and cast Gideon's Intervention naming Ulamog?

My guess is that since it is already on the stack, the Ulamog gets casted as normal and I only avoid the damage.

Is this correct or does it work as a pseudo counter?

By the time you can respond, his spell has been cast- it's on the stack, and has been paid for. Dropping Intervention in response won't do anything, because it's already been cast. It'll still resolve, it'll still exile permanents, and it'll still mill you when it swings, it just won't be able to damage you.

or, it could be that the Intervention resolves, and it is then when I name the card, much like pithing needle. Therefore, the Ulamog would be casted as normal, and I would THEN name Ulamog, right?

all right, thanks

You don't name the card until it resolves, you're right, but by the time that happens Ulamog is already cast. It'd be like casting a Fog after combat damage already happened- you can't "prevent" an event after it's occurred.

Thanks!

Bit of a newbie question, but what happens when I Warp World into a Clone, Copy Enchantment, Clever Impersenator, etc. What, if anything, do I get to copy?

Similarly, if I Warp World into a Pithing Needle, assuming I am the active player in a 4-player game, when do I get to name a card?

Thanks for all your help!

If someone cast Rise from the Grave and I respond to it with Scarab Feast to exile the target they are trying to revive their revival just fizzles right?

Generally, jack shit. All the non-enchantments enter at the same time, and immediately before that happens the board should be totally clear of permanents. That means that your Clone won't have anything -to- copy, because there's nothing on the battlefield AS it enters. It can't copy things it comes in with. Copy Enchantment could feasibly copy an Enchantment Creature that came down before it, but otherwise is also a whiff.

>Needle
Everyone would reveal their N cards at once, then put them out at once. This is where you'd name a color for Voice of All, or designate a card for Pithing Needle. By the time you're naming it, you 'know' what everyone else got, so you can pick one of those to blank.

And happy to help! Thank YOU for having questions, or I wouldn't have much to do.

Correct. Rise has exactly one target, and if that target is not legal as the spell begins to resolve, the whole spell is countered by the game's rules and none of its effects happen.

I've asked this question before a long time ago and saved your answer on my phone, but it got wiped and for the life of me, I still have a lot of trouble resolving this issue.

So, anyways, if you don't mind explaining again, how do Knowledge Pool and Possibility Storm interact? Assuming I control both triggers, if my opponent casts a spell from their hand, how should I stack the triggers?

Assuming you control both of those permanents, you'll always be the one stacking the triggers to your liking, no matter who cast the spell.

>OPTION ONE: Pool resolves first
Pool will eat the spell, and let them cast another nonland card currently in the Pool. Then Storm's trigger resolves, and tries to eat the spell; it can't, because the spell is gone. There's no 'if you do' clause here, so it'll just shrug and move onto the "Exile cards from the top of his or her library" bit, wheeling until it hits a card with the same type, and then lets the player cast that for free. So the caster would get a spell off of Pool AND off of Storm.

>OPTION TWO: Storm resolves first
Storm eats the spell and wheels until it hits something that shares a type, then lets the controller cast that for free. Pool's trigger goes to eat the spell that triggered it and fails, because it's no longer on the stack. The "if the player does" clause was not met, so they won't get something out of the pool. They get something from Storm, but nothing from Pool.

So basically, you get to double up your own spells (by pulling from Pool AND your library), while denying anyone else access to the Pool spells, if you so choose. You can also choose to let them get something out of the Pool, if you really want their spell in there for yourself.

How much would a store pay to judge an FNM-tier event?

It varies from store to store. Some places just EMPLOY a Judge in the store itself, so they make their hourly wage while running the event. Some places will just let you play in the event for free in exchange for judging it. Some places compensate "per player"- giving the judge some set amount of compensation per player in the event, so it scales with how many people are there. Some pay a flat amount.

Usually, for FNM level stuff, I'll say "Cover my entry fee and buy me a meal". So grab me a burger and fries when you make your own dinner run, and comp my 5 dollar entry fee, and we're good.

Negotiating pay with the TOs you work with is something we help new judges learn. My Alpha Lesson for that: Never. Work. For free.

My opponent has 3 artifacts, 1 of which is a spellskite. I have a fiery confluence and want to destroy his artifacts. If I target the spellskite with one of the modes of fiery confluence, can my opponent still redirect the other 2 instances of shatter onto his spellskite?

Thank you in advance.

If I have Kazuul on the field and my opponent attacks with three creatures does his ability trigger 3 times?

They can, because your Confluence effectively says "Destroy target artifact, destroy target artifact, destroy target artifact". Since it says 'target' three times, it can target the same artifact more than once, so they can absolutely steal the other 'targets'.

Yes. If it were meant to only trigger once no matter how many they attack with, it'd be something like "Whenever your opponent attacks with one or more creatures" or something.

is magus of the coffers ability mana ability?

it is! An activated ability is a mana ability if it meets all of these criteria:

1) Is NOT a Loyalty ability (sorry Koth)
2) Does NOT target (Sorry, Deathrite Shaman)
3) Could add mana to a mana pool as it resolves

Magus' ability isn't a loyalty ability, doesn't target, and could add mana to a mana pool as it resolves.

Guys if I exile Emrakul from my hand for Forsaken city does my graveyard get shuffled back? Sorry for a noob question.

Just a quick clarification, choosing isn't the same as targeting right? So Spectral Searchlight is still a mana ability?

yes, choosing is NOT targeting

no

So my opponent blocks two creatures with pic related, one a 2/2 and the other a 3/3 with trample. Now we get to damage and he assigns 2 to the 2/2. Can I say the 2/2 assigns 2 to his duelists and my 3/3 tramples over for 3?

It isn't a band, treat it as two separate instances of combat. The duelist deals 2 to both, and the 3/3 has to assign lethal just like the 2/2 did.

What? The duelist choose which creature to assign it's 2 damage, it does not deals 2 to both.

You can totally assign 2 damage first then the 3 trample goes through.

If I goto attack with glistener elf, and in response to attackers oppenannt declares a blocker, since he's declared his blocker. Is it too late to dismember to attempt to swing through and hit for infect? Am I pressured into assuming he'll block, so I'm forced to dismember prior to designate blockers step? If I want to hit directly, say, in the case of only one possible defender.

It doesn't. Exile is a whole other zone from your graveyard, and Emmy only triggers when she goes to the graveyard.

Right. The only time something targets without explicitly using the word "TARGET" on the card is if it's baked into the rules for a keyword (like for Equip, or Aura spells)

Yep! At the time you're assigning damage, you can have your 2/2 assign lethal to the blocker, and the 3/3 can go over the Duelist. It'll 'see' the other damage you're assigning from your 2/2, and be able to trample.

That's not remotely correct.

Your opponent can't block "in response". Magic isn't a game of reflexes. After you attack, you'll have priority to cast spells, so you can pre-emptively Dismember their one creature so it can't block. What you CAN'T do is say "Swing with Elf. Blocks?", wait to see what they do, and then say "Well, if you wanna block with that, kill it before you can". You can't try to bait them for info, but they also can't just immediately block before you get a chance to kill a potential blocker.

During low level events like FNM is a judge allowed to make a ruling judgement on a game he himself is playing?

Technically speaking, we kinda HAVE to if we're the only Judge for the event. It used to be that we weren't allowed to play and judge at all, but that got changed a few years back to let us play and judge in lower-stakes things. The logic behind that is, you should be able to trust us. That, and if you abuse your power to cheat, you'll get decertified and suspended so fast your head will spin.

Even then, some shops will have a sort of "standby" judge for things like this- the 'main' judge will handle calls while they play, but they'll ask their standby judge to handle things in their own game as a show of good faith to the players.

My friend was at a pre release event and claims that in the last round, two players agreed a draw so they would both be in the top and get more prizes, and the judge at the event said it was fine. Is he right? Because that sounds like it's collusion.

It's not collusion. Both players agreeing to draw because it's advantageous for them is a very common thing- for example, you'll frequently see the top 4 players in the last round of a PPTQ just agree to draw, since they know they're locked for the Top 8 anyway and would rather spend that hour getting a bite to eat.

What crosses the line is when something is OFFERED or REQUESTED in exchange for a specific match result. "If you draw to me, I'll give you one of my prize packs" is Bribery, and is super not okay. "I'll scoop you into the Top 8 for 50 bucks" is Bribery, and super not okay. "Hey- we're both a lock for Top 8 either way. Wanna just draw and go get tacos?" is fine, because you're not offering anything in exchange for a match result, or offering a match result in exchange for something else.

This got me thinking, is the "could add mana as it resolves" thing checked in the same way as Equinox's "could destroy a land?"

Not quite. Equinox basically asks "hey, if you resolved, would you directly destroy a land?". The check for mana abilities is "Could you reasonably add mana to a mana pool in SOME circumstance?"

For example, Nykthos' second ability is always a mana ability, even if your devotion to all colors is 0. Because it COULD add mana to a mana pool under some conditions- just not these.

Interesting, thanks!

If Spellskite can redirect Confluence, can it also redirect instances of Kommand that don't target it? For instance, Shock your Noble Hierarch and Shatter your Spellskite.

Yes, for the same reason. Kocakola's Command with those modes COULD target the same thing twice, if that thing was an Artifact Creature. So Spellskite can steal the Shock aimed elsewhere onto itself.

Remind me, what happens when a skite tries to redirect a 'target player' to itself like k-command's discard mode?

The same thing that happens when you cast Mind Rot on a hellbent opponent. It tries to perform that instruction, literally cannot, shrugs, and moves on. The ability still resolves, it just does fuck-all.

That's why I dislike Spellskite a lot, as a Judge. Because I'll get players asking "Hey Judge, can I activate Spellskite targeting Thoughtseize?" and the only answer I'm ALLOWED to give you is "Yes".

But "Hey- we're both a lock for Top 8 either way. Wanna just draw and go get tacos? Lunch is on me." would constitute bribery, due to the implication of "I'll buy you food if you draw to me."?

Right. If that stopped at "Wanna just draw and go get tacos?", we're 100% fine.

On a related topic, what's the acceptability of making wagers during or at an event?
Say, A suggests to B "We're going to lunch after this, yeah? Loser buys the tacos, deal?", is that something a Judge cares about?

Technically, yeah. Any kind of 'betting' on the tournament is something we have to come down on with an iron fist, even if it's something as stupid as that. That's something we can't get out of, because if we don't enforce it like a MOTHERFUCKER, legal problems happen.

What, if anything, do you think could be done to make Dark Ritual less confusing to new players and avoid the misunderstanding of "It makes three swamps"?

I'm not sure anything can be done beyond putting reminder text on it.

What about "let's grab lunch after this, winner gets to pick where"?

Eh, that's probably fine. I might step in and advise them to avoid saying things like that just to be safe, though.

Galestrike needs the creature to stay tapped when it resolves right?
Like if you cycle the blue Vizier to untap the creature, the Galestrike fizzles due to illegal target?

Is your name a homestuck reference?

The target is "target tapped creature". It needs to be tapped when you cast Galestrike, and again as Galestrike resolves. It can become untapped inbetween, so long as it's tapped again as Galestrike resolves.

If someone untapped Galestrike's target in response to Galestrike, it would fizzle and none of its effects would happen- including drawing a card.

Started as one, yeah. I stopped reading it years ago, though.

Both me and my opponent have 2 life and a stalking vengeance on the battlefield, it is my combat phase I assign a 2/2 attacker and he assigns a 2/2 blocker. We trade 2/2's and now whose trigger goes off first killing the other, or does it result in a draw?

Your trigger will go onto the stack first, because you are the Active Player. Then your opponent, the Non-Active Player, will put their trigger onto the stack. Theirs will resolve first, kill you, and end the game as soon as SBAs are checked. Your trigger never even begins to resolve.

I cast Burning Inquiry with Flameblade Adept on the field. What is it's p/t after resolution?

4/2. It'll see that you discarded 3 cards, and trigger 3 times.

assuming no other discarding or cycling this turn, it will be a 4/2 as it has seen three instances of 'discard a card' from Inquiry. remember that Adept says whenever you not whenever a player

Excellent.

If I'm reading the rules right, you can't use Devoted Druid's untap ability with Melira on your field because an effect says you CAN'T put -1/-1 counters on your creatures, preventing you from paying the cost, whereas Vizier of Remedies replacement effect obviates the cost, but doesn't actually prevent you from activating the ability, as no effect says you can't place the counter and thus pay the cost.

Is that correct?

If there is an ulamog in the field and I cast clone targeting it. Can I destroy a permanent with my ulamog clone?

Nope, you casted a clone, not an ulamog

>Right. The only time something targets without explicitly using the word "TARGET" on the card is if it's baked into the rules for a keyword (like for Equip, or Aura spells)
I know that it's a different case if you the aura ETBs without being cast, a trick which lets you pacify bogles via bound in silence with rebels, but i'm curious as to WHY? Is the targeting inherent to auras only done while being cast, and if so, what lets you slap that on whatever without targeting?

No because ulamog triggers on cast, and you're casting a clone not an ulamog.

If it were an ETB trigger it'd work, but this example no.

Mostly because an aura that enters the battlefield and then enchants something would be swept away by SBA's before the "enchant this thing" could happen. So instead it just instantly comes in glommed onto something. Being able to enchant a shroud/hexproof creature is an unintended side effect, but one wizards has deemed acceptable because of how many other headaches it avoids.

What am I supposed to do when a judge is wrong/lying possibly to help his friend during a FNM?
I'm fairly new to magic and I went to a card shop the other week and it was fairly obvious there were some cliques between the players there.
I was playing against another newer player using one of his friend's (the store's only judge) decks. He played a planeswalker (can't remember which) and I used Cast Out on it. He told me I wasn't allowed to do that because "planeswalkers aren't permanents, they are players."
Even I knew that was a load of bullshit but I didn't have my phone to google it, so I called over the judge to have him explain, but the judge sided with his friend. I tried explaining the situation to the store owner, but he told me he doesn't know magic since its primarily a sports card shop. And whatever the judge said goes.

Sorry for the long story, but what the actual fuck am I supposed to do? Besides never visiting that card shop again obviously.
Is there some way to report him to whoever is in charge of making people judges? Because this almost killed my interest in magic altogether.

>literally the reason cast out was printed
>cunts say it cant target walkers
either they were fucking with you hard or were genuine fuckers

If you'll never visit the store anymore, i'm sure there's a report store/judge website somewhere. Wait till gA replied, he knows better.

can a swerve change the target of the cast trigger of an artisan of kozilek?

No. Artisan's effect is a triggered ability, not a spell.

Hi gA!
Another weird scenario that came to my mind. Let's say I play Crypt Rats and I float 12 black mana.
If I pay 12, and my enemy stifles the ability or uses a CoP:black, I guess I'm screwed.

Can I pay 1, give my opponent the priority and then get it back and pay 1 more before the resolution (and the rats' death), and repeat this 10 other times? My thinking would be that a stifle effect would only counter 1 of the 12 activations, or that a CoP would have to activated 12 times.

Do I have the priority thing right here? Am I right about the number of CoP activations?

Extra question: let's say my opponent lets one activation of the rats resolve, and only then decides to use CoP, once the rats are dead. Can he? is the "black source of [his] choice" the rats or the stacked ability? cry

If he was a real judge, there's an anonymous feedback form you can use to report shit like that. I'm sure gA will drop the link (I don't have it in hand) when he sees the thread. If he's not an actual judge then there's not much you can do other than don't go back.

You are correct, you can pay one black mana to crypt rats, hold priority, pay another black mana, hold, and do that so you have 12 instances of "do 1 damage" on the stack instead of one instance of "do 12 damage". You retain priority until you pass it, so you can put them all on before he can respond in any way and he'll need to pay CoP for each copy of the ability.

Once the first rats activation resolves and kills the crypt rats, I believe your opponent can CoP the rest - The activated ability is colorless yes, but it came from a black source (since it's no longer on the battlefield we use LKI) and he can block those as well if he pays for them.

One minor nitpick I just caught. You get priority back immediately after each activation, it doesn't default go to your opponent. So if you ever pass prio and he passes back, the most recent crypt rats activation will resolve (and kill the rats so you can't activate it any more)

That's why I said you have to put all 12 activations on the stack FIRST, then he can respond to each one as it's about to resolve.

OK, I get it. thanks!

Correct. Melira says you can't put counters on your stuff, so you can't pay the cost. Vizier just turns "Put a counter" into "put no counters", so you can pay the cost- it just turns into something else as you're paying it.

Clone doesn't target anything. And also no- you didn't cast an Ulamog, you cast a Clone. Clone won't be an Ulamog until it's entering the battlefield, which is well after a "When you cast" trigger would happen.

Because the rules for Auras say they only target when cast. If you're just throwing one directly onto the field without using the stack, it just enters attached to something it can legally be attached to.

It cannot. Artisan, the SPELL, does not target anything. Artisan's TRIGGER targets things, and Swerve can only target spells

.You can't give your opponent priority and then activate it again 'before resolution'. Once you pass priority to your opponent and they pass back, the ability resolves. What you want to do is say "Activate Crypt Rat, hold priority, activate it again, repeat until I've activated it 12 times". That'll give you 12 activations for 1 damage each (rather than 1 activation for 12), so a single Stifle would only stop 1 damage, as would a single COP activation.

>extra bit
If you activate it and pass priority, and your opponent passes back, the ability resolves. Everything takes 1 damage, including the Rat, and they do not have a chance to activate COP, because the ability is resolving. They'd have to use COP when you first pass priority to them.

Slighter nitpick: you don't actually get priority back by default. That's how it is in the CR, but the MTR says the opposite- after adding an object to the stack, a player is assumed to be passing priority unless they explicitly retain it.

So, technically if a Judge gives you a ruling you disagree with, you can ask to appeal. This is primarily for multi-judge events, because the Appeal means that you'd like to get a ruling from the Head Judge (who might overturn the Flood Judge's ruling), but it's worth asking even if there's one judge, so you can explain why you think their ruling is incorrect. If they stand firm, there's not much you can do right then- the Head Judge's word is law. All you can do is finish out the game and then go ask to talk to them (politely!) afterwards about why you think they were wrong (or I suppose, another day, if you didn't have your phone to look things up). Judges are human- we make mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes cost players a game.

If you think the Judge is grossly mistaken, but not malicious, it's worth talking to them about it, or talking to the owner and saying that the Judge is making incorrect rulings that are disrupting games. If you think the Judge knows better and is intentionally giving incorrect rulings to help their friends, you need to talk to the owner and tell them that, because that could cause the owner to lose their sanctioning. If this is an actual certified Judge (IE, an L1+ judge in the program, rather than 'the local rules guy who judges events'), you should also contact your region's Regional Coordinator to file a complaint, and/or give feedback via the Judge Feedback Form so it gets passed up along the chain that this judge is doing scummy shit.

I am fairly certain he is a certified judge. I'm not sure if its worth complaining about now since it happened like 2 weeks ago and I doubt anyone besides me remembers. (Didn't know these threads existed until last night) I'll definitely talk to both him and the owner if I go back there and see that shit happening again. Though I'd really rather just go to a different card shop.

I didn't really like the guy to begin with so its entirely possible I'm just thinking the worst of him, but the whole situation seemed kinda sketchy.

Thanks for the advice though
Also nice digits

Is there a situation where rule 400.3 applied?

400.3: If an object would go to any library, graveyard, or hand other than its owner's, it goes to its owner's corresponding zone.

Hi gA, if I control Baral, Chief of Compliance, and cast Open into Wonder, does the 'sorcery spells you cost cost one less' mean I can pay for one of the X cost with that? Or can reductions not contribute towards X costs?

How do Phantom creatures work with something like Glorious Anthem?

Do they just become 'normal' creatures when they have no counters?

If you have an anthem on the field and it has no counters, it would be a 3/1. Without the anthem it would be dead