By Mark Young.
Hello to everyone again.
As promised in my previous article, I am now going to focus on the progression from regular
events to competitive ones.
This may take a few articles to cover all the information, but rather that, than flood you with
it all at once.
As I mentioned previously, the rules for Magic stay the same, regardless of the event you
are playing, only the Rules Enforcement Level (REL) changes. So when you step up to a
Competitive (Comp) event from your Regular (Reg) ones, you can expect a few changes as to
what happens.
First and foremost, there should always be a judge present at a Comp level event.
Judges cannot play in a Comp event, nor can players judge. In the same light the Tournament
Organiser (TO) cannot participate in the event either.
The one thing that I want to focus on this week, is deck lists as you will be required to submit
one for every Comp level event that you play, upon registering.
So, what is a deck list?
A deck list is a piece of paper, on which you will have written down all the cards in your
deck and sideboard that you are going to use for the event.
Normally, Comp events have substantial prizes for doing well or winning, and the elevation
of the REL is in an attempt to minimize cheating.
Firstly, your deck list must be specific as to the number and the name of each card in your
deck.
For example:
4 x Delver of Secrets
4 x Stromkirk Noble
4 x Dissipate
2 x Runechanter’s Pike
When writing out your list, there must be no ambiguity as to which card you are playing.
For example, in the current Standard format, there are two Jace Planeswalkers that are legal,
so you cannot simply write, “Jace” as we need to know if you are playing "Jace, Memory Adept"” or “Jace, Architect of Thought”
As always, your main deck must be a minimum of 60 cards, while your sideboard is either 15
cards or none at all.
Also on your deck list should be your name and surname and your DCI number.
So now what do the Judges do with your deck list?
We do random deck checks.
The tables that will be checked are determined randomly, normally before the pairings for the
round have gone up.
Once you have sat down with your opponent, shuffled your decks and then presented your
decks to each other, a judge will swoop in and ask for your decks and sideboard.
The reason we wait for the deck to be offered is that, this is the point in which you are saying
to your opponent, “My deck is legal for the game we are about to play” as well as “My deck
is sufficiently randomized.”
By “Legal” I mean the following;
1. You have removed all cards that you side boarded from your previous match,
returning the deck to its original configuration.
2. Your deck is the number of cards that you wrote down on your deck list. Ie: If you are
playing a 60 card deck with a 15 card side board, we want to make sure that you have
not offered a 61 card deck while having a 14 card side board.
I understand that getting deck checked can be frustrating for players but it is what needs to
be done. You do not lose any time on your round as the judge will make a note on your result
slip (Something I will cover in the weeks to come), the amount of time that was taken to
check both decks and fix any errors if necessary, plus an additional 3 minutes to allow for
shuffling.
Myself personally, depending on the deck and if there are no issues, am able to check both
decks from a table in about 5 minutes.
This would mean, that when I give your decks back to you, you will have an additional 8
minutes to play your round before time is called on your table.
You MUST shuffle your deck after a deck check, as your deck has now been sorted. All cards
of the name name have been clumped together so that we can compare the actual deck against
your submitted list.
If it is found that you have not removed sideboard cards from your deck, you will be issued
with a Game Loss.
Another reason for a Game Loss would be if you have cards in your deck that are not on your
deck list.
These two problems are normally found through deck checks, but there are other ways you
can get into trouble with your deck list that does not require you to be selected for a random
deck check.
During round 1, the Judges will be going through all the deck lists to check for cards that are
not legal in the format or for errors on the list itself.
So if you are playing a Standard event and you have Mana Leak in your deck, we will put
your list to one side and approach you after the conclusion of the round.
Apart from the Game Loss, you will be required to swap the illegal card out, with a basic land
of your choice.
If you have only written down 59 cards on your deck list, we will have to investigate
your deck, but even if you are playing with a legal 60 card deck, you registered an illegal one
and will still receive a game loss.
While doing the deck check, we also look for cards and sleeves that might be marked in any
particular way, such as bent corners, nail marks, certain scratches and so forth.
Any time there is a problem with the deck or the list, we will call the player in question
to one side and discuss the matter with them and ask them to correct the deck or the list
themselves. This removes any change of players saying that the judges are changing lists and
so are being biased towards one or more players.
Once everything has been sorted out, we will go back to the table, hand back both decks and
notify your opponent as to what has happened if you have been unfortunate enough to receive
a Game Loss.
While we do not like to hand out penalties such as these, they are a necessary part of the
tournament structure.
Please be aware though, that you can be deck checked more than once in an event. As I said
previously, the tables to be checked are chosen at random.
Also, if we only checked you once and then said we won't do it again because we have
already checked your deck, what stops you from deliberately not removing sideboard cards
from your deck to gain an advantage?
Also, shuffling quickly and starting your game as soon as you can will not stop a deck check.
If your table has been chosen to be checked, you will be asked to stop your game and your
decks will still be checked.
This may seem like a complicated process but really it is not.
Also, as a player, all you need to worry about is making sure that your deck list is correct and
that you de-side board after each match.
The rest is up to the Judges and if there are problems, we will tell you what they are and if
possible, how to avoid the same problem in the future.
Yes, we are there to “officiate” the event, but we are also there to help teach you and help
you grow as a player.
There is much much more to a Comp level event and I will go over those things in the week
to come.
Again, if you have any questions or suggestions on something you would like me to cover,
please feel free to leave a comment below.
Until next time,
Happy spell slinging
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