Hi there, and welcome to another exciting edition of Feature Friday. The Finnish tournament scene has been quite busy lately—we've started our National Qualifier season as well as our version of the Junior series. However, I'll talk about those later—this week's topic is the Future Sight prerelease. Since I already used my future-themed joke and pop culture reference in an article about my past, I'm going to be all boring and serious and talk about some issues related to tomorrow's big event. Future!

I Want My FAQ
For a couple of sets now, Wizards of the Coast has not released a full FAQ for the set before the prerelease. Instead, we get a Rules Primer that explains (some of) the mechanics in the set. Many judges and players were, and still are, unhappy with this decision. They think that many judges can't make the correct rulings for new cards without a FAQ.

A judge should be familiar with the cards in the environment—you'll save time if you don't have to read every card on the table. You'll also impress players when they show you a card and you answer their question before they even ask it. Who doesn't love doing that? (I would recommend not doing this when called to a table for an official ruling, though). Are judges "less prepared" for a prerelease without a FAQ? Sure. Will this increase the number of incorrect rulings? It shouldn't.

A good judge doesn't memorize rulings for specific cards. Magic is not that kind of game. We have a comprehensive rulebook. Judges should memorize the rules, and use that knowledge to make rulings. Almost everything in the FAQs is derivable from the comprehensive rules—the gurus who wrote the FAQ didn't just make them up. You don't need a FAQ to explain card-specific interactions—you just need the rules.

When we got a FAQ before the prerelease, it was always eagerly anticipated on #mtgjudge. We usually put "The FAQ is not out yet" in the channel topic to stop people from asking about it every 10 minutes. When the FAQ finally came out, people would read the new rules section and then start ooohing and aahing over the previously-unseen cards in the rulings section. I don't remember ever actually consulting a FAQ for a card-specific ruling at a prerelease, although I probably have done so at some point. Just not very often. I used it to learn about the new mechanics, and I can still do that with a Rules Primer.

You might feel more confident with the FAQ in your back pocket, and having confidence in one's skills is important for a judge. However, you should stop worrying about not having perfect information at the prerelease—you're not supposed to know everything. Prereleases are supposed to be casual events, and the judges are supposed to be seeing the new cards for the first time, just like everyone else (unless you read spoilers, and if you do, I won't hate you for it).

I won't deny that a FAQ can be very useful for less experienced judges. However, you can have the same benefit from having a rulebook and the Primer available at the event. Having to make the ruling yourself will make you a better judge. Not having a FAQ won't make anyone a worse judge.

We Can Do That Now?
This prerelease season introduces a couple of interesting policy changes. The first one was already mentioned in the new Penalty Guide: tournament organizers have the option of allowing players to change their deck configuration between matches. This option is only available for prerelease events, and you can still only use the cards that you received for the event. Decklists may still be used with this option, to register the card pools.

The decision of whether or not to use this option must be made by the tournament organizer. The TO can (and in most cases probably will) consult with his or her judge staff, but ultimately he or she is the one who makes the call. Players should remember that this rule is entirely optional, so they should not assume that all organizers will be using it. Ask the event staff about it, and pay attention to any announcements at the start of the event. Judges should make sure that players know that this policy only applies to this prerelease.

I will be using this option at my prereleases (I am my own TO), because I believe it will be more fun for the players. It's also educational for the new players, because they can get deckbuilding advice from more experienced players between rounds (which is already perfectly legal), and use this advice immediately. Of course, judges should still remain neutral and avoid giving advice to any players.

The second new policy is a new answer to the very common question "Can I put something on top of my library to remind myself about echo/cumulative upkeep/Phyrexian Arena/Masticore/etc?".

The answer used to be "no", as per Universal Tournament Rules section 37:

"37. Game Markers
Game markers, such as tokens or reminders of a game effect, may not be designated by cards with identical backs as the cards in a player's deck if the deck is unsleeved. If the deck is sleeved, game markers may not have sleeve backs identical to those on the cards in the player's deck.
 
No game markers of any kind may be placed on top of or in a location that obscures a player's deck. A judge may disallow the use of game markers that may cause confusion with regard to the state of the game, or that are deemed inappropriate or offensive."

This rule is going to change, and beginning with the prerelease, we can allow players to put a small object on top of the library to remind themselves about upkeep effects (this was announced recently on the certified judges' mailing list). This is a good thing, considering that Future Sight has some upkeep effects with the default action of losing the game (see the Primer for an example). The Missed Trigger section of the Penalty Guide says that if a player forgets an upkeep effect with a default action and draws his card for the turn, we should resolve the effect immediately using the default action. When the default action is "losing the game", this feels a bit harsh, especially at the prerelease level. So now you can try to avoid the game loss by using a visual reminder.

You still can't use a marker that obscures the deck. Here are some examples of markers I would consider acceptable or unacceptable:

Good Markers

• Glass beads
• Coins
• Dice
• Miniatures from Dreamblade, etc

Bad Markers

• Cards (Magic cards, Pro Player cards, cards from other games)
• Empty sleeves
• Deck boxes
• Food items
• Hats
• Shoes
• Other players

In general, use common sense to determine whether a marker is acceptable or not. The rule prohibiting markers was something that never quite made sense to me—a small marker such as a die doesn't obscure the deck. It will be interesting to see how it works, how many people end up using markers, and whether the markers will actually help people remember stuff.

That's It
I'll be working two prereleases this weekend and a third one next week. After that I'm going to Grand Prix Stockholm, and then I have three weeks of National Qualifiers and Pro Tour Qualifiers, followed by some Junior events in early June. I'll take a small break for Midsummer, but after that I'm flying to San Diego to judge the Two-Headed Giant Pro Tour. It's going to be a fun event, and the whole Ask the Judge writing team will be there! When I get home from San Diego, it will be time to get ready for Finnish Nationals 2007. So you can expect to see some tournament reports from me in the next couple of months.

Next week: a very special Feature Friday starring The Lee Sharpe.

Thanks for reading.

Johanna Virtanen
DCI Level 3 Judge, Finland
flame (at) bore dot org
flame- on #mtgjudge (Efnet)