Ask the Judge Feature Friday - Gilded Drake plus Tournament Tips!

Hello! My name is Lee Sharpe, and I'm a Level 3 judge from Champaign-Urbana, IL where the cornfields are plenty, and the basketball is the best in the nation. Sheldon is Head Judging Pro Tour Atlanta and has a busy travel schedule for the month of March, so he's asked me to fill in.

When I started writing this article, it was completely on tournament tips. But recent discussions on the judge e-mail list and IRC have made me want to spend a few minutes talking about...

Gilded Drake

This card is cropping up some in Extended, so it's important if you are playing in the PTQs to know how it works. Also, if you're like me and have a soft spot for Magic rules, it's interesting to take a look at why this card has changed.

Original Text: "When Gilded Drake comes into play, exchange control of Gilded Drake for target creature one of your opponents controls or sacrifice Gilded Drake."

Oracle Text: "When Gilded Drake comes into play, choose one - sacrifice Gilded Drake; or exchange control of Gilded Drake and target creature an opponent controls. If you can't make the exchange, sacrifice Gilded Drake. This ability can't be countered."

The first noticeable difference is the "choose one --". This makes this triggered ability modal, and you need to choose which mode you are using when the triggered ability goes on the stack. I imagine most people will choose the second mode, but it's illegal to choose that mode if there's no legal target, and without the first mode, then the ability couldn't go on the stack at all, so you'd get to keep the Drake. Obviously, the card wasn't supposed to allow this to happen, so it was changed. You have to pick the first mode if there is legal target for the other one.

The second noticeable one is the "This ability cannot be countered." Suppose you target your opponent's Arcbound Ravager with the Drake's ability, but in response your opponent sacrifices it. Normally, by the game rules, the target is illegal so the ability would be countered on resolution. And since we don't resolve things that are countered, you wouldn't have to sacrifice the Drake. Obviously, this is outside the intent of the card. So, the Drake's ability gets around this by being uncounterable, which means the game rules won't get to counter it. Notice it doesn't say "can't be countered by spells or abilities", like Urza's Rage does. But, this also means that the ability cannot be countered by spells or abilities such as Stifle, either. It's still legal to play a Stifle to try to counter the ability, but the Stifle won't do anything when it resolves since the ability is not able to be countered.

Basically, both of these changes ensure the Drake will either be in play under your opponent's control, or in the graveyard.

Tournament Tips

This is a brief list of ways to improve how to do well at tournaments. Not help you win more games, necessarily, but ensure that the games are played fairly, you have evidence to support your "case" when you and your opponent fail to agree on what happened to the judge, and also make the tournament go faster (while we all love Magic, nobody wants the Top 8 to last too late).

Calling a Judge is easy.

(1) Raise your hand in the air.
(2) Shout "JUDGE".
(3) This step is not "put your hand down", contrary to popular belief. :) Keep it raised until a judge arrives, please. Otherwise the judges will have trouble spotting you or think another judge answered the call.

Remember, your opponent has an interest in telling you things that are bad for you. Always call a judge if a rules question arises. It's not considered rude to call a judge. We're not just rules enforcers, we're also helpful resources.

Use pen and paper to keep track of your life total. Pen is better than pencil, but if you only have a pencil it will work. Don't use dice or cards set aside and turned various ways, and then you'll be stuck trying to remember your life total, which is far messier than just having an accurate total written down.

Always shuffle your opponent's deck. Don't just cut it. Make sure when shuffling both decks you don't turn the face of the cards around. All the way back in June 2001, Michael A. Rutter wrote an excellent article on shuffling and statistics. Check it out.

Have opaque sleeves. Put cards in two of them, and place one on top of another, and then move the top one up a bit. If you can see the reflection of the top card in the sleeve of the bottom one, you have a problem. Sleeves with pictures on the back are also problematic, and despite their coolness, not allowed by most tournament organizers.

Don't sleeve your sideboard, especially for long events. The sleeves will get worn differently than the main deck cards, and this can result in your deck becoming marked.

When your opponent has done something illegal, just explain to the judge exactly what happened. Do not suggest to the judge or ask for a penalty. This could be seen as penalty fishing, and is likely to land you an Unsporting Conduct penalty.

When registering a sealed deck, there is no need to mark the non-foil basic land on the sheet. We know they are there. :) As for foil basic land, listen to the Head Judge's announcements for what do with those.

Actually, that last one reminded me of something: Listen to announcements! Somehow everyone always hears "Pairings are up" but no other announcements. Strangely enough, when tournament officials make announcements, it's for you, not for themselves.

If you disagree with a floor judge's ruling, then let that judge make his or her ruling before the word "appeal" even comes out of your mouth. Once the Head Judge has ruled, that ruling is final. Talk with the Head Judge later if you still honestly disagree, but for the match, just accept the ruling and keep playing. Don't slow down the tournament with an argument you can't win.

Especially if playing older formats (Extended, Legacy, or Vintage), ask a judge for the Oracle text if you're unclear about it. The judge will not back play up just because you thought the card did something other than what the Oracle text said.

At almost all tournaments there is a box by the computer. That's where the result slips go. The winner of the match should bring it up once it's signed by both players. The judges don't need to be handed the slips or sign them (except at professional events).

Can you guess what questions judges are asked the most? It is by far "How much time is left in the round?" Bring a watch, and check the time when the round begins. It will save both you and your judging staff plenty of hassle.

I would be remiss if I failed in the opportunity to plug the judge's mIRC channel. It's on the EFnet network, and the channel is #mtgjudge. You'll need an IRC client to connect. Most people use mIRC (http://www.mirc.com/). It's shareware, so you can try it for free for a while before you should pay for it. Feel free to message me (LeeSharpe or Lee_Work) and I'll be glad to help you out. The channel is one of fastest ways to get your rules questions answered, has some great people, and is wonderful for chatting about all things judging. Also, since this is Star City Games, I'll give the #scg regulars a bit of a shout out and mention that channel, too.

Until next time, think of something clever I can say here.

--

Lee Sharpe, lee DOT sharpe AT gmail DOT com

DCI Level 3 Judge