Ask the Judge, 06/23/2006: Feature Friday

How to Improve Your Rules Knowledge

I've had a lot of judge candidates come through lately who did an excellent job out on the floor, and can definitely make effective rulings, but when it gets time to take the rules test, they fail. I'm not sure why, exactly. Perhaps I'm not prescreening well enough. I've recently made my prescreening harder (a warning to the few of you who've asked about certification lately), so I guess we'll find out.

I think the main problem is that players don't have a good sense of the rules. Players and many judge candidates believe that they "know the rules" because they can answer most questions that might come up at a constructed or limited event. But judging involves dealing with simple and complex rules questions alike, so this requires a deeper knowledge of the rules. You need to understand why an answer is a certain way, so that when something similar comes up that you never thought of before, or rulings involving cards in a new set, you can make the correct ruling.

The following are steps I recommend to improving your rules knowledge. I've reccommended them all to judge candidates seeking L1 — L3 advancement in the past.

EFnet's #mtgjudge
I might be am almost certainly biased, but I believe that #mtgjudge is the best way outside of an event to improve as a judge[Lee is the Wizards of the Coast NetRep for #mtgjudge -Seamus]. Rules discussions, from the simple to the minute, are more than welcome. Plus, it's a pretty relaxed enviornment that discusses Magic and non-Magic topics alike. So not only can you ask questions of your own, but you can jump in and answer others'. Don't worry about supplying someone with the wrong answer accidentally. Someone will invariably notice immediately and will be happy to point out the error without being mean about it. [I will be writing more about #mtgjudge next week -S]

Answer Questions on Forums
Many forums exist on the Internet on Wizards' own website or various Magic fan websites where players will come to ask questions. Sometimes these questions are easy, but often they are quite good. Stay and answer them. I guarantee you'll learn something. Probably a lot of things.

Focus on Key Concepts
This is what I tell everyone. Some people believe it, and others don't. But there are four main concepts the rules revolve around. Make sure you memorize these, and you'll know the answer to a majority of the rules questions that you face.

• Abilities: Static, triggered, and activated. Know how to tell which of these an ability is from the text, and know how they each interact with the rules.
• Effects: Know how replacement and prevention effects work. Know the interaction of continuous effects. Know how to tell what kind of effect an ability generates.
• Order of Phases and Steps in the Turn: The 300 section of the rulebook details this. You probably think you know this already, but I bet you probably don't have all the details down. Especially when it comes to the cleanup step.
• Playing Spells and Abilities: See 409.1. This is huge and is often blown over. Can you tap a Wild Cantor for Convoke and sacrifice it for mana to play the same spell? How does Trinisphere interact with Sphere of Resistance? This knowledge can be yours if you read 409.1!

Make Your Own Rulebook!
The idea here is to save a copy of the Comp Rules to your local hard drive. When you get to a rule that you know (for example, "100.1a. A two-player game is a game that begins with only two players."), delete it. Keep going until you've deleted all the ones you know.

Now you have a study guide. For each rule, figure out a situation where it applies. If you can't ask someone else who might. #mtgjudge is a good place if you don't know anyone personally! Study this rule until you know it. Once you've gone through several rules this way, repeat the process.

This can also work well with a partner also looking to study. Each of you follow the above process independently, then compare. Rules on only one list can be explained by the person who doesn't have it. When you find a rule on both lists, you may be able to talk through a solution. If neither of you can get it, you're probably not the only ones, and various Internet mediums can probably get you pointed in the right direction.

Magic's Rules Aren't Everything
The DCI has rules, too. The judge tests cover the Universal Tournament Rules (UTR), Magic Floor Rules (MFR), Penalty Guidelines (PGs), and the Premiere Event Invitation Policy (PEIP). These documents together make up a significant portion of the test. You cannot afford to ignore this section, and a lot of this information is highly detailed. Of all of them, the Penalty Guidelines should garner most of your attention, but by no means does that indicate the others can be skipped.

Learn from your Failures
It's OK to answer a rules questions wrong. Odds are, if you take studying the rules seriously, you won't make it again. Refusing to answer questions out of a fear of being wrong isn't a good way to learn. Trying to answer them is. Most of the time you'll be right, and when you're wrong, someone will correct you, and its unlikely anyone will hold you getting it wrong against you. We all make mistakes, even Magic Online! [In a tournament setting, it is a good idea to double check your answer before you give the ruling, if you aren't sure of yourself. But it is important to force yourself to try to answer it, at least in your head. -S]

If you've taken the judge test before and failed, the judge testing you should have gone over the items you missed with you and explained why the correct answer is correct. Remember these. Some of them you might have just made a mental slip on, but others probably were due to genuine misunderstanding. Mental slips are invitable, and aren't completely within our control, so we need to reduce our misunderstandings to compensate for this in order to achieve a passing score.

Conclusion
Hopefully this gives you some methods to study. If you need anything further, you can always look me up on IRC. July is a huge month for judging, at least for me. The schedule presently includes:

• July 8-9: Coldsnap Prerelease
• July 22-23: Grand Prix — St. Louis (A limited GP on release weekend should be exciting)
• July 25: My birthday! Not a Magic event, but without this shameless plug, how else am I going to convince people to go to Fogo de Chao during....
• July 27-30: US Nationals and JSS Championships. Always a fun event, and a great weekend to get a lot of judging, judge mentoring, and judge socialization. Maybe other judging related things I forgot about!

Anyway, that's all for this week. See you later!

--
Lee Sharpe
lee DOT sharpe AT gmail DOT com
DCI Level 3 Judge
Wizards of the Coast NetRep for #mtgjudge