Are You Ready to Judge Nationals?

About Riccardo Tessitori

Riccardo Tessitori

Riccardo Tessitori is a level 5 judge from Italy; he judged more than 50 professional events, headjudged 10 Grand Prix and has just started headjudging Pro Tours, such as:

• Pro Tour Kyoto 2009
• Pro Tour Austin 2009
• GP Paris 2008

Hello everybody!

It’s time for a special article; in addition to answering your questions, I would like to give you a real judge exercise instead of the rules quiz!

At the moment when this article will be posted, I will be judging Italian Nationals, and I would like to challenge you the same way my colleagues challenged me! As with most the major events, all the Italian judges participating at Nationals 2010 had to check their rules and policy knowledge and, if necessary, study to make sure to provide valuable and professional service to all the players attending. In order to help us check that we were well trained, a test was prepared (4 rules situations and 4 policy situations).

In each of the four weeks prior to the event, Davide Succi (L2 from Bologna) sent 1 rules situation and 1 policy situation to all the judges; each of us had to privately send him the answers, and the solutions and results will be shared during our judge conference, the day before Nationals.

Now, can you prove that you are one of us? ^__^

In this article, you will find the four rules situations; in the next article (mid-August), you will find the four policy situations, in addition to the card of the month section; at the end of August, I’ll provide the detailed solutions. In addition to Blackborder points, I will think of some special personalized prize (and, together with the winners, we will find a way to deliver the prizes; luckily, GP Gothenburg and PT Amsterdam will take place at that time).

Watch out for headaches and good luck!

Versions:
Magic 2011 Core Set (Foil)

User Questions

Question

I cast Mass Polymorph. I get a Renegade Doppelganger, an Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, and a Runeclaw Bear. What does my Renegade Doppelganger become?

Answer

When Mass Polymorph resolves, the three creatures enter the battlefield at the same time, independently from the order they were revealed. The Doppelganger “sees” Emrakul and the Bear entering the battlefield and its ability triggers twice (you choose the order in which these two abilities go on the stack and resolve, even if in this situation it’s not important). Luckily, when the ability resolves, you can choose if the Doppelganger becomes a copy or not; I assume you don’t want it to become a copy of Emrakul (unless you Fling the first in response to the Doppelganger ability!); you can let the Doppelganger become a 2/2 Runeclaw Bear or wait for another creature as 0/1.

Question

I was recently playing a casual match against a slide deck. He had an Astral Slide on the board and a Sun Titan in play. On my turn I kicked a Molten Disaster to kill the Titan. He then proceeded to cycle a card to slide the Titan out. My question is whether this is a legal response because I thought nothing else could resolve until after my disaster because of split second.

Answer

In simple words, Split Second says “Nobody can do anything until I resolve”; in correct technical words, Split Second says that “players can’t cast other spells or activate abilities that aren’t mana abilities”. Your opponent can’t cycle cards, because Cycling is an activated ability that works from the hand; in simple words, an ability is activated if it requires you to pay a cost and you can choose when to use it; because your opponent chooses when to cycle and has to pay a cost (at least, he will pay the cost of “discard this card”, it’s an activated ability. As an extra, I remind you that triggered abilities (those which work when the trigger event occurs, independently from your will), such as a Counterbalance trigger, resolve before the spell with Split Second; more, turning a morph face up looks like an activated ability but is instead a special action that doesn’t use the stack, and therefore can be done in response to a spell with Split Second.

Question

I Mass Polymorph into two Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. Can I Fling one at my opponent before the legendary effect kicks in?

Answer

Interesting, I added Fling to the first question before even reading this question, it means that you are helping me with becoming a better player ^__^; let’s see why it doesn’t work this time. In the first case (Doppelganger and Emrakul), the Doppelganger ability went on the stack and we had the opportunity to cast Fling in response to the ability, before the “legend rule” killed both. Now, the Emrakuls enter the battlefield at the same time; we don’t receive priority after the first enters the battlefield, because we are still in the middle of the resolution of Mass Polymorph; after they enter the battlefield, the “legend rule” applies (it doesn’t use the stack, just like all state based actions) and we don’t receive priority to cast Fling.

“Are you ready to judge Nationals?” Competition

The quizzes we had in the last months were probably trickier, since I tried to base them on very specific (that means “hidden” ^__^) rules. Here you will find easier situations, but you will need to be concentrated on everything that happens (exercise 3) and need to know very well how state-based actions work (exercise 4).

In two weeks, you will face even more difficult exercises, because they will be about policy and you will need to handle infractions that happened in real tournaments; this will need much more than rules knowledge!

Rules Question 1

I control Sovereigns of Lost Alara, enchanted by Eldrazi Conscription. My opponent controls two lands, a Wall of Denial, and Elspeth with one loyalty counter.

The previous turn, my opponent succeeded in using the third ability of Elspeth, getting the emblem that now makes all his permanents indestructible.

I attack with my Sovereigns of Lost Alara and, thanks to its ability, I search for another Eldrazi Conscription and attach it to the Sovereigns of Lost Alara.

How many permanents does my opponent have to sacrifice and how much damage will my opponent be dealt in the following two cases:

1. I attack Elspeth and my opponent blocks with his Wall of Denial
2. I attack my opponent and my opponent blocks with his Wall of Denial

Versions:
Rise of the Eldrazi (Foil)

Rules Question 2

I control Gideon Jura with four loyalty counters. In my first main phase, I use my Gideon’s third ability and I attack my opponent with Gideon Jura.

My opponent’s goal is to kill my Gideon and you might need to give him some strategic advice here.

My opponent blocks with Kor Firewalker, then casts Searing Blaze targeting me and Gideon and, in response, casts Unstable Footing (not kicked). Will my opponent be able to get rid of my Gideon?

Now, assuming that you've found a way to help my opponent kill my Gideon, imagine I control a Dauntless Escort; are you now able to help me save Gideon?

Rules Question 3

I control Scourglass, an Ondu Cleric enchanted with Hyena Umbra and an Oblivion Ring which exiled my opponent’s Murasa Pyromancer. My opponent controls an Oblivion Ring which exiled my Kabira Evangel. In my upkeep, I choose to use my Scourglass.

• How many triggered abilities trigger in total?
• In which order are they put on the stack if I always choose “red” for Kabira Evangel’s abilities?

Rules Question 4

I’m at 10 life and attack with my Abyssal Persecutor, equipped with Basilisk Collar. My opponent is at 4 life and controls an Avatar token ("This creature's power and toughness are each equal to your life total."), enchanted by Sigil of the Nayan Gods, and Apex Hawks, which were kicked four times.

My opponent blocks my Persecutor with his Hawks and, before damage is assigned and dealt, I cast Puncture Bolt on the Hawks. When I have to assign damage, I choose to assign as much damage as possible to my opponent.

• Describe the state of the game after damage has been dealt, with the list of all the state-based effects that were applied during the combat phase (extra points if you tell me their “order” too).
• What would have happened if I hadn’t cast Puncture Blot?

That's it for today. Please submit all your answers via the contact tab in my account.

Don’t forget to submit all your rules questions for the next installment of Ask the Judge:

Ask the Judge Now!

Bidpoints Sale by Riccardo Tessitori on Fri, 07/30/2010 - 09:22

You have the unique opportunity to ask Level 5 judge Riccardo Tessitori all the questions you want to!

You can ask him questions concerning rules problems, the life of a level 5 judge, DCI policies, interesting tournament situations and anything else you want to ask him!

Bidding is now closed.

Current Bids

Title	User	Amount	Status
The Scumbag Debate	ducat	5	won

Buyin expires on Fri, 13 Aug

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this article and I’m looking forward to reading your comments.

Riccardo