One of the worst feelings in the world is when a judge issues you a game loss that you could have prevented. I still remember the first time it happened to me. It was State Champs-Sealed (Ravnica Block) and I had turned in a 39 card deck list. I was so disappointed with myself. In my defense my pool was terrible and I had a hard time building a deck. I had all the mana-fixing, but no actual win-cons. Anyways; I should have been a little bit quicker when building my deck, so I had time to double/triple check my decklist. Most of the time, Game Losses (GL) can be prevented, so I will go through what to watch out for at Competitive REL events.

Deck/Decklist Problem (D/DL)

This is the most common violation that results in a GL. This covers a variety of situations with the most popular is misregistering a deck like I did in the opening scenario. If you misregister a deck the judges will fix your list to match the list and issue a GL. I personally love it when players turn in typed decklists. This saves the judges from having to decipher what looks like hieroglyphics sometimes.

Can you name the third card from the bottom? My guess was sour cousin. (Answer at the end of the article*)

I do realize that some people audible at the last minute or don’t figure out their sideboards until right before the tournament, but please write legibly. (That means you too, Brian Kibler.)

Another problem that arises is when people abbreviate card names. (i.e. Jace instead of Jace, Memory Adept or Jace, Architect of Thought) If there is more than one version of that card then you must list the full name. This will also result in a D/DL problem and will result in a GL. This is more of a problem in older formats such as Modern and Legacy, but Planeswalkers sometimes create an issue in Standard.

(Editor's note: This is not limited to just abbreviated names. If what you put on the list is not specific to a single card in the format in question, it will fall under this. I once saw a friend get a GL for this because he wrote "MEN" on his decklist and then got distracted and didn't finish. At the time there were two cards legal in Standard that began "MEN": MENtal Misstep and MENtor of the Meek.)

Forgetting to desideboard between matches also falls into the D/DL problems category. If you draw your opening hand and see a sideboard card from a previous match, immediately call a judge. The good news is instead of a GL you will just receive a warning. They will then give you an opportunity to fix your deck and you will have to mulligan to six cards. You should always call a judge when in this situation because I was judging a tournament in which a guy was disqualified (DQ’d) for trying to hide the fact that he forgot to desideboard. He saw a sideboard card in his hand Game 1 and just played on and then when his opponent called a judge, he told the judge that he realized what he did but didn’t want to receive a penalty. So instead of a game loss or a warning the guy was DQ’d for Fraud. Don’t be that guy!

Don’t even think about it!

The last D/DL problem is having extra cards in your deck box. Just don’t do it! This happens to typically newer competitive players because they did it at FNM and nobody ever said anything about it. The only things you should have in your deck box are: your deck, your sideboard, tokens (different sleeves preferred), and dice. I have seen so many people receive game losses for having extra cards in their box that they could use in their deck. They probably weren’t cheating, but the potential for abuse is very high. Who wouldn’t mind having a few more sideboard cards? This could lead to a possible disqualification if you are found to have done this on purpose in order to gain an advantage.

Tardiness

This one is simple to fix: don’t be late for the start of a round. If you need a restroom break, notify a judge. They will stand at your table and give a proper time extension upon your return. It is important at larger events to turn over rounds as quickly as possible, so tardiness is policed pretty well.

Obviously, if a judge sees a player moving quickly to their table when the start of round is announced they will not issue a penalty. Also, if you need to take a bathroom break in the middle of a match, call a judge and they will watch your things while you take care of nature’s call. When in doubt, call a judge!

Drawing Extra Cards

You would think this would only apply to drawing an extra card. If only if were that simple. Drawing Extra Cards applies to any situation in which a player ends up with a card in their hand that should not be there. Here are some interesting scenarios:

1) At a standard tournament a player draws a card from Bident of Thassa when his creature dealt damage to a Planeswalker. He received a game loss for drawing extra cards. Bident never triggered, so he shouldn’t have drawn that card: Game Loss.

2) At a Legacy tournament, a Belcher player starts to go off and draws a random card and then goes, “Oh, here is the Manamorphose I meant to cast to draw a card.” He drew a card before he was supposed to: Game Loss

3) The most interesting Drawing Extra Cards came from the same Legacy tourney in which I was called over to a table and the player goes “So, I had two islands in play a few turns ago and now I have only one in play and it somehow ended up in my hand.” Upon, investigating he had returned an Ssland to his hand when his opponent cast Daze on one his spells two turns ago. If they caught it sooner we could have put the island back on the battlefield, but too much time had passed. Since he had a card in his hand that wasn’t supposed to be there he was issued a GL for Drawing Extra Cards.
Side note: Drawing the wrong number of cards at the beginning of a game is a separate
infraction. It is not considered Drawing Extra Cards.

Penalties Stacking Up

Upon the third offense of any Game Play Error a Game Loss will be given. Also, after the second offense of any Tournament Error will result in a Game Loss. For a list of these infractions click the link below:

http://www.wizards.com/wpn/Document.aspx?x=Magic_The_Gathering_Infraction_Procedure_Guide


Well that’s all for this time, but don’t forget...

Remember, ONLY YOU can prevent Game Losses!

As always, if you have any rules related questions feel free to drop me a line!

Jonathan Holland
Level 2 MTG Judge

Jonathandholland21 at gmail dot com
@urzaru on Twitter

*P.S. It was Snapcaster Mage.