Introduction
Third judge write up! I've been judging at this store on and off since 2018 which is ... old to think about.
We got 10 players, which is a fine number for 5 rounds top 4. 9 is bad because you're over-doubling the number of rounds from 8 people single elim, and it's not 14-16 where the majority of people get eliminated from playoff contention quickly & you have a lot of irrelevant matches.
There but for the grace of my generosity go I
I lent my Jeskai Ascendancy deck to a local, offered a couple tips, then left him mostly to his own devices. Thanks to reading my blog, he piloted the deck to first seed in the Swiss with a 3-1-1 record WWWDL. My observations and notes:
- He prioritized beatdown lines over value. This is fine, beatdown is definitely an axis you can lean on. But Emry recursion + Stock Up value beatdown is also a form of beatdown.
- Take some time to read Jeskai Ascendancy. It has two triggers. It interacts with Emry & 0 drops to go infinite P/T, then the looting lets you loot as many times as you want. You can then make infinite mana by looping Moxen and cast all non-creature artifacts from your yard. With two Jeskai Ascendancies, you can also cast Kappa Cannoneer with your extra untap trigger. Secret mode, Jeskai Ascendancy can just be used for discrete pumps + looting
- Fell off as the day went on - noticeably after round 3. This is due to a lack of experience playing >3 rounds, fatigue, skipping lunch & water, etc. All things to be aware of when competing.
Rulings
Cards
Question
Answer
Superfluous commentary
Past in Flames
Does PiF grant flashback to cards that enter the graveyard afterwards?
No, PiF only affects instants and sorceries that are in the graveyard as it resolves (CR 611.2c)
Urza's Saga
AP controls a Saga on 1, plays a land. NAP says that they've missed their trigger.
This is a missed trigger. By this, we are referring to the second chapter ability of Urza's Saga. Adding a counter is a turn-based action that cannot be missed, but AP has failed to demonstrate awareness of the chapter ability by taking an action that presumes the stack is empty.
It didn't matter AP was dead as heck.
Ideas Unbound
NAP cast an Ideas Unbound during the previous turn (draw three, discard three at beginning of end step). They did not discard cards and we are now on AP's turn.
Missed trigger policy. Since choices needed to be made, it becomes a GRV and a warning. Opponent does not receive a warning, since they are never required to remember an opponent's triggers for them.
Indomitable Creativity
AP casts Indomitable Creativity, then goes to shuffle their cards to the bottom of the library.
Resolving Indomitable Creativity requires shuffling the entire library. In this case it was caught during resolution, so AP was informed
Flame of Anor dealing lethal damage to creature equipped by Blade of the Bloodchief
Damage kills creatures when state-based actions are checked (CR 704.5g). The order of Flame of Anor doesn't even matter, because the creature dying from damage is a state-based action that always follows resolution of the spell. That said, you do resolve spells with multiple steps/modes in order from top to bottom.
Gemstone Caverns with luck counter, player taps it for C
Game Rules Violation
Warnings
Situation
Warning
Fix
Situation:
Active Player (AP) has two lands. Casts cantrip. Attempts to cast a
Murktide Regent off 1 mana, delving 6 cards. Non Active Player (NAP)
calls me immediately.
Warning: Game Rule Violation (GRV) - they have performed an illegal action.
Fix: Assess for cheating, then apply a simple back-up since it was caught immediately.
In Conclusion
Event went smoothly. I could have been more on top of slow play. Was able to be present for all players and matches, lots of space to maneuver. We were missing a table marker for #4 but I describe it as a test in object pattern recognition.
