Subject: The "Incident" at WI State Championship -- Floor Judge Report Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 17:47:45 PST From: "Dominick Riesland" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com As one of the more omnipresent Judges at the Wisconsin State Championship event on November 21, and as the Floor Judge initially assigned to the Welch-Hamblin matchup in the quarterfinals, I feel it is important to establish the facts as they were presented to us at the time, what was done, and some general comments about the situation afterward: While Jacob Welch was shuffling James Hamblin's deck, he noticed five cards he believed were marked. I examined those cards without showing them to either player; they were all mountains. Now, this could be a coincidence, so I noted which mountains they were (four Beta and either an Arena or Ice Age mountain), and got a mental picture of which specific artwork was involved. I then shuffled them into the deck and asked Jacob if he could pull them out again. Five cards came out -- the same five mountains. Chances for this being a coincidence have dropped considerably. At this point, I took the deck to Darrell Wyatt, the head judge, and asked him to check for marked cards. I did not say a word about how the deck might be marked or which cards were marked. I then devoted most of my attention to watching the match that he had been overseeing (Maher-Shipman) but kept track of what was going on with the deck check. From the back, Darrell pulled 17 cards out that were different from the others -- all mountains. He looked at the rest of the deck, found the three remaining mountains, and took a look at the back. He asked me whether I noticed the markings or the opponent. I told him that it was the opponent, and he left me to finish watching the Maher-Shipman match while he talked to Steve Port. I did not hear any of the conversation between Darrell and Steve, but I did see Steve separating the deck from the back. As I was seated and Steve was standing, I could see the cards as he was dropping them -- all mountains. James was ejected at that point. Since then, I have heard from some people who complained about the incident. I heard from one person that James was borrowing the deck, and that he had no way of knowing. If that is the case, I am sorry that it happened the way it did, but the response can be no less. If he didn't know, the person who owned the deck should have known and corrected the situation beforehand (opaque sleeves or using land that blended in with the deck and could not be pulled out). The deck had been checked at least once during normal rounds, and this was not discovered, nor was it discovered during the deck check for the finals. This is true, but I know why it was missed. In all of the deck checks, one of the things that gets missed is the check for markings on the back. In many cases, there is no reason to suspect it, as the sleeves cover up wear marks; in other cases, it is lost in the desire to hold the match up as little as possible. You can be sure that such omissions will not happen any time soon around me, and I will be sure to mention this to either or both of the trainees who were there when I see them next. In the end, the decision was made by the judges, not the players involved. The floor rules state as much. (On a side note, I have seen how that particular matchup plays, and the expected outcome is that Ponza beats Sligh regularly.) Players have to be able to expect that the judges will act fairly regardless of the people involved, and this goes for the person who writes the wrong card on the sideboard list as well as the one with noticeably marked lands. Dominick Riesland, "The TURNABOUT Guy" Almost Official Milwaukee M:tG Rules Guru DCI Level II Judge (at least for now) =============================================== There are 3 types of ogres: good ogres, bad ogres and mediogres. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com