by Charlotte Sable

Charlotte Sable returns with a new article, teaching us all how we can avoid being handed game losses by preventing decklist errors and marked cards.  Also, a personal story on how she got penalized 4 times during an Extended PTQ!

Hi everyone.

I'd like to apologize for not having an article for you guys last week. Writing this column is a lot of fun, but it's also a lot of work, and I just wasn't as on-the-ball as I should have been. Going forward, I'm going to have a new article for you guys at least every other week. I'd love to be able to keep to the once-a-week schedule, but I have to be realistic. I don't want to burn myself out, and I don't want to write sub-par articles. That said, enjoy this week's column and keep sending your questions and topic suggestions to judge@manadeprived.com!

The current PTQ season is starting to wrap up, and as the focus of competitive-minded players starts to shift from limited back to constructed more fully, I figured this would be as good a time as any to talk about preventing decklist errors and marked cards. After the dry bits, we'll get to some questions and then I'll regale you all with the story of how I got way too many penalties while playing in a PTQ last year, just to show that judges aren't immune to making mistakes.

Making a List, Checking It Twice

Decklist problems are one of the most common causes of Game Loss penalties at Competitive REL tournaments, but also some of the easiest penalties to avoid.

So what can go wrong with a decklist? Lots of things, but only a few of them will get you a Game Loss.

Let's take a look at what the Infraction Procedure Guide (IPG) has to say on the matter:

A player is considered to have a Deck/Decklist Problem when one or more of the following conditions are true:

• The deck and/or decklist contain an illegal number of cards for the format.
• The deck and/or decklist contain one or more cards that are illegal for the format.
• A card listed on a decklist is not identified by its full name, and could be interpreted as more than one card. Truncated names of storyline characters (Legends and Planeswalkers) are acceptable as long as they are the only representation of that character in the format and should be treated as referring to that card, even if other cards begin with the same name.
• The contents of the presented deck and sideboard do not match the decklist registered.

So there are four types of problem here. Let's go through each in a bit more detail, focusing specifically on how they relate to decklists:

"The deck and/or decklist contain an illegal number of cards for the format."

This usually happens when a player forgets to register one or more cards in his main deck, or otherwise just having a main-deck that's too small. However, this can also cover a player having too many or too few cards in his or her sideboard. (At a constructed event, your sideboard must be exactly 0 or 15 cards.)

The easiest way to avoid this type of decklist problem is to check the number of cards on your list. Count to 60 and 15 and then do it again. And please make sure that the judges can read your numbers. Having to ask another judge "Does that look like a two or a three?" isn't fun.

"The deck and/or decklist contain one or more cards that are illegal for the format."

There's nothing ambiguous here: Know which sets are legal in the format you're playing, and which cards are banned (or restricted). If you're not sure if a certain card or set is legal, ask a judge before you turn in your list.

"A card listed on a decklist is not identified by its full name, and could be interpreted as more than one card. Truncated names of storyline characters (Legends and Planeswalkers) are acceptable as long as they are the only representation of that character in the format and should be treated as referring to that card, even if other cards begin with the same name."

This sort of thing is usually the result of either laziness or being rushed when filling out the decklist. Just write out the full English name of each card. "Jace" could be either Jace Beleren or Jace, the Mind Sculptor. "Bolt" could be Lightning Bolt or Forked Bolt. Also, don't be cute. No abbreviations. No nicknames. No shortcuts. Sure, writing out "JtMS" or "Jace 2.0" might save you a few seconds over writing "Jace, the Mind Sculptor", but one of these things is an actual card name, and the other two aren't, and could get you a Game Loss if the judge is being strict about this rule. So just be careful and make sure your card names are correct. You don't want to end up mashing together two card names to form something indecipherable like "Consuming Spirits", which I once saw on a list. Did the player mean Consuming Vapors? Did he mean Consume Spirit? It was the former, but it still caused a big headache and got the player a Game Loss.

"The contents of the presented deck and sideboard do not match the decklist registered."

This is most often invoked when a player forgets to de-sideboard before a match, but can also occur when a player makes a last-minute change or substitution to the deck or sideboard before the event, and then doesn't change the list to match before it's submitted. You can avoid this issue by laying out your deck once you get to the event and making sure it actually matches what you have listed. Even something as simple as running 5 Islands and 4 Swamps while listing 6 and 3 will lead to a Game Loss, so it's best to just make sure your list is what you're actually running before you hand it in.

"How do I avoid these problems?"

In addition to what I mentioned under each section, here are a few general but important tips to make your decklist problem-free:

• If possible, have your decklist filled out before the event. (You can find blank decklists here: http://www.wizards.com/dci/downloads/CONSTRUCTED_DECKLIST.pdf) Filling out your decklist before the event lets you take your time and avoid making mistakes by having to rush.
• Fill out your list fully. Ensure that your name, DCI number, and the contents of the deck are on the list.
• Write legibly. You don't want to have judge calling you over because your ones look like twos or they can't tell if you wrote elf or wolf.
• When you get to the event, lay out your deck and sideboard and double-check that it matches your list. This ensures that your list is correct, that you're not missing any cards, and that you didn't put in some sick new sideboard tech at 3AM and not remember doing so.

Brand of Ill Omen

A quick aside about marked cards penalties and how to avoid those as well:

Laying out your deck before the event starts is a great time to re-sleeve your deck. No matter how good your sleeves are, chances are they're not going to make it through more than one all-day event without becoming at least a little worn, so it's a good idea to slip your 75 into some fresh plastic before each PTQ/GPT/etc. If you can't shell out for new sleeves before each big event you play, then at least do so every other event and keep a close eye on your sleeves for nicks and scratches and bent corners and re-sleeve individual cards as needed.

If you are re-sleeving your deck, be sure to randomize your deck and the sleeves before you sleeve it up, because sometimes sleeves aren't all the same, especially if you're working from two separate packets of 50 sleeves. This minimizes the risk of judges potentially seeing some sort of pattern if the sleeves are at all different from one another.

Also remember, at Competitive and Professional RELs, sleeves with reflective backs and/or art that goes all the way to the edges of the sleeve aren't allowed. The edge of the back of the sleeve has to be one solid color all the way around. It's easy to avoid getting penalized for marked cards, but too many players out there get caught out because they don't watch the condition of their sleeves closely enough.

And Now for Something Completely Different… Questions!

"I have a Mimic Vat on the battlefield, and my opponent has one too. I target one of his creature with a Doom Blade on my turn, how does the stack work here?"

Once the Doom Blade resolves and destroys the creature, both Vats will trigger. When multiple players have triggers to put on the stack at the same time, like in this situation, they're put on the stack in APNAP order (active player, non-active player). This means that you'll put your Vat's trigger on the stack first, then your opponent's trigger will go on top of it and will resolve first. He'll get the first chance to exile the creature and tuck it away in his Vat. You'll get a chance to stuff it in your Vat if your opponent opts not to take it, maybe because they already have something better in there. If your opponent exiles the creature, your trigger doesn't fizzle, since it's not targeting the creature. Rather, it will do as much as it can, which is precisely nothing in this case. It still resolves, though.

If you want dibs on the creature, save your instant for your opponent's turn.

"Circu, Dimir Lobotomist's last ability says 'your opponents can't cast nonland cards with the same name as a card exiled with Circu'. I'm just wondering, once he leaves the battlefield, does the ability still apply to the cards removed prior to him leaving play?"

Circu's abilities only function while he's on the battlefield, since they don't mention working in any other zone. As soon as he's not on the battlefield, the ability keeping your opponent(s) from playing cards with those names stops working. Even if Circu re-enters play later on, he'll be a new object with no link to the cards he previously exiled, so your opponent(s) will still be free to cast those spells.

"If I have an unblocked White Knight (or another creature with First Strike) can I Ninjutsu in a Ninja of the Deep Hours after First Strike Damage but before Normal Damage and have the Ninja deal combat damage and draw me a card?"

Sure. When the second combat damage step begins, the game looks for any creature that either has double strike or that had neither first strike nor double strike as the first combat damage step began and lets them assign and deal combat damage. Since the Ninja wasn't around at the beginning of the first combat damage step, it gets to assign and deal its damage, and nets you a card, if it's attacking a player. Note that the Ninja will come in attacking the same player or planeswalker as the creature it replaced.

"My opponent uses Grand Architect to turn her Pili-Pala blue, then starts tapping and untapping it to make infinite mana. Once I see what she's doing, I want to Disfigure her Pili-Pala to stop these shenanigans, but she says there's nothing I can do to stop her from getting all the mana she wants. Is this right?"

First of all, let me say that this is my favorite new combo in Extended. I just love it. Anyway, unfortunately for you, both of the abilities being used here are mana abilities, which don't use the stack. Even a Sudden Shock wouldn't help you here. As soon as the Pili-Pala becomes blue and isn't summoning-sick, your opponent can generate as much mana as she likes any time she has priority or is asked to pay mana. She can even do this in the middle of casting a spell or activating an ability that requires a mana payment.

Corner-Case Corner

"If two copies of Confusion in the Ranks are on the battlefield, what happens when I cast a creature?"

Well, you probably give someone a headache, but as to what happens in the game, let's work through the situation.

First, you'll choose a target for each of the triggers and put them on the stack, then they'll each resolve in order. The first triggered ability will resolve normally, but what the second one does depends on a few things. Let's look at the three possible situations:

A) Each triggered ability has the same target

B) Each triggered ability targets a creature controlled by the same other player

C) Each triggered ability targets a creature controlled by a different other player

In situation A, the second trigger will be countered on resolution since its target is now illegal as it's no longer controlled by another player.

In situation B, the second trigger will resolve but have no effect, since the creatures that would be exchanged have the same controller and permanents with the same controller can't be exchanged.

Situation C is where things get fun and/or complicated. Let's say you cast a Runeclaw Bear and target a Silvercoat Lion controlled by Alex with the first trigger and a Kraken Hatchling controlled by Bob with the second trigger. So, the second trigger will resolve first, and you'll trade your Bear for Bob's Kraken, then the second trigger will resolve and trade Bob's Bear for Alex's Lion. So no one ends up with the creature they started with, and there is indeed much confusion in the ranks.

We'll get to the story of my PTQ misadventure in a minute, but first I'd like to thank everyone who sends in questions. I couldn't do this column without you all! Keep sending all your questions to judge@manadeprived.com and I'll keep answering them!

Adventures is Scapeshifting

Just to keep you all, my devoted readers, from thinking that I'm just being preachy about penalties, and never actually play or make mistakes or whatever, I present to you the story of the Extended PTQ I played in last February where I racked up quite a few penalties. Actually, this is mostly just the story of the penalties.

So, it's my first ever constructed PTQ as a player, and it was a desperate struggle to even get my deck together for the event, having to borrow shock lands from at least three different people, as well as buy overpriced commons and uncommons from the vendors to fill out the list. Anyway, I'm both excited and a little nervous, having not had time to really play test my U/G Scapeshift deck much in real life, and MWS is hardly a bastion of quality players. But I get the deck together fine and manage to avoid any problems with my decklist.

In round one, I'm on the play. I keep my seven, but my opponent mulligans. We get underway, and I draw a card on my first turn… oh, and this is a feature match. Way to start things off, hot shot. 😉

Penalty #1: Warning for Improper Draw at Start of Game.

I go on to win that round, then lose Rounds 2 and 3, and win Round 4 without further penalties. At this point, I was starting to get tired. I didn't bring a lunch with me, my matches went long, and there was no food available at or near the venue, so my brain wasn't exactly running at 100%. Now we arrive at the play disaster that was Round 5:

So my deck is running quite a bit of deck manipulation: Ponder, Halimar Depths, and Peer Through Depths, plus all the search effects like Search for Tomorrow, Sakura-Tribe Elder, and Scapeshift itself. This is the round where all of that got mixed up. It's the middle of game one, and I'm trying to dig myself out of a less than great situation. I lay down a Halimar Depths, see three cards that don't do me a whole lot of good, look at them, look back at my hand, and back and forth a few times before putting them back on top of my library, then declaring "I'll shuffle" and proceeding to do so, at which point my opponent called the judge on me…

Penalty #2: Warning for a Game Rule Violation.

Note to self: Halimar Depths is not Ponder. I end up winning game one, then losing game two.

In game three, I'm doing fairly well for myself. I cast Peer Through Depths, look at my top five, pick out a Scapeshift, show it to my opponent, put it with my hand, and pick up my library to put the other four cards on the bottom. The next thing I know, I'm shuffling my library. I stop, look down at my hands in disappointment and sigh to myself "Why am I shuffling?" and promptly call the judge on myself.

Penalty #3: Warning for Game Rule Violation.

I manage to pull out the round, and find myself at a not terrible 3-2. However, I know that one more GRV and I get me a Game Loss, which has me a bit off my game with nerves

Onto Round 6, where things just come crashing down. Game 1, I'm on the play and I keep a great opening seven. Turn 1, I cast Ponder, and there in the top three cards of my library is a Negate, which was purely a sideboard card. ~sigh~ Up goes the hand, I call the judge on myself.

Penalty #4: Game Loss for Deck/Decklist Mismatch (these days, it would be a Deck/Decklist Problem).

So I double-check my deck, and it seems I forgot to de-sideboard that one Negate after the last round and so was running 61/14 that game. Since then, though, I've made it a habit to always make sure my sideboard is correct and complete between matches.

Anyway, I'm down a game in the match without seeing a single card in my opponent's deck, so I can't really sideboard at all. It turns out he's running Dredge, which I have few answers for in the main deck, but a decent plan for in the sideboard, and I don't stand a chance in game two. There goes the match.

I end up losing the last round as well, to finish an uninspiring 3-4, but at least it's better than 0-2 drop, right? Anyway, I hope my story has shown how easy it is to make mistakes when you don't pay attention to the details. I certainly learned to be a lot more sympathetic when handing out penalties from that day.

I haven't been able to play in a PTQ since that one, but the next time I do, I certainly hope I won't collect as many penalties.

Kar Yung Tom

Kar Yung Tom (KYT) is the Digital Content Manager for Face to Face Games. He oversees the F2FTour.com and Magic F2F websites.