Head Judging an SCG Open: Rocks and Reaches

I'm going to be the Head Judge (HJ) of the StarCityGames.com Portland Standard Open on June 28th (next Saturday as of me typing this), and I thought it might be useful for some people to understand some of the planning that goes on behind the scenes, especially for those judges who may have an upcoming HJship.

When you are the HJ of a tournament of unusual size, you will have enough judges on your staff such that it is useful to organize them into some kind of hierarchy. This is commonly known as the Teams structure. The Teams are named after the tasks they perform rather than historical warrior groups, because it is easier to understand what the Deck Checks Team is supposed to be doing during the day compared to the Vikings Team (punting, no doubt).

Each Team has a Team Lead (TL), basically a middle management position in the tournament structure. TLs get instructions form the Head Judge, pass them along to their Team Members, and delegate the Team's assignments. They will report back to the HJ on the status of the tasks and the performance of judges on their team.

So who do you make your TLs? I have a convention that I've been calling "Rocks and Reaches" which caught on with the SCG folks. The idea is that some TLs are Rocks, as in solid as a. (Cue Bob Seger.) These are people who have done it before, done it often, and could probably "lead a team in their sleep." For an SCG Open, these are your L3s and strongest L2s. The Reaches are people you aren't sure about, but you're hopeful that they will do a good job because they have a solid track record. They have potential, but not a lot of experience.

When putting together my Team Leads, I make sure to balance the number of Rocks and Reaches that I have. If I have 4 Teams, I go for a 2-2 split. This way, I will have 2 Teams that I can ignore, trusting the Rocks to do their job and do it well. That gives me more bandwidth to focus on the Reaches in order to monitor their performance. If they need help, I am ready to step in and offer it. And regardless of whether they stumble or shine, I have lots of observations from which I can give quality feedback and write a review on their performance.

If you have all Rocks at Team Leads, there's no doubt that your event will run well, but you're sacrificing some development opportunities there. If you have all Reaches, there is a possibility that multiple things will blow up in your face. Day 1 of GPs use all L3 TLs because you want all Rocks on such a large event, because even with all Rocks, stuff will go wrong. On Day 2 of GPs, the Head Judge tends to go with the half-and-half approach, giving L2s the opportunity to shine and get their Team Lead Recommendation that they need to advance to L3.

1000 Miles - Week 21-22 Update

Week 21
Friday: 7.0 miles
Saturday 7.0 miles
Tuesday: 7.5 miles
Wednesday: 3.5 miles
Week Total: 25.0 miles
Year Total: 411.4 miles

Week 22
Friday: 7.5 miles
Saturday 3.5 miles
Monday: 7.5 miles
Tuesday: 8.0 miles
Week Total: 26.5 miles
Year Total: 437.9 miles

Week 23
Thursday: 9.5 miles
Friday: 3.5 miles
Monday: 4.1 miles
Tuesday: 1.2 miles
Wednesday: 6.4 miles
Week Total: 24.7 miles
Year Total: 462.6 miles

Is it Missed? #2 - Oakheart Dryads

Welcome to Is it Missed? #2 featuring yet another 2/3 for 3. I swear it's a coincidence. Oakheart Dryads has a constellation trigger that reads:

"Whenever Oakheart Dryads or another enchantment enters the battlefield under your control, target creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn."

The basic scenario is that you cast an enchantment pre-combat with an Oakheart on the battlefield, say nothing, then attack with the Dryads.

Is it missed?

Yes, it is missed. This might be surprising to you if you tuned in last time because on the surface, it seems the same as Kragma Butcher. They are both creature pumps. The difference is in the details, and the important detail here is that Oakheart Dryads has a targeted trigger, and you must select a target at the appropriate time. Straight from the IPG:

"A triggered ability that requires its controller to choose targets (other than 'target opponent'), modes, or other choices made when the ability is put onto the stack: The controller must announce those choices before they next pass priority."

That means you must declare you target before passing priority after the enchantment resolves, which is before creatures enter combat. If you don't select your target and move into combat, you're out of luck. The same applies to any other targeted constellation triggers like Dreadbringer Lampads, Forgeborn Oreads, Goldenhide Ox, Harvestguide Alseids, Strength from the Fallen, or Whitewater Naiads.

(Is it Missed? scenarios are all assumed to be at Competitive REL and thus are subject to the rules of the IPG, Infraction Procedure Guide.

Is it Missed? #1 - Kragma Butcher

Having played a fair deal of live Magic, specifically Theros Block Limited, I wanted to do a series of blogs on various Missed Triggers that may be confusing to players and judges alike. First up is Kragma Butcher, one of my favorite red commons in the block.

"Whenever Kragma Butcher becomes untapped, it gets +2/+0 until end of turn."

The ability triggers during the untap step and goes on the stack at the first opportunity in the upkeep step. Rargh! 4/3 Butcher ready to go to Brown Town.

Let's say I attacked with Kragma Butcher last turn for two. Now on my turn I untap it, draw my card, play a land, and attack again. My opponent has a Karametra's Acolyte (1/4) and decides to block since I said nothing about the trigger.

Is it missed?

The answer is... not yet. Although the ability goes on the stack during my upkeep, because it has no effect on the visible game state, I am not required to demonstrate awareness of the trigger at that time. I just have to do so when it becomes relevant to the game. In the case of Kragma Butcher's +2/+0 trigger, that probably means when it attacks and deals combat damage. Going back to the above scenario, I can do this by saying "Okay, go to damage. Your Karametra's Acolyte is dead." The same holds true if the Butcher goes unblocked. If I say "Take four," I've demonstrated awareness that the trigger happened.

How then do we know if the trigger is missed? If I let the Karametra's Acolyte stay on the battlefield after combat, or I tell my opponent to take two damage. The baseline assumption with triggers is that they did happen unless something happens that would indicate otherwise, in this case a Kragma Butcher that untapped only dealing two damage in combat.

As the opponent, how can you tell if the trigger is missed or not before damage? How can you figure out if you can safely block with your Karametra's Acolyte or not? You ask. you probably don't want to ask "Did you remember the trigger?" because that's a bit of a giveaway. A simple "How big is that?" should suffice. If they say 2/3, go ahead and block.

1000 Miles - Week 19-20 Update (Half Marathon!)

Week 19
Friday: 7.5 miles
Saturday: 6.2 miles
Wednesday: 8.2 miles
Week Total: 21.9 miles
Year Total: 359.5 miles

Week 20
Thursday: 7.5 miles
Friday: 6.2 miles
Sunday: 13.2 miles (half marathon time 1:47:10)
Week Total: 26.9 miles
Year Total: 386.4 miles

It was a busy month what with a wedding, honeymoon in Wisconsin, and a GP in Minneapolis. Through it all I managed to keep my average up. The half marathon was a big success. My previous 2 halfs were both over 2 hours, so breaking that barrier was goal #1. Given my training pace, I knew that 1:50 was within reach, and because round numbers are a thing I was really shooting for 1:45 as a stretch goal. You can see that I didn't quite make that, but I was close enough to be satisfied, and that's still a fine personal best to run. Goal for the Portland Marathon in October will be to beat that pace, meaning running the full at 3:30 or better.

1000 MIles - Week 16-18 Update

Week 16
Friday: 10.0 miles
Monday: 10.3 miles
Wednesday: 6.5 miles
Week Total: 26.8 miles
Year Total: 284.8 miles

Week 17
Thursday: 2.9 miles
Friday: 3.5 miles
Sunday: 7.7 miles
Monday: 11.5 miles
Week Total: 25.6 miles
Year Total: 310.4 miles

Week 18
Friday: 10.5 miles
Tuesday: 13.2 miles
Wednesday: 3.5 miles
Week Total: 27.2 miles
Year Total: 337.6 miles

1000 Miles - Week 13-15 Update

Week 13
Friday: 6.5 miles
Saturday: 7.8 miles
Sunday: 6.5 miles
Tuesday: 12.2 miles
Week Total: 33 miles
Year Total: 250.3 miles

Week 14
Saturday: 3.1 miles
Sunday: 1.1 miles
Week Total: 4.2 miles
Year Total: 254.5 miles

Week 15
Wednesday: 3.5 miles
Week Total: 3.5 miles
Year Total: 258.0 miles