== Sat June 19th, 2010
This past weekend I had a great opportunity to judge a Grand Prix Trial for GP - columbus (taking place July 30th - Aug 1st). Not only did I get the chance to judge, but I was given the honor, privilege, and challenge of being head judge for this event.
I arrived on site about 10:30, and supplied the TO with deck lists for players to fill out. Players were already on site when I arrived. It took me a bit to get organized, but after setting up I was able to talk to the TO about how the day would run. The available staff was most experienced using WER, so that was the software we used for this event.
We waited until 1:10 to allow more players time to show up, but in the end we started the tournament with only 11 players. The TO made several announcements as well as I. We would be having 4 rounds of swiss, with a cut to top 4.
= Round 1
During this round I inspected deck-lists, counting cards in main and sideboards.
Player A called me to the table. Apparently a card from his opponent's (player B) deck had fallen to the floor. Player A could not identify what zone the card had been in. Player B reported that the card had been in their graveyard. Upon reviewing information available, I determined that the card had been in graveyard.
Player C called me to the table. Several creatures were engaged in combat, and a bridge from below was in Player C's graveyard. The opponent (player D) obviously wanted to see bridge exiled before it could create some 2/2 zombie tokens. I had the players resolve combat damage, then asked Player C about Bridge's triggered abilities. Player C successfully ordered his abilities to his advantage, and got zombie tokens.
= Round 2
As round 2 started, I had one sideboard error to fix. A player had 17 cards registered in his sideboard. Upon checking the deck, we only found 15 sideboard cards. I changed the deck list to match the deck, and brought him back to his game with a game-loss.
As it happens there was a related question regarding the procedure of shuffling. The WPN did make changes to this policy back in April. At the beginning of the match a player shuffles/randomizes their own deck, and presents it to their opponent. The opponent then may perform additional shuffling. The owner of the deck does not make a final cut.
== Round 3
Player A had cast Reanimate targeting Iona, shield of Emeria. Player B had discarded Faire Macabre to Exile the targeted Iona and another card from the graveyard. I was asked what happens to the Reanimate. As a spell with no legal target, the Reanimate was simply countered on resolution.
Player C had a Pithing needle on the table naming putrid imp. Player D had a putrid Imp on the table and cast Chain of Vapor targeting Pithing Needle. Player C wanted to sacrifice a land to copy the Chain and target Putrid Imp, but there was some confusion about exactly how/when he could perform this action. I took a moment to consult the The Oracle text on Chain (just to make sure they hadn't clarified it), but eventually had to interpret the card as written. The Pithing needle is bounced, and the copy of Chain is created on the stack both as part of the resolution of the spell.
== Round 4
I had sat to watch a game when first Turn player A tapped a single land, and proceeded to put engineered explosives on the table, but quickly yanked it back. The player then turned to me and announced that was not the play he intended, but rather this card
== Single Elimination Rounds
Kevin Leandski running Lorescale Coatl simply scooped to Stu Somers running Reanimate. In the other match I watched as Travis Morton running Dredge got bad draws against Timothy Babcock's Zoo.
The final match was played to three games. Both players played well and hard. Except for a minor bookkeeping error concerning life totals, I did not have to interceded.
Timothy Babcock was awarded 1st place, and 3 round byes to GP-Columbus. The TO also had an artist signed mana drain which was also awarded to first place (picture below).
