JudgeCast

The L1 certification process is relatively straightforward. Mix up some rules, sift in a light dusting of policy, bake for a couple of prereleases weekend at 70% of 25 questions on an exam, and BAM you’re now an L1. But as a new L1, you might be wondering, now what?

Join Bryan, Charles, and Marcos as we discuss a list of things new L1s often ask after they pass their exam, or should ask, but don’t know that they should. We discuss:
– Finding other judges
– How to find other events outside your LGS
– How to app...

Thwip! Is your Peter-tingle tingling? Join Bryan and Marcos as we web-sling across the JudgeCast-verse and bring back former host CJ Shrader for a stroll down his least favorite of all episode types, the Release Notes episode. We spend nearly 90 minutes talking about mechanics and interactions to get you ready for prerelease weekend, while we weave a web of non-sequiturs and references to 10 year old episodes. If you want to know how Spider-ham works, go listen somewhere else, but if you want to understand some of the details of web-slinging or transforming modal double-faced cards, listen up. With great...

Join Bryan, Charles, and Marcos as we talk entries in the comprehensive rules, and not just any rule entries. These rule entries support a single unique Magic Card, and there are more of them than you might think. Sure, you might realize that Shahrazad requires unique rules, but did you realize that Zack Fair also does? Did you even know there was a card named Zack Fair? Although I can’t say we fully researched this ourselves. This episode was made possible by the Scryfall tagger project, where folks can tag individual cards based on whatever criteria they want. Sc...

Join Bryan, Charles, and Marcos as we talk about Commander.
But guys, we already know about Commander, there are a billion podcasts and YouTube series focusing on Commander. What do you provide that’s new?
Well, while we do discuss the rules, its not the focus of the episode. Instead we talk about how to foster Commander at your store, things to consider if you want to run a commander event, and even how to seat players in a 4 person pod when your software will only match folks for 1v1. We discuss pitfalls of trying to run a...

Judges, I’m not a Renton serial villain. Do you seriously think I’d post a job application if there remained the slightest chance of you affecting its outcome? I did it thirty-five minutes ago.

Join Bryan, Charles, and Marcos as we go over something so small from the outside that caught the Magic Judge Community by surprise: A Hasbro job posting for a Magic Judge Program Manager. We speculate on motivation while we discuss our hopes and fears and work through some anger issues in real time. Will this lead to a renaissance of MTG Judging? Will...

Join Bryan, Charles, Marcos and possibly Zorak and Moltar as we discuss the newest MTG set, Edge of Eternities. We discuss the new station mechanic, as well as warp, void, landers, and so many other terms you might think we were talking about a Protoss rush.

We go over specific cards and interactions you might run into at your prerelease.

Join Bryan, Charles, and Marcos as we celebrate our 350th episode by doing…literally nothing special. We discuss one of the least understood and least celebratory aspects of Magic; Loops. We talk about how to recognize a loop and what to do when you have dueling loops. Then we circle back and talk about the loop boogie-men, the Four Horsemen, and why its not really a loop, and how anything that requires a TI-85 is probably a bad idea.

The Ghost train is pulling out of the station. Join Bryan, Charles, Marcos (and Biggs and Wedge in spirit) as they give you the Pheonix Down low on the newest magitek in the latest MTG set, Final Fantasy. We summon up the changes to the saga rules and the new Tiered mechanic. We cover enough individual cards to chocobo a horse, threading the gold needle between complex cards, and interactions you might be asked at your local Golden Saucer. If you are looking for rules nerd banter and a little bit of 8-bit theater, we are the right folks...

In this episode, Bryan, Charles, and Marcos are joined by Pastimes’ Meg Baum to talk about the “other side of staffing”. We have talked in the past about how to apply for events as well as tips and tricks to help you get staffed, but this is the first time we have talked about what it takes to make an event staff. And while we have done staffing for “ballroom sized events”, we have never had to staff with as many applications or roles to fill as a MagicCon. Meg pulls back the curtain and lets us know many of the con...

MTG Judge Conferences are an amazing resource when it comes to learning and growing as a Judge. However, conferences need presenters and creating a presentation can be daunting if you have never done it before. Topics can range from layers or state-based actions, to more complex topics like Hidden Card error or competing replacement enter effects, or all the way up to investigation workshops. But the journey of a thousand presentations begins with a single google doc. Join Bryan, Charles, and Marcos as we talk about how to figure out what you want to present on, how to start...

In this episode of JudgeCast, Bryan, Charles, and Marcos talk about upgrades. Those little paragraphs or sentences at the bottom of your favorite entries in the Magic Infraction Procedure Guide.
Upgrades are when a certain series of events happen, and the penalty an MTG Judge would normally assign gets bumped up one or two steps.
In this episode we talk about all the upgrades, even the FOUR hidden in the JAR. If you are looking to run RCQs or staff larger MTG events, this is one to check out.

In this episode Bryan, Charles, and Marcos go over how to run a successful draft at your LGS. Drafting is a very common way players can enjoy new sets, and running a smooth draft is a skill all judges need to develop. Like many things in running events, preparation and watchfulness will help you detect small problems before they can become big ones. We talk about how to prepare product, how to prepare the drafting area, and how to administer and watch the draft itself.

BEHOLD… A PODCAST. In this episode, Bryan Charles, and Marcos go over the mechanics from Tarkir: Dragonstorm and a dragon-sized clawful of cards that tickled our collective fancy. Join us as we go over more cards in more detail than you though you needed and perhaps more than you actually wanted. But don’t worry, there’s lots of big old dragons to give you that dopamine hit we all so desperately crave these days.

Join Bryan, Charles, and Marcos as they spend entirely too much time and go into entirely too much detail on all the things you need to consider when taking a call as a Judge.
Quick, what are the first three things you should do when you hear “Judge!”. Did you know there are things were supposed to be doing even before that?
There are many types of calls you might get at an event. Running all the way from requests to go to the bathroom/request for oracle text, all the way up to having to de-escalate play...

In this episode Charles and Marcos troll Bryan by making him hype his least favorite infraction: Hidden Card Error, aka HCE, aka GRV-Private, aka Super Obnoxious Error.
We go over how to recognize when HCE has occurred and when it hasn’t as well as the flow chart that handles all the exceptions and variables.

It’s a fun time.

If your last name is De Sade.

Are you expecting a racing pun here? Too bad, because our special guest, Perry Kraker used them all in the episode. Like I would have to resort to Smokey and the Bandit, Days of Thunder, or maybe even Christine puns. And no one wants that. Join Bryan, Charles, and Perry as we talk about all the mechanics in Aetherdrift, and several of the cards you might see in your prerelease.

Aetherdrift Missed Trigger Guide: Aetherdrift Missed Triggers Guide – Rules Resources

Hello and Welcome to JudgeCast.
Join Bryan, Charles, and Marcos as we take a somewhat tongue-in-cheek take on the Top 10 worst rules/mechanics in Magic. We pull from the IPG, MTR, and Comprehensive Rules on this tour-de-force of utter nonsense. We talk about rules, mechanics, and policy that are hard to keep straight or cause problems with judges or events.

And no, banding does not make the list. Get out of here. Banding is easy.

Whether you are an judge candidate trying to learn the comprehensive rules, or an established L1 trying to learn the IPG, there are certain approaches that can help you learn the materials. One of those approaches involves listening to this podcast, but there are others as well. Join Bryan, Charles, and Marcos talk about study tips and advice in tackling the massive amounts of documentation out there and how you can best make use of whats available.

Links mentioned:
https://www.youtube.com/@JudgingFtW – Rules YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/@keepingitcasualmtg – Rules and occasional MTG...

Happy Festivus listeners! Bryan, Charles, and Marcos are feeling festive, and you all know what that means. Time for an airing of grievances! Modeled after the incredibly relevant and timely episode of Seinfeld from 1997, we share how we find tinsel too distracting, how you’ve all disappointed us in the last year, and finish off with the feats of strength, where we wrestle an actual bear cub before the festivities can properly begin.

Or you know, we share our accomplishments over the last year in our feats of strength, share things that we have genuine grievances over, an...

Join Bryan, Charles, and Marcos as we talk about the things you can do to prepare for a big event. Starting with the application itself, we talk about all phases that lead up to the big day. Be sure to share your own tips via skeet or eXcreet.

Links referenced:

Annotated IPG: Magic Infraction Procedure Guide – Rules Resources

Academy Ruins: Academy Ruins

Previous episode on Cover Letters: JudgeCast #295 – MTG Event Cover Letters | JudgeCast

Warning: This episode is light on technical rules/policy content.

In the spirit of the US Thanksgiving holiday, Bryan, Charles, and Marcos look back over the last year and reflect on what we are thankful for within the Judging and larger M:TG community. It’s a bit sappy, but each host brings several items we are thankful for, and some of us didn’t even need to stretch or say the same thing twice only with different words.

If you want to share something you are thankful for, join our discord at https://discord.gg/hQ...

Join Charles and Marcos as they discuss the ins and outs of Magics newest set, Foundations. They take a leisurely tour of the returning mechanics and several of the cards that you might have rules questions about. Its good to have a Magic set that actually feels like Magic.

Here at JudgeCast we have multiple traditions. One of those traditions is having a part 2 after a part 1. This here is part 2 of our two part episode on types. Join Bryan, Charles, and not Marcos as we talk about all your favorite card types, as long as they start with a letter between L and Z. And then all your favorite super types. Listen to Bryan fumble-bumble around those planechase/archenemy types he loves so much.

It seems we have a tradition here on JudgeCast. Every 5 years we do a two-part series on Card Types. However, in the last five years the game has added several new types and subtypes (Like Dungeons, and Battles, and Sagas). Join Bryan, Charles, and Marcos as we talk about all your favorite card types, as long as they start with a letter between A and I.

Be sure to join us for Part 2 where we finish up the types, including the weird Archenemy ones, talk about super types, and some of the rules around type changing.

Uh…what happened this week? Bryan, Charles, and Marcus talk about the recent commander bans and the community response that became so reprehensible it culminated in the RC ceding ownership of the format to Wizards in order to protect themselves.

Oh, and there were some policy updates to Missed Trigger and such. That’s what you are really here for. You can get that commander chatter on countless youtube videos, but you can only get a thoughtful discussion regarding the MTR shortcut and how it applies to Cavern of Souls but not Arena of Glory right here!

On this episode, follow Bryan, Charles, and Marcos as they run, Scooby Doo style through multiple Rooms in the House of Horror release notes! The Eerie vibes of the house, combined with their ability to Manifest Dread makes us all question our hero’s chances of Survival, especially when you factor in the Impending doom that awaits them behind every locked door.

Also, there’s a very weird math problem, plus a question about infinite copying of abilities around a VERY creepy ventriloquist dummy. Sort of brings me back to those Goosebumps days…

Link to the Re...

Bryan, Charles, and Marcos were at SCGCon Tampa this past weekend working Magic events. However, there were THREE other TCGs at the SCGCon; Lorcana, Star Wars: Unlimited, and Flesh and Blood. We took the opportunity to speak to three head judges for the three games this weekend. Join us as we gain a little insight into other games, and their judge programs.

Ben Harris – Lorcana

Seth Arar – Star Wars

Dan Collins – Flesh and Blood

Discord Link for the Start Wars Judge Discord: https://discord.gg/HtkJUcHT6a

Bryan, Charles, and Marcos all have SCGCon Tampa this weekend, so we need a small episode with little prep. Or thats what we THOUGHT. Join us as we take turns stepping on and off the soapbox for topics like: the recent bannings, excessive charging for store championships, Wizards giving Judges the finger AGAIN, the new Spotlight Series of Tournaments, and the importance of Online Judge Communities.
Unfortunately the cEDH drama hadn’t fully exploded when we recorded or that would have been a topic too.

Judges are not immune to twitter drama. We get sucked in the same way players do when there is a post about a potentially bad judge call. In this episode, Bryan, Charles, and Marcos talk about how judges respond when we hear about an issue on social media, and how we go about trying to figure out what really happened, and how we attempt to reconcile the player version of the story with what we know about policy. We also discuss why judges typically don’t make comments about contentious calls. It’s a very meta episode.

Join Bryan, Charles, and Marcos as we discuss the up-and-coming format cEDH. That’s Competitive Elder Dragon Highlander to the uninitiated. However, to do that we bring on Michael Arrowsmith, also known as Baldy, to go over what the format is, how it’s different from commander and the various logistical challenges that might arise at a cEDH tournament from the Judges perspective.

Baldy’s Spice shop: baldysblends.com
MTR-A & IPG-A: Comp Rel MTR/IPG Addendum for Commander Events
Monarch Policy Documents: https://www.monarch.cards/policy-documents
Command Tower Software: https://topdeck.gg/subscribe

Join Bryan, Charles, and Marcos as we forage over the mechanics of the newest set, as well make a valiant effort to review some cards that you might have questions about at your prerelease or local commander game. We spring off into a tangent about a punk band, and have an otter ridiculous Mickey Mouse impersonation (Steamboat Willy version), and discuss the proper ways to gift a fish.
Oh, frogive me, did I mention this set was Bloomburrow?

The Proper Way to Gift a Fish – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8XeDvKqI4E

Pr...

Join Bryan, Charles, and Marcos this week as they talk about the system Magic uses to determine which player can act when, what they can do, and how the game advances to the next part. This is a fundamental MTG topic, so if you are looking to become a judge, an existing judge looking to brush up, or an old-timer just listening to hear them say things you already know, this is the episode for you!

Is it a reference to a Celine Dion Song, or a little-known skit from The State. How about both? Both is good.

Join Bryan, Charles, and Marcos as we talk about the Judging at Regular Policy document. This document governs judging at Regular Rules Enforcement Level (REL), which covers the vast majority of events. Everything from 8-player Wednesday night drafts to 200-player Myster Booster Sealed events at MagicCons, the JAR tells us how to handle common problems that can occur in games. The JAR is also part of any L1 exam you might be considering. We go...

Did you know there are a lot of rules regarding ending the game? There sure are! Join Bryan, Charles, and Marcos as we go into the rules around ending the game. There’s a surprising amount of rules around this seemingly simple task. And not just the Comprehensive rules, we talk about Tournament rules and Infraction procedures. There’s even a “blink and you’ll miss it” shout out to the old Platinum Angel/Sudden Death scenario. I won’t spoil the answer; you’ll have to listen. Or Google. I guess you could google it. If you wanted to be lame.

Modern Horizons 3 has a LOT of mechanics, and a LOT of cards. So for this release notes episode, Bryan, Charles, and Marcos decided to try something a little different. We each chose our 6 favorite cards from the set to talk about, along with covering a selection of mechanics that may need an in depth refresher for your MH3 Prerelease events this weekend.

We highlight some Nightmares, say Umbra Armor until the words lose all meaning, and have fun with some of the most absurd and interesting names of cards in the set. Join us for this fun...

Prompt: Write a 2 paragraph description of a Podcast episode JudgeCast where the hosts Bryan, Charles, and Marcos talk about AI in MTG Judging, and then ask ChatGPT a bunch of policy/rules questions and then discuss how well it did.

Response: In a recent episode of JudgeCast, hosts Bryan, Charles, and Marcos delve into the intriguing intersection of artificial intelligence and Magic: The Gathering (MTG) judging. The trio begins by exploring how AI can potentially assist judges in managing tournaments, interpreting complex rules, and ensuring fair play. They discuss both the benefits and limitations of AI in...

In this episode Bryan and Marcos go over the April Policy updates. But that’s not enough for a full episode, so we bring in three other smaller topics.
– The Judge contradiction of “I want to be staffed because of what I know, not who I know” vs the sense of entitlement when all the TOs know you.
– When new information is gained with respect to Reversing decisions.
– Open Book vs Closed Book testing.

Bryan, Charles, and Marcos work an event together. We talk about our time at SCGCon: Atlanta, and then we do micro interviews with many of the judges working the event.
Who are you? Why do you keep judging? Do you have a PG rated story you could share?

Big thanks to all the judges that took time out of their shift to talk to us, and big thanks to Star City Games for allowing our shenanigans during their event.

If you want to share a story, join our discord at https://discord.gg/hQd48g...

Join Bryan, Charles, and Marcos as we tour this western planet of hats and discuss the new mechanics such as Plot, crime, Saddle, and Spree. We go over nearly 50 cards to help you get ready for your prerelease. The only thing missing is a in depth discussion regarding the different between the Cattleman, the Gambler, the Pinched Front, and the Gus. Which now that I think about it, thats at least worth 50 cents on patreon..

Bryan, Charles, and Marcos venture once again into the Unknown. But why? Is it an Unfulfilled quest? Is it an Undercover task to Unseat some evil? Join us for an Undeniably special treat. You won’t want to miss this one, the clock is ticking!