Hello! This is something that came up during a recent PPTQ I head-judged and it made me think about some of the policy around judges giving out incorrect information.

Scenario:
Nils asks judge A where Rift Bolt will end up if they counter it. Judge A incorrectly answers in exile.
Nils plays a Remand on Alice's Rift Bolt and Judge A realizes their mistake. So before the Remand has resolved the judge steps in and apologizes, Nils says that they don't want to counter Rift Bolt anymore if it won't go into exile. Judge A comes to you, the HJ, for a fix.

How would you handle the situation?

This is unfortunate, but judges are human and make mistakes. Apologise, and fix it if possible. Here, not a while lot has happened, so I'd be happy to rrwind the casting of Remand. Yes, Nils now has revealed hidden information, the game state can not be 100% restored (no Men in Black flashlights available, yet), but this seems the best course of action to me.
One could argue that the casting of Remand was legal and should not be reversed, which is a valid option as well. But I'd be inclined to let the judge error weigh in here and provide the best remedy we can to not completely upset Nils.
Be sure to apologise… and not to make Judge A feel like a complete fool, just use this as a training opportunity.

Thanks Dustin.
Backing up is the course of actions that I took. I read the judge's tournament report today and had to double check the IPG again and I just couldn't find anything to actually support the decision I made. M thoughts went to that I should have just let it be. But as you say, that would make a very upset Nils. (he already was)
I've been thinking about the line from CPV: “A backup may be considered in cases where a player has clearly acted upon incorrect information provided to them by their opponent.” And that this fix should be possible if a judge made the incorrect information as well.

I think the most relevant passage is this one from Section 1:

Judges are human and make mistakes. When a judge makes a mistake, he or she should acknowledge the mistake, apologize to the players, and fix it if it is not too late. If the judge gives a player erroneous information that causes them to commit a violation, the Head Judge is authorized to downgrade the penalty. For example, a player asks a judge whether a card is legal for a format and is told yes. When that player’s deck is found to be illegal because of these cards, the Head Judge applies the normal procedure for fixing the decklist, but may downgrade the penalty to a Warning because of the direct error of the judge.

I'd say allowing the player to take back the remand falls firmly under the “fix it” clause, without it being too much of a deviation.

Note also it talks about committing a violation, and says “downgrade the penalty” which implies you still have the guidance of the IPG to fix any issues that occur - in this case a simple GRV has happened, and we can apply the fixes that are part of that penalty, without issuing the penalty itself.

“and fix it if it is not too late” - by all means, if we screw something up, we should do our best to fix it, if possible.

The guidelines in the IPG section on rewinds help with that “not too late” wording.

d:^D

my only thought on this matter is that the counter spell used in this case has text that would supersede the judges statement in the first place, therefore i would correct the information given by the judge and leave the remand on the stack. all other counter spell alternatives - rewind game state.

But for remind, it do says return back to hand instead put in to the graveyard. In is case, is that really judge's fuse for something that if the problem can be prevent just by reading the text for the card much closely?
–john

John, this issue comes up only because Remand works the way that it does.
Remand says: “Counter target spell. If that spell is countered this way,
put it into its owner's hand instead of into that player's graveyard.” If
the spell won't go into a graveyard, then it won't be returned to hand by
Remand.


—
Rob McKenzie
Magic Judge Level III
Minnesota