Hi,

I recently became an L1, and I'll be helping the store owner out by running one of his Game Day events and may be the only judge for this event. I've helped at FNM's and prereleases, but I haven't run an event myself. The TO usually goes over the prizes for the event, then hands it over to the HJ for the game announcements.

I'm familiar and comfortable with WER, rules calls, etc, but I haven't had to do the pre-event announcements yet. Since Game Day is Regular REL, I'd imagine the list would be short, but I want to make sure that I am headed in the right direction. What would I need to add to the following, if anything:

–Introduce myself
–Welcome players to Game Day/state Regular REL
–Announce # players and rounds
–Ask if anyone is unfamiliar with the new mulligan rule
–Proceed with rounds

Thanks for any help given!

(And if this is in the wrong place to ask, I apologize, but it seemed the most logical for this type of question)

Edited Mitchell Nitz (Oct. 16, 2015 12:12:19 AM)

Since it is first game day post rotation I would remind people what sets are standard legal (had quick deck changes made after this announcement before on game day). I would also mention prize support if to has not done so.

I would suggest adding brief details of the locations of restrooms and nearby places to purchase food, unless you have reason to believe that most or all players already know these things. Also state how long the rounds are. And if you aren't the only judge, remind players of the right to appeal.

Maybe just a word about bribery and improper ways to determine a winner.

BTW, will there be a TOP 4/8?

You do not need to announce everything at the beginning, this will prevent (i) you from being boring, and (ii) players from forgetting info when they need it.
E.g., you could suggest nearby places to purchase food at the beginning of the “lunch” round (just be sure to announce at the beginning of the tournament if you will have a lunch break or not!), and you could say something about bribery and improper ways to determine a winner at the beginning of the last swiss round.

Hey Mitchell,

I've written an article and done a seminar on this very topic. One thing I
will repeat is what Aruna said. Announce everything only when you need it.
The improperly determining a winner announcement is only necessary in the
last round or two, things like that. You could even hold off announcing
player count and number of rounds until right before round 1.

Here is the article:
http://blogs.magicjudges.org/articles/2014/06/24/head-judge-o-pun-ing-announcements/

CJ, Thanks for that link.

As far as I know, no top 4/8, but I'll get clarification on that from the TO when the date gets closer. He's out of town and I can't directly ask him yet.

As far as everything else goes, this store is fairly popular in the Dallas area and has a large regular crowd that all know each other. Shouldn't have to mention the bathrooms or food (my GD event will start at noon anyways, so most will have eaten or be bringing it in with them), but I will keep it in mind if I see a lot of new faces.

I'd imagine I'd be saying something close to the following when I first posted:

“Hi, my name is Mitchell Nitz, and I'll be your head judge for this Game Day. We will be at Regular REL, meaning this will be similar to a FNM.

We have 29 players having fun today, so we will have 5 rounds of Swiss (insert top 4/8 if we have one).

Before we get started, is there anyone unfamiliar with the new mulligan rule change? (Answer any questions)”

(When time for the round to start, proceed with stating the time of the round, shuffle and begin)

I don't plan on being long winded, and most of the players are familiar with me at the store, so should be easy to get things across quickly.

I wouldn't solicit questions on the mulligan rule in the announcement. I would probably say something like this: “The new mulligan rule is in effect. If you mulligan to a starting hand of 6 or less cards, after deciding to keep that hand, you may scry 1. If you have any questions about this or any other rule, feel free to talk to me (or any other judge) at any time today.”

If there is significant confusion about the rule, or something needs to be clarified to all players, you can add that in an announcement during a later round. That way you are only demanding the full attention of all the players when you actually need it.

I will say that I'm a huge fan of breaking up the various announcements (food, rules, prizes, etc.) into smaller announcements made throughout the day.

Game Day requires a cut to top 8 unless there are 16 or fewer players, then a cut to top 4. Exactly 8 players run three rounds and skip the top 8. http://wpn.wizards.com/en/game-day

I'm a fan of giving appropriate info when needed, usually by getting players' attention before pairings go up. You have a captive audience at that point.

Speaking of getting players' attention, we need a judge/vocal coach at our next conference to teach folks how to speak loudly and forcefully without yelling :). This is a not-often-discussed trick to learn. The TO you're working for actually considers yelling judges as something of a pet peeve, so practice projecting!