So some decent discussions in rules groups and my regional chat have birthed and interesting query.

At what point in a non-decklisted regular REL tournament does a player select their deck?

Either a player chooses what they play when they present it for their first game, which would mean they could use information from pairings, and potentially even make that decision at a later point if they receive a bye.
Conversely it does present the opportunity for players to make less than sporting moves by choosing sideboard cards or entire decks after seeing the field for the event.

The alternative is more philosophically similar to comp REL in which a player must choose their deck as the event begins, before their first match.
While it makes more sense due to how we usually handle these things, it seems impossible to enforce in a decklist-free event.

What is the appropriate way of approaching this matter?

Furthermore, is it something that could potentially be changed within the MTR for clarity in future?

Edited Hary (Dec. 31, 2018 11:15:45 PM)

Harry, this is, essentially, an area that isn't well-defined. I've always answered with “the deck you present for game one in round one”, but I can't cite a rule that supports that.

For limited, we know that “Continuous Construction” is allowed at Regular REL, so you never have to present the same deck twice. However, that just doesn't seem right for constructed formats; we certainly can agree that allowing players to change decks completely between rounds is unfair, and a violation of the spirit of the rules, if not the actual, written policy.

I think we also know that, without decklists, we probably can't assess an infraction for failing to desideboard. I think players should still present the same main deck for every game one, each round - but that's difficult to enforce.

I'll happily pass along your request re: MTR update(s)!

d:^D

Another note - if the players at your store/in your area are asking questions about this kind of thing, it is possible they would be better served by competitive REL events. You could consider suggesting more competitive events to the local TOs.

Even at competitive I've heard of players scouting the room looking at what people are sleeving/assembling/writing on deck lists before making their own deck choice.

Originally posted by Tim Boura:

There's nothing wrong with that if the scouting happens before the tournament.

Just a quick followup: Policy is aware of this, and it's been an issue for a long time. We want players to start each round with the same main deck, but without decklists, it's difficult to enforce… and it's probably a really bad idea to point that out in documents that we expect players to read and comply with (i.e., the MTR).

So, we (Judges) can answer questions with firm “You must present the same deck for each game 1”, and just not mention the holes we're aware of. Or: don't teach players how to cheat, please.

d:^D