I have a player at FNM that use a deck that utilizes a lot off enchantments to increase power and toughness as well as +1/+1 counters and often the below scenorio will happen at least once a night.

Active player is playing non active player. Active player has a Mistcutter hydra with 5 counters on it, and 3 Elvish Mystics on the field. Non active player controls a Pack rat, a Hopeful Eidolon, Spear of Heliod, A Dictate of Heliod, and a Path of Bravery His current life total is 21. During his first main phase Active player asks non-active for power and toughness of a Pack Rat. Non-active replies with 4/4. Active Player moves to combat phase declares Mistcutter as attacker. Non-active player blocks with a pack rat then states mine is a 5/5 I forgot about the +1/+1 from Path of Bravery. Active Player calls for judge.

Usually in this situation I just rewind to before Declare Attackers and ask the players to be more careful and he goes the rest of the night without a problem, but it happens every week at least once that he forgets to add a modifier to his power and toughness of his creatures till after declare blockers. I don't won't to say he is intentionally doing it, but it is beginning to become a rather major issue with him. Any thoughts on how to approach this next time.

I'm not sure, but if he goes without a problem after being “caught”, and it only happens after declaring blockers (which I'd assume to be advantageous to him in the example you've given), that sounds a bit suspicious to me.

Assuming no ill intentions:
Is his board state generally messy? Educating him on grouping types of cards together might be a start for a clearer view of the picture, eg. anthems together, creatures together, etc.

Also, it's his opponent's responsibility to ensure that it's consistent with what was said, as those cards are all in public zones, so you might wish to let him know that he should also check with his opponent on the final “result”.

TBH I'd be inclined to believe that he is just being human and your
suggested remedy is fine.

The decision to do more than that is more of a TO/store issue. Are the
other players getting inconvenienced by it (This would include making the
judges job hard)? Or are they getting annoyed. If they aren't and it is
just making your job as a judge less boring, be pleased that you are
helping.

Regular REL is about fun and education. Have you tried this strategy:

Every time he needs to answer a question about P/T or determine P/T for assigning or taking damage, ask him to start from scratch and check the entire game state before answering? As long as this doesn't take him long, it's less disruptive than giving the wrong answer and having to back up when a mistake is made.

Honestly, once a week is pretty tame. Sounds like you addressing it seems to make him more careful the rest of the night. That's a good job in and of itself.

Originally posted by Evan Cherry:

Regular REL is about fun and education. Have you tried this strategy:

Every time he needs to answer a question about P/T or determine P/T for assigning or taking damage, ask him to start from scratch and check the entire game state before answering? As long as this doesn't take him long, it's less disruptive than giving the wrong answer and having to back up when a mistake is made.

Honestly, once a week is pretty tame. Sounds like you addressing it seems to make him more careful the rest of the night. That's a good job in and of itself.

This.

It's how i teach new players to play, hell - it's how i do it. And i consider myself a pretty decent player. Anytime there is effects that change anything on the board, i go through each one in order to make sure nothing gets forgotten.

A side note: it CAN get a little annoying, so just keep that in mind.


(Counting card draws for Nekusar tends to get on people's nerves after awhile)

Hi Markus, reading your explanations I think you should try to investigate
further next time this happens. Based on the information you wrote, for me
it is very suspicious that he always fails when asked before declaring
attackers and realizes that he made a mistake once blockers are declared to
get advantage and once a judge is called he stops doing it for the rest of
the tournament.
Maybe this is happeing more times but not always they call a judge and they
just leave the game as is and he is getting advantage of lying when asked
for derived information.

I think I would educate the player explaining him/her very carefully that
if I believe his/her behaviour is intentional he/she will get DQd from the
event since that behaviour is not something allowed at any REL.

I like the general responses here so far.

Might it also be a good plan to check in with the player about adding a visible totem that can be used to represent any possible anthem effects? Much like the die on top of the deck to represent upkeep triggers or draw effects, a visual hint might be well appreciated as a method to keep games running smoothly. Or perhaps checking to see if perhaps these missed effects / cards can be put in a more unique and/or visible location.

Another approach: talk with the player, get him to agree “yeah, we've had a few of these mixups” … then tell “Players are starting to wonder if you're doing it on purpose. What can we do to help you remember the current game state, so you won't keep repeating this and get an ugly reputation?”

Nothing in there is accusatory, nor is it even moderately confrontational. In fact, you're now on his side, helping him avoid a bad situation.

If he was doing it on purpose, he'll stop, because he realizes you've noticed. (You might pick up on something while talking to him that tips you off, in that regard.)

More likely, he's just making common mistakes, too often for his own good. And hopefully, this will help him understand why he really has to overcome that.

d:^D