The Head Judge is the final judicial authority at any DCI-sanctioned tournament and all tournament participants are expected to follow his or her interpretations.
Also, in exceptional circumstances, if the tournament’s integrity would be damaged otherwise, the Tournament Organizer may replace the Head Judge.
Originally posted by Stefano Ferrari:In the situation you described, the TO did DQ them. That's all that a DQ is a lot of the time: “you can't play this event any more”. A DQ doesn't mean you can't immediately sign up for a draft, unless it was serious enough that the TO asked the player to leave the venue altogeter.
During a Return to Ravnica PreRelease (I was not a Judge at the time) a boy swapped a shockland with another player, so that both of them could have a shockland fitting their own deck, and all the stuff was discovered a couple of rounds later. It was surely a DQ situation, but the TO insisted on forcing the drop on the players for “customer service” reasons – that is: he didn't want them to be DQed, suspended, etc… and prevent a possible loss of two frequent customers.
After becoming a Judge, I've had the impression that an indipendent tournament (say, a PTQ) has more freedom to DQ players rather than a local tournament (Regular events, or a GPT) where the TO is actively interested in keeping long-term customers in his shop.
(Exceptions apply for DQs on aggressive behaviour and such, of course; but that's quite a rare event.)
Originally posted by Mark Mc Govern:
In general, if you are faced with the requirement to DQ a player, how you do it and phrase it can make a huge difference.
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