Last Saturday during PPTQ I encountered a weird situation and I'd like to know your opinions.

Players are playing 3rd game in a match. Player A draws a card and casts game-winning burn spell. Player N accepts defeat, but before filling in result slip, he counts cards an A's sideboard, finds 16 cards and calls a judge. After counting, Player A still has 60 cards in his deck, so the infraction is having an extra card in sideboard.

It's obviously Game Loss for Deck/Decklist Problem, but should it be applied to the current match(giving victory to player N), or to the first game of the next match?

“Game Losses should be applied to the game in which the offense occurred…”
I'd say issue it for that match.

In between games and matches a player is not obliged to have a legal deck. It must only be legal when presented, and remain legal until the game/match is over. In this situation, the match is over, so there is no penalty at all. I'd mention to the players that they should ensure their deck is legal and to avoid risking game losses because you didn't bother to double check your deck before presenting, but there is nothing to be done here. Although I'm interested to know what prompted the N here to count his opponent's sideboard before signing the result slip. That's a very weird thing to do.

Originally posted by Mark Mc Govern:

In between games and matches a player is not obliged to have a legal deck. It must only be legal when presented, and remain legal until the game/match is over. In this situation, the match is over, so there is no penalty at all. I'd mention to the players that they should ensure their deck is legal and to avoid risking game losses because you didn't bother to double check your deck before presenting, but there is nothing to be done here. Although I'm interested to know what prompted the N here to count his opponent's sideboard before signing the result slip. That's a very weird thing to do.

So if he counted the sideboard while the lethal spell was on the stack, that's a GL?

Suppose player A concedes game 3, then Player B fails to reveal a morph. We would still apply a game loss to the current match, even if the slip had already been filled out.

Although it is not exactly the same, I would consider this the same type of situation. I give the game loss to the “current” game.

The difference is that failing to reveal a morph happens before the result is official. The 16 card sideboard is noticed after the result is in, and at that point it's not illegal to have 16 card in your sideboard. The fact that we suspect the round may have been played with an illegal deck doesn't mean we game loss (although we may ask questions to see if he knew)

Originally posted by Krzysztof Buniewicz:

Player N accepts defeat, but before filling in result slip, he counts cards an A's sideboard, finds 16 cards and calls a judge

From MTR 2.4 Conceding or Intentionally Drawing Games or Matches:
“A match is considered complete once the result slip is filled out”. So in this scenario the match is not over and players are not between rounds.
From MIPG 1.2. DEFINITION OF PENALTIES
Game Loss:
Game Losses are applied to the game in which the offense occurred unless the players have begun a new game or the tournament is between rounds…
The game is over, but players have not begun a new game and are not between rounds. Is it possible to aply the GL during current round?

I'm with Mark in that this is not an infraction. The game is over, and the sideboard does not have to be legal anymore. In my mind it is the same as finding that you had an illegal main deck in G1 while sideboarding for G2, where no GL is given because the game is over.

From the info given here, a penalty can't be given. “Player N accepts defeat”, so the game is over. Whether we consider the match over or not before the result slip is filled out is irrelevant. D/DL penalties can only be given during a game, i.e., between players presenting their decks and one player conceding.

Since the game is over, the match will end, and the result slip should now be filled out to end the match.

I would, however, want to know what made N count his opponents' sideboard, and the answer to that question might warrant further investigation.

Originally posted by Joe Brooks:

From the info given here, a penalty can't be given. “Player N accepts defeat”, so the game is over.

Well, it is not when there are face-down permanents in play, so why should it be here?
Is there actually “dead” time between the end of the last game of a match and the end of the match (i.e. signing the result slip)?

Originally posted by Krzysztof Buniewicz:

It's obviously Game Loss for Deck/Decklist Problem,

I'm assuming that the registered decklist is 60/15? It's very different if A has registered 61/15, I think.

Not that much different. Sideboards can't contain more than 15 cards at a
time.

Dominick Riesland, aka Rabbitball
Creator of the Cosmversal Grimoire
“As soon as men decide that all means are permitted to fight an evil, then
their good becomes indistinguishable from the evil that they set out to
destroy.”
- Christopher Dawson

Originally posted by Dominick Riesland:

Not that much different. Sideboards can't contain more than 15 cards at a
time.

Yes, but he doesn't have to have his deck sorted into “sideboard” and “deck” in between games, does he? From my perspective, he can pull all his lands out of his deck into a “sideboard” between games if it makes him feel better, so long as he can randomize and pull out no more than 15 cards as a real sideboard in a timely manner in time to present to the next opponent. If he's registered 61/15 and we count 60/16, then for all we know he's simply halfway through de-sideboarding.

On the other hand, if he's registered 60/15 and presents 60/16, then the IPG make clear that this is a violation:

Additionally, if there are extra cards stored with the sideboard that could conceivably be played in the player’s deck, they will be considered a part of the sideboard

We now have an extra card not on his decklist–that's an infraction (regardless of when the error is caught)

Originally posted by Joe Brooks:

I would, however, want to know what made N count his opponents' sideboard, and the answer to that question might warrant further investigation.

I passed this case to HJ and I don't know all details, but any cheating has been ruled out. From what I know, N saw an unsleeved card in A's sideboard and that prompted him to count cards. A admitted that he bought the card during the event and put it in deckbox without thinking of it.

Eli Meyer
I'm assuming that the registered decklist is 60/15? It's very different if A has registered 61/15, I think.

It was 60/15.