This happened recently at a PPTQ, and I wanted to get some feedback:

In round 5 of 5 of a PPTQ, player “Freyalise,” whose record is now 2-2-1, leaves the venue since we're cutting to top 8. We cut to top 8, and surprise! Freyalise made top 8, as the 8th seed. Seed 1 calls me over, saying that Freyalise isn't here, and I respond, “I'm pretty sure she left the venue with her friend (who was super dead), but just to be sure, let's wait.”

I set a timer on my phone, and 5 minutes into the untimed top 8 round, Freyalise calls the store. “My friend and I were talking, and we realized that there was an slight chance that I could have made it. Did I make top 8?”
“Yes, you're the 8 seed.”
“Oh wow… Would I still be able to play? I can turn around, and be there in 10-15 minutes.”

Would you let Freyalise play her match? The top 8 is untimed, but if what she’s saying is true, then she’d arrive back to the venue 15-20 minutes after the round started.

Assuming you didn't start the top 8 “early”, she is subject to the same tardiness policy in the top 8 as she was in Swiss.
This means she has a game loss, and she has until 10 min into the round or she gets the match loss.
While you might think delaying the event is good customer service towards her, it is poor customer service to those who were on time and read to play by making them sit and wait for someone who left! The untimed aspect of the top 8 is irrelevant.

-Bryan

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I would say no. To quote the Philosophy of TE-Tardiness "Players are responsible for being on time and in the correct seat for their matches…." Since Freyalise has left the establishment and will be at least 15 minutes late I would not let her compete in the top 8.

How many people were in your event that a 2-2-1 made top 8?

Thanks for the feedback everyone :-)

@Jim, we had 18 players, so the 7 pointer snuck in

Perhaps you could declare a 15-minute break? In the tournaments that I've done, there was a break between the last swiss round and top 8 most of the time, and the players seemed to appreciate it.

Update: Oh wait, never mind - just realized that you already started the round. In that case, I might ask the players how they felt about it first, but otherwise defer to the above posts.

Edited Alexandra Yang (June 2, 2015 05:43:06 AM)

I'm with Bryan and Brock, TE-Tardiness - its a shame but players are responsible for being at their seats on time.

Alexandra - I'd suggest that asking the other players is a bad idea.

You pass rules enforcement out of your hands as the judge and definitions out of the IPG and instead give that to the players - this is going to cause problems in the future as players will come to expect that they can decide the appropriate penalty and ruling.

It's a deviation and those should only happen in exceptional circumstances.

It creates variability in the application of the rules and other judge's wont be thanking you when they apply the rules correctly and are met with ‘but last time…’.

You create the possibility that a player who has correctly obeyed the rules is now put in a position of being pressured by some of the other players and/or spectators to ‘forgive’ a rules violation by their opponent. This is a major feel bad and worse than the match loss you're trying avoid giving Freyalise.

Would you check at the start of the top 8 that everyone is there and if someone is missing pass it down a player? Or always give P1 a bye in the quarters?

Not sure where exactly in the MTR it is, but it does say that once the cut to T8 has been made that it's ‘locked in’ so that 9th place would be unable to be given a place.

Found it, MTR 2.10
'If a player drops from a tournament after a cut has been made, such as a cut to the top 8 playoff in a Magic Pro tour Qualifier, no other player is advanced as a replacement. That player's opponent receives a bye for the round.

Edited Jonathan Reasoner (June 4, 2015 12:33:27 PM)