Please keep the forum protocol in mind when posting.

Competitive REL » Post: an enchantment tucked under Prison Realm

an enchantment tucked under Prison Realm

April 29, 2019 02:12:17 AM [Original Post]

Francesco Scialpi
Judge (Level 2 (International Judge Program))

Italy and Malta

an enchantment tucked under Prison Realm

While flooring, you notice a Prison Realm with an enchantment tucked under it.
Investigation reveals an honest mistake happened three turns ago.

What do you do?

April 29, 2019 03:12:57 AM [Marked as Accepted Answer]

Brook Gardner-Durbin
Judge (Level 5 (Judge Foundry))

USA - Great Lakes

an enchantment tucked under Prison Realm

I would almost certainly leave the game state as it was and issue the player who cast Prison Realm a GRV - Warning and their opponent a FTMGS - Warning.

The players misresolved the trigger, several turns ago. This doesn't meet the criteria for either a partial fix or a simple backup, so our options are to do a full backup or to leave it as is. Three turns is most likely too much to consider backing up, though I could consider it, depending on the exact board state. That means we're going to leave the game as it is now.

This is different from some auras that have ongoing restrictions, like “enchant blue creature” or “enchant creature you control with power 3 or less” - these are easier to fix, as they just fall off when we check SBAs. In this case, the Prison Realm is not checking continuously, it only checks when it enters the battlefield.

April 29, 2019 03:59:35 AM

Francesco Scialpi
Judge (Level 2 (International Judge Program))

Italy and Malta

an enchantment tucked under Prison Realm

Originally posted by Brook Gardner-Durbin:

I would almost certainly leave the game state as it was and issue the player who cast Prison Realm a GRV - Warning and their opponent a FTMGS - Warning.

The players misresolved the trigger, several turns ago. This doesn't meet the criteria for either a partial fix or a simple backup, so our options are to do a full backup or to leave it as is. Three turns is most likely too much to consider backing up, though I could consider it, depending on the exact board state. That means we're going to leave the game as it is now.

This is different from some auras that have ongoing restrictions, like “enchant blue creature” or “enchant creature you control with power 3 or less” - these are easier to fix, as they just fall off when we check SBAs. In this case, the Prison Realm is not checking continuously, it only checks when it enters the battlefield.

Strongly agree.
I have a concern though:
if you leave everything as is (i.e. the enchantment stays tucked under Prison Realm), each and every judge/spectator that passes by would point out that there's an error.
That would be annoying, wouldn't it?

April 29, 2019 04:48:49 AM

Mark Mc Govern
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Academy)), TLC

United Kingdom, Ireland, and South Africa

an enchantment tucked under Prison Realm

It would be annoying, yes. But that can’t be helped. However, the annoyance may reinforce the lesson here and ensure neither player misses something like that in the future, so it’s not all negative.

April 29, 2019 08:42:37 AM

Isaac King
Judge (Uncertified)

Barriere, Canada

an enchantment tucked under Prison Realm

I believe this would be more appropriate as a double GRV, since both players were involved in the error. Otherwise I agree with Brook's answer. Policy doesn't give us any way to fix this other than backing up, and backing up through 3 turns is something that should almost never be done.

April 29, 2019 09:22:27 AM

Dominik Chłobowski
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Academy))

Canada

an enchantment tucked under Prison Realm

Imo, this doesn't fit the pattern for other double-GRVs. The player with
the Enchantment didn't take any action; what GRV did they commit? If you
make this a double GRV, you're making every time a player commits FtMGS related to their own permanent a
double GRV.

pon., 29 kwi 2019 o 09:44 Isaac King <forum-49864-d13f@apps.magicjudges.org>
napisał(a):

Edited Dominik Chłobowski (April 29, 2019 09:22:59 AM)

April 29, 2019 09:31:56 AM

Francesco Scialpi
Judge (Level 2 (International Judge Program))

Italy and Malta

an enchantment tucked under Prison Realm

Originally posted by Mark Mc Govern:

It would be annoying, yes. But that can’t be helped. However, the annoyance may reinforce the lesson here and ensure neither player misses something like that in the future, so it’s not all negative.

- What about leaving the enchantment in exile, but not tucked under Prison Realm? That would be a correct representation, more or less.
- Prison Realm gets destroyed. Would you return the enchantment to the battlefield?

April 29, 2019 09:55:41 AM

Mark Mc Govern
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Academy)), TLC

United Kingdom, Ireland, and South Africa

an enchantment tucked under Prison Realm

Originally posted by Francesco Scialpi:

- What about leaving the enchantment in exile, but not tucked under Prison Realm? That would be a correct representation, more or less.
- Prison Realm gets destroyed. Would you return the enchantment to the battlefield?

Tucking cards like that helps players to remember which cards were exiled by which effects. While everyone does it, it is not a requirement of the rules. Therefore whether a card is underneath Prison Realm, or off to the side of the table, or at 90 degree angle underneath the graveyard, makes no difference from a purely technical point of view. No matter where it is on the table, it is “the card” exiled by Prison Realm.

If Prison Realm is destroyed, I would return the enchantment, as that's how the card is supposed to work. There's no need to make the players' mistake even worse by leaving the card in exile. It's not illegal to have Prison Realm exiling an enchantment (after all, Opalescence is a card! (not in this format thankfully)) - it's only illegal to target one with the trigger.

Returning the card to player if Prison Realm leaves also fits the approach of “leave the game state as it is”. If we made the enchantment stay in exile, then we would be performing a Partial Fix of sorts. A very poor one at that.

April 29, 2019 04:14:04 PM

Brook Gardner-Durbin
Judge (Level 5 (Judge Foundry))

USA - Great Lakes

an enchantment tucked under Prison Realm

Originally posted by Mark Mc Govern:

If Prison Realm is destroyed, I would return the enchantment, as that's how the card is supposed to work.
I agree here. I don't see a reason to further harm the game state by changing how the cards are supposed to work, any further than the players already have.

April 29, 2019 11:42:19 PM

Isaac King
Judge (Uncertified)

Barriere, Canada

an enchantment tucked under Prison Realm

Originally posted by Dominik Chłobowski:

The player with the Enchantment didn't take any action; what GRV did they commit?

They chose an illegal target for their triggered ability.

April 29, 2019 11:53:03 PM

Andrew Villarrubia
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Foundry))

USA - South

an enchantment tucked under Prison Realm

Originally posted by Isaac King:

Originally posted by Dominik Chłobowski:

The player with the Enchantment didn't take any action; what GRV did they commit?
They chose an illegal target for their triggered ability.
Think wires got crossed here.

I'm pretty certain Dominik is asking “what did the person who controlled the exiled enchantment do,” not “what did the person who controlled Prison Realm do.” I think it should be unanimous here that Prison Realm's controller is getting a GRV.

Edited Andrew Villarrubia (April 29, 2019 11:53:29 PM)

April 30, 2019 01:05:23 AM

Scott Marshall
Forum Moderator
Judge (Level 4 (Judge Foundry)), Hall of Fame

USA - Northwest

an enchantment tucked under Prison Realm

Just chiming in to confirm that (a) Brook's original post is a fine answer, and (b) this is not an example of double GRVs, as NAP wasn't active in the resolution, they just allowed it - i.e., failed to maintain.

d:^D

April 30, 2019 10:21:23 AM

Arman Gabbasov
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Academy))

Russia and Russian-speaking countries

an enchantment tucked under Prison Realm

Originally posted by Mark Mc Govern:

Tucking cards like that helps players to remember which cards were exiled by which effects. While everyone does it, it is not a requirement of the rules.

I cannot confirm with a quote from MTR or CR right now (pretty sure it's in MTR), but it is actually required by the rules. Players should keep exiled cards together with a source that exiled them if there is any effect that requires info about those cards or could do anything with them.

April 30, 2019 10:37:40 AM

Jacob Kriner
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Academy)), Scorekeeper

USA - Northeast

an enchantment tucked under Prison Realm

Originally posted by Arman Gabbasov:

Originally posted by Mark Mc Govern:

Tucking cards like that helps players to remember which cards were exiled by which effects. While everyone does it, it is not a requirement of the rules.

I cannot confirm with a quote from MTR or CR right now (pretty sure it's in MTR), but it is actually required by the rules. Players should keep exiled cards together with a source that exiled them if there is any effect that requires info about those cards or could do anything with them.


From MTR 4.7 Game Layout
If a card is exiled by a permanent and that permanent includes a way to perform additional actions with the exiled card, the association of the two cards must be clear. Keeping the two cards together is recommended.