Yesterday at my LGS, I was called over to try and resolve a situation that had arisen. Player A (Alan) attacks and brings his opponent (Nigel) down to 4 life. He then casts a Siege Rhino, and Nigel says “And I'm dead?”, but Alan points out that he should be at one. Alan had life totals written down, and Nigel was using spindowns. After I come over, a dispute arose as they tried to track at least 8 turns of life changes (and both players not agreeing on a total). While they accounted for as much as they could, since Alan had his written down, I went with his numbers (and they did match what they remembered).

My question is this: What's the easiest way to resolve disputes like this? What about if both players are using spindowns? What would you have done in this situation?

The short answer is that there often ISN'T an easy way of resolving situations like this. If the players can recall the events of the game, and/or someone has been writing it down, then that may help you make a decision (like in the situation you describe). But otherwise you'll just have to take the information given and just decide what the life totals should be.

My advice then is more to do with how you deliver your decision, rather than how you come to it:

Make it clear to the players that you weren't playing the game, so you have to rely only on the information and stories you've been given.

Next, and you'll have to figure out how best to phrase it so it doesn't come across too bluntly - the players have messed up. One or other (or both) hasn't tracked the life totals correctly, hence the need for a judge. So if anyone is to blame, it's not you. You're here to fix the mess, you didn't cause it. (Again, phrase it nicer than I've written!).

Lastly, recommend pen and paper to them in future so that both players can track back the life totals. Hopefully it doesn't happen again :)

Sounds like you did everything you could do. Have them walk back through the game as best they can. Try to remember a point that the both agree on and walk back from there. Make sure to look through the graveyard and exile for things like fetchlands or vapor snags that have small life losses attached to them that would easily be forgotten. Or things like courser of kruphix that have small gains that may be recorded by the person controlling it and forgotten by the opponent. Short of that, going with the person with written notes seems like the safest bet.

Also, remind them that verbally confirming life total changes should happen every time someone gains or loses life.

Also, note that even life totals tracked with pen and paper can be wrong, so it's always important to get as much information as possible about what has been happening during the last few turns while investigating. Sometimes (though it is rare) it can happen that the person that was not writing the notes has the right values.

The one thing that stands out here - why is Nigel disputing a life total change that is directly to his benefit? I'm sure there are a number of good reasons, but if Alan is insistent that his play does not in fact cause Nigel to lose the game, I might be inclined to point that fact out - Alan is clearly being honest and forthright and doesn't just want a “free win”, so what's the actual issue?

Sometimes just asking “why” of the players will inform a lot as to how to approach a dispute!

Edited Rebecca Lawrence (June 10, 2015 10:55:25 AM)

Depending on the matchup and the specifics, one trick is to look for changes on paper of exactly one life point and to count the number of fetchlands in the yard and gainlands in play. When life points are off by one in this format, 90% of the time it's because of Polluted Delta and Dismal Backwater (or color-shifted equivalent).