Greetings judges! Welcome back to the Knowledge Pool. This week we have Bronze scenario, so judges who have judged more than a couple Competitive REL events should wait until after their FNM before they reply.

The blog post for this scenario is here.

You are a floor judge on Day 1 of a Grand Prix, and round 3 just started. Alvaro pulls his playmat out of his backpack and sets it next to his coffee, which gets accidentally knocked over and spills on his deck. He calls for a judge immediately, and you take the call at 2 minutes into the start of the round. Alvaro tells you, “I just spilled coffee on my deck and I'm going to need new sleeves. Can I go buy them?” You tell him yes. 9 minutes later (11 minutes into the round), Alvaro returns with his deck re-sleeved and says, “Thanks, judge!” as he sits down to play. What do you do?

According to the IPG, if a player receives permission from a judge for a delay for a legitimate task, and takes more than 10 minutes to complete that task, a Match Loss is applied for tardiness. Since Alvaro took only 9 minutes to complete the task, I simply issue a time extension and let play resume. At the start of the next round, I would make an announcement reminding players to please keep food and drinks off the tables as to not damage their, or other player's cards.

Hey Frankie (and everyone else who read along), thanks for participating! You came to the correct conclusion. Here is the official solution for this week:

There is no infraction. Alvaro asked for time and he has 10 minutes from the time of the request to purchase the things he needs, even if the request was made after the start of the round. Provide the table with a 9 minute extension.

Thanks and see you next time!