Organised Play Updates

Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

Some rather interesting news for those of you readers who venture beyond your local Friday Night Magic events and go on to play in the big league.  We've  done a very brief summary here for you but suggest you hit up the mothersite to get the full monty over here.  

First up however, let's talk about hard to get judge foils which may actually may become a titch more difficult to obtain (on the secondary market).

Judge Foils

The Magic Judge Exemplar Program is a brand new Judge Reward Program just recently announced this week.  Magic Judges certified by the DCI are often the un-sung heroes of large tournaments where they provide consistent rules enforcement and promote fair play among a myriad of other tasks.  Judges are typically unpaid for their very hard work but are rewarded through a Judge figt card program where foil Magic: the Gathering cards were either handed out or mailed out to judge staff who worked at MTG tournamdents and events.  Started in 1998, the Judge reward program evolved over the course of the years and in recent years provided approximately eight to ten possible promo cards to be 'earned'.  A number of these promo cards are actually worth a bit of money and has in the past helped some Judges offset the cost of their participation (travel and accommodation) in said event / tournament.  These cards would often find their way on to eBay or retailer's websites where collectors would snap them up.

That has all changed now - for the better or worse, it is up to you to decide. Announcements on 'The Magic Judge' blog introduced the Exemplar Program as the new method of distributing foils to judges in the DCI judge program. The most immediate effect of the foil “policy” change is that judges at GP events will no longer receive foils from WotC as gifts for their efforts.  The Exemplar Program will begin in 2014 for L3+judges and will be fully implemented for all judges in 2015. While judge activities will continue as before, in 2015, judges foils will only be available as part of the Exemplar Program which will use a recognition-based process that will award judge foils to a wider audience of judges based on their contributions to the judging community.  This may mean fewer Judge foils making it on to the secondary market and may impact large tournament organisers latter in the 2015 schedule as they may be required to offer additional incentives or compensation for certified judges - it really is too early to tell.

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PTQs/GPs/PTs Changes

Yesterday on the mothersite was a series of important updates from Helene Bergeot, Director of Global Organized Play Wizards of the Coast.  We suggest that if you are a regular at the large tournaments, you read all four articles to get a handle on the number of changes to the Pro Tour Qualifying (PYQ) System which is to take effect starting with the qualifiers in December.  

Essentially your local gaming store will still be running 'Preliminary' PTQs from which the winners will be qualified to attend a Regional PTQ and from here, potentially on to the Pro Tour.  Other changes include an adjustment as to how Pro Points are earned but since we're not ever expecting to go pro nor do we think that Pros will ever stop by our little MTG Realm Blog, we will just direct you to read this on the mother site.  There are also a planned increase in the number of Grand Prix tournaments and more specifically, a total of 54 GPs in the 2015 calendar year in the following regions :
•    24 in the United States and Canada
•    14 in Europe
•    5 in Mexico, Central America, and South America
•    7 in Asia-Pacific
•    4 in Japan

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Magic Judge Blog

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

Today we want to draw your attention to an absolutely great resource for Magic: the Gathering players - the Magic Judge Rules Blog.  This blog is operated by Chris Richter, Josh Stansfield and Jason Lemahieu and a handful of other wonderful and helpful DCI Judges.  Being rather casual gamers here at MTG Realm whom you will find either at the kitchen table or at a Friday Night Magic event, we've unfortunately limited ourselves to reading over the FAQ documents published with each new set Wizards of the Coast provides.  We have however been dropping by the Judge Rules blog which provides vital rules information / interpretations in an 'easy to digest' format along with examples.  

The other week,  after receiving another order of cards from MTG Mint Card, we found ourselves at the kitchen table with a Witchstalker (in a Bant Hexproof build) which got nerfed with the blue / black 'Far // Away' fuse spell.  Although an Avacyn's Pilgrim got bounced, leaving the Witchstalker was the only warm body on the field at the time for a sac, we did ask ourselves about how many counters hog/wolf/whatever would get, if any had there been another critter.  We did figure it out with a handy post from the Rules blog, who had just recently published it - very handy indeed.
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Anywhoos - here's a slew of recent post titles to give you an idea as to the content on the blog.  If you live a chunk of your day on Tumblr like we do, you should check out 'Ask a Magic Judge'.  
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Fiendslayer Paladin vs. Boros Reckoner (the Paladin isn’t safe)
Boros Reckoner’s ability is not a spell, and it can target the Fiendslayer Paladin just fine. Assuming the trigger was for 2 or more damage, it will kill that Paladin dead.
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Pyromancer’s Gauntlet with Flames of the Firebrand.
If you send all of the Flames at one target, the Gauntlet will add on 2 damage, for a total of 5. However, if you split up the Flames targeting three different creatures or players, the Gauntlet will add 2 damage to each separate instance of 1 damage — and that’s a total of 9 damage!
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Super tech! Regenerating Lotleth Troll to dodge Azorius Charm.
Although appearing counter-intuitive, cast Abrupt Decay on your own Lotleth Troll in response to your opponent casting Azorius Charm on it.
 
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Aurelia and Legion’s Initiative
Multiple attacks and blinking.
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