Join Bryan and Charles as we return to policy episodes and talk about Game Rule Violations (GRVs) from the Magic Infraction Procedure Guide.  Magic is a complex game, and there are many things that players can do to cause problems in the game.  As Tournament officials we need to know how to recognize and, if possible, fix the situation.  However, how can you fix a mistake that happened 3 turns ago, and has had its impact build over three turns.

In this episode, we talk about how to recognize a GRV, how to recognize if you can fix the problem, how to fix the problem if you can, and then why you shouldn’t just make up your own fixes.  GRVs are among the most common infraction given at Competitive tournaments, and definitely something any judge working an RCQ or higher should understand.

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

As a player who is used to casual commander pods and the occasional Wednesday night draft, you might be curious about other events, and look to try something different. Maybe your store’s RCQ, maybe traveling to a nearby SCG CON. Either way, you’ll be surprised to see that things work a little differently when serious prizes are on the line.

Join Bryan and Marcos, as we give you our top 12 things we (as Judges) believe you (as Players) should know when going to your first Competitive REL events. Many players have the same questions, and similar problems when they are used to the ultra-laid back vibe of casual play, and run up against structures with more rigidity.

Number 6 will shock you. Or maybe it won’t. I didn’t look up what number 6 was before writing that sentence.

Just like the plane of Lorwyn/Shadowmoor, our release notes episode is also divided in 2, as Bryan couldn’t join us for this episode. Having said that, Charles and Marcos run through Lorwyn, attempting to evoke some emotions (and seriously force some segue puns) for one of our favorite Magic planes! Join us as we travel the vivid landscape, avoiding the blight on the paths, and behold our kindred brethren – the goblins of Lorwyn. Wait, no, that’s just a changeling. I always confuse them for… well everything.

Also, which cards will ruin CEDH? Which cards excite us the most? How many times can we talk about the +1/+1 and -1/-1 counter state-based action in one show? Take a listen to find out!

Update Bulletin: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/lorwyn-eclipsed-update-bulletin

Release Notes: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/lorwyn-eclipsed-release-notes

In this episode Bryan, Charles, and Marcos do NOT tackle complex rules interactions, or deep dive into tournament operations. Instead we each choose one or two smaller topics, ones not worth a full show, and instead talk about those. Will it be coherent? Probably not. Will it be entertaining? Definitely not! Will it be over an hour? Absolutely.

In this episode Bryan, Charles, and Marcos are joined by Brandon Welch, the Head Judge of the recent Regional Championship in Vegas to talk about a topic many HJs care a lot about: “End of Round”. This episode goes deep into the tournament logistics of reducing people’s least favorite part of the tournament: Waiting for the next round to begin.
Turns out a lot more goes into making sure the next round starts as quickly as possible than harassing players to enter their results. But lets be clear, that absolutely *is* part of it.

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

Join Bryan, Charles, and Marcos as we talk about attending your first big event. Maybe its a MagicCon, or an SCGCon, or a Regional Championship, or maybe, your first large event isn’t even Magic related. Judges new to these events have a lot of questions, and the JudgeCast crew take a stab at pre-answering many of them, or letting you know where to find the answers. While our background is in Magic Tournaments, many of these questions/answers are common across all game IPs, and as other games are entering the tournament space, we are having more and more folks staffing these events for the first time.

Join Bryan, Charles, and Marcos as we discuss cards and mechanics from the latest MTG Set, Avatar the Last Airbender. We go over important topics like how ‘How does Earthbend work’, ‘Is Firebending a mana ability’, ‘How Waterbending works with additional costs’ and ‘Is a platypus bear more or less weird than a badgermole?’.

Hopefully you are as excited for this set as we are.

The interaction of Continuous effects, commonly known as the Layers, were first immortalized in the forth century when the monk Evagrius Ponticus increased forms of continuous effects from 6 to 7. Since then they have been part of our shared zeitgeist.
We sing about Seven Layers a ‘laying at Christmas. We go on rides at Disney based on Snow White and the Seven Layers. The White Stipes write songs about them. Even the king of comedic counter culture did a bit about the Seven Layers you cant say on TV. My personal favorite is the Akira Kurosawa classic where a town recruits the seven layers to defend them from a bandit gang of state based actions. Armed with nothing but bamboo spears and timestamps, our hearty band of continuous effects are able to fend off the bandit gang in a bittersweet pyrrhic victory.

In this episode, Bryan, Charles, and Marcos talk about the interaction of continuous effects, AKA The Layers, the supposed boogieman of the Magic Rules. Our goal is to help you realize that this Boogieman is more Dog and less John Wick. We talk about what the layers are, how to combine effects both within the layers, and across the layers, then we spend a lot of time going over examples. Too many examples, really. We even help you realize that you’ve been figuring out dependencies all along, you just didnt realize it. So sit back, give us a listen, or give us a watch on YouTube where we can share card images.

Oh, and Bryan spent time thinking about which of the seven deadly sins would map to each layer, so you get to enjoy this rare glimpse into his brain. Do you agree or disagree?

Copy – Lust
Control – Envy
Text – Pride
Type – Wrath
Color – Sloth
Abilities – Greed
Power/Toughness – Gluttony
Everything Else – Acedia

In our JudgeFoundry L1 Essentials videos we go over items that candidates need to know for their L1 exams. However, at the beginning of each episode we say that we go into topics deeper on our podcast. In this episode of JudgeCast, join Bryan, Charles, and Marcos as we take a topic we just covered in our L1 Essentials video and go over the rules in more detail, and cover rules that were left out of the L1 Essentials.

Do you know the difference between a one-shot and a continuous effect? What about the difference between a continuous effect generated by a resolving spell versus a permanent?
This is Part 1 of a 2 part series where we discuss what continuous effects are before we cover the interaction of continuous effects, AKA Layers.

The L1 certification process is relatively straightforward. Mix up some rules, sift in a light dusting of policy, bake for a couple of prereleases weekend at 70% of 25 questions on an exam, and BAM you’re now an L1. But as a new L1, you might be wondering, now what?

Join Bryan, Charles, and Marcos as we discuss a list of things new L1s often ask after they pass their exam, or should ask, but don’t know that they should. We discuss:
– Finding other judges
– How to find other events outside your LGS
– How to apply to those events
– What your responsibility is now to the Magic community
– What is a “purple fox”
– And other topics that your mentor might have forgot to tell you.

Social Media Links
Join JudgeCast on our Discord server! https://discord.gg/hQd48guKFR
JudgeCast: BlueSky – @Judgecast.bsky.social / Twitter: @JudgeCast
Bryan: BlueSky – @Bprill.bluesky.social
Charles: BlueSky – @MTGDad.bsky.social
Marcos: BlueSky – @MJ6Music.bsky.social / Twitter @MJ6Music

Credits
Intro & Outro Music: “Seed” by Carbon Leaf. Used with permission. @carbonleafofficial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxDb4ydae50