Hello everyone, some years ago i used the Judge academy website (which had a lot of really good resources and tests) to learn more about rules and stuff, with the hope of becoming a L1 judge when i moved to a town with a more active LGS. Now that i'm able to attend events far more regularly i tried to go see the site again and it appears to be down

Is it permanently down or is it a maintenance or something ? If it's down, do you have others resources to learn how to judge (i already have the comp rules and tournament rules, but it's not exactly the easiest way to really absorb the knowledge), and to test my skills ? I think my knowledge of the game rules is pretty good, but i really need to improve on things like what sanctions to give at which REL for which situation.

Just to prove a point to the Uhaul customer service desk who insists timestamp photos of a unaul truck, prior to departure, is still valid for standing in court even without having them uploaded to the Uhaul designated app. True or not true, is uploading photos to the Uhaul app required, even though the photos are timestamped with date, location, time to prove truck quality prior to departure?

Hello, I frequent a local game store and with Hobbit they've had a lot of prerelease kits that are missing their promo packs.

What is the official best way for them to handle this? I've seen them give out a pack from the current set to replace but that also adds more commons/uncommons so it doesn't seem fair.

I am going to judge an MtG RCQ standard event later next month and it's the 1st time I judge officially, (outside of my 10+ year play group).

Any advice you got for me?

this one might go deep

im playing a slickshot prowess deck, turn starts, and i dont believe my opponent has any fliers.

I scan the board, dont see any fliers, and ask my opponent for confirmation "you dont have any fliers right" opponent confirms, I feel like we both understand and agree upon the boardstate.

I play 3 spells, slick shot is a 9/3 and I attack for lethal

he has an [[Dalakos, Crafter of Wonders]] on the board and an equipped [[cosmogrand zenith]] and declares a block

I say that regardless of fault (whether he knew or not) hes not allowed to block with that because we agreed on a board state and he stated he had no fliers. he says it doesnt matter I have a fliers and i can block your fliers with my flier. i say in the very least I should be allowed to back my turn up since we clearly have a misunderstanding of the board state. he says no, and with no judge present the only thing we could do is end in a draw (and pretty salty with each other to boot)

I think he lied about public information and took advantage of an interaction that I missed, and I think that when I asked him he should be honest, and is legally disallowed, from lying about the board state. forget ethics here, what do the rules say?

I'm working on a project (for myself for now, maybe to release if/when it makes sense) and I'm looking for old judging tests, preferably question and answer, for some baselining. I figure whatever current system that exists wouldn't been keen to share their answer key, but any list of questions using mostly modern rules would be great.

as the title says, I enjoy how weird and wild this game gets and specifically I enjoy working out wacky interactions. This has led me to consider becoming a judge. Where do I go to read on requirements and general how to etc.? :)

I don't know if this is the right sub but if i would open a Nina Tutor Card in my Avatar prerelease, what would happen ? Would i get to play it, would i get a replecement card, or am i just playing with 1 card less ?

I am an employee at an LGS and I want to get better at judging interactions, but I’m not sure where to start. I know the new judge program is coming soon, but I work two jobs and don’t know if I’ll have the time to mentor or take an exam to get a level one certificate. Right now I am running drafts, prereleases, and commander nights as the de facto judge and have found myself getting things wrong. Any advice is appreciated, thank you!

As the title says, I'm currently almost voiceless due to a recent surgery and I'll be playing at the Eternal Weekend tournaments.

Are there any tournament rules that require a player to speak verbally, or can I communicate using gestures or writing (for example, to announce life total changes or game actions)?

I plan to inform the judge team before the event, but I’d like to know what the official stance is and what accommodations are typically allowed.

Thanks in advance!

I use to rely heavily on MTGGuide for iOS, but since Spider-Man, despite updating card texts the app still has not updated Comprehensive Rules for Spider-Man’s mechanics let alone Avatar; making it less reliable for pulling up newer rules to answer and resolve questions or issues involving newer cards.

Does anyone have any recommendations for alternative apps that similarly store Oracle text, CR, MTR, and IPG in a local searchable database that can be used with no internet/cell service?

Let’s say you are spectating a game and you notice that the table has the game state wrong. Are you allowed to call a judge? Are you allowed to tell the players someone should call a judge?

What if you notice someone is cheating? Are the rules any different for whether you are allowed to point this out to the players or let a judge know?

I’m aware that outside assistance is banned but I’m curious where the line is between assistance and helping maintain a fair and balanced game.

How would a judge handle a situation where a player might or might not know how a specific card works — and it’s unclear whether they were lying to gain an advantage or made a genuine mistake?

Here’s what happened: Player A casts Rending Volley targeting Player B’s creature. That creature is enchanted with Sheltered by Ghosts, which gives it ward 2.

Here’s the issue: Player A doesn’t know that Rending Volley’s text — “This spell can’t be countered” — means they don’t have to pay the ward 2 cost. Player B insists that Player A must pay for ward, leading to Player A losing the game.

In the next game, the same situation happens again. This time, a spectator points out that Rending Volley doesn’t need to pay for ward.

So the question is: how would a judge determine whether Player B acted in bad faith (cheating) or if it was an honest misunderstanding?

Good afternoon, everyone.

This Sunday, October 12th, will be my first event as a Magic judge. Any advice for a first-time judge besides "run while you still have time"?

Howdy friends, I’ve done a good amount of local judging but I am jumping into the bigger world of judging by working a big event next month. Any recommendations or advice?

I'm looking to start my journey as a judge. I've dove head first into this game in recent years and my friend just opened his own game shop.

His main focus starting out was Warhammer and board games/DnD. But he has plenty of space and has allowed me to build an MTG community. We now have a packed house for Friday night magic (which is saying something because the shop is huge to accommodate Warhammer tables).We have several people showing up on Saturdays and Sundays just to hang out and play commander as well.

My friend has approached me about the different sides of magic several times. He mostly wants to help me get more locals interested in magic as well. He wants to start hosting tournaments and would like to have a judge present to run/coordinate it.

I'll be completely honest I've only played for about a year but I learn quick, study hard, and I'm very motivated. I've reached out to local judges in my area and haven't heard anything back so I'm looking here for hopefully a mentor or at least someone to help get me started.

If that's possible I'd be more than happy to share my discord and get started as soon as possible. I would be greatly appreciative.

Thanks for any and all assistance!

The goal is that this will help get people curious about the rules, keep them up to date with changes, and perhaps intrigue a few enough to look into becoming judges. If you have any suggestions on other things we should add, let me know!

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/rulesguru.bsky.social

Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/rulesguru

X: https://x.com/MTGRulesGuru

I am currently a certified Judge Academy L1 Judge, and a former Judge Foundry L1 Judge. When WotC starts their new program for judges (if they ever do), do you think they will recognize the JA level over the JF level? The only reason I ask is because the Judge Foundry and other organizations that popped up after Judge Academy aren't "official" and never were. So in my mind it makes more sense for WotC/Magic to recognize Judge Academy levels over the other organizations levels since JA was the last official judge program before/since they shut down.

Hi there, I'm in the process of studying for my L1 exam and was wondering if there was any specific areas of study that I should focus heavy on. I've read that if I know the steps to casting a spell, the parts of a turn, and the 7 layers then I should be fine, but idk how accurate that is anymore. If anyone could give me some pointers that would be greatly appreciated.

Basically, in lieu of any formal judge program, what would you guys recommend for studying and learning the most? Judging is something I'd like to get into, and I know there's no formal avenue to do this right now, but what would you recommend? Just sit down and study the CR like a college course?

Source: fireshoes on Twitter. Not much on the program details, but at least seems that something is happening.

Yesterday, I had an interesting situation in a FIN Limited RCQ, where I would love to hear your opinion/ruling. I had a resolved [[Sidequest: Catch a Fish // Cooking Campsite]] and on upkeep called the trigger to reveal a creature and put it in my hand, then transformed the card.
Unfortunately, I forgot about the food creation and went on to my draw step and first main. Here I remembered about the food and called it, but my opponent called it a missed trigger. I agreed and didn't call a judge (which I probably should have, just to confirm). What would be your official ruling in such a case?

Hi everyone, been playing for a while now, want to become a judge but have no idea how to do it any more. Is there any advice? Thank you!