Level Two - Lesson 17
Master Event Document - Marked Cards and Deck Checks
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Hello there!
Welcome back to the level two lessons for the Star Wars™: Unlimited Judge Program!
As always, I’m your host Jonah, and this lesson is the second of two looking at decks, decklists, and deck legality. Today we’ll look at marked cards and how to identify them, as well as how to perform a deck check in a timely manner, and what our goals are when checking decks.
As always with policy, this is an area that is continually being refined, and will grow and evolve as play also continues to evolve. This does make it a bit of a challenge to both learn and teach, so this is likely a lesson that will similarly evolve over time.
Marked Cards
It’s easy for us to agree that if a player is able to know what card they (or their opponent) is about to draw, that can grant them a significant and unfair advantage.
Cards that are marked - identifiable when facedown and hidden information - provide that advantage.
The challenge comes first in agreeing on what makes a card marked.
There are many ways that cards and sleeves can be marked - the corners get dinged up, there’s warping along the top of the sleeve from shuffling, cards are warped, dirt and scuff marks appear from long use, differences in colors due to manufacturing processes or even sun bleaching.
In fact, with practically every card or sleeve, if you look close enough, you can find something that distinguishes it from it’s neighbors - but we’re not worried about those.
If you have to lay your head down on the table and carefully examine the card and compare it to it’s neighbors to point out the difference or you hold the deck at a particular angle in particular light and thumb through it, and that reveals something to you... those actions will be obvious and apparent if a player is doing them during an event. This means that as you look for marked cards, it’s important to realize that some marks aren’t problematic on a practical level.
Resolving Marked Card Issues
If you discover marked cards, the issue needs to be addressed. If you believe the player is aware of these marked cards and may be taking advantage of them, the Head Judge should investigate for cheating.
If you believe that it’s an innocent error (which is common), then the issue needs to be remedied. The cards or sleeves that are marked should be replaced, and the player issued a warning penalty, along with one penalty point.
If there are only a few marked sleeves, and the sleeves of sideboard cards are unmarked, the player can unsleeve those sideboard cards, and resleeve the maindeck cards, so that they don’t need to acquire new sleeves. However, sometimes a significant portion of the deck will need to be resleeved, and the player will need to acquire new sleeves. Assist the player in resleeving their deck to expedite the process - one person unsleeving and the other sleeving can save significant time.
If you believe that the player is not cheating, that the number of cards needing resleeving is significant and that the advantage the player would gain by completing their match with these cards is very minor, you can have the player replace the sleeves at the end of the match. If you EVER do not have a player change marked cards immediately, you can let them know that they are receiving a warning for marked cards, and to check in with you at the end of the round, but do NOT tell them the specific marks. If you tell them what the marks are, they now have information about their deck that they should not have. This should only be done with caution and careful thinking.
If cards, not sleeves, are marked and can not be reasonably played in the event, they need to be replaced. The player should try to acquire replacements from their collection, other competitors and friends, or vendors on site. If they are unable to do so in a timely manner (approximately five minutes), and you have reason to believe that the cards became marked during the event, the Head Judge can replace them with temporary proxies for the event. If the cards were not marked during the event, they need to be removed from the deck. If the player is unable to replace them, this will likely result in an issue that is resolved like a deck problem for having too few cards, and they will be replaced with random sideboard cards until replacements can be found. No penalty beyond the marked cards warning should be issued. The deck list should be updated to match it’s new state, and can be reverted to it’s original order if replacements are found without further infraction.
If more cards are marked than the player has sideboard cards, they are unable to play matches until they find suitable replacements. This player is not disqualified, but will receive match losses each round until they find replacements. Once they find replacements, they are able to return to participating fully in the event.
The Goals of Deck Checks
Deck checks are a preventative measure. While a good goal for deck checks is to check 10% of the field, that only checks a small percentage of decks presented.
With a one-hundred-player event, there will be seven rounds of play. Checking ten decks (five deck checks) hits that 10% mark. However, over the course of seven rounds, there will be several hundred matches, and all of them will be at least two games - at least one thousand decks will be presented over the course of the swiss rounds, so we’re only checking 1% of the decks presented.
So while we may be catching issues, it’s very likely that small errors (like someone forgetting to de-sideboard and not realizing until after game one because the cards never came up), we’re not going to catch the majority of deck problems - and that’s okay.
The purpose of deck checks is be seen performing them. At events without deck checks, malicious players pick up on that and recognize that they have opportunities to take advantage of the lack of scrutiny. When performing a check, one of the most important parts is making sure that the players and the other players in the area are aware that a deck check is occurring.
“Swooping” for Decks
This is going to be somewhat abbreviated, and we’ll take time in future lessons to cover mastery of deck checks, as they are logistically complicated and have many moving parts - which means that there’s always room for improvement.
- Select a table to check
- Every table is eligible for a deck check - it’s important to check tables in the middle and end of the event, as well as at the top tables - every player deserves a fair event
- Many event software offer a random tables printout that let’s you select from a list or be given a specific table to check
- Sometimes a player, judge or other tournament participant has raised a concern about a specific deck, and so you’ll target them for a deck check
- Towards the end of the event, especially if you have coverage, you’ll want to ensure that all potential top eight competitors are checked - game losses issued in single elimination portions are very impactful
- This can be challenging because top players can intentionally draw their final round or two and not have to play
- Grab a buddy
- If possible, you want someone with you at all times. For the “swoop” where you swoop in and pick up the decks, having someone with you allows them to answer calls, so that you can pick up the decks in an appropriate window
- Pick up the decks
- As we discussed in the previous lesson, decks aren’t considered decks for the purposes of tournament integrity until they have been presented to the opponent for shuffling or cutting, so you need to wait until both players have presented
- However, you also want to ensure that you pick up the decks before either player has drawn opening hands, as this can add significant logistical challenges.
- Deck checks can happen at the beginning of game one, beginning of game two, or the end of game three, before players have de-sideboarded their decks.
- Let the players know that you’d like their deck in their deckbox along with their sideboard, for a deck check and that you’ll be back in just a few minutes.
- Check how much time is left in the round, so you can issue an appropriate time extension when you return
- This is also a good time to check if a player has presented their sideboard separately
- Confirm with the players who they are, so that you can return the decks to the correct player
- Take the decks to the deck check area
- You should have an area away from players to perform these checks. It allows you to lay out the decks and not give away information, as well as to have conversations about potential concerns without having those in more public spaces
- Get the deck lists ready
- If you have paper lists, ideally a third person has already pulled them from your pile and has them presented. Otherwise, pull them up in your digital list tool
- Begin the check with your buddy
- You should start with one deck and decklist, and your partner should take the other, to ensure efficiency. Having a colleague nearby also means that you can consult with each other immediately.
- However, with smaller staff sizes, this is not always plausible. It is important to keep some judges with an eye on the floor - this might mean solo deck checks, or it might mean performing the deck checks closer to the event.
The Deck Check Itself
For beginning of round checks, the first thing I do is check the sideboard - most issues come from failure to desideboard or removing too many cards. Because the sideboard is smaller, it is easier and faster to check.
You can also do a quick marked cards check on the deck as it was presented to you. Just quickly look at the backs and edges of the cards to see if anything sticks out to you, and count to 50 (or the appropriate number of various formats and bases) just to ensure you have the right number.
Once you’ve completed those two steps, it’s time to sort. You’ll have to find a sorting method that works for you - some folks sort the deck by individual card, and have many piles in front of them, some sort by cost, or color.
I recommend sorting the same way the decklist is sorted - for Melee, that’s by units (separated into ground and space), events, and upgrades. I do two quick sorts - units and non-units first, then separate out into ground, space, events, and upgrades. These sorts are very quick, and I’m breaking the task into smaller, more manageable chunks. Then I simply go down the list, and pull out the cards on the decklist. This process ensures that I make sure that every card on the list is in the deck, and that every card in the deck is on the list.
Once the deck contents are verified, I reassemble the deck and check again for marked cards. Sometimes, a pattern will become visible when several cards with the same markings are next to each other.
It’s important to note that there are often innocent explanations for concerning markings. Cards in sideboards see less play, and therefore less wear and tear than maindeck cards, but can consequently appear marked in relation to the maindeck cards. Some players may double-sleeve high-value cards to protect them, but not the rest of the deck. Other times, players run out of sleeves partway through sleeving a deck, and get a different print run, which may have slight color variation, despite being the same product.
Confirming Marked Cards
If you do identify marked cards, test yourself to ensure that the mark is significant enough. I recommend taking the deck and putting it on the table, like you’re playing a game. Then quickly go through the deck, spending less than a second on each card, putting them into two piles - marked and not marked. Once you’ve gone through the deck, flip over the cards that you identified as “marked”. Then do it again, to ensure that you find them consistently, and it wasn’t a coincidence. If cards that you didn’t identify as marked are showing up, or the cards you did identify as marked aren’t showing up, then it’s probably not marked cards, and you can return the deck.
This is also important for when you talk with the player and show them the marked cards. If you’re able to consistently pull specific cards from their deck without looking at their faces, and without spending significant amounts of time examining them, that has an impact.
However, this can backfire - if you perform this “magic trick”, and don’t reveal the cards you raised concerns about, then it’s very difficult to issue a marked cards infraction, because even you can’t meaningfully identify the cards in question.
Returning the Decks
Once both decks are checked, return the decks to the deckboxes as they were given to you, and bring them back to the players.
Most players haven’t been deck checked before, so it’s important to remind them a few things. First, they’ll be getting a time extension - the time since you left with the deck checks, plus an additional three minutes.
I want to set some expectations and standards here - a fast deck check results in a seven-minute extension - four minutes for a complete deck check itself, plus the additional three. An average deck check should result in an eight-minute extension. A no-issue deck check should almost never result in a ten-minute extension. These are aspirational numbers - a challenge for you to meet. Not meeting them isn’t a failing, but I want to encourage getting efficient with checks - not just for tournament progression (saving time is great), but also for the player experience. The longer the players are sitting without their decks, the more concerned and frustrated they will get, and that reaction can cause them to play worse, or simply have a less enjoyable time at the event.
We give them this extra time because their decks have just been sorted, and so they need to shuffle thoroughly. In the case of mid-round deck checks, let the players know that their sideboarding decisions have been maintained, but that they can confirm that things are the way they expect them to. Finally, for end-of-round deck checks, performed after the match has concluded, any penalties apply to this round - this means that a game loss penalty may change the outcome of the match, or have no impact, depending on what the match result was.
We’re only scratching the surface, but the best way to get better at these skills is to practice in real life. Ask your friends to submit decklists to you and perform deck checks - time yourself, and see how fast you can get sorting decks you’re not familiar with. Identify marked cards and suggest that your friends replace sleeves. We’ll of course be back to discuss these more in future lessons and broadcasts, but this is an area you can practice without needing matches being played, or a tournament being run. If you’re watching this on YouTube, and you want more level two lessons in your feed, go ahead and subscribe. Join us Tuesdays and Fridays on twitch.tv/swu_judges for live broadcasts covering the content of these lessons as they are released, and join the Star Wars: Unlimited Judge Program Discord to join the community in discussion of this and much, much more.
As always, good luck, and have fun.