This is Lugias Realm, Head Judge posting on a site as I am still away from home....
Alex2k,
I was the HJ for the event. I am sorry for the way your ruling went down and the feeling it has left you with. I did not find out about this ruling or lack of time extention until after the match and I believe it was a friend of yours who approached me on this situation and asked me about it. I as told after i asked that the time in question was 1:16 secs. Right or wrong im not sure but I did want to at least respond to your concern and let you know I wish I had been approached earlier. Sorry for the way this went down, I know that does not change anything for you at this point but in the future remember you can always request the HJ to step in and review your concerns...
Yeah, that was my friend Alex. His brother was the little one with the long blonde hair always looking but not buying lol. Thank you very much, and I will definately be sure to call the HJ if I do have a problem. Thank you.
As a rule, if you disagree with a ruling, calmly request an appeal to the HJ. Then, calmly explain the situation. Once the ruling is completed, if the judge team does not issue a time ext., ask for one (if it took 2 or more mins to get the ruling). Otherwise, ripping a judge that made a mistake (that was corrected immediately by another floor judge...a reason to dbl check things with other judges) is wrong. He isnt the one that made the mistakes that you made (or allowed to happen) in the later rds. Judges have to come and clean up other players mistakes, so dont blame us.
Do judges make mistakes? You bet! We are all human and sometimes we err. So do players. I have yet to meet a player that is perfect.
Congrats on a winning record in MAs in a "stiff" state like FL. Nothing to sneeze at. Also, losing rd 1 (unless it ends up being to the lone 7-0) and then losing rd 2, makes a top cut basically impossible. Your resistance is horrid at that stage and you are playing lower tier players (on the day) for the next 4 rds, keeping your %'s low.
Keith
You're right. I typed this right after, and I guess I was still a little upset but i'm over it, today's a new day. A couple of my friends had told me about me being able to T/C, This is my 3rd premier tournament so I wasn't exactly sure how it worked.
Some bad situations, but good job overall. First year in Masters, going 4-3, in FL no less? Well done.
Thank you.
Hi Alex,
I am sorry you feel the way you do! Greg was incorrect in his understanding of the rule with toxicroak! He consulted with me to make sure as a judging staff we got the ruling correct! ! There was nothing for me and Greg to discuss! I knew immediately that Toxicroak did not take the 40 damage! It only took apprx. a minute! That is why no time extenion was given! We were consistant all day, if a ruling took less than 2 minutes, no time extenion was given.
I don't know who you were talking about as far as anyone taking the ruling lightly! It certainly wasn't me that was making fun of you! I made the ruling on Toxicroak and immediately left because I had a game state error at another table to deal with. I won't even tollerate my son trash talking from winning or loseing, or making fun of someone. If he did he wouldn't be playing the next tournament!
I understand the frustration of feeling like you were being stalled! If you had told me you were having issues with slow playing, I would have had Greg or another judge watch your match!
You are a bright young man with a great future in Pokemon! I have been in your situation before! Games you know you would win if time wasn't called. Pokemon extented the match times from 30 minutes to 40 minutes to help with the problem! Anytime you have a concern with what you think is a player trying to stall, please tell one of us so we can watch the match!
Greg is from Georgia and I am from Tennessee. Neither one of us proberly knew more than about 10 players at the tournament! There were some FL judges there, but none of them were involved in the ruling!
Why do we Judge? It is not to help someone we know win as someone implied might be going on in this thread! I judge because I love the game for what it offers our family and many more like us.
Pokemon gives me and my son something we can do together! When I see a father like Jim Roll and his son Grafton excited for each other, enjoying the moments that money can't buy. Last year when Jim and Grafton both won the Fl States are memories that will last a lifetime. John being one of the all time greats of Pokemon watching his son win World's last year. Where else can you form bonds with your children that can last a lifetime. Nothing wrong with a lot of sports, but when your children get older unless they go pro, the days of playing together seem to fade away. Pokemon allows us as long as we live to play together and have fun.
Pokemon gives us the chance to mold our young children! To teach them how to compete. How to enjoy the fruit of all the hard work they put in and to learn how to deal with defeat. How to deal with situations when they feel they weren't done right. What they can learn from the lessons of Pokemon can be applied to real life!
You see, I have always taught my son that if you cheat to win, when you look at that trophy you will know in your heart it means nothing to you because you really didn't earn it! My son in the 2008 World championships round 1 could have taken the first round win. The player he was playing took a prize card when he really didn't knock out a pokemon. The judge came over and said, If your opponent can't verify which card you took, it's a game loss for you. the player told the judge what card he took and my son told the judge that was correct! My son ended up losing that game! How many players would have said I don't know what the card was and took the win! You see Pokemon allows me to teach my son valuable lessons in life.
You see the most memorable moment of World's for me was not the trip to Disney World, the excitement of the game, it was my son up holding his character! I will remember that moment until the day I die. It's moments like that why I judge! I judge because supporting the sport I love will give other kids and adults the opprtunity to have those memories that will last a lifetime and teach them lessons they can use their entire life.
You have a great future in Pokemon and will be a force to be dealt with. Good luck in future events and I look forward to seeing you there!
Ken Cross
Mr Cross, thank you very much for responding the way that you did, it makes me alot more comfortable to see through your viewpoint and completely understand the situation. The first game just stunk. He played normally until there was less than 10 minutes, then stalled when he knew he was beat. I honestly do believe in my heart that Joe T knew the Toxicroak ruling, but decided to call the judges anyways because he knew he could stall for time. I understand that you were in a hurry, but when you left, time was called.
This gave Joe the win. 1 Minute was all it took, ya know? Of course I doubt that you know Joe T, and I know that noone would really give another player a win because they "know them."
My match vs Greg C, I called over an orange bearded use of another error in gameplay. Exactly a minute after, I was going to power spray with Dialga G X active. He had spiritomb up and used the power quickly because he thought that it was still on. I called a judge over, iirc it was you. I just want to make it clear that I wasn' trying to call a judge to get a prize penalty or anything, because I may have had 3-4 cautions in that same very day!
Anyways, Thank you very very much for reposnindg and I look forward to seeing you again, you know the game very well!
-Alex2k aka Kevin K.
^Well put Ken! May all young men and women read this and learn!
Keith
Yes, definately.
i was actually shocked to see just how many jumpluff decks there was, although i believe only one made top cuts, My first concerns were the sloppy judges, man, they were sloppy with the exception of maybe 1 or 2, first off i noticed one of my opponent's mistakes, so i called a judge, what happened.... we both get a caution, for her mistake. she kept repeatly making mistakes so a judge sat at our table, i was playing flychamp against her Gengar/ Ampharos deck. she kept playing stadiums so i kept sand walling with flygon. with expert belt i was doing 60 every turn. I wondered to myself, does she even notice? Well i guess our judge was thinking my flygon was invincible. but when she didn't play a stadium durring her turn i sand walled again for the k o, she pulled up her gengar and poltergeisted for 90. to my shock the judge said that her attack does nothing to flygon? Poor girl she was already confused, so this wasn't helping, i told the judge that he was wrong and that there was no stadium in play last turn so her attack did 90. know what the "professional" judge said, "oh my mistake" and left, didn't return i must say. i heard many complaining about bad ruling, I was thinking to myself geesh this is florida the most competitive state and we get these judges, wow.
Idk whatto say to this. It seems slightly rude to me. The judges weren't the best, i'll give you that, but please don't flame them. They are the reason we play, believe it or not...
Cautions are bad things imo. Your opponent can make a mistake you don't catch because you're so focused on
a) your prize count
b) cards in hand
c) the next turn
etc
That you don't catch your opponents mistakes! Imo, the mistake-e should take the penalty, not the person that cought it later on in the game! I am almost scared to call a judge now that states gave me what, 3-4 cautions?
, Noone should be afraid to call a judge!
Lol, I don't know how competitive Florida is but playing one person who Top 32'd Worlds doesn't impress me. By the end of round 3 I'd already played 2 people who had got 3rd and Top 16. States are supposed to be competitive tournaments, you're going to play hard people. Blaming one really close game which you wouldn't have comfortably won for a 4-3 record is pretty sour.
What? I did end with a 4-3 record. You don't know Florida, so please don't say anything rude until you come down here and see what it's like for yourself. I'm sure that players who top cut florida could easily win some other states.
^ Florida is competitive but I think UK is more. Those players who are good are REALLY good.
Anyway, Unlucky on the ruling.
Yeah, and idk because i've never played UK, so I can't say. :thumb:
First of all, have you even read the penalty guidelines before?? Many times, an error will occur by one player. That error was made bc BOTH players were sloppy and/or asleep at the wheel. When gamestate errors occur, and especially if it turns into a "he said, she said" situation, both players will get a caution. Cautions are EASY, they dont follow you from event to event. BUT, if the same player keeps having issues in gamestate situations and the judges get called over repeatedly, then a history emerges and the penalty can escalate. This is called a pattern. Like it or not, it is one of the things we are trained for. BTW, there aren't any "professional judges" either. They are all VOLUNTEERS who are helping to staff and event so the MAJORITY can play this great game!
Keith
Well put Keith, very well put.
5-2 with a 4-0 streak in florida masters top cutting and getting owned by steve
~Robert Matt
darn man, unlucky! Playing gyara I assume?
Ken, One of the best things I have seen written on here in quite a while. Can't wait to make more memories in GA this weekend. Safe travels and look forward to seeing you again.....and having you as our judge!!
Jim
I agree. Good luck at Florida even though you don't know me personally. I wish your family good luck.
