Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

When to call a judge?

I

inverse

New Member
I'm pretty new to the TCG, and just recently played my at first tournament (and did pretty poorly). I was wondering under what circumstances you typically call a judge over, since there were a few "irregularities" during my matches:

1. Opponent played a Technical Machine TS-1 onto a Pokemon on his bench, then used Evoluter to search his deck and evolve the Pokemon. I called him on this, and he agreed/realized that only the active Pokemon can attack, and he shuffled the card back into his deck.

2. Opponent forgot to take a prize card. I realized this near the end of their turn and brought it to their attention. I don't recall if anything was in play (i.e. Claydol) where this may have made a difference.

3. I knocked out opponent's Dusknoir Lv. X. Took one damage counter on each of my Pokemon. Since I was unfamiliar with this card at the time, at the end of my turn I asked if I should take damage again, since that's what I understood the card to say, and he said only at the end of his turn.

So, two questions:
1. Should I have called a judge over for any of these? They seemed pretty minor at the time, and I doubt any of them affected the outcome of the game, but the first one's been bugging me.
2. How often do you run across people in tournaments who don't seem to understand what the cards in their own deck do?

Thanks for any insight.
 
inverse said:
I'm pretty new to the TCG, and just recently played my at first tournament (and did pretty poorly). I was wondering under what circumstances you typically call a judge over, since there were a few "irregularities" during my matches:

1. Opponent played a Technical Machine TS-1 onto a Pokemon on his bench, then used Evoluter to search his deck and evolve the Pokemon. I called him on this, and he agreed/realized that only the active Pokemon can attack, and he shuffled the card back into his deck.

2. Opponent forgot to take a prize card. I realized this near the end of their turn and brought it to their attention. I don't recall if anything was in play (i.e. Claydol) where this may have made a difference.

3. I knocked out opponent's Dusknoir Lv. X. Took one damage counter on each of my Pokemon. Since I was unfamiliar with this card at the time, at the end of my turn I asked if I should take damage again, since that's what I understood the card to say, and he said only at the end of his turn.

So, two questions:
1. Should I have called a judge over for any of these? They seemed pretty minor at the time, and I doubt any of them affected the outcome of the game, but the first one's been bugging me.
2. How often do you run across people in tournaments who don't seem to understand what the cards in their own deck do?

Thanks for any insight.
Click to expand...


As far as I can tell, you should've called a judge over for all of these. They are all minor errors, but if an opponent is making these mistakes it should be noted and they should be officially warned.

Since I started judging tournaments, I've seen even "pro" players not knowing what certain cards do. There's no way to remember what EVERY card says exactly, which is why you are always allowed to read something to make sure it is being played correctly. If you aren't sure, call a judge. That's why we are there.
 
All of these errors should have been alerted to the Judge. We keep track of gameplay errors and if one player is constantly making errors, the penalty can go up.

On the Dusky X as a stadium, you would have taken damage after each turn, yours and his, until the stadium was knocked out of play.

Keith
 
On the Dusky X as a stadium, you would have taken damage after each turn, yours and his, until the stadium was knocked out of play.

Keith[/QUOTE]

does both players take damage in between turns or is it only the opponent (not the owner of the card)?
 
Just the opponent takes the damage with dusknoir.

But I agree with everyone else here. You should have called over a judge for all three of these mistakes. EVen though you were able to solve them, your opponent may have tried to pull it on another opponent, and they may not have caught it. (granted only one would have put your opponent at an advantage) It's what we're here for....to help you guys out.
 
Thanks for the replies guys!

I think that answers my questions. I guess I mostly wanted to know how seriously minor play errors should be taken, even when they're basically resolved between the two players.

And yes, I can understand players not knowing what every card does (I certainly don't!) If it's in their own deck though, I would hope they would have read it. :smile:
 
Any time you're not sure of something, call a judge. Even if you can fix it on your own. One of the most common mistakes I've seen is when the top card of the deck is flipped over accidentally. This normally isn't a big deal at all, but often the players will 'fix' the error by shuffling the card into the deck, instead of calling a judge. That's when it becomes a bigger problem.

Never be afraid to call a judge. Never avoid calling a judge because your opponent says you're a tattletale. If everyone playing had a nickel for each time a cheater could have been caught by calling a judge over at the time, Pokemon players would probably be the richest people in the world.
 
Like what Apacheprime said, even "pro" players make mistakes or dont know what cards do. my rating is in the 1660's, which is pretty high, and i didn't know you could use 2 Setups a turn![uxies La's power] everybody looked at me like i was nuts, then i went on to beating the dude one ranking ahead of me in the state. You should call a judge when you feel that your opponent should get a warning, but if you call the judge once too many times, it will seem like your trying to get your opponent in trouble and you'll be the one getting the warning.
 
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