Autographed Cards

[Hurricane]

Hey Pokegym crew, I have a tricky question for you today. Yesterday at our Battle Road in Top 2, there was a person with an autographed Psychic Energy. The Judge finally sees it after 5 Rounds of swiss and in the Top 4, so total 6 Rounds, and assumes the penalty is a Prize Penalty. They think it over, and then agree it is at LEAST 1 Prize. So his opponent says, "Can I opt not to take the prize??", in what I presume you could. The Judge replied, "No, its mandatory" and that was so. Is this right? Because it looked wrong to me sadly. Please answer soon Rule Team!

Yours Truly,
Jacob Lesage.

 

[PokePop]

While we don't normally get into discretionary rulings that judges make in resolving game state issues, this one is pretty cut and dried.

The drawing of a prize on a Prize Penalty certainly can be declined by the opponent.
It is still recorded as a Prize Penalty, though.

It was designed that way with cards like Scramble Energy in mind, where a player could "draw" a penalty on purpose to improve their cards effectiveness.