Players Vs. Judges

So this first article is gonna be specifically about players who think they know better than judges. Now I don't mind a friendly discussion about a ruling, or pointing me in the direction of the correct ruling if I have access to the internet, or if you can show me your point of view and have it make sense, but don't act like I am a complete idiot and you are the smartest person on the planet. Why? Because I'm the god damned judge, that's why. I took the time to take the test, study up on the rules book, set up the store to become an official sanctioned store, and I constantly read rulings on every source avaliable. Give me some credit. I spend A LOT of time looking up rulings. Too much in fact, but I only do so so that I don't look like a complete idiot when some player decides they want to look cool in front of their friends and argue with me about it. Guess what? Your opinion doesn't matter to me. What matters is how the rule actually works. Now I'll be the first to admit when I'm wrong, and I'm wrong enough to make sure that I get proof or at least the correct wording before I decide on a ruling, but honestly, with the amount of stupid questions I get from the same people that think they are better at rulings than I am, most of the time I'm right. Now when a player comes up to me asks me to look up the ruling or calmly explains to me their point of view, I am more willing to budge on something that I either made a mistake on, or don't have the capability at the time to correct myself. I don't give out game/match losses often, cause most players know how to avoid those, but every single time I get into one of these little arguments, I get one step closer to just having a flat "Banned from the store for arguing with the Judge" rule. But so far I haven't had that much of a problem with these issues. Rules in this game SUCK. They really do, some stuff makes sense and then some stuff go completely against common sense and the way other cards have been ruled in the past. Two cards that get the most issues with rulings are Effect Veiler and Gozen Match. So much so that I have spent about a good 3 months just looking up Veiler rulings and I haven't begun to mess with the cluster fuck that is Gozen Match. Why? Cause someone else can specialize in that card. Too much of a headache for me. Card rulings are hard. The people who create this game can't even begin to think about every interaction with all of the 4k+ card out there, so why does everyone expect judges to? We try our best, and sometimes make mistakes, but don't bag on us for doing our jobs. A lot of people don't like judges because of our attitudes towards players. Well if you didn't act the same towards us, we would have these attitudes with you. Give us a break, allow us to do our jobs properly without a bunch of flak and everything will run a lot smoother. After reading this, next time you want to argue with a judge about a ruling, take a step back and look at the situation from the judge's perspective, and most of all, don't piss off a judge, cause they'll screw you in more ways than you can imagine.

The beginning of something new....

Hello there. If you are reading this, then you my friend, are early. This blog will be updated as needed, but will primarily be used as a ruling source for the players at my local store called Halo 13 in Burbank, California. Enjoy the content and feel free to comment about what more you would like to see and questions you may have.

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