Upper Deck Entertainment Forums

Can a player ask to "sit in" and spectate their own deck that is being checked? Where as the judge would take the player's deck back to the judge table for checking, the player sits down to watch the judge check his/her deck.

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LVL 1 YGO RK
LVL 1 PM
Friday night custom games on Halo 3 hosted by my bro on Xbox Live. Gamertag: Ju_Jitsu_X

I'm going to say no. The deck check process is there to maintain the integrity of the tournament. Having the player whose deck is being checked present before the check is finished would seem to compromise that integrity. It looks bad to other players to have that player sit in. They don't know what the player is doing and if everything is on the "up and up".

If nothing else, I wouldn't allow this because 99% of the time you are also checking their opponent at the same time and you don't want to give them any advantages.

Might I ask what the purpose of sitting in on a deck check would be? The only reason I can think of is a lack of trust in a particular judge, if you have such a problem with a particular judge or judges alert the Head Judge of any suspicion you might have and let them handle the situation. If you have no trust in the Head Judge then perhaps it isn't wise to be participating in that tournament.

What John said.  Plus if one person is allowed to do it, you can just imagine the bandwagon of everyone else wanting to do the same thing that will form.  Big snowball inc.

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Jeff Piroozshad
Marketing Events Specialist
Upper Deck

HUNTIK.COM - December 15, 2008
Coming January 3, 2009 to the CW 4-Kids Saturday Morning lineup

I don't mean to be rude, but John and Jeff, you two didn't really address the question.

John: You simply turned the question back on the questioner. Regardless of the player's motives, we should have an answer why they can or cannot sit in on their own deck check.

Jeff: You simply said that one person doing it will cause others to want to do it. In the absence of a reason why one person doing it is bad, we can't say that having everyone do it is bad. That's like saying, "If one person wanted to cut their opponent's deck, everyone's going to want to do it."

If it creates logistical problems that would be exacerbated by having multiple players do it, then we should explain that. But, simply saying that it's bad because other will want to do it isn't really an explanation.

I would then offer...   No, the deckcheck is done to verify the integrity of the deck.  Having spectators watch the deck check process will:

• slow the tournament down.
• compromise the opponent's deck, which is also being checked at the same time.
• potentially compromise the deck checker's techniques.

Enjoy the game

 

As I mentioned above the player only wishes to watch their own (not their opponent's) deck being check. Perhaps have the judges be separated so the player can watch his own deck being checked and not his opponent's?

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LVL 1 YGO RK
LVL 1 PM
Friday night custom games on Halo 3 hosted by my bro on Xbox Live. Gamertag: Ju_Jitsu_X

Your first question was...  What should we tell the players.  I believe I answered that.  Now my question to you is, especially considering the limited foorprint, potential for issues, etc.,  

Why should the judge staff accomodate this request?

Enjoy the game

1994785:

Perhaps have the judges be separated so the player can watch his own deck being checked and not his opponent's?

This is where you get to the point of contention. You are asking the judges to change the way they do deck checks in order to accommodate a player's request. At that point you have to start asking why the player is making the request. You have to balance the legitimacy of the player's request with the disruption to the tournament.

In addition, one of the goals of a deck check is to minimize the interruption to the tournament. The judge doesn't have much time to check the deck and is trying to reduce the delay of the match in order to speed up the tournament for everyone else. If you have a player sitting in on the deck check, especially if they are talking to or questioning the judge, they are likely to slow down the process.

1292276:

I don't mean to be rude, but John and Jeff, you two didn't really address the question.

John: You simply turned the question back on the questioner. Regardless of the player's motives, we should have an answer why they can or cannot sit in on their own deck check.

What I'm looking for is a justifiable reason as to why a judge should allow a player to sit in on the deck check, this is why I asked, my purpose wasn't to turn the tables. I'm unable to think of such a reason to....

A. Slow down the deck check process (we only are suppose to have 7 min.) as players gather their belongings, and as players ask questions during the deck check and make comments or want to discuss our findings.

B. Create seperate areas for each deck check far enough appart so the player cannot see another player's deck being checked. (Room in a deck check area is uusally cramped as is)

C. Allow players in an area where investigations are also done, where tournament officials conduct sensitive discussions, and where judges have stored their belongings making them vulnerable to theft.

D. Create a situation where players are not at a given table (They're now in the deck check area) thereby creating a situation where all judges on the floor need to be notified that a deck check is in process at that table so they don't consider the table tardy and drop the players.

E. To demonstrate to players our methods for checking decks so that they find more creative ways to mark cards / cheat.

For these reasons and more, it's not to the benefit of the tournament or it's integrity to allow players to observe their deck being checked. Now that I've explained a few of my reasons for disallowing it perhaps the person who created the original post can give their reasons for wanting to do so?

1994785:

As I mentioned above the player only wishes to watch their own (not their opponent's) deck being check. Perhaps have the judges be separated so the player can watch his own deck being checked and not his opponent's?

Many tournaments don't have this much space to make use of.

Why does the player want to watch their deck being checked?  That question hasn't been answered yet, and I'm very curious as to the reasoning behind it.

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Jeff Piroozshad
Marketing Events Specialist
Upper Deck

HUNTIK.COM - December 15, 2008
Coming January 3, 2009 to the CW 4-Kids Saturday Morning lineup

I can think of 2 other reasons NOT to allow it.
1. If there is anything that is borderline (ie dirty sleeves) occasionally we will discuss it or have someone else look at the issue. If the player is there as soon as a possible issue is found they will most likely start 'defending' the deck to avoid a penalty.
2. There are a variety of things that are done during a deck check to see if a player is attempting to cheat. There are some out there that would take that opportunity to see if they could find a way to get something past the judges by knowing what is most commonly checked.

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Please check your PM box Mr. Danker.

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LVL 1 YGO RK
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Friday night custom games on Halo 3 hosted by my bro on Xbox Live. Gamertag: Ju_Jitsu_X

1503087:

1994785:

As I mentioned above the player only wishes to watch their own (not their opponent's) deck being check. Perhaps have the judges be separated so the player can watch his own deck being checked and not his opponent's?

Many tournaments don't have this much space to make use of.

Why does the player want to watch their deck being checked?  That question hasn't been answered yet, and I'm very curious as to the reasoning behind it.

The only possible reason I can come up with that doesn't indicate the player in question is attempting to do something shady or aid future endeavors to be shady is if he honestly believes that if he isn't there, a judge is going to maliciously tamper with the deck so as to be able to give him a penalty.  Thing is, those sorts of people generally stay home with the conspiracy theorists and the guys who wear tinfoil hats.

Now, I'm not questioning the concept of sitting in, I don't think that should be allowed, but let's say that a duelist is kind of a paranoid person, and would like to "Watch" from a distance to ensure that either A) the judge doesn't remove a card and replace it with a fake (hey they are paranoid remember?) or B) that the judge doesn't try to "Help" the duelist they are dueling by tampering with their deck, thus making it illegal.

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