Published on 04/21/2025
Rocky Mountain High Level Tournament
By Carsten Haese, Nathan Long, and Justin Hovdenes
This Article from: Justin Hovdenes
Cranial Translation
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On Saturday I was on the main event, working the feature match area and covering the floor. I was the main judge for the feature area for two rounds, round 2 and round 8. I spent the end of most rounds helping the End of Round team, making sure any matches that were still going got covered by a judge.
On Sunday I was judging on the Oversized Sealed Event. I started on the Deck Checks team and then after round two I moved to the End of Round team.
The main event was run at Competitive Rules Enforcement Level and the Oversized Sealed was run at Regular Rules Enforcement.
The questions and rulings below all happened while I was at these events. Any names of players have been changed, and some of the rulings were done by judges other than myself.
If you have any Magic questions burning at the back of your brain, you can send them to us. We may even use them in a future article. If you have a short question, you can send it to us via our Twitter account at @CranialTweet, and you can send us longer questions at moko@cranialinsertion.com .
Saturday
Magic Spotlight: Tarkir Dragonstorm Sealed
Players: 1,219
9 Rounds of Swiss Day 1 (needing a record of 6-2 or better to continue on to day 2)
Day 2: 2 Drafts each of 3 Swiss rounds, then cut to Top 8
$50,000 in prizes spread across top 64 players. 288 Collector Boosters for first. All top 8 players get an invitation to Pro Tour Las Vegas.
Q: Judge, if I attack with only Dalkovan Packbeasts while it's wielding Stormbeacon Blade, will I draw a card?
A: Yes or no, your choice. The mobilize and Stormbeacon triggers are put on the stack at the same time. Since you control both, you choose their order.
If Stormbeacon's trigger resolves first, you will only control one attacking creature and won't get to draw a card. Then you create three attacking Warrior tokens.
If Packbeasts' trigger resolves first, you will create three attacking Warriors. Then you will draw a card for having three or more attackers.
Q: Judge, my Kotis, the Fangkeeper just dealt 2 combat damage to my opponent. One of the two cards revealed by his trigger is Feral Deathgorger. Can I cast Dusk Sight for free with Kotis's ability?
A: Yes, you can. Kotis's ability casts spells without paying their mana cost. That makes Kotis's ability an alternative cost so it can't be combined with another alternative cost. For example, if Kotis revealed Shriekmaw you can't evoke it out as evoke is an alternative cost.
Luckily, Omen is not an alternative cost. It's very similar to a split card and even closer to an adventure. If enough damage has been dealt by Kotis, then Kotis can cast either side of any of these three kinds of spells.
Q: Judge, during my opponent's last turn before attacks they cast Skimming Strike. Now that it's my turn, after drawing a card, I noticed my opponent forgot to shuffle Dirgur Island Dragon into their library. How do we fix this?
A: The issue at hand is a Game Play Error—Game Rule Violation. At Competitive REL, if we don't feel comfortable backing up, we would leave the issue alone and give the player who messed up a Warning and give the opponent a Warning for Game Play Error—Failure to Maintain Game State.
However, there is a specific partial fix for this type of issue. Under Additional Remedy for Game Rule Violation the fourth bullet point reads "if an object is not in the correct zone, the exact object is still known to all players, and can be moved with only minor disruption to the current state of the game, put the object in the correct zone."
So this means we shuffle the Dirgur Island Dragon back into its owner's library. Before doing so, we will need to check if that player knows the top or bottom cards of their library since the time they missed shuffling the Dragon in last turn. If so, we will set those cards to the side, shuffle the Dragon in, and return those cards set aside back to the same places they should have been.
Q: Judge, can I cast Skimming Strike with no target just to draw a card?
A: Yes, you can. Skimming Strike has the wording "up to one target". This allows for zero targets to be chosen as you cast it.
Q: Judge, I just cast Death Begets Life destroying two of my permanents and five of my opponent's permanents. Before I could stop my opponent, they drew five cards, thinking we each drew a card for each of our own permanents that were destroyed. How do we fix this?
A: The opponent will reveal their full hand to you, and you will make them shuffle five cards into their library. You can't choose any cards that you know are supposed to be in their hand — such as those you saw earlier with a Duress-style spell or ability — and you must choose any you knew were just drawn, such as with being revealed by Mishra's Bauble but instead of being shuffled in, these cards will be put where they are supposed to be after shuffling the others. Also, if the opponent had scried any cards to the bottom of their library, we should keep those cards in those same positions after the shuffle.
Once all this is done, the player who drew extra cards gets a Warning for Game Play Error—Hidden Card Error.
Q: I just killed my opponent's Anafenza, Unyielding Lineage, Bearer of Glory, and Abzan Devotee by casting Dragonback Assault. Does Anafenza endure zero times, once, or twice?
A: Anafenza will endure twice. She sees the other two creatures die simultaneously with herself. Each trigger will give the option of adding two +1/+1 counters onto Anafenza or create a 2/2 Spirit token. But since Anafenza won't be around when the triggers resolve, you must choose to create the Spirit tokens.
Q: Judge, my Kotis, the Fangkeeper just dealt 4 combat damage to my opponent (because Kotis has two +1/+1 counters). Kotis exiled Rakshasa's Bargain from my opponent's library. Does Kotis let me cast the Bargain for free?
A: You will not be able to cast the Bargain. Mono-colored hybrid symbols each count as having a mana value of 2. Rakshasa's Bargain has three different mono-colored hybrid symbols, making it have a mana value of 6. You would need to deal 6 or more damage with Kotis for him to allow you to cast this card.
Q: Judge, I just cast Piercing Exhale revealing Boulderborn Dragon from my hand, choosing my Dusyut Earthcarver to deal its damage to my opponent's 2/2 Spirit token. My opponent responded by Dragon's Preying my Earthcarver. I know I won't deal any damage to my opponent's Spirit token, but do I still get to surveil?
A: You do still get to surveil. Piercing Exhale had two targets, one target disappeared before the spell resolved. Because Piercing Exhale still has at least one target when it goes to resolve, it will do as much as it can. This boils down to surveil 2 and nothing else.
Here is me floor judging the feature match area
with LSV and Reid Duke.
with LSV and Reid Duke.
Q: Judge, I control Taigam, Master Opportunist and just cast Skimming Strike. I know I suspend the original, but when I copy it, can I cast the creature side?
A: You can not. Taigam copies the spell as it exists on the stack. The spell on the stack is only Skimming Strike.
Q: Judge, continuing with the last question, in four turns, when my Dirgur Island Dragon // Skimming Strike comes off suspend, do I have to cast the Skimming Strike? Or can I cast the Dragon side?
A: You may cast either side. If you cast the Dragon, it will have haste.
Q: Judge, can you tell me the Oracle text of Ureni, the Song Unending? My opponent cast it last game and depending on its wording I may make a different choice this turn.
A: You can always request the Oracle text of any card that might be relevant in the current match. We judges will usually have the ability to pull the card's Oracle text up on our phones to show you. If doing so takes more than a minute, we will also give you a time extension for the time used.
Q: Judge, last turn I attacked with Bone-Cairn Butcher. My opponent blocked one of the tokens made by Butcher's mobilize trigger with a 2/2 Spirit token. Both of us forgot about the deathtouch. It's now my opponent's attack step, and I just realized the 2/2 Spirit he's attacking with should be dead. Is it too late to fix this?
A: We will correct this by putting the 2/2 Spirit into the graveyard. This is covered under Game Play Error—Game Rule Violation, specifically the fourth bullet point under Additional Remedy.
Additionally your opponent will get a Warning for Game Rule Violation, and you will get a warning for Failure to Maintain Game State, as you share responsibility to make sure the game plays correctly in public zones.
Q: My Gurmag Rakshasa just entered. I had its trigger target my opponent's Wingblade Disciple and my 2/2 Zombie Druid token. The opponent responded by Snakeskin Veiling their Disciple. Does my Zombie Druid still get +2/+2?
A: The Rakshasa's trigger had two targets when it was placed on the stack, and still will have one legal target when it attempts to resolve, so the trigger will still resolve. It will only do as much as it can, in this case make your Zombie Druid a little bigger.
Q: Judge, my opponent and I are both at 5 life. My opponent is attacking me with two 5/5 Elephant tokens and I can't block either. I just cast New Way Forward on one of the two Elephants. Did I just cause the game to end in a draw?
A: You did not. New Way Forward has a delayed trigger. This delayed trigger is the part that deals the damage to your opponent. You get dealt 5 damage from one Elephant, the other Elephant's damage gets prevented. This triggers New Way Forward's trigger, but it won't be put on the stack until after state based actions are checked. One of those state based actions will notice you lost the game for having zero or less life, and the game will end before New Way Forward's trigger is put on the stack.
Q: Judge, I control Teval, Arbiter of Virtue and just cast Mammoth Bellow from my graveyard because of its harmonize ability. I think Teval's trigger will make me lose 5 life and my opponent thinks I lose 8 life. Who is right?
A: You only lose 5 life. The mana value of a card is determined by what is at the top right of the card, not how much mana was paid to cast the spell. Reducers, increasers, and alternative costs like harmonize do not change a spell's mana value.
Q: Judge, my opponent just cast Skimming Strike targeting my Dragonback Lancer which is currently wielding Dragonfire Blade. Does Skimming Strike fizzle? Must he choose a different legal target?
A: I will take a moment to make sure the opponent did accidentally make this mistake. (If I believe they did this intentionally hoping you wouldn't notice this was an illegal play, the head judge and I will begin a cheating investigation.) If I believe this was an honest mistake, we will place Skimming Strike back into the opponent's hand and refund any costs they paid to cast it, i.e. untap the lands and unsacrifice any Treasures used. The opponent will get a Warning for Game Play Error—Game Rule Violation.
Sunday
Oversized Tarkir Dragonstorm Sealed
Players: 87 Players
6 Rounds of Swiss
100 tickets per win (about 2 packs worth from prize wall), and each player with a record of 6-0 gets an Oversized Magic card (example to right).
This event was run at Regular Rules Enforcement but did require deck lists, a strange combination.
Q: Judge, I have Temur Battlecrier and a 5/5 Elephant token. Does this reduce how much I have to pay to cast Dragonclaw Strike?
A: It can. When you start casting Dragonclaw Strike, you must decide how each "pip" of mono-colored hybrid mana in its cost will be paid. If you choose at least one pip to be paid with
, then you reduce the cost by . This allows you to cast it for any of the following costs:
Q: Judge, my Mardu Siegebreaker is currently exiling my Zurgo, Thunder's Decree. I attacked with the Siegebreaker and made the Zurgo copy off Siegebreakers attack trigger. At end of turn, do I still have to sacrifice Zurgo, or does he "protect" himself?
A: The Zurgo you have is a token. You can't sacrifice tokens during your end step. Zurgo "protects" himself.
Q: Judge, my Warden of the Grove has one +1/+1 counter on it. If I cast this Kin-Tree Nurturer will it endure for its own ability and again for Warden's ability, or can it only endure once?
A: It will get to endure twice. Each of these abilities triggers and resolves separately and neither prevents the other from enduring later in the same turn.
Q: Judge, this is game one of our match and my opening hand has a sideboard card in it. How do we fix this?
A: This is the Oversized Sealed Tournament which is being run at Regular Rules Enforcement. That means we follow the Judging at Regular REL document, JAR for short. We fix the issue. We are going to pull the sideboard card out of your hand and any other sideboard cards out of you library, placing them back into your sideboard. Then if any cards are in your sideboard that are suppose to be main, we will put one of those randomly into your hand and shuffle the rest into your library. If no cards were in your sideboard that were supposed to be in your main deck, then draw one card to replace the one we took away. After applying either fix, you can choose to keep this hand or continue to mulligan.
Well that was Denver, and now I'm concentrating on Minneapolis. I will be on staff judging Magic at the Regional Championship Minneapolis May 2nd-4th. If you see me there, don't be afraid to say Hello.
- Justin Hovdenes AKA Hovey
Level 2 Magic Judge
Rapid City, SD
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