Philosophy

The rules, regulations, and guidelines of Grand Archive TCG serve players to promote an environment where game enjoyment can be maximized and every person is treated fairly and respectfully. Judges are trusted members of the community who showcase both in-depth understandings of these documents, the philosophy behind them, and the desire to create a positive environment for players in competitive settings. We create this document to serve as a resource for judges to mete out just penalties to players who violate the rules and to educate players on avoiding future errors. Judges hold the position of a neutral party that can enforce and interpret the policy and rules documents to resolve player mistakes. Ordinarily, judges can only directly intervene when a policy or rules violation has occurred or to prevent the escalation of a situation in the competitive environment. Otherwise, judges act as a resource for players and other tournament attendees.

While not exhaustive, this document provides standard procedures for many game and policy infractions and violations. If a significant and extraordinary event happens that goes beyond the scope of this document, Head Judges are permitted to act and issue penalties in ways that might deviate from the procedures outlined in this document. This extends to situations where an entire play area is disrupted, such as by a spilled drink, complete disruption of game pieces/cards/decks, error product being opened, etc. Any questions on whether a situation qualifies as “significant and extraordinary” can be posed to the Head Judge if a judge believes procedure deviation is in order.

Mistakes in issuing penalties or actions taken to correct a prior error may happen. If these mistakes happen, judges should identify the mistake, offer an apology regarding the mistake, and correct any necessary actions or issued violations, if possible. Penalties may sometimes be retracted or downgraded in these circumstances. If any further violations happen as a result of a judge’s attempt to correct a prior mistake or from offering incorrect information to a player, the player should not be penalized for such secondary violations. Judges are encouraged to ask players to maintain proper and clear play areas to minimize the risk that a game rules violation takes place.

Players cannot use any rules, policy documents, or this infraction guide in an attempt to gain advantages in games and tournament settings, also known as “rule-sharking.” This is part of Unsporting Conduct and can be penalized. Seeking loopholes in either policy documents, rules documents, or clarifications offered on the Index to gain an unfair advantage is considered cheating. Attempting to leverage issued penalties from a judge or issuing Judge Calls with the intention to penalize another player is considered Unsporting Conduct.

Judge Calls are appropriate for rules concerns, questions, or any questions regarding policies or regulations. Any calls should be made with the expectation that any results from the call will continue to promote fair tournament play consistent with the philosophy behind rules and regulations documents.

For the different Rules Enforcement Tiers detailed in the Tournament Rules and Regulations document, judges should apply penalties suitable to that tournament tier. E.g, Play mistakes at Casual events should most often be met with warnings and education regarding the violation and avoidance of future violations rather than as stringent applications. At these kinds of events, upgrades to violations in this category (i.e. Gameplay Errors) should seldom be upgraded.

The Head Judge of a tournament always has the final say on issued penalties and interpretations of rulings and policy decisions. If they feel necessary, Head Judges may request counsel and make decisions as a congress with other experienced judges. If there is only one judge at an event, they are the acting Head Judge for that event.

Tournament attendees are recommended and encouraged to be familiar with regulation and policy documents as well as any relevant FAQs regarding a tournament setting or general tournament protocol.