My casual friend got sharked last night. Who’s right in this situation?

[! Cinnamon]

Alright so my friend is a casual galaxy player. Just got into “competitive” yugioh like 2 weeks ago. We decided to hit a locals that’s outta town. My friends opponents all gave him his wins so he managed to get into top 8. He hadn’t dueled all night pretty much. He gets to top 8, sits down across from his opponent.

Opponent extends his mat across the table since my homie doesn’t own one yet. Then my friend takes his cards out of his box and places them on the mat. He has the regular small ultra pro box, so all of his cards are kinda clumped together.

He separates his main from the extra and side. Places main where he usually does. His extra and side are still clumped together but he’s about to sort that out. No game state has been established at all, no die roll, nothing. All that’s happened is just placing the cards on the mat. So opponent calls judge, says my friend has too many cards in his extra (OBVIOUSLY because he just sat down & started sorting stuff out). Judge hits him with a game loss, didn’t even walk over to evaluate the situation.

[DarkPhenix]

I cant really comment about that, as I was not there in the situation

[DuskWill]

Wow, that's tough. I'm not an expert in the subject, as I only attended a regional tournament once and basically locals, but I've studied the tournament policies (https://img.yugioh-card.com/en/gameplay ... _v_2_1.pdf) well enough and I'm even double checking while writing this. So, here goes nothing:

Before deeply analysing it, it should be clarified if this local tournament was Tier 1 or Tier 2. Tier 2 and above requires a higher level of ruling and policy enforcing, while Tier 1 are meant for more casual plays, to the point that registered Konami judges aren't even required (p. 22). Since you've mentioned one, if said one is the only person with that function, he/she is considered the Head Judge and makes the final call for game play rulings and/or policy appeals (p. 7). If there were more people involved, whomever was called was a Floor Judge instead (p. 7, 8).

As per judge action, it should be done according to Konami's Penalty Guidelines. The older version I'm reading right now is 1.4 (https://img.yugioh-card.com/uk/gameplay ... es_1_4.pdf):

Page 4:

A judge must first investigate, then determine the infraction, and only then apply the penalty.

Both players should explain what happened, and answer truthfully any questions the judge may have. The judge will examine the situation, and determine if an infraction has occurred. If so, the judge will then explain the infraction. If no infraction has occurred, the judge will quickly explain why.

From your description, it kinda feels that they didn't go well through it. I can't really find an infraction example that fits your story, but it should have been that simple to investigate. Moreover, that wouldn't be ensued a game loss, just a warning or perhaps a caution (p. 7), since it was a local tournament and, what, the quarter-finals? Anyone would have seen that, specially considering how often a Galaxy deck uses the Extra Deck.

Anyway, unless that was the head judge, your friend had the right to appeal and even if he couldn't, that was too harsh of a penalty. If said judge was not a registered Konami one, that just gives a bad reputation to that place and the community overall. Luckily, that wasn't around where you live, it seems. Overall, once everything is confirmed, many people will be discouraged from going there again until they make an event of a higher tier.

I hope that helped you.

[DarkPhenix]

I know how the policy works. I happened to have read it. Your situation was not nearly descriptive enough for me to pass an opinion on the matter.

[DuskWill]

I know how the policy works. I happened to have read it. Your situation was not nearly descriptive enough for me to pass an opinion on the matter.

It kinda felt that the first part was referencing me, but even if it wasn't, I didn't read that post of yours. That is, aside from acknowledge the newer posts the forum shows when you're about to post something in the same topic. I was way into my own reply that it could have looked like I was criticising yours.

Still, like I meant previously, I need some clarification to give a more proper opinion, but I stand by what I said about being an unfair penalty, even on the worst condition I could imagine from your description, ! Cinammon.

[DarkPhenix]

Sorry dusckwill, yeah, that comment was intended for cinnimon, not you