Judge Tools – Draft Timer
May 10, 2023
Jotrick Rhéaume is a Level 2 Flesh and Blood Judge from Poland and a member of the blog’s content team. The opinions expressed in the above article are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Legend Story Studios or the Judge Program.
Did you know that Judge Hub has a tool for calling a draft with a prewritten script?
Sometimes, while orchestrating a large called draft event, issues happen and judges need to solve problems during a draft. Drafting can be a messy process when done at large scale; players can mix up packs if they’re not paying attention, players might not have enough time to review picks, and more. When that happens, the pod those players are in will need to get back on track to ensure a smooth event experience.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article mentioned using this tool for Road to Nationals events. While it may be tempting to do so, Road to Nationals draft should not be called.
This is where the Draft Timer comes into play – to help judges call a draft. In large events, where as many as several dozen draft pods may be drafting at the same time, it is almost inevitable that problems will arise where a draft pod falls behind and stops playing at a reasonable pace. The first order of business in an event is to make sure all players are on the same page, and given the same opportunities as other players during the draft.
The tool acts as a prewritten script for the judge to read out loud. The script is extremely easy to follow – just say the words as they are highlighted! The tool also comes with a timer to help you keep track of the time.
Now use your voice and call your draft. Personally, I used this tool during my first called draft during Pro-Tour Lille and it really made it a lot less scary to do my first.
Head to this link and test it for yourself. Give it a try in front of a mirror to prepare – you got this!
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article mentioned using this tool to call Road to Nationals and other tier 2 draft events. While it may be tempting, it is not recommended that these events be called.
I would strongly recommend that drafts at a Road to Nationals event, or any similar small event, *not* be called.
The Slow Play policy applies to all drafts, and if a player is holding up a draft, a judge can step in and remind them that they need to make a pick. In the exceedingly rare occasion that this doesn’t work, the PPG section on Slow Play allows further actions starting with a Warning. This is sufficient for the vast majority of events – if you only have a few pods per judge, judges can easily have a look at where packs are to see if there is a hold up in any given pod, and they can do this in between cleaning up trash and being vigilant for drafters peeking at adjacent players’ packs.
We call drafts at large events because the sheer number of pods makes it impractical for judges to track whether each pod is drafting at a reasonable pace, because the higher stakes and wider range of players makes it more likely that slow play would happen, and because we want to avoid players taking way too long on each pick because “it’s the Pro Tour, I gotta get this decision right”. Keeping the entire room in sync helps judges watch for violations of the timing or drafting rules because judges can look down a row of tables and expect all of the players to take actions in sync with the announcements. These large events also have enough judges that one judge can be stuck on stage calling the draft without significantly affecting floor coverage, and enough judges who are familiar with called drafts that if any pod has a problem and calls a judge, that judge can be stuck to that pod for the remainder of the current pack to finish calling it.
None of this is true at an RTN. There will typically be four or fewer pods per judge, which one judge can very easily keep an eye on for slow play, whereas calling the draft will permanently tie up one judge – either leaving you with no judges to pick up trash, watch for peeking, and caution/warn players who violate the time restrictions, or if you are lucky enough to have two judges on your event, then you’ll be left with one for the whole room. If there is a judge call, you’ll have to pause the entire room, because you won’t have enough judges to call a pod out of sync.
Your limited judge resources at an RTN are much better spent picking up pack wrappers to keep the draft area clean, watching for players that are significantly holding up their pod, watching for draft peeking or sneaking cards in/out of the draft, and being available for judge calls. This also results in a better player experience due to less stress of strictly following all of those announcements, and oftentimes, the un-called draft will even finish more quickly.
Thank you for the feedback and additional information, Dan! It is quite insightful 🙂