Kamloops, BC
Saturday Sept 27, 2025


An RCQ of Any Other Size...
The names of these tournaments may change, but the general vibe sure doesn't. This was effectively just a re-branded PPTQ. With standard product somewhat stymied in Canada, the turnout was small with a mere 14 players, even though all of top 4 got invites. I handed out the top 16 promos at the start of round 1. I double checked the MTR, since I don't often do smaller events, and confirmed it was five rounds with a cut to top 4.

Musical Table Numbers
Before the event began we had set up the table numbers for 30 players, just in case. After we saw the actual number I spread out the numbers a bit. Then in round 4 the store wanted more space for some commander tables, so we re-condensed the RCQ players. Throughout every change, we had one player with a fixed seat that I had to keep adjusting in Eventlink.

Proft's Flawed Memory
AP put the incorrect number of counters on their Proft's Eidetic Memory and a spectator wanted to know if this was legal, and if not whether they should bring attention to the error. The first question I asked was "did this just happen?" It's very often spectators present these questions in a very theoretical sense, rather than starting off with "this is live". They said it had just happened, so I stopped the match, and pulled the spectator aside to ask more questions. As it turns out, AP did indeed put the incorrect number of counters on their creature. This is a GRV and constitutes a rewind. (IPG 2.5) I also let the spectator know the correct procedure when noticing errors in games is to stop the match and call for a judge.

A Box of Cards
During a deck check I discovered that AP had a bunch of extra cards in their deckbox that could be played in their deck. I was about to issue a game loss when I recalled that we always need to ask whether AP had been presenting their sideboard each game. If they have, then the additional cards in their deckbox don't matter. As it turns out, AP had indeed been presenting their sideboard each game. (MTR 3.2, MTR 3.16)

An Alternative Method
AP exiles Spider-Man, Web-Slinger with Black Cat, Cunning Thief, can they cast it for its Web-Sling cost? Yes. Black Cat doesn't grant Spider-Man an alternative casting cost, it merely allows AP to cast the spell from exile, spending mana as if it was mana of any type. Since AP merely has permission to cast the spells from exile, they can choose how they want to do that, even if it means using the Web-Slinging ability. (CR 702.188a)

Alternatively, would AP be able to Warp Red Tiger Mechan if it was exiled by Black Cat? While Warp is also an alternative casting cost, it specifies that it can only be done from a player's hand, not from anywhere, so no. (CR 702.185a)

...In Conclusion
The event went extremely smoothly and quickly. The one downside was the poor prize support, due to the store not wanting to run the RCQ at a loss (which is reasonable). The current RCQ system isn't cost effective for smaller stores. They both have to pay for the RCQ kit, which is around 100CAD per invite, as well as the judge. Then on top of that oftentimes players expect all entries to go back in to the prize pool, meaning that an RCQ would put a store around -700CAD for a four-slotter like this one. Now in reality, players do put some monetary value on the RCQ invite, so the store can definitely likely survive by taking a little bit of money out of the prize pool, but this only works if the event is well attended, and a typical RCQ turnout in Canada is from 16-30 players. I would like some sort of discount, or kickback for stores that can prove they hired a judge, both incentivizing stores to have a certified judge to run the event, and helping stores not bear the entire financial burden of doing so.