The Deck That Is Impossible to Play Correctly | We Try the Judge Tower with

Judge tower is a format where you place a giant pile of the most complicated cards in the middle of the table and hope to be the last to break the rules.
Will we even make it past a turn cycle?
Find the decklist to the Tower here along with the rules here: bit.ly/48w5Z6P
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[@CardmarketMagic]

🗼Find the decklist to the Tower here along with the rules here: bit.ly/48w5Z6P

[@maartenverbeek134]

Carl should have died on 3:21 though ;-)

[@CardmarketMagic]

​@maartenverbeek134 you only die in judge tower if someone calls you out ;)

[@CardmarketMagic]

​@maartenverbeek134 but also, I don't think there was anything that would cost me the game there 🤔

[@maartenverbeek134]

@@CardmarketMagic your thought scour was in the graveyard before you finished resolving it (draw)

[@CardmarketMagic]

@maartenverbeek134 oh that's not a rules infraction unless someone declares that it's in the graveyard. In competitive magic it's very common for players to put their spells/fetch-lands directly into their graveyards to denote casting playing them

[@BoltTheEmolga]

Something to note, the biggest rule of Judge Tower: It’s not a loss if nobody notices it is. It’s complicated for a reason, and we can’t expect them to be perfect.

[@xchronox0]

Yup! A lot of comments forget that players are only eliminated if another player actually calls out a rules violation. If none of the other players catch it, then you can slip by.

[@matthugenberg8869]

Fun fact, when someone dies on their turn, you actually continue through their turn so that end of turn effects and such happen. So norin actually WOULD come back in Vince's end step.

[@GrayVMhan]

Is this a judge tower thing or multiplayer magic? Cause this would change the outcome of some commander games

[@dokol2]

​@GrayVMhan It's a Magic thing

[@DemonBlanka]

Is that Judge Tower specific? Because part of the process of players losing the game is that all their triggers and cards are removed from the game. Is Norin not counted as a delayed trigger and thus, ceases to exist?

[@huckthatdish]

@@DemonBlankaNorin isn’t Vince’s trigger though

[@Melissanoma]

When a player leaves, all of THAT PLAYER's effects go. Norin's controller wasn't the one who left.

[@beefpelican]

Carl absolutely deserved his damage win. If a player wins with damage in judge tower, they were also keeping track of a critical mass of confusing permanents at the time. Kenobi even destroyed his own creatures to decrease his complexity.

[@ThymeTwister]

He managed to play his way through that confusing mass of triggers perfectly, absolutely he deserved that.

[@calebsayles]

Shouldn't he have been buzzed for not activating the Tattermurge during everyone's upkeep though? It was really bothering me in round 2?

[@Noah_eotlr]

​@@calebsayles1:49. They explain this exact phenomenon.

[@Dracomandriuthus]

​@@calebsaylesNobody called him on it. If you dont judge call someone for their mistakes in judge tower, youre the one responsible.

[@xchronox0]

@@calebsayles *Buzz* It's not "shouldn't he have been", it's "Could've been". There's no rule stating that a player must buzz when there's literally any rules violation. This isn't some sort of "Video challenge" or anything, it's a tabletop game using magic cards. A player MAY buzz when they spot another player violating a MTG rule, or one of the additional judge tower rules. If they are correct on their call, THEN that player is eliminated. If they are incorrect on their call, then the buzzer is eliminated. Another human has to be in that moment (with no pausing because pausing doesn't exist IRL) and actually notice a rules violation.

[@AlienValkyrie]

19:40 JUDGE! Drawing for turn happens right at the start of the draw step, as a turn-based action that doesn't use the stack. Only after drawing for turn does the active player get priority and triggered abilities, such as those triggering at the beginning of the draw step, get put on the stack. (The same mistake happens again the following turn.)

[@bondeulv]

A lot of people believe "At the beginning of your draw step" means before they draw their card for the turn. I played Magic for over 10 years before it was made clear to me that it works the way you said.

[@kaszael]

was looking for that comment. I played too many Sylvan Libraries in my life and it has the same wording for its trigger.

[@Tharkon]

This was changed in 8th edition so anyone making the mistake might have missed that rules change. Before 8th edition drawing a card for turn used the stack and any triggers would be placed on top of it on that stack.

[@MEver316]

I knew about this one because my brother plays Teferi's Puzzle Box in his Queza Auger of Agonies Commander deck. I hate that card so much, especially when he has Teferi's Ageless Insight out as well...

[@BaldurtheImpious]

Never stop bringing the best content, I watch so much cardmarket content that when I shop for cards I search for it by mistake, mixing it up with card kingdom. The great pond separates us. 😢

[@CardmarketMagic]

Thank you for the kind words :) hopefully one day we'll cross that pond!

[@ClubbingSealCub]

20:40 judge! phasing is in the untap step!

[@sh4dowf0xx55]

YES! I CAUGHT THAT ONE TOO

[@theNightDice]

It's interesting to see another variant on Judges Tower rules! Here's what I'm used to playing with: - All players have infinite life and infinite mana, the only way to lose is a rules infraction. - All players share the same library, but graveyards and exiles are separate. (relevant for Flashback and other mechanics like it) - At the end of a round (after only one person remains), all graveyards are exiled and the new round starts (becomes relevant for cards like Squee) - X is 5. - If you may, you must. - If a card has multiple abilities, you activate as many as you can, starting from the last and working back up to the first. - Each ability you can legally activate (keeping in mind the previous rule) must be activated exactly once per turn . If a card gets flickered by its own ability, it counts as a new card, but the activated ability flickering it counts as activated for the turn - If you manage to create a non-optional infinite loop, you win - Last player standing wins - Any player, not just the ones still in the game may call out rules infractions (this makes it go faster in general) - Your starting hand size is determined by your judge level. - Highest judge level at the table begins, ties are broken by dice rolls - If nobody calls out the rules infraction by the next time priority has passed around the table, you can no longer lose the game for it - "Shortcutting", i.e. skipping steps and phases of the turn implicitly, is allowed, as long as no other player wants to interact with a given phase. - All creatures that can attack, must attack. All creatures that can block, must (this is essentially an extension of "if you may, you must") I think that's all of them. If I missed any, I'll add them once I remember. Glad to see more attention brought to my favourite way to fry my brain!

[@patoudude6034]

Pretty crazy that a judge's tower video comes out when yesterday I was rewatching the old one hoping for a new judge's tower video.

[@CardmarketMagic]

You made this happen!

[@NiiRubra]

Thanks for making this happen, patoudude

[@GlubtasticYT]

Judge Tower again!!! Excellent!!

[@eq2lornick]

The win by damage was amazing. Absolutely deserved the win.

[@bluexco]

There's something about Judge tower that makes it the best ! Like you always hate that rules lawyer friend during casual magic but in a game where you all have to be rules lawyers it's great! Surprised I haven't seen more games of these with other MTG icons or KZbinrs. Glad you at least did a second! Keep up the good work Cardmarket!

[@mrsplays9817]

People hate the Rule Lawyer until the game becomes a mess of rulings

[@ColourfulAnimals]

With the 2nd Wildest Dreams copy on the stack, Carl should've cast all the instants returned to his hand. JUDGE!

[@joev1083]

The 100 gecs shirt is perfect for this chaotic episode

[@benji-menji]

Imagine going through a hidden pyramid avoid terrible Traps that are life threatening, but in the final room that is just papyrus scroll racks through the whole room you see three mummies around a table with a stack of papyrus cards in the middle.

[@jmv333]

Fun fact: At 20:38 when Carl draws from Heightened Awareness prior to drawing for turn, that is incorrect (though inconsequential obviously). During the draw step, the active player draws their card for turn first, and only afterwards do any 'beginning of draw step' triggers go on the stack. You *always* draw your card for turn before anything else in the draw step, the draw happens immediately upon the end of the upkeep with no opportunity for any priority or any triggers (not applicable in cases when you are skipping your draw ofc).

[@baruta07]

The Judge's Tower one of my friends built had a couple basic lands in there just to add the "Gotcha" of being able to float mana during the untap step

[@johnathanrhoades7751]

This is so good!! I want to play and fail miserably… For anyone interested, “at the beginning of your draw step” effects happen after you draw for turn.

[@Verlisify]

"Do we go to damage?" *Carl checks graveyard* ".... yes"

[@hikarusorano9420]

20:38 At the beginning of each phase and each step, you first perform actions determined by the game engine and only then receive priority to add abilities to the stack and cast spells. At the beginning of the draw step, you must first draw a card for the turn and only then draw a card for the enchantment ability under Carl's control.

[@TheDartrunner]

I starting building one after your first Judge Tower video, and have slowly been getting people at my LGS to play it during commander nights. Happy to see it come back on the channel.

[@dockyx3]

Yes i absolutely loved when you played judge tower first time and i couldn't find any other good videos like that one. Thanks for another one

[@ilsignoredellaluce2234]

This was so fun, i'd totally enjoy watching other similar videos !

[@yuriemmettippi4503]

Oh yes, judge tower! I learned about it from your first video and since then it became my favourite format!

[@cemperable]

23:31 Vince missed that Carl had to cast Silent Departure with its flashback cost to bounce one of his own creatures. Could have won there!

[@joshuamcrae6819]

I believe that is under their cycle rule where they only need to cast the spell once in a full round of turns. Otherwise most of the flashback cards would just end up being played back to back and won't need to be remembered.

[@XTimTheEnchanterX]

Excited to see judge tower make its comeback, I always love when you guys play wacky formats.

[@hwosaidicantfreerun]

im loving this new set of "watch Vince dunk on the cardmarket crew for x time" trend of videos xD

[@erikbrewer500]

I was first introduced to Judge Tower when I was studying to become an L1 back in ‘16/‘17(?), it was such a fun way to reinforce things I knew and learn so many things I didn’t!

[@Unpetraccable]

Man, I love judge tower and this channel! The variety, humour and culture mix you bring is honestly unparalleled

[@CardmarketMagic]

Thank you :D that's so kind of you to say!

[@erikbattles]

I'd love to see you make Judge's Tower a reoccurring feature on the channel. It's always fun trying to follow along with all the rules interactions

[@michaelsinnreich6626]

This is easily one of the best formats I have learned about thanks to you all.

[@Gemasted]

Carl not resolving the draw triggers correctly was such a great opportunity for the others to win.

[@Mentir42]

Really fun showcase! Love seeing judge tower played

[@Weregoatee]

Love it so much. Judge tower seems like a blast to play, uh, in an altered state of mind

[@DerringerHK]

This was so brilliant, guys. Great banter, great format, and a great guest in Vince :) Hopefully you guys were able to get a couple more videos in with him before he had to fly back!

[@TheBirdOfParadox]

Yes, Judge Tower! I love watching this format so much and I always learn something new. I also get the impression that Carl had a lot of fun putting company expanses like Big Red Button and Red Light Lamp onto the list. Live your best life, its fun to watch :)

[@Starcrash6984]

It's a clever format, but even better, the tower contains very clever cards for it. So much suspense!

[@Lismakingmovie]

pleasant kenobi wearing a 100 gecs shirt is absolutely wild to me

[@JelloSalad021]

Y'all have no idea how many times I've watched your original Judge Tower vid, I've been blessed

[@ReederMG]

I'm ecstatic that y'all did another one of these. Keep em coming

[@bricelory9534]

I was thinking only yesterday that I hope CardMarket would return to Judge Tower! How fun!

[@oafkad]

That intro had me rolling. Been a rough week, this was a great surprise. I love Judge Tower.

[@Lordmuhkuh23]

Judge! 20:45 - actually you first draw for turn. The first thing that happens in the draw step is that the active player draws a card, aka "draws for turn". So if e.g. someone has a Kami of the Crescent Moon in play, players could respond in the draw step before the active player draws their second card, but not before the first. From the comprehensive rules: 504. Draw Step 504.1. First, the active player draws a card. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack. 504.2. Second, any abilities that trigger at the beginning of the draw step and any other abilities that have triggered go on the stack. 504.3. Third, the active player gets priority. Players may cast spells and activate abilities.

[@vinwonsenobi]

20:33 Carl Loses Phasing is a special action that happens before untap which is before upkeep

[@tessajanes9626]

Love the Judge's Tower content

[@Sillimant_]

I adore judge tower, I could watch the videos endlessly

[@SquibbyJ]

I love judges tower and seeing Pleasant Kenobi being on the ball was fun

[@fatpad00]

I love the judge tower videos. Great to so PK guest starring too!

[@smeatar]

This video makes me realize how weird my level of magic knowledge is because I have barely played and I don't know many famous cards that even beginners would know, but I find weird little interactions super interesting so I have read up on a lot rules that even many seasoned players wouldn't know.

[@DaftMANIA]

We are ready for video 2 of this. 2 Hour version, would watch ;)

[@Mightypi]

That 1st round ending in raw unprocessed chaos is exactly what I come hear for

[@DeadlyGrim]

I think your "fake" game in the intro in order to explain the rules was very neat. Good way of showing off something pretty complicated!

[@MrGrovak]

Love the judge tower content! Its such an interesting form of playing magic.

[@Frommerman]

I had a friend with a MASSIVE Judge's Tower for a while. Thousands of cards. We managed to draw a card from an empty library once despite this. By the time we did it, there were probably millions of spells on the stack including almost every creature in the tower (Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir was briefly on the battlefield. We got around that by casting a Yawgmoth last, sacrificing the Teferi, and Rerouting the ability to retrigger the Eye of the Storm with Mind's Desire under it), countless Mind's Desire copies, and almost everything else the deck could throw at us.

[@sagacious03]

Fun run & analysis video! Thanks for uploading!

[@tylerduncanson2661]

JUDGE!!! At 21:25, Carl chose the same targets for Wildest Dreams, despite Meletis Charlatan allowing him to choose new targets. Since you must do all "may" actions in Judge Tower, that is a rules violation.

[@36424567254]

Is it? I'm pretty sure you can say that you are choosing a new target, which is the same target as before (i.e. "changing the target" from the previous to itself). I interpreted Carl targeting the same spells as doing just that, since he did specify his targets, as if he intended to "change" them in this way.

[@ReidFisher86]

[buzzer]6:23 shared graveyards. Thoralf put the 2 cards into graveyard off of thoughtscour.

[@disafear3674]

Judge Tower with the Cardmarket crew is always some killer content!

[@Sublieme]

I find amusing that Carl won using a missed flashback while he won his first match by damage, missing the silent departure flashback on one of his creatures. I love this mode!

[@CardmarketMagic]

Cards can only be played/activated once per player per turn cycle :) so Silent Departure was for Vince to flash back on his turn if he had survived 👍

[@matthugenberg8869]

Another fun fact: even if a card says "at the beginning of your draw step, do a thing", you ALWAYS draw your card for turn as the first thing you do in the draw step. So that enchantment that Carl had should have it's trigger resolve AFTER you draw your card for the turn.

[@CardmarketMagic]

Luckily, no one called me on it 😅 or I would have lost. But that's judge tower

[@stellaartemis6354]

I’d love to see another one of these, this was so good

[@richardbuttz6460]

I love that Carl keeps thinking these weird creatures names are German printings.

[@kristoferbochat]

As someone who has not played magic in 25 years, these videos with all these weird formats give me a headache. I still think they are awesome, and would love to get back into the game.

[@purplelilypervincle4898]

Today I gas a really bad day, but your videos Always help me smile. Thank you for making my day ❤ also the First video with the judge tower is one of my favorite really Happy to watch another One ❤

[@CardmarketMagic]

I'm sorry to hear that today hasn't been so good. I'll be thrilled if our silly games help with it even a little :)

[@Xenozfan2]

Oh my gosh, I love this content. More AI card fights and more Judge Tower!

[@ulyssessanchez2328]

I honeslty love this game mode And that one where Kenobi brought his weird deck

[@rakkis1576]

Ngl this was rivetting to watch. Hope you guys do Judge Tower again in the future.

[@Joebob31100]

Absolutely love the Judge Tower games. Hope to see more in the future

[@rav5373]

Fun fact (19:50), you actually draw your card per turn first and then the "at the beginning of your drawstep" triggers are even put on the stack.

[@Alejandrodemontana]

Another great episode guys, I don’t get to play much magic due to commitments and this is one my favorite ways to live vicariously! Keep up the good work.

[@CardmarketMagic]

I'm happy you enjoy our content :D we'll try to give you the best vicarious experiences we can!

[@Rantheracoon]

Fun fact last time this was played people in the comments were mad at them for not calling others out. I am happy to see this back again.

[@christianhanel2129]

Hoes always mad in the comments, however i shall remember what the judge guy said last time which was that if noone called something out it technically isnt playing wrong

[@kindrogue5586]

This is absolute chaos and I love it.

[@eskurian8565]

Love these Judge Tower videos! More please! :D

[@SchuddeMell]

thank you for another judge-tower game : ) amazing turns with the quite unexpected combat win and i had to laugh at "this table is only big enough for the *pause and realization*... one of us" :D

[@smitgw11]

Please make more Judge's Tower videos! I absolutely love them, but there are so few online.

[@AdamGrayson]

Judge's Tower makes my chest hurt from anxiety... More, more, more!

[@deanshea4801]

Been waiting so long for the return of judges tower

[@Ent229]

It is interesting to notice how the Judge Tower rules change between pods playing it. Previously I heard about X=3, infinite life, or the activated ability restriction being once per turn instead of per turn cycle.

[@neomorphicduck]

I loved this sooo much! Please play again sooon!

[@SuperTheNobody]

8:58 JUDGE! Norin should return there is still an end step according to rule 800.4j

[@pacattack2586]

I still think that you should make the judge tower run on "You have mana equal to the number of turns taken" as the limiting factor such that the game has more difficulty the further it goes on

[@bjarkov12]

Winning in combat is the manly way of winning a judge's tower. Also, everyone missed having to activate Knight of the Holy Nimbus in upkeeps

[@CardmarketMagic]

You can only play activate a card once per turn cycle. So the Knight only needed to be activated on Jamin's next turn 👍

[@omegavulture8379]

I just love judge tower. More judge tower! MORE!

[@wikidclowne6891]

20:36 Carl would've lost here if anyone caught it. The first thing that happens in the untap step is phasing in and out. His Breezekeeper would've phased out before Molder Slug's trigger went on the stack.

[@ryangainey94]

23:41 JUDGE! Before moving to combat step, Carl needed to cast the sorcery speed card with flashback in the communal graveyard. Flashback is a May, which means it's a Must. If only PleasantKenobi caught that, he would have won that round. XD

[@JustsomeMTGplayer]

Im excited to see this gamemode come back!

[@aidancossin1524]

When they're casting cards from graveyard, they aren't the first with priority to cast the spell (more often then not)

[@DemonaruMusic]

29:30 instead is not the only way something can grammatically suggest something is being replaced. An "If X, then Y" statement can also function as a replacement effect language-wise.

[@jacobisbell9388]

Magic is very specific with its wording and you do need the instead for a replacement effect. The trick for this card is the instead is hidden in the rules for regenerate which is automatically a replacement effect.

[@20x20]

yawgmoth's agenda + thoughtscour + shared graveyard means those cards get milled into exile

[@DaAvengerMenace4]

@ minute 9. Norin's errata says "at the beginning of the next end step." which would be in Thoralf's end step

[@r4g1ngph03n1x]

8:45 Norin returns at the the beginning of the next end step, he would come back on the next person's end step. 23:10 Mystic Melting destroys Endless Whispers so the Endless Whispers would be in the graveyard first. This may seem like nitpicking, but that is the whole point of the Tower. Just a couple notes for future rules reference. Gotta make sure we have correct information :)

[@beaubeaubeaubeaubeau]

21:20 JUDGE! Meletas charlatan states that you may choose new targets for the copy, thus Carl should have chosen different targets for the copy of wildest dreams.

[@lostinthewoods2201]

More of this! Super fun

[@alexschlinkert5856]

19:41 you would draw the card for turn before the card from heightened awareness.

[@killerqueen9048]

I love how he is just chilling in a 10000 gecs shirt

[@sarahtatom454]

This feels like a training exercise to practice turn order 😅. I want to play this with my son to teach him to remember to pass priority 😂

[@The_Wicked_Wookie]

So the perfect game for all those rules lawyers and profs nightmare

[@corn-cob-gaming]

JUUUUUDGE! When Jamin said he would put his trigger ahead of Carl's around the 16 minute mark Im pretty sure he cant do that as both of them are non active players and their triggers are resolved in turn order. Anyways love the vids and Im really excited for the pauper BDE!

[@jacobisbell9388]

Actually the opposite, triggers are put on the stack in turn order, and resolve last in first out, so Jamin actually had to put his triggers ahead of Carl's

[@BoofsBoofington]

Finally, more Judge Tower. Always lick on judge tower. No spelling mistakes, I've made my choice. Also, Waterspout Elemental strongly resembles PleasantKenobi

[@CardmarketMagic]

It does! It's from universes beyond pleasant kenobi. He'll love that 😅

[@datacore7306]

what a great format! i love it!