Judge

A Judge is an official at a tournament which settle disputes between players and enforce the rules and regulations of the game, as well as hand out punishment for transgressions thereof.

Judges can be consulted in between and during rounds and can inform about interaction of cards or about the status of the tournament (e.g. how much time is left in the round), but are not allowed to provide strategic advice. Judges also report tournament results and other incidents during the tournament which may require supplementary discipline back to the DCI after the tournament has been concluded. During the tournament judges register players, create matchups, and collect results of matchups in addition to being able for consultation over rules issues.

Any person can become a verified judge by taking a test about rules interaction as well as how to interact with players in varying situations. Judges are categorized into Levels, designating the minimum knowledge they must have to perform their duties within a tournament. Higher Level judges can be consulted if a lower level judge's ruling appears to be incorrect, and a higher level judge can overrule the previous statements. The DCI also requires that tournament organizers provide for the presence of a certified judge of a certain level to hold certain kinds of tournaments (e.g. Grand Prix Trials).

At certain large tournaments judges also often give seminars for their colleagues in how to perform their duties more easily or in a better way, e.g. how to spot illegal collusion between players.

Judges usually wear shirts featuring white-and-black vertical stripes. The head judge of large tournaments often wears a red-and-black striped design instead.

As the DCI does not allow for Judges to be paid for their tournament appearances, Judges are partially compensated with Judge Gift cards, Foil cards with an alternate artwork or design, often of rare or powerful cards which can fetch very high prices on the secondary market as they are sought after by collectors.