Tournament Rules Changes (October 9, 2026)

Intervening in games when they see an error occur to apply the appropriate fixes and penalties. This does not apply to Missed Trigger errors. See 702.2 in Tournament Rules 2026-10-09 (opens source rules in a new tab). For more information on Missed Trigger errors.

Even when a low OPL constructed event does not require deck registration, players are expected to use the same deck throughout the event unless given permission by the tournament organizer.

They must also include registered records of any cards selected for special additional deckbuilding rules. (Example: The three Legends selected for Neeko, Blending In must be registered on a player’s decklist and can’t be changed once they are submitted.)

If a game ends due to a game loss penalty after players have selected and revealed their battlefields, players must use different battlefields for any following games in the match.

A deck check can be performed after the mulligan procedure is complete as long as play has not begun and each player’s hand is preserved.

If the end of match procedure has entered additional turns and where in the additional turns players are. Players must announce and acknowledge additional turns as they occur. (See 408 in Tournament Rules 2026-10-09 (opens source rules in a new tab) for more information on End of Match Procedure.)

Loops must be fully deterministic; they may not rely on probability, decision trees, or conditional actions. Example:

Players can manually execute non-deterministic loops, but must do so in a timely fashion. Failure to do so is Slow Play. See 703.2 in Tournament Rules 2026-10-09 (opens source rules in a new tab) for more information on Slow Play.

When changing decisions as described in 509.3 in Tournament Rules 2026-10-09 (opens source rules in a new tab). - 509.4., players can ready/unrecycle runes used for those decisions.

Decisions made based on inaccurately represented public information may still be rewound at the discretion of the head judge. Inaccurately representing information to try to get a rewind is cheating.

The sideboard process described in 406.1.h in Tournament Rules 2026-10-09 (opens source rules in a new tab). does not apply to “best of 1” limited competitions.

Certain penalties, such as Forgetting to Draw Cards, that would usually be disadvantageous to the erroring player can upgrade in severity if they occur in a situation where the error is obviously advantageous for them.

Certain penalties, such as Channeling Too Few Runes, refer to a “full round cycle”. A full round cycle completes when the player whose turn the error occurred on begins their next turn.

Remedies for illegally removed cards:

Remedies when a player forgets to select their Chosen Champion during setup:

For all deck presentation errors, if the cards required to correct the deck cannot be acquired in a timely manner, the head judge can issue a proxy.

During matches, players may request a judge check an opponent’s deck for legality. (Example: A player believes an opponent has a sideboard card in the first game.)

Violating electronic devices policies will result in an outside assistance [Warning].

A Professional OPL, the penalty is upgraded to [Disqualification]. This should be clearly communicated to all players at the start of a Professional OPL event.

Knowingly attempting to improperly determine a winner or attempting to goad an opponent into doing so is cheating. See 704.8 in Tournament Rules 2026-10-09 (opens source rules in a new tab) for more information about cheating.