What is Judge Tower?

Judge Tower is a fun and challenging format created by Magic judges as a training tool and as a way of testing their rules knowledge. It can be played head-to-head, but is at its best with multiple players at the table. The full rules are explained below, but the main point of a game of Judge Tower is to play as long as you can without committing any game rules violations. Any player who commits a rules violation (and is called out for it) immediately loses the game. The winner of a game of Judge Tower is the last player standing.

Why Play Judge Tower?

Judge Tower can be a mentally taxing format, putting players' game rules knowledge to the test through complex game states and obscure rules interactions. It is not a format recommended for beginners or players who lack an in-depth understanding of the rules of Magic. That said, the format can be incredibly fun for those looking for a more puzzle-like way to play Magic.

One of the most interesting things about the format is how much the optimal play strategy differs from normal Magic. Things that are usually seen as positive in a normal game of Magic — such as drawing cards, taking extra turns, or developing a large board presence — can be negative in a game of Judge Tower, since having more cards that you must play means more opportunities to make a rules mistake.

Rules

In addition to adhering to all the standard rules of Magic: The Gathering, the Judge Tower format has some alternate and additional rules that set it apart from other formats:

• All players share a single library and graveyard.
• Players have (functionally) infinite life. Players do not ever lose the game for having zero or less life. A player can lose the game by attempting to draw from an empty library.
• Players have an unlimited amount of each color of mana available to them at all times. Mana does not empty from pools as steps and phases end.
• Each player starts with a number of cards in their hand equal to their judge level. Non-judges start with zero cards in hand. Players cannot mulligan.
• Each player plays with their hand revealed. This helps keep players honest and makes it easier to tell when they have missed an opportunity to play a card.
• Players must play each card in their hand as soon as legally possible and must activate any activated abilities they can as soon as legally possible.
• Players must choose as many modes and targets as possible and must pay alternative costs and additional costs if they legally can. All optional modes are mandatory. Generally speaking, if a player "may" do something, they must do that thing (if legally able).
• Players can only activate each separate ability of a card once per turn, but they must activate each ability each turn if able. If a card has multiple activated abilities, they must be activated from the bottom of the card up.
• Players can only play each individual card once per turn. For example, if a player casts a spell with Flashback, they cannot cast the spell again from their graveyard utilizing its Flashback ability on the same turn.
• Players must attack with all legal attackers and block with all legal blockers when able. Players can choose who to attack and how to block as normal.
• If a spell or ability has an X in its cost, X is always equal to 5.
• Players are considered to own every card they draw and every card they play for the purpose of cards that reference the owners of cards, spells, or permanents.
• A player loses the game if they commit a game rules violation (such as those described under §2. Game Play Errors in the Magic Infraction Procedure Guide), including violating the rules of Judge Tower (such as by not playing a card or activating an ability at the earliest legal opportunity). Another player must catch the rules violation and call out the offending player before too much time has passed (usually before the turn has ended in which the violation occurred). If an error is not caught until a subsequent turn, it's too late! The offending player got away with it.
  • In normal games of Magic, it might be considered overkill to announce each trigger, each action taken, and each movement through individual steps and phases, but in Judge Tower this is just good etiquette. Communication is key, as is allowing each player to respond or pass priority at each relevant opportunity. This is a format where, by design, a single missed trigger or other game error results in a loss for the offending player. That said, players should try to play at a reasonable pace and not stall the game by agonizing over every decision.
  • When called out for a supposed rules violation, a player may challenge the call if they believe that no violation has occurred. Players should consult a higher-level judge authority if feasible (including looking online to see if an applicable ruling already exists), or come to a majority consensus on the matter. If it is not possible for a majority of players to agree on the correct ruling, the owner of the Judge Tower has final say as "Head Judge." Please remember to approach all rules discussions and disagreements with respect and sportsmanship.
• When a game ends, the last player remaining is considered the winner and gets 1 point. Set aside all permanents and all cards in hands, graveyard(s), and exile, and start a new game with the remaining cards in the deck. Continue until the Tower runs out of cards (or until you are sick of playing) — the player with the most points wins the match!

Alternate Rules

Different playgroups may want to play slightly differently from the rules outlined above. Here are some common alternate rules to try out:

• Go Big or Go Home: Players start the game with 7 card hands, rather than a number of cards equal to their judge level. The larger the starting hand size, the more difficult the game will be. If 7 is too many, your playgroup can adjust starting hand size to your preference.
• Separate Graveyards: Each player has their own graveyard instead of sharing a single graveyard. This will make the game play out a little bit more like a regular game of Magic, but some of the trickier interactions that come from sharing a graveyard might be lacking.
• Penalty Flags: Instead of losing to a single mistake, players are subject to a "three strikes and you're out" rule. Each time a player commits a rules violation, they receive a penalty flag card, and they don't lose the game until the third penalty flag. This is a good alternate rule if you want individual games to last longer or if no one in your playgroup is above judge level 1.
• Turnabout is Fair Play: When a rules violation call is challenged, if the call is determined to be incorrect, then the player or players who incorrectly called out the supposed violation each draws a card (or, if playing with penalty flags, each receives a penalty flag).

Additional Notes

Each Judge Tower list is unique. Here is some information behind the design philosophy of this particular list:

• There are no cards that search a player's library or require the library to be shuffled. This deck contains hundreds of cards and is too unwieldy to be shuffled easily during gameplay.
• Some cards in this list care about graveyard order. Make sure that this is clearly communicated to all players before the game begins, as reordering cards in the graveyard could result in a rules violation and subsequent loss!
• In some cases, older printings of cards have been selected. It is up to your playgroup whether players are allowed to look up the current Oracle text of cards or whether that knowledge is one more thing players should be tested on. One possible option is to give players a set number of "lifelines" that they can use to look up Oracle text (as long as they don't look at a card's rulings while looking up the Oracle text).
• Some cards require players to venture into the dungeon. It is recommended that the dungeons "Lost Mine of Phandelver" and/or "Dungeon of the Mad Mage" be used as dungeon options.
• This list contains a few planeswalkers. Planeswalkers may be attacked (as in a normal game Magic), although it will often be strategically beneficial to leave your opponents' planeswalkers in play as long as possible to make their turns more complicated.