Notes During Matches

[SimpleHiker]

After watching the new Tech Talk wmv from Ric (thanks by the way, great job!). I notice the notes taken by Atog Lord.

I was wondering how many people took notes during matches and what things you took notes of. Do you take these notes to improve your game in the current matchup. Such as remembering what spells you and your opponent have cast, or what to sideboard. Are the notes taken to guard from cheating (Um, Did I play a land this turn?). Or are the notes used to tune your deck in the future.

SH

[Razvan]

After watching the new Tech Talk wmv from Ric (thanks by the way, great job!). I notice the notes taken by Atog Lord.

I was wondering how many people took notes during matches and what things you took notes of. Do you take these notes to improve your game in the current matchup. Such as remembering what spells you and your opponent have cast, or what to sideboard. Are the notes taken to guard from cheating (Um, Did I play a land this turn?). Or are the notes used to tune your deck in the future.

SH

I keep track of life on paper (specialk tech). After every loss (or occasional gain), I mark down how it happened. Helps me when doing reports to figure out how the game went, and also helps if there's a life dispute problem (never happened at a sanctionned tourney, so I guess I am lucky).

I also note any good/bad/interesting plays, or if something special happens... unless you have someone else taking (fast) notes, I doubt you can really jot down everything (such as did someone play a land this turn)...

[Jacob Orlove]

I usually jot down a couple notes for each game if I think I might be writing a report.

[KitzuneNinja]

I was wondering how many people took notes during matches

As I read this topic I remembered that I have saved some of my notes from last years qualifier for Swedish nationals and I checked up on them, just to see how they looked like and how I solved some kinds of situations that may come up when you do quick notes(I havent played off-line magic since...like 6 months ago).

And I was completely stunned by my own notes. Besides the normal facts about how much life me and my opponent had and what the source was from damage (an opponent dropping from 18 to 0 and TOG written as a source is always fun) I saw these two notes that I cant remember I've written:

"Beer" and "Cookies". The "beer" note is from the match when I played against reanimator and cookies is from the match against RG Beats. Either I was really hungry and thirsty or I was making a shopping list during my games.

[Mixing Mike]

Such as remembering what spells you and your opponent have cast, or what to sideboard.

You cannot write down your sideboarding plan.  Someone did this at Waterbury and was warned.  At a higher lever event, this may be a game loss.

Generally, game notes are for...
A) Keeping track of life totals, or cards you've seen via Duress (if you can't remember).
B) To recall the games in the future for a report.

I actually lost my game notes, and still wrote a half-way decent report.  Just taking them is enough for people to remember what happened in each game.  About the protection from cheating thing.  For lands you can usually recount the land drops.  Other things you should just be able to pick up anyways (IE. taking a mulligan and drawing 7 cards).

[Moxlotus]

If you take your same deck to several tournaments, reports can really help.  Wow, I lost to (deck) every time I played it, in testing it was better.  Or  playerX beats me every single time we play-why?  Things like that that you wouldn't think about at the time can just pop up and help you with playskill or your deck.

[orgcandman]

Notes are useful for all sorts of things. If I'm playing something that uses duress, or some other effect that lets me see my opponents hand, I'll jot down whats in it, and cross things off as I go. It makes for much easier time when you're afraid of bluffed counter in hand.

Also, notes can be used to jot down where you were weak in the matchup (IE: loss due to resolved tinker-collosus, couldn't find answer) things like that.  It can help when you're noticing trends in the way your deck loses.

[The Atog Lord]

I take notes at an even like Waterbury to be able to write a report later. My memory isn't the best, and I'd be entirely unable to write a report if I didn't keep notes.

[MisterShark]

I can't imagine actually jotting down stuff like that on paper anymore.  As far as those of you keeping notes for writing tourny reports later on:

For you Verizon Wireless customers like me, the Motorola v710 has voice memo capabilities and comes with 10 Megs of built-in memory, with an expansion slot that will accomodate an extra 128 Megs.
...and no, I don't sell this hardware and don't own any Verizon stock.

Most modern PDAs also feature voice memo recording as well.

Just my geeky .02

[Razvan]

Question is, does it bother your opponent if you do this, and can it be considered slow play?

When it comes down to the last 5 minutes of the third game, and someone needs a resolution, or whatnot, and you are busy taking down notes instead of playing, fiddle with paper, pen, gloss over the board, etc...

[SimpleHiker]

I can't imagine actually jotting down stuff like that on paper anymore.  As far as those of you keeping notes for writing tourny reports later on:

For you Verizon Wireless customers like me, the Motorola v710 has voice memo capabilities and comes with 10 Megs of built-in memory, with an expansion slot that will accomodate an extra 128 Megs.
...and no, I don't sell this hardware and don't own any Verizon stock.

Most modern PDAs also feature voice memo recording as well.

Just my geeky .02

To note by DCI rules all electronic devices during matches are illegal. I'm guess this would include voice recorders, PDAs for notes or score keeping.

SH

[Jebus]

To note by DCI rules all electronic devices during matches are illegal. I'm guess this would include voice recorders, PDAs for notes or score keeping.

SH

Let's try not to make things up  

The use of electronic devices during the match is up to the Head Judge's discretion.  They are not automatically banned.

[SimpleHiker]

To note by DCI rules all electronic devices during matches are illegal. I'm guess this would include voice recorders, PDAs for notes or score keeping.

SH

Let's try not to make things up  

The use of electronic devices during the match is up to the Head Judge's discretion.  They are not automatically banned.

I just got done searching through the rules documents. I swear there used to be a rule about using electronic device to keep track of life or maybe using it to take notes. The rule was separate from the cell phone / other annoying devices rule.  The rule always stuck in my mind because there are some Palm programs to keep track of life, flip coins etc and noted how it was officially illegal to use them.

Now that I see you reading this thread where in the diffrent rules docs does it state the rules on making or using notes on sideboards. Can a player bring notes about how to play a deck or what to side board? Can they make notes during a match to remind them what to side board?

Taking Notes
Players are allowed to take brief written notes regarding the current match and may refer to those notes while this match is in progress. Players are expected to take their notes in a timely fashion. Players who take too much time will be subject to the appropriate provisions of the DCI Penalty Guidelines.

During draft tournaments, players may not take any notes during the draft. Players may not refer to outside notes during the match. This includes notes from previous matches of that day.

Cards in your deck may not have writing on their faces other than signatures or artistic modifications. Modifications may not obscure the artwork so as to make the card unrecognizable. Any modifications that are deemed to be outside notes by the head judge will subject the player of the deck to the appropriate provisions of the DCI Penalty Guidelines.

[Jebus]

You already posted it.

Players may not refer to outside notes during the match. This includes notes from previous matches of that day.

No sideboarding notes written before hand.

Anything you jot down during the match is fine, but anything from another match or written previously is not allowed.

[The Atog Lord]

My understanding (judges, correct me if I'm wrong) is that you are allowed to write all the notes you want during a match, so long as this is done while the other guy is the active player. This prevents any time from being consumed by the writing. In other words, I can write while you are thinking about letting my spell resolve, but I can't just go to my turn, untap, and start writing notes.

[rvs]

As long as you don't use it to stall, it's fine, so I'd say Rich's description is accurate.