Placement of cards

[CrazyCarl]

So, are there any rules that govern where and how cards are placed on the table?  Are there specific zones in which things must be played?  It's come up a few times in Type 4 and it's pretty annoying to have people have multiple permanents in play all over the place.

[Gort32]

Not really.  The basic rules are that you have to be able to see the name of every card on the table and you aren't allowed to place anything on top of your llibrary that doesn't belong there (i.e. - a reminder to pay something during your upkeep, which we all used to do when we were starting out).  Other than that the only formal rules include things like having your cards face-up unless morphed, top up unless it's tapped, etc.  Now, if you are placing permanents well over the halfway mark between you and your opponent, invading his/her space, or placing things stupidly and intentionally confusingly, a judge may give you a warning and tell you to neaten up, but that's a judgement call.  And no, you can't reach over and arrange your opponent's cards for him, no matter how cluttered they may be - you can't touch your opponent's cards without permission.

[Jacques]

Technically, you don't need to have your cards top up unless tapped.  It's perfectly legal to play upside down.  There was a fairly well known torney player, who's name escapes me, who did this.  Also, I remember reading in an mtg artical that you can play your cards in any direction so long as you can clearly tell the difference between tapped and untapped and it's uniform.  Don't take my word on that though.

And yes Carl, I can play my enchantments, lands, and creatures anywhere I please when you have a Chaos Orb or Pointy Finger of Doom on the table, so nyah.

[Matt]

Adrian Sullivan, I believe.

[Komatteru]

I was told that on the PT, you have to put your creatures and other nonland permanents in the front and your lands in the back.  So the table viewed from above would like like:

Player A
---------------
A's Lands and other mana sources

A's Creatures and stuff

B's Creatures and stuff

B's Lands and other mana sources
----------------
Player B


Something about a "red zone" for your lands on the PT playmat.  Maybe someone who's actually played there can enlighten us.  This is opposite to how most T1 players keep their permanents, since we don't tend to have a lot of nonland, nonmox Permanents in play.

[epeeguy]

I was told that on the PT, you have to put your creatures and other nonland permanents in the front and your lands in the back.

That's only applicable to Day 3/Feature Matches.  In which case they are doing that for the purposes of televising the match so that everything is easily visible to the cameras.  Otherwise, there is no specific requirement at a PT for placing your permanents beyond what occurs at any other DCI sanctioned event (at least there wasn't at the last 2 PTs I judged at).

[prosbloom225]

I don't believe there is a rule anywhere, even in the dci tourney handbook governing card placement.  Though in type 1 I try to space out my cards as much as possible.  Never know when that rogue, oldschool deck with chaos orb is going to show up.

[epeeguy]

I don't believe there is a rule anywhere, even in the dci tourney handbook governing card placement.

No, there is no actual rule (more like "accepted practice").  Generally speaking, you may arrange your cards and permanents in any way you wish.  The only requirement is that the current game status has to be readily visible to you, your opponent and to any tournament officials.  So, cards have to be clearly indicated as being tapped or not, counters need to be readily visible, etc.  But, in general, that's about it.

[Jacob Orlove]

Though in type 1 I try to space out my cards as much as possible.  Never know when that rogue, oldschool deck with chaos orb is going to show up.

Chaos Orb is banned, and has been for years.

[prosbloom225]

I realize that, but theres some crazy people around here.  Some of the tournies I've been to have had different b/r lists.  For example, they took trinisphere down right away at one tourney.  Plus its good habit for casual games.