Knowledge of cards

Miasmat wrote:

So, could I be super wasteful and print out a hardcopy of every card that exists and check that instead? This would be WAY slower than a smartphone search. Or, more extremely, can print out the TWDA?

Any research like this may fall foul of Slow Play rules. In extremis, possibly Stalling rules or Sportsmanship.

Personally, as a Judge, I wouldn't mind if someone did use a smartphone to rsearch something during the game BUT, unless it was something trivial like updated card text from rulings, I would like to be called over as Judge to basically say "Yes, that's how it work. Add 2 min to the end of your game."

Hakuron wrote:

In my opinion, players should not be allowed to do ANY KIND of research during the game -- only judges.

It's unfortunate that the world is this way, but even if 99% of players have only good intentions when trying to research cards via a mobile device, there will be that 1% who will do it to waste time or scour the TWDA for potential hints about the deck. It should be prohibited completely except by judges who are researching for a particular situation in a game. Hard and fast rule makes it fair for all.

Miasmat wrote:

Now, this brings me to my person pet peeve - I hate scouting other people's decks at tournaments. If you're ousted, don't go watch the other tables with the intent to discover what each other player is playing that day. It would be nice if there was a Loser's Lounge, where ousted players could hang out, away from active games, until the next round started. If you figure out what I'm playing WHILE playing against me, cool, use that knowledge in future rounds, but please don't tell the rest of the tournament what my deck's surprise is today.

Scouting bothers me because the knowledge exchange isn't reciprocal - you find out what I'm playing, but I don't learn anything about your tricks.

For me, watching the game at other tables when you are no longer playing is part of the atmosphere at a tournament (another similarity to chess) and perfectly okay with me, as long as everybody is following the course of the game in general.
I agree with you that SPYING by looking permantly at my hand from behind is a nuisance.

Miasmat wrote:

Scouting bothers me because the knowledge exchange isn't reciprocal - you find out what I'm playing, but I don't learn anything about your tricks.

It shouldn't bother you under the circumstances that you describe, because if you have no time to scout, it's likely that you're getting VPs in every game, and the ones scouting aren't, so who cares about them? You'll likely oust them just like everyone else has been ousting them.