Can a judge require decklists be submitted one day prior to a tournament (by midnight), and can they issue a first round game loss for late submission or missing decklists?

Ruling: At high OPL tournaments, decklists are required by tournament rules. An illegal decklist (including one that is missing entirely) results in a game loss, not a match loss. However, judges do not have discretion under the rules to set arbitrary deadlines like "one day prior by midnight" - the organizer could make such a request, but enforcing a match loss for not meeting that specific deadline would be inappropriate.

Nuances:

• The distinction between "illegal decklist" penalties (game loss) versus enforcement of submission timing deadlines
• While organizers can reasonably request early submission, refusing to accept a decklist on the day of the tournament and issuing penalties for that refusal is considered overreach