Jaynel
09-09-2007, 03:13 PM
Dante posted this on TMD, and I figure it's also good to have here.
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/14710.html
Important stuff (all quotes from the article):
From Magic Floor Rules section 122:
Before each game begins, players must present their sideboards and allow their opponents to count the number of cards in their sideboards (face down), if requested. Players may look at their sideboards during a game only if the sideboard remains distinguishable from other cards
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* Whenever a player adds an object to the stack, they are assumed to be passing priority unless they explicitly announce that they intend to retain it. If they add a group of objects to the stack without explicitly retaining priority and a player wishes to take an action at a point in the middle, the actions should be reversed up to that point.—This is how this is treated already in many areas, but other play communities may currently treat a series of actions announced simultaneously (like Psychatog pumps, for instance) as actually piling up on the stack. If you're in one of those areas, be aware that you may not find the judges on your side anymore.
* If a player announces an X spell without specifying the value of X, it is assumed to be for all mana currently available in their pool.
* Players are assumed to have paid any cost of 0 unless they announce otherwise.—This two items are pretty new idea, in terms of official sanction, but they clear up a lot of really awkward judging situations, where both players think it's obvious what has occurred, and yet they each have a different idea. I don't doubt that there will be some strong feelings about these, but I think they're generally healthy.
* A spell or ability that targets an object on the stack is assumed by default to target the legal target closest to the top of the stack.—This is highly relevant in counterwars, where one player may want to let an opponent's drawback-containing counterspell (e.g. Pact of Negation) resolve before re-countering an item further down the stack. Since players often dump their counters right into the graveyard, it can be impossible to assert what was countered. It's still a good play... you just have to specify that you're making it.
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There are now three categories of information (roughly: this is the executive summary, still) that have different levels of bluffability (not an actual word) associated with them. These are laid out through the Golden Rule, and the exceptions that are listed after it:
* Factual information that's hidden or is about recent actions in the past: You must answer these questions both honestly and completely. If I ask if you played a particular creature on your last turn, you can't hedge. If you played a Story Circle and didn't write the named color down, you have to tell me what it is.
* Most questions about basic game state and game rules: This is the meat-and-potatoes stuff that falls under the Golden Rule. You can avoid the question, or distract your opponent, but you have to be honest to the extent you do answer it.
* Questions about derived game state, future interactions, or hidden information: you may say whatever you like. Want to claim that your army of Walls is going to swing for the win? Go ahead. The remaining thirty cards of your library are all counterspells? If you can sell it, more power to you.
Before I get into the borders and where players can go astray, the most important caveat is this: you cannot use misleading statements to make your opponent make an illegal play, and you cannot suggest that an infraction has occurred unless you have actual grounds to believe it has. This came up at a recent Portland PTQ: a player called a judge on their oppenent for failing to pay for a Pact. The problem was, the Pact had been countered, so there was no payment to be made. The Pact player scooped his cards. This is unequivocally illegal now: do so knowing that there was no Pact trigger, and you'll be DQ'ed
Read up.
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/14710.html
Important stuff (all quotes from the article):
From Magic Floor Rules section 122:
Before each game begins, players must present their sideboards and allow their opponents to count the number of cards in their sideboards (face down), if requested. Players may look at their sideboards during a game only if the sideboard remains distinguishable from other cards
---
* Whenever a player adds an object to the stack, they are assumed to be passing priority unless they explicitly announce that they intend to retain it. If they add a group of objects to the stack without explicitly retaining priority and a player wishes to take an action at a point in the middle, the actions should be reversed up to that point.—This is how this is treated already in many areas, but other play communities may currently treat a series of actions announced simultaneously (like Psychatog pumps, for instance) as actually piling up on the stack. If you're in one of those areas, be aware that you may not find the judges on your side anymore.
* If a player announces an X spell without specifying the value of X, it is assumed to be for all mana currently available in their pool.
* Players are assumed to have paid any cost of 0 unless they announce otherwise.—This two items are pretty new idea, in terms of official sanction, but they clear up a lot of really awkward judging situations, where both players think it's obvious what has occurred, and yet they each have a different idea. I don't doubt that there will be some strong feelings about these, but I think they're generally healthy.
* A spell or ability that targets an object on the stack is assumed by default to target the legal target closest to the top of the stack.—This is highly relevant in counterwars, where one player may want to let an opponent's drawback-containing counterspell (e.g. Pact of Negation) resolve before re-countering an item further down the stack. Since players often dump their counters right into the graveyard, it can be impossible to assert what was countered. It's still a good play... you just have to specify that you're making it.
---
There are now three categories of information (roughly: this is the executive summary, still) that have different levels of bluffability (not an actual word) associated with them. These are laid out through the Golden Rule, and the exceptions that are listed after it:
* Factual information that's hidden or is about recent actions in the past: You must answer these questions both honestly and completely. If I ask if you played a particular creature on your last turn, you can't hedge. If you played a Story Circle and didn't write the named color down, you have to tell me what it is.
* Most questions about basic game state and game rules: This is the meat-and-potatoes stuff that falls under the Golden Rule. You can avoid the question, or distract your opponent, but you have to be honest to the extent you do answer it.
* Questions about derived game state, future interactions, or hidden information: you may say whatever you like. Want to claim that your army of Walls is going to swing for the win? Go ahead. The remaining thirty cards of your library are all counterspells? If you can sell it, more power to you.
Before I get into the borders and where players can go astray, the most important caveat is this: you cannot use misleading statements to make your opponent make an illegal play, and you cannot suggest that an infraction has occurred unless you have actual grounds to believe it has. This came up at a recent Portland PTQ: a player called a judge on their oppenent for failing to pay for a Pact. The problem was, the Pact had been countered, so there was no payment to be made. The Pact player scooped his cards. This is unequivocally illegal now: do so knowing that there was no Pact trigger, and you'll be DQ'ed
Read up.