What constitues slow play?

[Joe_C]

I am getting into playing a very slow control deck. I make decisions generally quickly. But even so, I expect the games to take some time to complete. If I know that I can take my turns in a timely fashion, what do I do if I feel my opponent is taking too long to make decisions? Is there a standard as to how long a turn should take?

[cdr]

Slow play is, by necessity, one of those "I know it when I see it" things, like obscenity.


133. Tournament Error — Slow Play

Definition
Players who take longer than is reasonably required to complete game actions are engaging in Slow Play. If a judge believes a player is intentionally playing slowly to take advantage of a time limit, the infraction is Cheating — Stalling.

Examples
A. A player in a Dreamblade tournament repeatedly manipulates his figures without committing to a specific course of action.
B. A player in a Magic tournament repeatedly reviews his opponent’s graveyard without any significant change in game state.
C. A player in a Magic tournament spends time writing down the contents of an opponent's deck when resolving Haunting Echoes.
D. After 3 minutes into a round at a Magic Pro Tour™ Qualifier, a player has not completed his shuffling.
E. In a Dreamblade tournament, a player takes an unreasonable amount of time deciding which creatures to spawn.
F. A player gets up from his seat to look at standings, or goes to the bathroom without permission of an official.

Philosophy
All players have the responsibility to play quickly enough so that their opponents are not at a significant disadvantage because of the time limit. A player may be playing slowly without realizing it. At lower RELs a comment of "I need you to play faster" is often appropriate and all that is needed. Further slow play should be penalized.

If you think your opponent is taking too long, you may be right. Call a judge over and ask the judge to watch the match for slow play. However, your opponent is not obligated to play especially fast just because you are playing a slow deck.

There is no standard for how long a turn should take - that would be pretty unreasonable since the number of things that happen in a turn can vary a lot. There is a standard as to how long each individual action should take - not very long.

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc/16960_The_Riki_Rules_Anatomy_of_a_Slow_Play.html