{"id":911,"date":"2017-12-21T15:08:45","date_gmt":"2017-12-21T15:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/playerexperience\/?p=911"},"modified":"2018-02-01T12:39:53","modified_gmt":"2018-02-01T12:39:53","slug":"out-of-order-sequencing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/playerexperience\/2017\/12\/21\/out-of-order-sequencing\/","title":{"rendered":"Out-of-Order Sequencing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Written<\/a>

Written by Monica Gonzalez Level 2, Spain<\/p><\/div><\/span><\/p>\n

We all know that Magic is a complex game. There are thousands of unique cards, and these cards are governed by a ton of very boring rules (a loooot of pages of rules). <\/span><\/p>\n

Magic is also a game with actions and decisions and the order in which players must do these is detailed in the (again) unfathomable mountain of rulings. <\/span><\/p>\n

It can be quite difficult to perform every single play in a perfect manner. In fact, it\u2019s not uncommon to see players do actions in an incorrect order that, by the rules, shouldn\u2019t be possible. <\/span><\/p>\n

The most common example of this is one that you probably have seen a lot of times at tournaments: a player begins their turn by drawing a card and then untapping. <\/span><\/p>\n

We all have done this at some point, and we all know that this is not the correct order and we should have untapped before drawing. We also know that nobody generally complains about this. But, what are we doing here? We are indeed performing a series of actions in an essentially incorrect order. <\/span><\/p>\n

Performing actions in an incorrect order is something so usual that it\u2019s actually covered by the rules governing Magic tournaments, and it even has a name: it\u2019s called Out-of-Order Sequencing, or OoOS for short. <\/span><\/p>\n

This rule was born after the Pro Tour Berlin in 2008. In that tournament the dominating deck was Elf combo that could make infinite life and\/or infinite mana. <\/span><\/p>\n

The combo itself is performed using a sequence of triggered abilities that, if the player forgot to perform in a correct order, could result in a game loss by means of getting too manywarnings for missed triggers (in those times all missed triggers meant a penalty for the player). In fact, there were actual games won in this way. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Because of this two things happened: first, that Luis Scott-Vargas and his Elves achieved the glory of the victory, and second, it was decided to change the rules to improve the game flow and avoid these situations.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s exactly an out-of-order sequence? It\u2019s something that allows players to perform actions without following the usual order, provided that the sequence remains clear and the final game state is legal (there\u2019s a bit more to this, but for now we\u2019ll stick to this simplification).<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s see another example before analyzing in detail what the rules say: <\/span><\/p>\n

I control a Birds of Paradise and a Voice of Resurgence. My opponent, who doesn\u2019t like creatures that cheat more of themselves in play, decides to play a Supreme Verdict, so I put the Voice in the graveyard, I create the token, and then move the Birds in the graveyard. <\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, there is something out of order here: both the Voice and the Birds should have gone to the graveyard at the same time, before the token is placed in play. Is this action clear? Yes. It\u2019s the resulting game state legal? Indeed. This is a prime example of an incorrect order leading to a correct game state. <\/span><\/p>\n

But, what does really the rules say so we can consider this an OoOS situation? <\/span><\/p>\n