The final two official shortcuts are.. – In a 2HG game, a creature that’s attacking a team and not one of their planeswalkers is assigns its combat damage to the primary player on the defending team, unless its controller states otherwise. For example, if an unblocked creature you control is equipped with in a 2HG […]
Category: Tournament Rules
What is “Public Information”?
Communication Policy Part 1: What is “Public Information” ? It is important to make sure you communicate clearly with your opponent during a tournament. First, it makes the game flow much more smoothly and, second, the game is a lot more fun if you don’t have to argue about what happened. The first type of […]
Shortcutting to Resolution
Three of the official shortcuts deal with announcing or asking about choices before those choices need to be made. If you cast a spell or activate an ability and declare choices that aren’t normally made until that spell or ability resolves, you have to abide by those declared choices unless another player responds to that […]
Don’t be late to matches.
Tournament Magic has a penalty that is applied when a player shows up to a match after the round has started. This penalty, called tardiness, falls under the Tournament Error section of the Magic Infraction Guide. It is in that category as being late does is not an infraction against the rules of the game […]
Stacking up the Shortcuts
Today, we’re going to be covering some of the shortcuts that deal with casting spells and activating abilities. There are a few, so let’s dive right in: –Whenever a player adds an object to the stack, it’s assumed that player is passing priority unless he or she declares intent to retain it. For example, if […]
What slow play is.
The simple and straight answer as to what slow play is would be to quote from the Magic Infraction Procedure Guide: “Players who take longer than is reasonably required to complete game actions are engaging in Slow Play.” However no single definition can possibly cover all situations, and the above does require some interpretation when […]
Ready for Combat? Here are some shortcuts!
“Declare attackers?”, “ready for combat”, or any similar statement during your turn means you’re offering to pass priority until your opponent has priority in your beginning of combat step. Unless an opponent acts at this point, it’s too late to cast spells or activate abilities before you declare attackers. For example, if you say “combat?” […]
Don’t keep extra cards with your sideboard.
In last week’s tournament rules tip it was pointed out that at sanctioned events you are required to present your sideboard before a match. One other rule regarding your sideboard is that you should not keep any cards that are not a part of your deck or sideboard with your sideboard. According to the Magic […]
What ‘Go’ means
Shortcuts make Magic easier to play. Did you know that each player passes priority eight times in a turn where each player does nothing? It’s true! Because Magic is such a complex game, we have shortcuts to speed up gameplay and make things less technical. Most shortcuts skip multiple priority passes, but players can always […]