#combat shortcut

[magicjudge]

The (New) Combat Shortcut and You!

With the release of the update to the Magic Tournament Rules (MTR) for Amonkhet, the much debated combat shortcut in MTR 4.2 has changed from this:

A statement such as "I'm ready for combat" or "Declare attackers?" offers to keep passing priority until an opponent has priority in the beginning of combat step. Opponents are assumed to be acting then unless they specify otherwise.

To this:

If the active player passes priority during their first main phase, the non-active player is assumed to be acting in beginning of combat unless they are affecting how or whether a beginning of combat ability triggers. However, if the non-active player takes no action, the active player has priority at the beginning of combat. Beginning of combat triggered abilities (even ones that target) may be announced after any non-active player action has resolved.

... That’s a lot of words now, so let’s look at what they mean and how they differ from what used to be. To begin with, I want to be clear that the entire shortcut is making the assumption that you’re passing with an empty stack, since passing otherwise is necessary for spells and abilities on the stack to resolve.

If the active player passes priority during their first main phase, the non-active player is assumed to be acting in beginning of combat[...]

This part is basically exactly the same as the old shortcut, except it makes it more clear that any priority pass with an empty stack in your main phase will take you to combat unless your opponent specifically wants to act in your main phase. This was true before, but removing the part about how different statements are phrased makes it more clear that there are no magic words here.

[...]the non-active player is assumed to be acting in beginning of combat unless they are affecting how or whether a beginning of combat ability triggers.

This is the first real change to the shortcut, in that the actions of the non-active player in response to the proposed shortcut can allow them to act before the beginning of combat step without them needing the specify that fact. Specifically, if they take an action to either prevent a beginning of combat ability from triggering or by changing what the trigger can target or otherwise effect.

For example, if I control a Weldfast Engineer and a Scrapheap Scrounger (my only artifact creature) and I pass priority in my main phase to go to combat. If my opponent responds with a removal or bounce spell on either of these creatures, then the new shortcut assumes that they’re casting that spell in my main phase since it would change if the ability triggered at all or what it could affect.

The non-active player can, of course, specify a different time at which their acting if they wish to respond to the trigger itself in the beginning of combat step, or they can just allow the shortcut to resolve and respond to it once the active player puts it on the stack.

However, if the non-active player takes no action, the active player has priority at the beginning of combat.

If the non-active player agrees to the shortcut by just passing priority back to the active player, then the game moves on to the beginning of combat step. The difference here from before is that the active player now has priority in the beginning of combat step whereas the old shortcut assumed that they had passed it to the opponent.

Beginning of combat triggered abilities (even ones that target) may be announced after any non-active player action has resolved.

If the non-active player does nothing, then the active player puts their beginning of combat triggers on the stack and has priority, as expected. This is what most players that were complaining about the old shortcut were complaining about, and so now it works the way they wanted it to. 

However, things get weird if the non-active player had any responses to the shortcut proposal and those responses didn’t affect how or whether any beginning of combat triggers triggered. In this case, these abilities go on the stack in the beginning of combat step and resolve normally, but after they resolve, the active player can still announce any and all beginning of combat triggers and put them on the stack at that time, even though the beginning of combat step has begun already and objects have already resolved on the stack. It’s a bit mind-bendy, at least to me, but basically it just takes the onus off of the active player to announce their triggers at the same time as the shortcut proposal.

(The end of turn shortcut got similar changes, which I’ll cover in a separate post.)

TL;DR: 

The active player now gets priority in their beginning of combat step and doesn’t have to announce beginning of combat triggers when they propose the move to combat.

The non-active player can remove the source or possible target of those triggers before the ability triggers without needing to specify that they’re acting in the active player’s main phase.

Any other response to the shortcut proposal happens in the beginning of combat step, but the active player doesn’t need to announce any beginning of combat triggers until after these responses resolve.

If you want to play smart, save any responses that don’t prevent or change the effect of Beginning of Combat triggers until those triggers are actually on the stack. 

Unless you’re trying to draw into an answer, in which case you need to specify that you’re doing so in the active player’s main phase, as not doing so will put that action into the beginning of combat step where those triggers can/will be on the stack.

[magicjudge]

Try and put this in very simple terms for me, because I've been very confused by the whole priority rulings. If I now, under the new system, say "move to combat", am I actually proposing to go to the beginning of combat step? If yes, was this not the case before?

Yes, that’s what the new combat shortcut does. If accepted, you’ll put any Beginning of Combat triggers on the stack and then have priority in your beginning of combat step.

Previously, the shortcut, when accepted, would move the game to the beginning of combat step with your opponent have priority. Since this included an implied priority pass in the beginning of combat step, any targeted beginning of combat triggers had to be announced along with the shortcut proposal or they would be considered to be missed.

[magicjudge]

Why is the current policy regarding "combat" the way it is? It's very obvious that it implies that it means that you want to do something in the beginning of combat step; if you wanted to declare attackers, you'd say so.

Under the current shortcut policy in section 4.2 of the Magic Tournament rules, any statement such as “go to combat” or “declare attackers?” from the active player is an offer to pass priority until their opponent had priority in the beginning of combat step. Any response is assumed to be happening at that time unless the opponent says otherwise.

The current interpretation of this shortcut is that a player can in no way move to a place where they have priority in their own beginning of combat step without announcing what’s happening there (either a trigger, spell, or ability) or without a good reason otherwise (as discussed below).  It doesn’t matter if they say say “combat” or “attackers” or “pass in my main phase”.

For context on how this shortcut developed and the current philosophy behind its application and enforcement, please read the two articles linked in this sentence. They’re written by senior judges with much more experience and thought put into this than me.

But to summarize the reasons for why this is the case, I’ll steal the two underlying philosophies laid out in Toby’s article:

With very few exceptions, the non-active player doesn't want to act in active player's main phase.

With very few exceptions, the burden is on the active player is to act first.

Note that those points say very few exceptions, not no exceptions. 

Exceptions to #1 include wanting to kill a creature such as a Goblin Rabblemaster before it triggers in the beginning of combat step. 

Exceptions to #2 include situations where the nonactive player has mana floating or can’t do anything past the main phase, such as if there’s a Basandra on the battlefield. In these cases, the active player has a good reason to move the game to the beginning of combat step with them having priority.

I don’t want to steal too much thunder from the excellent articles here, so if you have any further questions, please read those first before coming back to me with more questions.

Do I think the shortcut is perfect right now? No, but it’s better than any alternative I’ve seen suggested and I’ve seen plenty of alternatives suggested.

[magicjudge]

Hello kind judge! If my opponent says "move to combat" and I respond with a thing (like playing Elder Deep-Fiend and tapping some would-be attackers) does my opponent get a chance to play more stuff in their pre-combat main phase, or is it too late?

The “combat?” shortcut offers to go the active player’s combat step with the nonactive player having priority. Anything you do in response to the “combat” request by the active player is considered to be happening in the beginning of combat step unless you specifically say otherwise. This shortcut exists specifically to protect the non-active player from being forced to act in the active player’s pre-combat main phase.

In the situation you describe, your opponent will be in their beginning of combat step after Elder Deep-Fiend resolves, not their pre-combat main phase.