Where is the line drawn when missing triggered abilities?
Asked by Metroid_Hybrid 9 years ago
Now I understand that triggered abilities with the word "may" can be legitimately missed, but what about otherwise?
My particular situation revolved around me forgetting to count a Brutal Hordechief's first ability until after combat damage was already dealt & things were going to the graveyard; did the ability still trigger? I would think so, particularly considering that someone could be potentially penalized for conveniently "missing" other, less advantageous triggered abilities.. So where is the line technically drawn?
Epochalyptik says... #2
As for Judging at Regular REL, the judge should determine whether to handle non-"may" abilities based on the ability's impact (significantly, how disruptive the ability would be) on the current game state.
April 19, 2015 1:23 a.m.
Metroid_Hybrid says... #3
So based on the information you just listed; the Brutal Hordechief's ability would still trigger considering that I caught it while still in my combat phase, correct?
And for the record; this was at an FNM, however before I was able to call a judge over my opponent just decided to scoop since he was just going to lose either way the next turn, regardless of the trigger.. So I came here for answers.. :)
April 19, 2015 2:03 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #4
Well, the answer is that the judge will determine what to do. I know that's not extraordinarily helpful.
We can infer from the above information that the judge likely would have either ignored the ability or allowed the opponent to decide because a case could have been made that the opponent declared blockers based on the ability having been missed and therefore not modifying his or her life total prior to blocks.
April 19, 2015 2:08 a.m.
Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #5
The part of the IPG text that actually answers your question (and somehow wasn't quoted) is in the "Definitions" section. In your example, Brutal Hordechief falls under "A triggered ability that causes a change in the visible game state (including life totals) or requires a choice upon resolution", which means the policy for whether or not it's missed is "The controller must take the appropriate physical action or make it clear what the action taken or choice made is before taking any game actions (such as casting a sorcery spell or explicitly moving to the next step or phase) that can be taken only after the triggered ability should have resolved". You definitely missed the trigger.
Epochalyptik says... #1
See page 8 of the Infraction Procedure Guide, which addresses Rules Enforcement Levels above Regular (FNM level).
At RELs above Regular, there are a couple things of note:
- You are not required to point out your opponent's triggered abilities. Each player is responsible for tracking his or her own triggered abilities.
- Generally, players are issued Warnings if they miss a triggered ability that is considered to be detrimental to them.
- If a player intentionally misses a triggered ability, then the intentional miss will be addressed as Unsporting Conduct - Cheating unless it would have had no impact on the game.
Remediation steps:
- If the ability is a "may" ability, it is assumed that the ability's controller opted not to perform the optional action.
- If the ability has a failure clause such as "if you don't" or "unless," then they are resolved regardless of how much time has passed since the missed trigger. The opponent of the ability's controller chooses whether to resolve the ability immediately (when it is noticed that it was missed) or the when a player would receive priority at the beginning of the next step.
- If the ability has a duration that has already expired, the ability is ignored.
- If the ability was missed prior to the current phase in the previous player's turn, the ability is ignored.
- For all other cases, the opponent of the ability's controller chooses whether to add the ability to the stack. If he or she chooses to add it, then it is added to the appropriate location on the stack (if possible) or on the bottom of the stack. Choices made for that ability (targets, on-resolution sacrifices, other choices) may only include choices that would have been legal at the time the ability should have triggered. The example the IPG provides is that a player may not handle a missed trigger requiring a sacrifice by sacrificing a creature that was not on the battlefield at the time the ability should have triggered.
April 19, 2015 1:19 a.m.