I believe there is a niche, but significant coding issue with the Rules Q&A section.

TappedOut forum

Posted on May 26, 2021, 10:29 a.m. by Yesterday

I originally tried to post this question in the Rules Q&A section over two weeks ago but was met with a 'routine downtime' message which I dismissed due to bad timing and saved for later. This downtime lasted over a day, during which I tried multiple different browsers and restarted the computer multiple times.

After some time (already after the Rules Q&A was working for me again), the preview for posting in the Q&A section wasn't showing any line-breaks and the question was very long, so I decided to post it to Site Discussions - General with a message for a mod to please move it over when they get the chance. It was successfully moved over (line breaks included), with the only issue being that the "code" section broke, which I was only using as formatting thing anyway so it didn't matter too much.

Due to a miscommunication the thread was closed and marked as 'answered'.

I left it for almost a week with no response and in this time installed my first VPN, which I highly doubt is relevant but I'll mention it here just in case.

I tried to post the question again recently and was met with another "Rules Q&A is down for routine maintenance" message. After waiting a while for it to repair, I tried to post the question again but decided to break it up into sections. I posted the initial question and attempted to put all the rest of it into an answer reply as a continuation, but was continually met with a browser error that said that the site couldn't be reached. I was able to eventually post the whole question only after I broke it up into smaller and smaller chunks across multiple replies.

So due to the number of times the Rules Q&A section went down; I'm posting this because I believe that there's something presumably innocuous in my message which can break the Rules Q&A section entirely, at least for the user. Whether that's some specific coding or just the length of the post including lots of coding that causes it, I don't know. I don't want to stress-test it because I don't know if the entire section has gone down for just me or everyone each time (though I suspect the former), and also I'm quite fond of this site and certainly don't want to be labelled as an "attack threat" or whatever.

As an aside, I've been using this site for several years and have never been able to post links in the Rules Q&A section like I can on the rest of the site, nor use the code prompt while posting questions there.

In a reply to this post, I'm going to try to post in code brackets what I posted in the Rules Q&A section that failed and broke it.

Yesterday says... #2

I don't have the OG-squad original message any more because I've been saving over previous versions in my word document, but I believe this is what I tried to post in the Rules Q&A section that after the first failure and then downtime of the entire subforum.

This is a game rules question that I'm intentionally posting here because, after the ~15 hour downtime, the preview in the Rules Q&A section is showing no line breaks or text formatting and this is a pretty long post. If a mod could move it over please, I'd appreciate it.

I want to make sure I'm understanding correctly.

From MTG Tournament Rules
===code

4.4 Loop

A loop is a form of tournament shortcut that involves detailing a sequence of actions to be repeated and then performing a number of iterations of that sequence. The loop actions must be identical in each iteration and cannot include conditional actions ("If this, then that".)

...

If two or more players are involved in maintaining a loop within a turn, each player in turn order chooses a number of iterations to perform. The game advances through the lowest number of iterations chosen and the player who chose that number receives priority. 
===endcode


-

So, Player 1 is the active player and controls a Spirit Mirror . Player 2 is the nonactive player and controls a Conspiracy naming Reflection, and a Frenetic Efreet .

Player 1 wants to destroy the Efreet before Player 2 gets the chance to resolve the Efreet's ability to potentially save itself. Both players can activate their abilities in response to the other player activating theirs, and wishes to keep on doing so. The modus is on the active player to not continue the loop. In this case, Player 2 gets a chance to save the Efreet before Player 1 can destroy it. Assuming we wait until Player 2's turn, if the same loop were to play out, then Player 1 (the nonactive player) would be able to destroy the Efreet before Player 2 gets the chance to save it.

Is this right?

Likewise, say Player 1 is has infinite damage in the form of an artifact that reads ": This permanent deals 1 damage to any target." And Player 2 has an artifact with ": You gain 1 life."

As long as Player 1 is the active player, they can't win the game. But when Player 2 becomes the active player, Player 1 can win the game because Player 2 is forced to decide how many iterations of the loop they're committing to before Player 1 does, and thusly 1 damage will get through when the loop resolves (and then it can be restarted)?

And if I'm all correct so far, then let's assume that Player 1 instead has a more realistic infinite damage combo in the form of Experiment Kraj , Argothian Elder with a +1/+1 counter, Ashaya, Soul of the Wild , Pemmin's Aura enchanting Kraj, Island , Prodigal Sorcerer with a +1/+1 counter. (Tap Kraj using the Elder's ability to untap Kraj and an Island, tap Kraj to deal 1 damage to any target, pay the Island's  to untap Kraj with the Aura.)

Player 2 still controls the nonsense artifact with ": You gain 1 life."

In this case, regardless of who the active player is, Player 1 is unable to win the game as, in the shortcutting of the loop, Player 2 is able to activate the lifegain ability as many times as they choose in response to any of the three steps that form Player 1's combo that only deals 1 damage.

Is this all correct?

May 26, 2021 10:44 a.m.

Gidgetimer says... #3

Are you still wondering about the answer to the question, or are you just trying to hash out if what you are doing is crashing the rules Q&A?

May 26, 2021 9:02 p.m.

Yesterday says... #4

Just the latter, in this thread.

May 27, 2021 8:08 a.m. Edited.