Do you have to read what your card does to a player?
Asked by icehit6 8 years ago
Tonight I was at my LGS, and the owner of it, to which I am fairly friendly with, agreed to play a game of modern, but for keeps on a card of X value. Let's just say that both the cards we put up were of fairly high value and neither of us wanted to lose our card.
I play elves, and I run a Burrenton Forge-Tender to deal with red, he was playing mono-red goblins, so it makes sense that I would have such a card to deal with burn spells, goblins, and board clears.
After playing said card, he took a quick look at it and disregarded it, then next turn played Anger of the Gods, to which I sacrificed my white creature and he got seemingly angry.
He stated that it was against the rules that I didn't tell him that the card had another stated ability and that we had to either forfeit our game and restart, or just not play at all and then claimed that I was cheating. Anger of the Gods was a game breaking card there. If it resolved, I lose, if it didn't, I win.
Did I break the rule? Or was he just being salty about losing and not wanting to lose his card? We ended up playing the next game, and I won and walked away with said card, but still. Seems really "sore-loserish" to me.
I'd say if the opponent looked at your card, there's no reason for you to state what it does on top of it, because you have no way to tell how familiar your opponent is with that card, and explaining a familiar card to someone doesn't help the game at all - and like Raging_Squiggle said, allowing them to read the card is sufficient.
There are other cases though, such as if someone played the card and announced "It's a 1/1 with protection from red", where I'd side with the opponent, as they would have no reason to read the card on their own after you announced what it does. This is something that often comes up when people play constructed decks with cards that have scarcely relevant abilities in my experience, and mostly with cards like Rending Volley, where someone announces the damage, but not that it can't be countered.
I was mostly babbling, but maybe you find it interesting ;)
May 21, 2016 5:05 a.m.
Also, you might be interested in the first question in this recent article on ChannelFireball for an opinion on a similar-enough manner.
May 21, 2016 8:29 a.m.
Gidgetimer says... #4
What? No. That is silly. You announce what the card is when you play it. If he wants more information he can read it or ask you what it does. He even read the card you said, so at one point he knew what the card did. It is not your fault if he forgot what it did and didn't check the board for relevant effects before casting the anger.
Now if he asked you what the card did and you just said "1/1 protection from red" then what you did was against the tournament rules. At Regular REL (which I will assume casual games to be run at) oracle text of a card is free information and you must answer any question about free information truthfully and completely. At higher REL (if for some reason you run casual games as if they were competitive or professional matches) oracle text is derived information. You are not required to answer questions about derived information, but if you do you must answer truthfully and completely.
It sounds like he was just being salty about you having an out that he forgot about.
May 21, 2016 8:33 a.m.
The saying RTFC comes to mind. He made a misplay, and he was feeling bad about it. That is all that happened. The onus of said mistake and misplay was entirely on him. I have lost matches (most recently last night) because I misplayed on a card, trying to save a game that I had little chance of doing so otherwise. But I took the loss like a man, and went on. It happens. The guy should have manned up, then asked for a rematch to try and get his card back. You should never "bet" something you are not ready and willing to lose.
Raging_Squiggle says... Accepted answer #1
You are not obligated to read every ability on your cards to your opponents if they do not bring it up. If they ask "what does that do" Then, you are inclined to either read it to them, or allow them to read it themselves. Otherwise, as long as you clearly stated "I'm casting 'this card'", it's their fault for not being more attentive.
Also, playing for ante isn't encouraged or condoned by WOTC when playing Magic games. But good job on winning.
May 21, 2016 2:15 a.m.