"Maintain priority"?
Asked by TypicalTimmy 1 year ago
I think I asked this before, but I forgot.
When I watch shows such as Game Knights, Josh will often say how he wants to "hold priority" or "maintain priority". I'll hear this in person, as well. But rarely, if ever, do I see it on any other channel?
When I cast a spell or activate an ability, priority changes, correct? It (I think) moves clockwise, or to the person to your left.
So if we have 4 players, situated as
- Joe ------ James
- +++++++++++
- Sara --- Kevin
And Kevin casts a spell or activates an ability, then Sara has a chance to respond to it, correct? So when Kevin says he wishes to "hold priority", doesn't that violate the rules of the game?
TypicalTimmy says... #2
dragonstryke58, okay so follow-up question.
Sometimes I'll be playing a game, and perhaps I put something on the stack. I am seeking to order my stack a specific way to get triggers to go off appropriately and there is one person I regularly play against who will snap out interactions on the fly.
So, perhaps I cast a spell or put an activated ability on the stack and he will snap a card from his hand out, such as a counter spell. But if I never passed priority because I am "holding priority", can he do that?
June 8, 2022 2:34 a.m.
dragonstryke58 says... #3
According to the rules, he cannot take any actions including casting a counter spell until you pass priority. Section 117 of the Comprehensive Rules covers Priority and Timing.
From the Comprehensive Rules:
- 117.1. Unless a spell or ability is instructing a player to take an action, which player can take actions at any given time is determined by a system of priority. The player with priority may cast spells, activate abilities, and take special actions.
- 117.1a A player may cast an instant spell any time they have priority. A player may cast a noninstant spell during their main phase any time they have priority and the stack is empty.
- 117.1b A player may activate an activated ability any time they have priority.
- 117.1c A player may take some special actions any time they have priority. A player may take other special actions during their main phase any time they have priority and the stack is empty. See rule 116, “Special Actions.”
- 117.1d A player may activate a mana ability whenever they have priority, whenever they are casting a spell or activating an ability that requires a mana payment, or whenever a rule or effect asks for a mana payment (even in the middle of casting or resolving a spell or activating or resolving an ability).
Notice that in 117.1a, a player may cast an instant spell any time they have priority. So if you hold priority, a player cannot cast an instant spell (like a counter spell) until you pass priority and they gain priority.
June 8, 2022 3:15 a.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #4
Yeah he has a bad habit of interrupting during all periods of the game. For example, it could be combat on my turn and perhaps I am strategizing to decide what best to attack with. Perhaps there are no good options, but I want to coax him into blocking with his flyer so I can cast Divine Verdict, so I attack with a particularly useful flyer, myself. One I do not want to die. But I know if an opponent sees that opportunity, they may jump at the chance to take it down.
So what may happen is, I'll tap that creature as an attacker, and as I am still tapping or deciding he will snap spells out of his hand, or declare blockers. And he has a very bad habit of not just assigning blockers, but physically pushing his cards onto mine.
And I'll be like "Are you going to wait for me to finish?" and he gets all pissy telling me I take too long or that I was "done" or just huffs with a dismissive hand wave.
Real asshole, that guy.
June 8, 2022 4:07 a.m.
Gidgetimer says... #5
I'm not trying to defend the guy with poor etiquette, but it is a tournament shortcut (and one that many people play with despite not being in a tournament) that you are passing priority unless you explicitly state that you are holding it. That is why some people will announce holding priority and the command zone hosts may also be in the habit of announcing when they hold priority instead of when they pass it.
The whole jumping the gun when you are trying to declare attackers is totally on the other party though, I have had a few times where I was excited to do my thing and mistook eye contact or a short pause as them passing priority to advance to declare blockers. If this persists maybe you should let them know that you will verbally pass priority when you are done declaring attackers and to please not be so excitable.
June 8, 2022 7:04 a.m.
Two things.
In my group, we have decenting success in treating passing priority the same as announcing combat. Often in casual settings, you can be in your main phase and just say "Cast this... pfff... attack with my three creatures," and normally that's fine, but it is on the attacker for not declaring that they're going to combat. If the defending player wanted to do something during main 1/combat before attackers are declared, they now have this extra information about what's going to attack because the attacking player didn't give them a chance to.
Also, as per the original question, it's worth noting that the player who receives priority first after a player casts a spell or activates an ability is the active player, IE the player whose turn it is. In a two player game, if you want to activate an ability during your opponent's turn and hold priority, you are not able to do that. In a multiplayer game, you could functionally do it after confirming that the player whose turn it is isn't going to take any actions, not passing priority again to the player who's being affected by your spell.
June 8, 2022 2:22 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #7
Slightly incorrect. Active player receives priority first after anything resolves, the player who cast a spell or activated an ability receives priority immediately after they are done with the process.
117.3b The active player receives priority after a spell or ability (other than a mana ability) resolves.
117.3c If a player has priority when they cast a spell, activate an ability, or take a special action, that player receives priority afterward.
June 8, 2022 4:33 p.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #9
There have been many, many times with about a dozen different people in my area where I honestly feel like there is a "cultural norm" to cheat.
One prime example was when I played against this mono-green player. I was playing some sort of Izzet deck. This green player tapped everything they had to produce as much mana as possible, grabbed the top half of their library and started flipping cards onto the battlefield.
I'm like "woah woah woah what the fuck are you doing??"
He goes
- "oh I cast Genesis Wave for 22."
I'm like DUDE WERE YOU GOING TO ANNOUNCE THAT SHIT?? He didn't even reveal the card from his hand or say he was casting it or anything. Just tapped all his shit, grabbed his deck and had at it.
I told him if he's casting a spell like that, I'd like to respond and I used some sort of a counter spell. He got all pissy and huffy and started putting everything back on top and see the deck half he was holding back.
So I'm like "Are you going to shuffle that shit?"
"uh no there's nothing instructing me to??"
Like, listen here you incredulous asshole, you can't just cast an X=22 spell and give 0.000 seconds of response time, get pissy that you got called out, proceed to STACK YOUR FUCKING DECK and expect your opponent to be fine with that! Shuffle your shit!
So he did and got all depressed about not being able to cheat.
Seriously. Like any time I go to an LGS, I run into people like this all the time
June 8, 2022 6:10 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #10
It does seem that you have some poor luck with other players from stories I have seen you tell about your interactions. I have personally never seen anyone get nasty about shuffling if they mistakenly look at card from their library. That is pretty bad.
Again not to defend the other party, but I have cast Nature's Lore by tapping the mana, saying the name of the spell, and forgetting to put the card on the table, and then just picking up my library. So, I am inclined to go easy on people if they start resolving a spell without revealing it, because stuff happens. But this guy sounds like he was getting irritable about stuff that he should have been ok with if it was an honest mistake.
dragonstryke58 says... Accepted answer #1
No, it doesn't violate the rules of the game.
After an ability is put onto the stack that person has the chance to "hold priority" in order to add more to the stack. Priority is not passed until they pass priority to the next person.
From the Comprehensive Rules:
117.3c If a player has priority when they cast a spell, activate an ability, or take a special action, that player receives priority afterward.
117.3d If a player has priority and chooses not to take any actions, that player passes. If any mana is in that player’s mana pool, they announce what mana is there. Then the next player in turn order receives priority.
June 8, 2022 2:24 a.m.