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Competitive REL » Post: Prized Amalgam

Prized Amalgam

Oct. 27, 2016 07:28:03 AM

Dino Turković
Judge (Uncertified)

Europe - East

Prized Amalgam

I've seen a topic which I can't find that explains that if someone explicitly anounces Prized Amalgam trigger when something comes back from the grave he can put it back in the game whenever he rememberes the trigger. (Same with Obezdat, Ghost Council.

Now I'm wondering what would you do in a situation where it's AP-s turn, NAP says “At your end step”, discards Haunted Dead and returns it by discarding Amalgams, then tries to return Amalgams without saying anything. AP interrupts him and says he can't return them at that time, since the end step already started. If NAP now forgets to return the Amalgam at his end step, and remembers again only on AP-s next draw, would you let him return it?

Oct. 30, 2016 11:56:28 AM

Scott Marshall
Forum Moderator
Judge (Level 4 (Judge Foundry)), Hall of Fame

USA - Southwest

Prized Amalgam

Dino, if I'm understanding your post correctly, you're off a bit on a few things - but you are correct that Prized Amalgam isn't as neat & clean as most cards, when it comes to Missed Trigger.

If you explicitly announce a trigger - i.e., there's no ambiguity about which trigger you're announcing - and then fail to perform the actions associated with the trigger, that's a Game Rule Violation (GRV), not a Missed Trigger (MT). And, the remedies for a GRV don't work quite the same as those for MT. What you described - putting Prized Amalgam back on the battlefield whenever it's remembered - is a remedy for MT, not GRV.

For a GRV - not (correctly) resolving a clearly acknowledged trigger - we could consider it a zone-change problem:
Originally posted by MTR 2.5:

If an object is in an incorrect zone either due to a required zone change being missed or due to being put into the wrong zone during a zone change, the identity of the object was known to all players, and it can be moved with only minor disruption to the state of the game, put the object in the correct zone.

If a Prized Amalgam trigger is, in fact, missed, it falls under this paragraph in the IPG:
MTR 2.1
If the triggered ability is a delayed triggered ability that changes the zone of one or more objects defined when the ability was created, resolve it. … the opponent chooses whether to resolve the ability the next time a player would get priority or when a player would get priority at the start of the next phase. These abilities do not expire and should be remedied no matter how much time has passed since they should have triggered.

For a GRV, returning a Prized Amalgam just in time to be a surprise blocker would absolutely not be “only minor disruption”, so that remedy should be disregarded.

For an MT, the opponent can choose between a couple points in time to return the Prized Amalgam, and thus be able to avoid the surprise blocker.

And in either case, let's make sure the Prized Amalgam's controller didn't choose to forget until a more advantageous moment…

d:^D

Oct. 30, 2016 03:41:06 PM

Aaron Henner
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Academy))

USA - Pacific Northwest

Prized Amalgam

The Prized Amalgam trigger causes it to enter tapped, so it can't be a surprise blocker. Does that change your answer for the ‘GRV’ scenario?

Oct. 30, 2016 07:07:13 PM

Scott Marshall
Forum Moderator
Judge (Level 4 (Judge Foundry)), Hall of Fame

USA - Southwest

Prized Amalgam

Ah, yes, good catch! Sure, that could be a factor. However, it's also a “surprise” for the next turn, and the current AP might have based their attacking choices on what could attack on the next turn. In general, I consider what I call “decision points” - more than one or two, and I'm not likely to call that “minor disruption”.

d:^D

Oct. 31, 2016 10:27:36 AM

Dino Turković
Judge (Uncertified)

Europe - East

Prized Amalgam

Ok, so I did missunderstand, I thought you have to acknowledge it and then forget about it, not just forget about it completely.

So if I understand it correctly you have a safety where you can't forget it. Let's say you dredge at the beginning of the turn and put amalgam in the grave, later you return bloodghast and pass the turn, during opponent's draw, you remember the amalgams, or during his end step or whenever (is there a limit?) you can get them back?

And in second scenario, where a player tried to get it back, but in the same end step, I would assume that trigger isn't missed, what would be the ruling for next end step, if amalgam isn't returned? Is it GRV for controller of amalgam and FtMGS for his opponent? What if opponent knew he should return, is it cheating?

Oct. 31, 2016 01:04:27 PM

Dan Milavitz
Judge (Level 3 (Judge Foundry))

USA - Plains

Prized Amalgam

Dino, if a player “misses” a trigger on purpose, they are probably cheating. You still need to make sure they know they aren't allowed to miss it and are attempting to gain an advantage in doing so.

Scott, are you saying that announcing the trigger from another creature entering but forgetting the delayed trigger is a GRV rather than a missed trigger because they acknowledged the trigger, just not at the right time, and forgot about it when it was supposed to resolve?

Oct. 31, 2016 07:34:23 PM

Isaac King
Judge (Level 1 (Judge Foundry))

Barriere, British Columbia, Canada

Prized Amalgam

Originally posted by Dan Milavitz:

Dino, if a player “misses” a trigger on purpose, they are probably cheating. You still need to make sure they know they aren't allowed to miss it and are attempting to gain an advantage in doing so.

Just a clarification on the above- It's only cheating to miss your own triggers intentionally. It's perfectly legal to allow an opponent to miss a trigger they control.






Originally posted by Dan Milavitz:

Scott, are you saying that announcing the trigger from another creature entering but forgetting the delayed trigger is a GRV rather than a missed trigger because they acknowledged the trigger, just not at the right time, and forgot about it when it was supposed to resolve?

I am also confused about this. If a player announced the original trigger, can't they still miss the delayed trigger later?

Nov. 12, 2016 10:11:45 AM

Natalia Ruiz Estepa
Judge (Level 2 (International Judge Program))

France

Prized Amalgam

As I understand it:

-if the player announced the trigger, but forgot to resolve it at the end of turn, it is GRV-W and the Prized Amalgam doesn't come back. (as it is disruptive)

-if the player forgot all (announce and resolve, not putting the Prized Amalgam in battlefield), it is MT-No sanction. Then the opponent chooses whether the Prized Amalgam comes back into battlefield now or in the next phase.

If the player forgot all to gain advantage, then he is cheating.


PD: Isaac, a player can announce that his Prized Amalgam will come back at the end of the turn, keep playing his turn (combat, second main phase), and then forget the ability he announced before and pass the turn.