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Rules Q&A » Post: Pact Triggers and Mindslaver

Pact Triggers and Mindslaver

July 24, 2018 11:13:13 PM

Peter Davies
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Foundry))

Canada - Western Provinces

Pact Triggers and Mindslaver

- Competitive REL
- Game 2 (Alex is down a game)
- 10 minutes left in round
- Alex is playing some midrange deck
- Nancy is playing some UR rush deck

Alex casts a Grizzly Bear, and Nancy uses a Pact of Negation on it, pact resolves.
Alex cracks a Mindslaver, as he is dead on board, and targets Nancy with the MS., Which resolves. Alex passes turn.
On Nancy's turn, he draws for turn, and plays a River's Rebuke targeting Nancy, which resolves.
He then discards down Nancy's Hand to Hand size after tapping her out, and passes the turn.
Then one of the following happens

Version 1: Alex notices that he forgot the Pact Trigger, and calls a judge on himself for missing it.

Version 2: After four more turn cycles happen, Nancy notices that the pact trigger was missed, and calls a judge. (Total time passed: 8 minutes)

What is the infraction? Is there a penalty? What is the fix?

Edited Peter Davies (July 24, 2018 11:13:39 PM)

July 25, 2018 08:06:24 AM

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

USA - Southwest

Pact Triggers and Mindslaver

It's a Missed Trigger, and a Warning. Nancy chooses whether or not to rsolve the trigger.

Three types of triggered abilities do not expire and resolve immediately if they are discovered:
• A triggered ability that specifies a default action associated with a choice made by the controller (usually “If you don't …” or “… unless”). The opponent may choose not to resolve this trigger. Otherwise the default action must be chosen.
Most likely, Nancy will choose to resolve the default action, and Alex loses the game immediately.
If, for some reason, Nancy chooses not to resolve the trigger, you leave things as they are.
In either case, this is the sort of Warning we want to track, so please record it.

d:^D

July 25, 2018 11:47:38 AM

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

USA - Southwest

Pact Triggers and Mindslaver

Sorry, I misread the original message; I thought Alex played the Pact, and forgot it.

There’s an interesting phrase in the IPG for controlling another player:
A player controlling another player is responsible for that player’s triggers in addition to their own.
So, Alex is responsible for Nancy’s Pact trigger, and can simply choose not to pay for it - Nancy would lose the game, at that point.

Alex missed that trigger, but we’re not going to call that detrimental, so no Warning for him.

Nancy is not responsible for that trigger, since Alex controls her turn. In many cases, Nancy can remember a trigger even while being controlled, and that’s not unusual. In this case, she’s in an unusual position, where she can keep silent about her usually detrimental trigger, and not commit any infraction!

Ideal? Perhaps not, but occasionally, odd things happen when Policy finds itself in a dark corner like this one.
(Before you message me, saying “but Mindslaver! Pact! Not a corner!!!”, think about the unlikely convergence of these specific factors: Mindslaver on board, and opponent plays Pact, or having enough mana - after the first spell! - to cast & activate Mindslaver…)

d:^D