Players stuck at an impass - What do?

[QuickRawr]

Ok, so here's the situation:

Player 1 has Lone Wolf in play, no creatures, full hand and 2 cards in library

Player 2 has Lone Wolf in play, no creatures, full hand and 2 cards in library + What Big Teeth and Speedstrike.


Obviously neither player can kill the other player, so they keep passing back and forth not wanting to break the stalemate. Is there something in the rules that prevents an indefinite game of chicken? It made for quite the frustrating game earlier

[plaidman]

Play or sacrifice a card or two to try to fish for a card that will break the stalemate. At best you get what you're looking for and win, at worst you lose a few rating points but the frustration is over. Is it really worth wasting three hours to potentially gain 6 rating, when you could lose 6 then gain 20 in the same amount of time?

[ipoop245]

I just say : " Shall we avoid playing this long and frustrating game ? " , then offer draw everytime i get into a Wulven vs Wulven match , though i play rush Darkclaw , not the traditional stall one

[QuickRawr]

I'm not complaining about this specific instance, I'm saying that this should not be able to occur.

In Magic: The Gathering if you do not change the board state over several activations/abilities/spells then you are delaying the game and get a warning. If it continues then it gives you a game loss (For people that do know it I'm referencing specifically a deck called "The Four Horseman" that dumps it's entire library into the graveyard, then puts creatures in play, then shuffles the graveyard back into the library and repeats it indefinitely during a single turn. It's very unpredictable and sometimes doesn't place the proper cards in the graveyard in the proper order for things to take effect and they end up getting game delay/loss for not doing anything other than dumping their library, shuffling it back in and repeating while changing nothing even though what they are doing is a 'legal'move).

Shouldn't there be some rule somewhere that makes it so that games won't last infinitely at tournaments? Obviously losing there is more than a few rating points. That's what I'm referring to, not Quick Match.

[Reinruof]

I know what you're talking about, and I agree with you. But that rule is relatively new im MtG, isn't it?

Moreover, as you said, if you perform the same loop of actions without changing the game/board state, it is considered Slow Play by the Magic Infraction Procedure Guide. Is there anything similar in SE? If there is, that should be the place where we must first look for a current rule or try to add a new one.

[QuickRawr]

Exactly my question and purpose of the post! (:

It's not big deal to close the game and losing a few rating points in QuickMatch... but what if this was the finals of a tournament? Of course no one wants to lose there. What if the situation was the same, but both had empty libraries? Obviously there are no answers that can be drawn.

[Kip thorp]

Player 2 plays speed strike, and gets one card next turn. Keeps full hand.

He then has advantage to keep hitting player one twice per turn ( w sAbility fir 6 points) and will eventually wear player one down!

Unless P1 has something he's willing to use to negate speedstrike

The first time I bumped into a millstalker, over a year ago, I was able to waste 50 minutes of that guys life before he finally milled me out! Frustrating! Yes! But it was interesting to stall and live as long as possible! Now you have to recognize those types of decks early and do everthing you can to take away thier advantage if possible! Item destruction, sever ties, legend rises ( for CP'ed allies). That kinda thing!

[Reinruof]

Exactly my question and purpose of the post! (:

It's not big deal to close the game and losing a few rating points in QuickMatch... but what if this was the finals of a tournament? Of course no one wants to lose there. What if the situation was the same, but both had empty libraries? Obviously there are no answers that can be drawn.

Yeah, I see your point! But keeping in mind that some issues, such as "Sync error", are only solved through replay or in the way established by the TO, finding a solution to this impass that suits everybody is highly unlikely.

I know that there is a rule book in SE, but I doubt that it includes a situation as specific as this. The game is still growing, more cards are going to be released, maybe new abilities are going to show up, hence more ways to build decks and new ones. All these new things may present an answer to your questions, or they may raise even more issues. In the last case, a more specific rule book will be required aimed at resolving particular scenarios.

[QuickRawr]

I'm not saying I needed an answer in that specific game and asking for deck construction help. However, this IS an issue. If this game wants to grow and become much bigger (which I hope it does, I love it), it needs to make sure it doesn't have these issues so that players don't get frustrated and leave. I am simply pointing out a rule change that will at some point need to happen. If players both have full hands and choose not to draw a card because it will be detrimental, what happens? You have it become a match remake after 5 pass turns without a draw? I see that as a viable solution, but I'm just saying something SHOULD be done. That's all, just trying to be helpful and help the game grow and iron out some wrinkles (:

[Reinruof]

There should be some kind of thread (if there isn't) to discuss rules that should at least be considered. The only way to achieve something like that is to post/discuss situations that should be taken into account, like you did! Thumbs up!