A situation occurred last Friday at FNM. I think I addressed this correctly but wanted to get some feedback from the community on this.

Alex has the following on the battlefield: Disowned Ancestor, three untapped Swamps. It's Alex's first main phase and Disowned Ancestor was played last turn. Nick has Pressure Point in hand and two untapped Plains. Alex says “I'm going to outlast Disowned Ancestor” and Nick responds with “In response, I Pressure Point Disowned Ancestor.”

I explained that since the active player has priority on his main phase until it's passed, in the current scenario, Disowned Ancestor's Outlast will go on the stack, then Pressure Point will go on the stack. Disowned Ancestor will already be tapped since it was necessary to pay for the Outlast activated ability. So, Pressure Point wouldn't be able to prevent the Outlast this turn. I explained to Nick that, to accomplish tapping Disowned Ancestor and preventing the Outlast, Nick should ask Alex for priority on Alex's main phase. I said to say something like “At the beginning of your main phase, I'd like priority to play something” since in that scenario, Nick could successfully prevent the Outlast, which is what he was trying to do in the first place. Both understood and continued their match.

My question to you: Is this the best way to explain this scenario at Regular REL? Could I have explained this better? Aside from explaining how to prevent Outlast, would you have explained this differently at Competitive REL?

Edited Danny Simard (March 6, 2015 03:54:08 PM)

Danny, your explanation is actually in error. Nick would have to take priority when it was passed either in Alex's Upkeep step or Alex's Draw step to prevent the Outlast. Otherwise, Alex will have priority in his precombat main phase, and Nick will not get it until Alex somehow passes priority, either by stepping into combat or, in this case, announcing the activation of Disowned Ancestor's Outlast ability.

That being said, Nick does in fact have priority in each of those steps before the precombat main phase to cast his Pressure Point if that was the intent. He does not get to know of Alex's intent to Outlast (as opposed to playing a spell with his mana), and that perhaps should be made clear as well.

Ultimately, I would learn toward a precise explanation of how priority works. Active player gets priority at the beginning of each step and phase, after turn-based actions are performed. They pass priority when moving to the next step or phase, or after adding an object to the stack (unless they specifically request to hold it). You could get into all of the gritty details about shortcuts, etc., but what Nick needs to know is that he can play his effect before the precombat main phase has begun, and he has two windows of opportunity to do that.

Where this gets dicey is if Alex untaps, draws, and immediately outlasts all in rapid succession. Now Nick should have an opportunity in both the upkeep and draw steps to play his pressure point before this happens, and while he is technically not supposed to know what Alex intends to do in his main phase, we can argue that Alex has proposed a shortcut to his precombat main (“You do nothing until my precombat main, and I outlast Disowned Ancestor”) which Nick has every right to interrupt by explaining how he will deviate from the proposed shortcut. If Alex untaps, draws, then ponders for a moment, now the onus is on Nick to interject his action when he would receive priority before Alex announces any actions.

OP wrote: “I explained to Nick that, to accomplish tapping Disowned Ancestor and preventing the Outlast, Nick should ask Alex for priority on Alex's main phase. I said to say something like “At the beginning of your main phase, I'd like priority to play something””

It's important to know that just asking for priority does not mean that Alex has to pass it, yet. He could outlast before passing.

“Asking for priority” seems like a good way to turn Magic into Gotcha.

Originally posted by Yonatan Kamensky:

“Asking for priority” seems like a good way to turn Magic into Gotcha.

I agree. Competitive players usually disguise that request with repeated questions like, “Are you done already?” or “My Turn Now?” or “Well, come on do something already!” Keep an eye out for that in your regular REL events.

But Danny, as Jacob already suggested, don't get into the gritty details. All “Nick” needs to know is the active player gets priority going into each step or phase in the turn, and there is the opportunity for a nonactive player to perform actions (such as casting instants) before the opponent's precombat main phase begins.

Edited Eric Paré (March 22, 2015 09:16:55 PM)

Yup. Regular REL is where technical knowledge isn't the focus - that stuff is for Competitive.

A good practice to teach is just “I'm going to pass my turn, but I have effects on your upkeep.”