There are about fifty different conflicting “Pyreheart Wolf scenarios”. Pointing out the trigger before any action has been taken past the moment when it should have resolved is not and was not ever missing it, though. This includes interrupting an opponent's attempt to declare blockers; the IPG is clear that the opponent cannot force a miss by taking actions. Similarly, flashing in a Restoration Angel before declaring blockers does not put the game past the point of the Pyreheart Wolf trigger's resolution.

A large chunk of the consternation over this card has been due to failure to just read the IPG, with a healthy mix of people playing the telephone game with stories about rulings.

Toby's blog, about OoOS, didn't cover the Pyreheart Wolf scenario(s) because that's not OoOS (typically). Instead, it's an illustration of one of the difficulties with writing policy that discourages shenanigans, yet doesn't punish honest players who remembered their triggers.

The difficulty with that P-Wolf, like many other triggers, is that there's No Visual Evidence (NVE) that the trigger resolved. In the past - i.e., for the life of MT policy - these were assumed to have resolved. Now, we're asking players to give some indication that they've resolved, been put on the stack, etc. - anything that indicates the trigger isn't missed. That's resulted in some unhappy “change victims”. :)

No, there's been no “Official” post on this, and this isn't one, either. I do have what I hope is good advice:
If you believe a player forgot a trigger, then it's been Missed;
If you believe a player remembered the trigger and pointed it out at their first opportunity (if not the precisely correct point in a series of actions), then OoOS may apply.
“Missed” Triggers mean “oops, missed that”, not “tried to put it on the stack in the right place, but missed”.

None of that really helps a lot with P-Wolf (et al), and that's why it's important that we encourage players to give some indication of their triggers when they happen (or at least close enough for OoOS to apply).

d:^D

I'm a touch counfused, but I think an answer to this question will ease my confusion. Suppose I'm an opponent against a player with the Wolf. They attack into my empty board and say nothing about the trigger. What do I need to do to ensure that, if called during the declare attackers step, a judge will rule that, upon flashing in my Angel and moving to Declare Blockers my angel will be able to block?

In my opinion as a player I'd say, “Are you passing priority?” I think by answering yes to this question, you're not missing your trigger, you're acknowledging that you're not putting anything on the stack. At this point Pyreheart Wolf's trigger should have resolved, so that opportunity has passed. Now you can flash in your Angel.

The other thing to keep in mind is that this really is exploiting a loophole in the game. This is a corner case where you have 1) an invisible trigger involving blocking that 2) has to resolve during combat, which 3) is the same phase you have to cast a flash creature to block, and 4) you have no blockers already on the battlefield. In this very rare circumstance, The Game never intended to let the player block with a Resto Angel, however due to the current Trigger Rules this loophole exists. I don't think, as the blocking player, that anyone should feel miffed about not being able to block.

If this situation happens to come up, I'd recommend calling a judge, taking them aside to explain what's going on, and asking them to come verify the board state before revealing your Resto Angel. I don't know about other players, but when my opponent calls a judge on me and takes them aside, I'm wondering if it's the number of cards in my hand, maybe a flipped card in my library, did I tap the wrong mana, or a million other questions, that may distract from the missed trigger at hand.

Originally posted by Darcy Alemany:

I'm a touch counfused, but I think an answer to this question will ease my confusion. Suppose I'm an opponent against a player with the Wolf. They attack into my empty board and say nothing about the trigger. What do I need to do to ensure that, if called during the declare attackers step, a judge will rule that, upon flashing in my Angel and moving to Declare Blockers my angel will be able to block?

The answer is in the IPG. There is *nothing* that you, as the opponent, can do to cause the trigger to be ruled missed. The trigger can only be missed as a result of the controller's actions, and trying to speculate on how a player can somehow connive a judge into ruling otherwise is not particularly healthy.

What Adam said, and then what James said … and I'll be even more blunt.

I simply don't understand why players think they should be able to block with a solo Restoration Angel, in this example. Pyreheart Wolf's advantage is that it modifies game rules re: blocking. If you think you need a “surprise” blocker vs. Pyreheart Wolf, try Flash Foliage.

d:^D

If that's the conclusion, this is probably a good time to close this thread.

It's been very interesting and insightful, but 53 posts on this corner case is a bit excessive.

Edited Adam Zakreski (Dec. 28, 2012 07:29:15 PM)