So, a question came up from one of the UK competitve players in our rules questions facebook page, and I said I'd request an answer, so, here's the question!

“If both players have Gideon of the Trials in play, a Gideon of the Trials emblem, 0 cards in library, 0 cards left in their hand that meaningfully affect the board, and 0 non-Gideon threats in play…. you end up in a loop of both players +1ing their Gideon on the opposing Gideon, neither player wanting to concede. If the two players don't mutually agree to draw the game then what happens?”

I believe it would come down to “please stop doing this loop” to both, but am not 100% sure!

Thanks!

This isn't actually a rules question–as far as the game rules are concerned, both players can sit there happily +1ing their Gideons until one or both die of old age without issue. Instead, this is a matter of policy–how do we resolve a situation where players' actions are keeping the game state in a holding pattern that does not progress towards an end? As such, I've moved it to the Competitive REL forum.

Similar situations have been discussed before on the forums (most recently here, if I remember correctly), though most of those discussions have tended to involve a single player continuing the holding pattern, with the other player completely unable to meaningfully affect the game state.

Personally, in this situation I would remind both players that they can concede or agree to a draw at any time, then ask them to make plays that advance the game state. If they instead continued the loop, I would issue Slow Play warnings to both of them and repeat my previous reminder and request. If they again continued the loop, they'd then both receive Game Losses for Slow Play, thereby ending the game.

Thank you, Callum, for giving us an excellent and ‘O’fficial answer.

Thank you also, for closing this, so it doesn't go off the rails - like the example you linked! :)

d:^D