Hello judges,
in the last two events, I had some conversations with judges regarding the interaction between take back and triggered abilities.
The question was “I missed one of my triggers, can I take back an action or two so that I get my trigger?”.
We tried to find some lines in the official documents and in online articles, but we couldn't find any clear indication that, as long as we don't get any extra information from our opponent, we can “take it back” and return to the moment we should have resolved the ability.

As many judges consider only the IPG and MTR as official resources, it would be great to have it written there; in the meantime, an answer on this forum will be sufficient.
Some judges also say that blogs different from Toby's (Policy Perspectives) are to be considered official; we didn't find any official message saying that there are other official sources of policy; another clarification from an Official source will be appreciated, as it will remove doubts and rumors.

If you want specific examples of take back and missed trigger:

1) My opponent is tapped out; I miss my ability “At the beginning of your combat phase, gain one life” and I pass. My opponent has nothing to do but untap and draw. After my opponent drew, I say “I want to go back and gain my life”

2) Same ability, same tapped out opponent. Now I attack, my opponent has no creatures, I deal damage. After dealing damage, I say “I want to go back to before attacking, gain my life, then attack again”

In both these scenarios:
- I gained no extra information, and the judge has no doubt
- I forgot the ability and I performed actions passed the point I should have gained my life, meaning that the ability is clearly missed, and the judge has no doubt
The situation is very simple and there are no special aspects like spells that cost zero mana.
Let's also pretend that my opponent said “Look, I have nothing to do in your turn; I will read my comic book, and you will call me when it's my turn”.

My goal is to offer to judges (including myself) the awareness that we can (or we cannot) allow payers to take back their actions beyond the point they missed a triggered ability.

Thank you.

Riccardo

Can you clarify what your intent here is Riccardo? Are you asking to receive an official answer, or providing one?

Hello Isaac, my intent is to ask for an official answer.

(I am not an ‘O’ person)


Riccardo


Il 11/08/2019 00:09, Isaac King ha scritto:

Edited Scott Marshall (Aug. 12, 2019 03:29:09 AM)

I am not an official source, but does Kevin Desprez's article here answer your question?

If a player misses a triggered ability, but reverses the game back to the point prior it was missed (always following the rules on section MTR4.8), triggered can be acknowledged and added to the stack.

… and now we have a new article about it:

https://blogs.magicjudges.org/whatsupdocs/2019/08/14/reversing-decisions-and-missed-triggers/

“Short story: That is (sometimes) possible.
Longer story: It depends as to whether information has been gained or not.”

Thanks.

Riccardo