I would also note that there is a difference between “choosing 0 targets”
and “not choosing targets.” While the first is perfectly legal even in the
most CR-wise pedantic version of Magic, the other one isn't. In reality we
have shortcuts to deal with it. And that's what I believe happened here.

Arya did not announce 0 targets (as she is required by CR 601.2c), she
simply skipped announcing targets. When a violation of the strictest
interpretation of CR happens, there are generally 4 options how this may be
handled. These are Out-of-order sequencing, Shortcut, Game Play Error, and
Cheating. Some of them are tournament-legal, and even encouraged.

Ground rules for shortcuts are described in CR, and they tell us (among
other things) following:
716.1. When playing a game, players typically make use of mutually
understood shortcuts rather than explicitly identifying each game choice a
player makes.
716.1a The rules for taking shortcuts are largely unformalized. As long as
each player in the game understands the intent of each other player, any
shortcut system they use is acceptable.

So, if both Arya and Lord Stark understand the INTENT (which almost
undoubtedly was targeting the attacking creature), I'd rule that the
shortcut was used.
For me to rule otherwise, Eddard would need to convince me that he either
a) believed that Arya intended to target 0 creatures (not bloody likely,
since it would be a VERY unusual play and she didn't make even a slightest
hint of it), or
b) did not fully understand what Arya intended (too late for that now,
since he already let the game progress, which he shouldn't have done if he
wasn't sure what was happening)

If he only believed that there is a default shortcut which states something
along the lines of “When no targets for a spell with a variable number of
targets are announced, assume 0 targets were chosen,” I'd tell him that no
such shortcut exists. And that the shortcuts are designed to speed the game
(and the MTR ones also to protect the players), rather than for allowing
gotchas. So when trying to game the system (which is not illegal and
sometimes you can force a bad play on an less rules-experienced opponent),
you are always the one taking the risk, and judges are not here to protect
this behaviour.

2016-05-06 2:48 GMT+02:00 Mark Brown <forum-26849-6571@apps.magicjudges.org>
: