Assume this situation comes up (deck is played, above permanents are in play, Player2 is locked out) . It's game 3, with 20 minutes left (Player2 conceded game 1 as soon as the lock was established, and you heard him say he understood he had no outs, then won game 2). Player1 has called you over, asked Player2 for the concession and been rejected, then asks you to watch their match for stalling/slow play. Player1 then proceeds to take each turn as fast as possible–literally draw(replaced)-go, taking 10 seconds or less/turn, not even looking at the card they ‘drew’.

How long do you let player2 take on each of their turns, before cautioning/penalizing for slow play/stalling? Do you change that amount of time, as the turns progress, and no relevant game actions are taken? There are no relevant game actions by player2, regardless of the card drawn(replaced) each turn, and you stand behind player2 so you can see the card each turn, so you can verify this. While few players will verbally admit they're taking as much time as they can per turn to take advantage of the time limit (“I'm taking time to think, judge, honest!”), at some point it begins to look like slow play/stalling. Is it?

As a follow-up, let's say you decide the answer to the time per turn question is 45 seconds before you give a warning(change the times in this follow-up to match your actual answer). Does your answer change, if player2 then seems to be (silently or not) watching 40 seconds expire, then saying “Go” on second #41, turn after turn?

Great questions, Adam - good discussion fodder.

Just one note before I step aside & let y'all have at it: that last paragraph is a perfect example why we *never* tell a player they're allowed N seconds per action. Also, my “spidey-sense” tends to tingle when a player informs me that they have N seconds per action. First, no, they don't (not stated anywhere in policy); second, if they're aware of such a limit, then it's likely that they're pushing that limit for their own reasons … which probably means Stalling. (Not always, of course - Stalling is never an easy, cookbook “here's how you detect it” scenario.)

First of all it definitely one of those “you have to be there to make a decision” situation. But generally if I am looking at the players hand and he obviously does not have a play, I would start saying stuff like “you need to make a play” which amounts to a slow play caution.

If he draws a land and proceeds to wait 30 seconds I would start looking into stalling. I would also get another judge to watch the match. I would not want to make a stalling infraction call alone unless I have no choice.
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