I'm new to Magic and I have a question about turns.
From what I know, if a turn/phase has a turn-based action, it is dealt with first before triggered abilities trigger and before a player is received priority.
But is it mandatory?
What if in the Declare Defenders phase the defending player doesn't want to defend? What if in the Declare Attacker phase the attacking player doesn't want to attack?
They still happen, but you're not required to declare attackers or blockers. So while the declare attackers step will happen, the active player is not required to attack with any creatures, even if they have creatures that can attack.
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DCI Level 2 Judge
Scientists have calculated that the chance of anything so patently absurd actually existing are millions to one. But magicians have calculated that million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten.
Are there any other turn-based actions that happen but are not required?
Here is the complete list of turn-based actions:
703.4. The turn-based actions are as follows:
703.4a Immediately after the untap step begins, all phased-in permanents with phasing that the active player controls phase out, and all phased-out permanents that the active player controlled when they phased out phase in. This all happens simultaneously. See rule 502.1.
703.4b Immediately after the phasing action has been completed during the untap step, the active player determines which permanents he or she controls will untap. Then he or she untaps them all simultaneously. See rule 502.2.
703.4c Immediately after the draw step begins, the active player draws a card. See rule 504.1.
703.4d In an Archenemy game (see rule 904), immediately after the archenemy’s precombat main phase begins, that player sets the top card of his or her scheme deck in motion. See rule 701.23.
703.4e Immediately after the beginning of combat step begins, if the game being played is a multiplayer game in which the active player’s opponents don’t all automatically become defending players, the active player chooses one of his or her opponents. That player becomes the defending player. See rule 507.1.
703.4f Immediately after the declare attackers step begins, the active player declares attackers. See rule 508.1.
703.4g Immediately after the declare blockers step begins, the defending player declares blockers. See rule 509.1.
703.4h Immediately after blockers have been declared during the declare blockers step, for each attacking creature that’s become blocked by multiple creatures, the active player announces the damage assignment order among the blocking creatures. See rule 509.2.
703.4i Immediately after the active player has announced damage assignment orders (if necessary) during the declare blockers step, for each creature that’s blocking multiple creatures, the defending player announces the damage assignment order among the attacking creatures. See rule 509.3.
703.4j Immediately after the combat damage step begins, each player in APNAP order announces how each attacking or blocking creature he or she controls assigns its combat damage. See rule 510.1.
703.4k Immediately after combat damage has been assigned during the combat damage step, all combat damage is dealt simultaneously. See rule 510.2.
703.4m Immediately after the cleanup step begins, if the active player’s hand contains more cards than his or her maximum hand size (normally seven), he or she discards enough cards to reduce his or her hand size to that number. See rule 514.1.
703.4n Immediately after the active player has discarded cards (if necessary) during the cleanup step, all damage is removed from permanents and all “until end of turn” and “this turn” effects end. These actions happen simultaneously. See rule 514.2.
703.4p When each step or phase ends, any unused mana left in a player’s mana pool empties. See rule 500.4.
The declare attackers and declare blockers involve enough decisions that the player can make the result boring (as Natedogg pointed out). But there aren't any that can be skipped entirely.
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Why bother with mere rulings when so many answers can be found in the Rules?
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I'm new to Magic and I have a question about turns.
From what I know, if a turn/phase has a turn-based action, it is dealt with first before triggered abilities trigger and before a player is received priority.
But is it mandatory?
What if in the Declare Defenders phase the defending player doesn't want to defend? What if in the Declare Attacker phase the attacking player doesn't want to attack?
Scientists have calculated that the chance of anything so patently absurd actually existing are millions to one. But magicians have calculated that million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten.
Are there any other turn-based actions that happen but are not required?
The declare attackers and declare blockers involve enough decisions that the player can make the result boring (as Natedogg pointed out). But there aren't any that can be skipped entirely.