MTG Salvation

Once a spell or ability resolves the active player (player whose turn it is) gains priority and is then able to cast spells, activate abilities, or perform special actions (like playing lands). Static abilities are always active and so as soon as Oracle is on the field the top card of your library is revealed and you are able to use priority. If you do nothing then your opponent will gain priority and have the chance to cast instants

In many (most? All?) circles, it is a common shortcut to assume priority is passed by the player casting the spell when a spell is cast or resolved as most people generally don't have anything more to do or wish to wait to see what their opponent will do. Whew... that was a long sentence.

In short, all you have to do is tell your opponent you're retaining priority once the spell resolves (or cast before, whatever is appropriate). It's important not to ask the player if they're going to "allow" it to be cast or resolved or whether they have anything to do after resolution. You just passed your priority.

So it's like genini2 says. Unfortunately you have to stop the assumed shortcut that happens.

Edited after comments below. Hope I'm clear now. Otherwise, I give up.

Quote from SavannahLion »

In many (most? All?) circles, it is a common shortcut to assume priority is passed by the player casting the spell when a spell is cast or resolved as most people generally don't have anything more to do or wish to wait to see what their opponent will do.

In short, all you have to do is tell your opponent you're retaining priority once the spell resolves (or cast, whatever is appropriate). It's important not to ask the player if they're going to "allow" it to be cast or resolved. You just passed your priority.

Nope. When casting a spell it is assumed that you are passing priority unlesd you explicity retain it. But that isn't true when resolving a spell. Asking if a spell is allowed to be cast makes no sense, if you have priority you are free to cast spells. But asking if it resolves doesn't in any way stop you from doing anything after it resolves.

You are passing priority with the spell on the stack if you ask if it resolves, you are not passing priority through the entire phase.

So in the case with them trying to bolt the oracle, simply say: "Slow down, it is my priority and I want to do stuff". Also, make sure the lands you play don't trigger any abilities

Edit: fixed a bunch of typos.

Quote from HugSeal »

Quote from SavannahLion »

In many (most? All?) circles, it is a common shortcut to assume priority is passed by the player casting the spell when a spell is cast or resolved as most people generally don't have anything more to do or wish to wait to see what their opponent will do.

In short, all you have to do is tell your opponent you're retaining priority once the spell resolves (or cast, whatever is appropriate). It's important not to ask the player if they're going to "allow" it to be cast or resolved. You just passed your priority.

Nope. When casting a spell it is assumed that you are passing priority unlesd you explicity retain it. But that isn't true when resolving a spell. Asking if a spell is allowed to be cast makes no sense, if you have priority you are free to cast spells. But asking if it resolves doesn't in any way stop you from doing anything after it resolves.

You are passing priority with the spell on the stack if you ask if it resolves, you are not passing priority through the entire phase.

So in the case with them trying to bolt the oracle, simply say: "Slow down, it is my priority and I want to do stuff". Also, make sure the lands you play don't trigger any abilities

Edit: fixed a bunch of typos.

That's not what I was trying to say but I guess that's what I get from having the flu, combining two separate events and several edits.

But I will argue that there are people that do assume you're passing priority on resolution which is why you don't ask your opponent if they have anything to do before or after resolving a spell unless you're sure you want it to go that way. If we take the OP's example, the OP can say he intends to retain priority on resolution, then his opponent might intercede and say he wanted to counter knowing something big is happening. OR, he can explicitly pass priority to his opponent before resolution so his opponent can't use the excuse they wanted to counter the spell once they figure out what will happen after resolution.

Let's see if I'm clear enough now

The issue isn't that you are unclear on what you are trying to state (or, I don't think you are unclear); the issue is that what you are stating is (or should be) generally untrue. When a spell resolves, all players should assume the activate player has priority because, well, that is how it works. The shortcut mentioned above regarding passing priority after casting a spell exists because that is the exception to the rules but follows the norm. In fact:

the OP can say he intends to retain priority on resolution, then his opponent might intercede and say he wanted to counter knowing something big is happening.

This should never happen because it is completely nonsensical. Even if we take it as face value that "most" players would state that they want to retain priority after the spell resolves, they wouldn't do that *until the spell is actually resolving* (because there is literally no reason to ever say it before then) which means the opponent's ability to respond is not, and never should be, contingent on whether the opponent is going to retain priority after their thing resolves.

In your summary, a player casting a planeswalker would always have to say they are retaining priority if they don't want it bolted right away. I don't know anyone that actually does this. Generally, the opponent will jump the gun and try to bolt it anyway and the answer would always be "wait, you don't have priority yet". It is the opponent's responsibility to know who has priority in this case; it should not be a burden on the Active Player to remind people of this every time a spell or ability resolves.

And, to be fair, I have no idea what you mean by this statement:

OR, he can explicitly pass priority to his opponent before resolution so his opponent can't use the excuse they wanted to counter the spell once they figure out what will happen after resolution.

You always pass priority before resolution; things can't resolve before passing priority. If you mean that they say "once this resolves, I pass priority" well, then, we are back to the argument above where that isn't the norm and it shouldn't be expected.

The point being made is that this just isn't how things work in Magic. Your group may have settled into doing this, but it is not a good idea to recommend this as the norm because it a) sets bad habits and b) goes against how the game actually works. Or, you are still being unclear on what you are trying to get across.

Also, I realize this might be getting too much off topic for this question which was answered correctly above: the player cannot destroy the Oracle before the Oracle player gets to play their lands (beyond some exceptions). It doesn't matter if the Oracle player held priority or not because the game gave it to them by default.

This has gone beyond the original question considerably so I'm locking the thread to stop further off-topic posts.