So, last night I played a pretty sweet game where I formed an alliance between myself playing Kuon and an opponent playing Alesha. I was in danger of dying to a third player and his Kozilek, Butcher of Truth .
The Alesha player came up with a plan to save me. He could dredge Golgari Thug, then use it to get back Nighthowler, draw the Nighthowler with Ob Nixilis Reignited, bestow the howler onto his flier, and then attack the Kozilek player for lethal. But, he needed a little help--with no sac outlet, he'd need me to cast a kill spell on his Thug in order to do anything. I gladly agreed, and he began his turn...
But after he cast the Thug, I realized there was a small problem. In order to cast my kill spell, he needed to pass priority. Meaning, he'd immediately go to combat without having a chance to draw and bestow the Nighthowler. It would have been no problem at all if we were playing two headed giant, but this was a five player free-for-all. (That's how I'm pretty sure the rules work, anyway. I'm 99% sure)
I decided to bend the rules a little and nobody at the table protested. However, I didn't say anything and it's possible that none of them realized that rules were being violated. It mattered a whole lot, since it made the difference between the Kozilek player living (and quite likely winning) or dying.
What would you have done in this situation? Under what circumstances would you fudge the rules of the game for the sake of allowing more interesting politics?
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Modern: Kiki ChordWBRG
TokensWB
EDH: Kuon, Ogre AscendantBBB
Technically you could have done what you wanted without "bending the rules". The AP attempts to go to combat phase. This requires all players to pass priority on an empty stack. When it comes to you, you cast your kill spell and after that spell resolves the AP regains priority and has the option to do more stuff during Main Phase 1. This is a little bit complicated and convoluted but within the rules.
But after he cast the Thug, I realized there was a small problem. In order to cast my kill spell, he needed to pass priority. Meaning, he'd immediately go to combat without having a chance to draw and bestow the Nighthowler. It would have been no problem at all if we were playing two headed giant, but this was a five player free-for-all. (That's how I'm pretty sure the rules work, anyway. I'm 99% sure)
The game won't move to the next step or phase until all players pass priority over an empty stack with out any player adding anything to it. There is nothing in the scenario as you have described it that comes anywhere near bending the rules regardless of the type of game being played.
Once his thug resolves you will still have the oppertunity to cast any instant you chose and once that resolves priority will eventually pass back to the active player and they will still be in their mainphase and able to act as such including casing creatures spells and auras.
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All Religion, my friend is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination and poetry.
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The answer to your question is that you should never bend the rules just to suit your situation, but in this case no rules were bent so you were fine.
Second this (as an answer to the actual question, ignoring the fact that the rules weren't actually bent here). At that point you're essentially cheating and "good politics" has nothing to do with it. Who is to say the Kozilek player doesn't deserve to have the rules bent in his favor for not appearing threatening until it was too late? That's good politics too. Well, you might argue that you totally saw it coming and just couldn't convince the other player to cooperate soon enough, but oops, now it's an argument rather than a fun game with an agreed-upon ruleset.
The only rules-bending that should happen should be common courtesies or should be discussed fully and openly ahead of time (with consideration of the potential pitfalls, and where there is less immediate bias) as opposed to decided 'on the spot' where someone has a significant in-game stake on the rules working one way or another.
For example, if you want to rule that creatures with Trample attacking an opponent's planeswalker, or who are attacking a PW that gets bounced or destroyed before combat damage, should also/instead deal damage to the player. That's a house rule your group is free to implement, but you should never force it mid-game on the guy playing superfriends with a Vedalken Mastermind in play. That's simply not fair and shows poor sportsmanship with regard to the pre-established rules you all agreed to when you sat down to play (and which the superfriends player specifically built his deck to work well within).
What exactly qualifies as 'common courtesy', on the other hand, could be argued. Generally it's things like take-backs in a casual setting where no new hidden game information is revealed that wasn't before ("oops, I thought Ayli had lifelink rather than deathtouch; I don't actually want to attack") or letting someone free-mulligan out of a no-land hand a second time with a deck playing a reasonable number of lands. New players with out-of-the-box commander precons and a shaky understanding of the rules should probably get away with more.
The Alesha player came up with a plan to save me. He could dredge Golgari Thug, then use it to get back Nighthowler, draw the Nighthowler with Ob Nixilis Reignited, bestow the howler onto his flier, and then attack the Kozilek player for lethal. But, he needed a little help--with no sac outlet, he'd need me to cast a kill spell on his Thug in order to do anything. I gladly agreed, and he began his turn...
But after he cast the Thug, I realized there was a small problem. In order to cast my kill spell, he needed to pass priority. Meaning, he'd immediately go to combat without having a chance to draw and bestow the Nighthowler. It would have been no problem at all if we were playing two headed giant, but this was a five player free-for-all. (That's how I'm pretty sure the rules work, anyway. I'm 99% sure)
I decided to bend the rules a little and nobody at the table protested. However, I didn't say anything and it's possible that none of them realized that rules were being violated. It mattered a whole lot, since it made the difference between the Kozilek player living (and quite likely winning) or dying.
What would you have done in this situation? Under what circumstances would you fudge the rules of the game for the sake of allowing more interesting politics?
Modern: Kiki ChordWBRG
TokensWB
EDH: Kuon, Ogre AscendantBBB
#FreeContractfromBelow
The game won't move to the next step or phase until all players pass priority over an empty stack with out any player adding anything to it. There is nothing in the scenario as you have described it that comes anywhere near bending the rules regardless of the type of game being played.
Once his thug resolves you will still have the oppertunity to cast any instant you chose and once that resolves priority will eventually pass back to the active player and they will still be in their mainphase and able to act as such including casing creatures spells and auras.
- H.L Mencken
I Became insane with long Intervals of horrible Sanity
All Religion, my friend is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination and poetry.
- Edgar Allan Poe
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Second this (as an answer to the actual question, ignoring the fact that the rules weren't actually bent here). At that point you're essentially cheating and "good politics" has nothing to do with it. Who is to say the Kozilek player doesn't deserve to have the rules bent in his favor for not appearing threatening until it was too late? That's good politics too. Well, you might argue that you totally saw it coming and just couldn't convince the other player to cooperate soon enough, but oops, now it's an argument rather than a fun game with an agreed-upon ruleset.
The only rules-bending that should happen should be common courtesies or should be discussed fully and openly ahead of time (with consideration of the potential pitfalls, and where there is less immediate bias) as opposed to decided 'on the spot' where someone has a significant in-game stake on the rules working one way or another.
For example, if you want to rule that creatures with Trample attacking an opponent's planeswalker, or who are attacking a PW that gets bounced or destroyed before combat damage, should also/instead deal damage to the player. That's a house rule your group is free to implement, but you should never force it mid-game on the guy playing superfriends with a Vedalken Mastermind in play. That's simply not fair and shows poor sportsmanship with regard to the pre-established rules you all agreed to when you sat down to play (and which the superfriends player specifically built his deck to work well within).
What exactly qualifies as 'common courtesy', on the other hand, could be argued. Generally it's things like take-backs in a casual setting where no new hidden game information is revealed that wasn't before ("oops, I thought Ayli had lifelink rather than deathtouch; I don't actually want to attack") or letting someone free-mulligan out of a no-land hand a second time with a deck playing a reasonable number of lands. New players with out-of-the-box commander precons and a shaky understanding of the rules should probably get away with more.
- Rabid Wombat