Missed Triggers

Penalty: Warning

Infraction Sub-classification: Minor

Definitions and Philosophy: When a triggered ability would trigger and the player controlling the trigger does not express knowledge or does not remember the trigger the first time it would affect the Game State. Triggered abilities can be different with respect to their game impact.

If a triggered ability would not cause an immediate change in the Game State, the trigger must be acknowledged the first time it would cause such a change. If a trigger changes the game rules, the controller must acknowledge the trigger and stop opponents that try to take any illegal actions given the modified game rules.

Delayed triggers must also be acknowledged by the player who owns the trigger/controls the source of the trigger. Abilities that specify “when you do” are considered reflexive triggers and must also be acknowledged. Any of these triggers that are not acknowledged are considered missed triggers. A trigger that would have no impact on the game if it is left unacknowledged would not be considered to be a missed trigger. This is often the case with optional effects that include the use of "may" where, if a trigger with an optional component that does change the gamestate and a default component (where the "may" option is not taken) does not change the game state, the default state is assumed and the trigger is not considered missed. Some triggers offer two options which demands that a choice is taken; there is not non-impacting default case. These can be missed.

Players should play with the assumption that triggers are always acknowledged by default unless there is direct evidence that it was missed and would become a missed trigger. Put another way, triggers are assumed to be remembered until they are evidently missed past the first point at which their effect would matter.

E.g., a 1 power ally with Ranged 2 and On Enter: CARDNAME becomes distant is declared as an attacker before the On Enter trigger is verbally communicated. Its controller's opponent asks what its power is and the controller replies "3." This is not a missed trigger since combat has not proceeded and no additional information has changed since the time the trigger would have properly resolved.

E.g., a 1 power ally with Ranged 2 and On Enter: CARDNAME becomes distant is declared as an attacker before the On Enter trigger is verbally communicated. Its controller's opponent would like to proceed to the damage step and asks what its power is. The ally's controller replies "1." It is now clear that the trigger was not acknowledged, and the assumption that the defending player was (or should have been) operating on (the ally having 3 power) is not true; this is a missed trigger.

At the earliest point, there is evidence a trigger was not acknowledged, it becomes missed. Otherwise, it should be considered acknowledged. Players should not leverage this state of assumption as an allowance to distract or trick opponents into thinking a trigger was missed.

Judges should not intervene for missed triggers unless they are mandatory (no "may" clause) or would imminently cause a significant gameplay error, or if there is suspicion of Unsporting Conduct via intentionally missed triggers.

If a player’s action is dependent on the result of an assumed trigger, and the trigger is acknowledged when attempting to perform that action or resolve it, the trigger can become acknowledged at that time. As this is not a missed trigger, the intended action can be played as intended. If a trigger is missed and is attempting to be retroactively applied with a change in the state of the game (new information is revealed in some capacity) from the original timestamp the trigger should have been acknowledged, a missed trigger should be invoked. Sequencing errors are common and missed triggers are often a component of these.

Missing the card drawn during the Draw Phase as a turn-based action is also considered a Missed Trigger. However, these missed draws do not involve permission of the opponent when applying corrective procedures; a judge should indicate and permit a player to draw a card.

Corrective Procedures: If it has been a full turn of phases since the missed trigger, it will not be added to the Effects Stack and players should keep playing with a presumed accepted game state. If the trigger would have created a temporary effect whose duration would have expired in the current Game State, the trigger will not be added and players should keep playing. Otherwise, since the trigger has reached the point of evident non-acknowledgement and the gamestate has changed (i.e., new information has been revealed to players) judges will allow an opponent to choose if the triggered ability can be placed in the appropriate layer of the Effects Stack pending resolution or, if not possible due to the time when it was missed, it will be placed on the bottom (it would resolve last).

Upgrading: This penalty may be upgraded to a game loss under a Failure to Maintain Game State infraction a player continues to miss triggers (>3 times). Judges can also upgrade the infraction class to Cheating under Unsporting Conduct if a Judge determines a player is intentionally missing triggers to gain an advantage.

Examples:

• A player forgets an On Attack trigger and remembers the trigger at the beginning of the damage step of combat.

• A player forgets an On Enter effect from their Materialization phase and remembers it during the start of their Recollection Phase.

• Forgetting or missing the draw a card turn-based action during the Draw Phase.

VARIABLE ENFORCEMENT: At events of lower level than Store Championships and Regionals, enforcement of missed triggers should be more lenient and be met with only a verbal reminder. Mandatory missed triggers should be placed onto the Effects Stack when possible and appropriate. For optional triggers (using "may"), judges should offer the player a chance (if appropriate, without significant impact on the current Game State) to acknowledge the trigger and make a choice. Missed triggers should not be upgraded to Failure to Maintain Gamestate and should remain at No Penalty. If there is concern for Unsporting Conduct, this should be investigated and penalized as found appropriate.