Communication Policy Violation

Penalty: Warning

Definitions and Philosophy: A player violates the player communication/information policies and guidelines outlined in the Tournament Rules and Regulations document which results in the opponent making a decision, taking a player action, or not taking an action based on wrong information.

As mentioned in the Tournament Rules and Regulations document, players are responsible for maintaining a clear Game State and players should answer all questions regarding publicly available information (i.e. Status and Public Information) as honestly as possible. Giving wrong information, even if accidentally, can result in undue strategic advantage which would harm the integrity of a match.

If a player is suspected of intentionally misinforming their opponent for strategic advantage, a Cheating penalty should be considered.

Corrective Procedure: If a judge determined that an action was taken or not taken (i.e. there was a chance to take an action that was not opted for), the Game State may be reverted to before that decision was made with information correctly accounted for.

Examples:

• A player is asked how many cards are left in their Main Deck and they reply “17” when they had 15, having miscounted, and the opponent activates Sink Oblivion targeting that player as a result.

• A player asks an opponent for their Influence and they reply with "seven" when they have six, leading the player to believe they can activate Gloamspire, Black Market's ability without benefiting their opponent.

Many times, errors in this category can be seen as a subset of Failure to Maintain Gamestate violations. Communication Policy Violations specifically cover communicated information, especially in contexts where the gamestate is being maintained sufficiently well by both players. Players and judges are encouraged to verify any verbalized or otherwise communicated information to avoid communication violations.