Going to Combat Ain't What it Used to Be.

The Origins of the Shortcut.

Lately, there has been some confusion about a tournament shortcut and how you would announce that you would like to "Go to the beginning of Combat Step".

MTR 4.2:

"A statement such as "I'm ready for combat" or "Declare attackers?" offers to keep passing priority until an opponent has priority in the beginning of combat step. Opponents are assumed to be acting then unless they specify otherwise."

 As we can see, there is a misleading ambiguity in this statement. How is "I'm ready for combat" seen as "go to my declare attackers" step? That is the question I propose to you. This specific tournament shortcut has been in the MTR since its conception in 2009(1). 6 years ago, we only had 6 cards had an ability that triggered "at the beginning of combat". Now, we have 17 cards that mention this rules statement and 8 of those cards can currently be played in standard(2). Given the influx of cards with this trigger, “Going to Combat” just ain't what it used to be.

At this point, it is time to make a change.