Following the release of Outsiders, we’ve taken the time to evaluate, rewrite, and release one of our most important tournament documents: the Tournament Rules and Policy. Much like the Comprehensive Rules and Procedure and Penalty Guide, this has been a ground-up rewrite to ensure that the rules and policies are consistent with the intentions of LSS; provide quality-of-life features such as hyperlinking and an intuitive chapter structure; and lay the foundations for future developments based on feedback from the community.
You can find the new Tournament Rules and Policy here:
While many of the sections that have been rewritten remain largely unchanged when it comes to applying the rules and policy, there are a few key differences that the community should be aware of.
Card-Pool (formerly Deck)
The card-pool refers to the cards that are available to the player for a game, in both constructed and limited formats. Previously, we’ve called this the “deck” for constructed formats, but this has often been confused with the deck (zone) during a game
Due to how Flesh and Blood games are played, players do not start with a predetermined “deck”, they select their deck-cards from the card-pool during the start-of-game procedure. For example, in classic constructed, you have a non-young hero, and an 80 card-pool. From these 80 cards in your pool, you select at least 60 cards to become your deck in the game.
A “decklist” will remain a common term throughout the policy to refer to the card-pool registration required by some constructed and limited formats as it is short, succinct and is well-understood by players.
The Comprehensive Rules will also receive an update in the near-future which will reflect this updated usage for card-pool.
Inventory (formerly Sideboard)
The inventory refers to ALL cards from your card-pool that would be legal to play in your game, but have not been selected in the start-of-game procedure. Previously the inventory referred to only weapons and equipment in your “deck” or “sideboard” during a game. In order to broaden the language as well as bind thematic meaning to cards for future sets, these cards will now be referred to as the player’s inventory during a game.
For example, in classic constructed format you have an 80 card-pool. During the start-of-game procedure, you select at least 60 cards from your card-pool to start in your deck, and typically 5-6 cards to start in the arena (equipment/weapons). Any leftover cards from that 80 then become your inventory for the game.
As another example, in a typical sealed deck format you would have a 90 card-pool from boosters you have opened, assuming 6 boosters with 15 cards each, plus any token-rarity cards in the set. During the start-of-game procedure, you select legal cards (cards that have a subset of your hero’s talents/classes) from your card-pool that you will start the game with (at least 30 cards to start in your deck, and typically 2-6 cards to start in the arena). Any legal cards that you do not select become your inventory for the game, and illegal cards (cards that don’t have the required talents/classes) aren’t considered to be in the game or your inventory.
The Comprehensive Rules will also receive an update in the near-future which will reflect this updated usage for inventory.
Shortcuts, Out-of-Order Play, and Reversing Actions.
Shortcuts, out-of-order play, and reversing actions are all necessary elements to creating an enjoyable and smooth play experience. Previously these were not codified, and thus there was a blurred and often inconsistent line on what is acceptable, especially at the higher levels of play.
Shortcuts are when players mutually agree to skip a sequence of in-game steps that would otherwise be irrelevant or tedious. This is often done by skipping priority (e.g. playing a card and skipping priority to resolve it immediately). You can only do shortcuts if you and your opponent mutually understand what you’re skipping and what the result of the shortcut will be. If one player wants to do a shortcut, you can interrupt them and the game proceeds at the point of interruption. For example, you attack your opponent, your opponent proposes a shortcut to the damage step by saying “I’ll take 3”, you interrupt and say “Before you take damage, I’ll play this attack reaction”.
Out-of-order play is when a player performs a set of actions that are not strictly in order. This can only be done if all of the actions are performed together (i.e. no gaps between the actions) and the result is as if the action were done in order (i.e. you still have to follow the rules of the game). This formally allows players to pitch before playing a card (as players already often do) but does not allow them to pitch without paying for a cost (because it wouldn’t be allowed if it was done in the correct order). You can ask another player to perform the actions of an out-of-order play in the correct order so they can be responded to at the appropriate time. If you interrupt an out-of-order play, all of the actions up until that point are considered to have been made, and the interrupted player is not bound to make any of the remaining actions thereafter. It’s very important to note that you can’t use out-of-order play to take an action retroactively (typically, a pause indicates the end of an out-of-order play), and a player can not add to or modify their out-of-order actions based on the information they’ve gained or on the reactions of their opponent.
Reversing an action is when a player may take back an action they’ve communicated verbally or physically. In general, players can only reverse actions if they bring attention to it immediately and have not gained any information since taking the action. If the opponent does not allow the action to be taken back, the player may call a judge, who decides if the action can be reversed. If the player has had any opportunity to gain information (up to the point they noted they wanted to reverse their decision), they will typically not allow the action to be reversed.
Game Information
Game information is now rigorously categorized into 5 types: Visible, Public, Assisted, Historical, and Private. Previously it has been wordy and a little ambiguous to categorize certain types of information relating to the game state, which has been troublesome to build and refine the rules around. As such we’ve taken this step to help lay the foundation for more precise and consistent rulings.
Visible information is anything that is physically represented by a game piece (and includes hero life totals). E.g. cards, counters, tokens, etc.
Public information is anything that is currently known by all players but is not represented by a game piece. E.g. the modified power of an attack, the targets of an effect, etc.
Assisted information are things that relate to the rules and policies of the game and/or tournament. E.g. card text, how a hypothetical interaction works, how many rounds in the tournament, etc.
Historical information is anything that a player may have known, that is not relevant to the game state anymore. E.g. Exact cards that were revealed, how many turns have passed in the game, what card was put to the bottom of your deck.
Private information is everything else, and covers information that is either not known by any player, or only known by one player. E.g. the cards in hand, the order of the cards in deck, etc.
Players are required to recall Visible and Public information completely and honestly (as that is what constitutes the current game state), but not any other type (including historical information).
Players may also know assisted information, but they aren’t required to answer questions about it. Players may instead call for a judge to get this kind of information.
Players may not mislead about anything other than private information. E.g. you can bluff about what’s in your hand (private), but you can’t lie about what card you revealed (historical).
Additional rules and specifics regarding game information can be found in the new TRP under 5.1. Game Information, and in a few other relevant sections.
Markers
Makers are small items that player’s use to temporarily note information about the game. Previously, use of markers to indicate anything other than public information was technically prohibited. Now, you may use markers to temporarily note and communicate information about the game state, with the following restrictions (note that the complete specification in 4.7. Markers)
- It must be clear what information the marker represents
- The marker can not be too big or distracting (it should not obstruct the play-space)
- The marker can not be too small or hidden (it should be clear to both players)
- The marker can not give strategic assistance
- The marker must be removed if the information is no longer visible information or public information
- The marker must be removed or updated if the information has been changed
- The marker can not be used for information about a player’s deck (even visible or public information, in order to mitigate the risk of players abusing markers to track cards in their deck)
With these changes, you may now use markers to help communicate a clear gamestate for the benefit of both players. For example:
- Using a die to indicate the power of an attack, or the arcane damage being dealt by an action
- Using a small item with “go again” written on it to indicate whether an attack has go again (whether it was a base ability or gained by an effect)
- Using a die to indicate how many cards with blood debt are in your banished zone without having to count every time
Additional rules and specifics regarding markers can be found in the new TRP under 4.7. Markers.
Game Layout
Specifications about the game layout have been laid out to ensure that we have a consistent and universal way for players to lay out the game, so that communication of the game state between players can be more clearly understood. Any changes to the prescribed layout must be first cleared by the judges of the event.
In addition, players may now separate out cards that are continuously relevant to the game state from their graveyard and banished zone into a separate pile. For example, a player may separate out their Phoenix Flames from their graveyard (if they're playing Fai), or cards with blood debt from their banished zone.
These separated piles may also be sorted without being considered note-taking. For example, if you’ve banished cards with blood debt and cards you can play from the banished zone, you can separate these cards out into a separate pile (because they’re relevant to the game state), and then sort them by their respective abilities.
Note that you can NOT have more than one separate pile per graveyard and banished zone, and you can not sort cards in your graveyard or banished zone by default. The separated pile does not have to be strictly adjacent and neatly stacked, but it must be clear what zone these cards are in. Finally, tournament officials (TOs, Judges, Coverage) have the authority to enforce aspects of your layout to ensure that the representation of the game is kept clear.
Other Notable Changes
Decklists
Decklists (card-pool registration) are required at all competitive REL events, including constructed and limited. This is to ensure that tournament integrity is upheld for competitive events that have high-value prizes, and that players are introduced to card-pool registration earlier before they attend larger competitive or professional events like Battle Hardened, Callings or Nationals.
Sleeving
There is no further restriction on triple-sleeving cards, although Judges may still deem triple-sleeving excessive and require additional sleeves to be removed for gameplay reasons.
Card legality
Misprinted, altered, damaged cards, and custom tokens policies have been updated. These sections have been expanded to help clarify the line of legality and the requirements to ensure that there is clear communication between you and your opponent if they are used.
Created cards
Cards that can be created (e.g. Crouching Tiger) can now be represented by a just one card and die if there are two or more in a public zone like the banished zone (similar to how tokens can be represented). As long as you’ve made a reasonable attempt to bring the needed cards, additional proxies may be issued in cases where you need to have separate cards but do not have enough (such as when you might need more than 10 on the combat chain or in your deck).
IP Infringing material
The Tournament Organizer is no longer able to request players hand over infringing material for destruction as described by the rules and policy, but should instead ask that the player remove the item or be disqualified. This also applies to offensive material.
Rounds recommendation
Recommended Swiss rounds have been recalculated to ensure that (in typical circumstances) the top 8 play-off contains one undefeated player and any players that are X-1.