Thank you for clarifying the situation Mike. I know I was a bit confused based upon folks' comments in this thread and others.

um yeah, I think George was right. This was a big prestigious championship... not some game with friends in your dining room.

I think that if official tournament rules were published on takebacks then even in friendly games, people would try to follow them.

Just like in chess, there is a specific rule in the rulebook about touch-move and that's why it is universally observed even in friendly games. The only time I've seen the touch-move rule not followed is when a teacher is instructing an ultra-beginner.

Nice avatar!

Just want to point out that as of 2010, if a Running Shot character moves to a square then declares an attack that it doesn't have clear line of fire for, strict rules mean he is stranded since the attack portion of that power is optional.

Of course, being a dick is optional, too, so just let the dude take it back, depending on the circumstances.

You know it!




If you squint really close, you can see a couple of handsome fellas in the front there...or you can just check out my Photo Album. Either/or.

So why didn't you disqualify George and declare Alan the winner?

Because moving Metron wasn't illegal.

It wasn't the eventual winner's fault that once Metron got there, he couldn't really do what he had planned.

Because the action in question was not illegal. It was what came after. Although he likely surmised what the intent was he did not know. Even with Alan starting to say Outwit his action move action was illegal.
Alan's move was perfectly legal it was just his subsequent OW that was not.
Now if he had let the OW be declared and then on teh next turn said sorry you cant OW due to first turn immunity then yeah any respectable judge should have bounced the sucker from the tourney

What was illegal about the move action?

Now in three-part harmony

Make it four.

Aside from that, those rules aren't the current rules anyway.

But, yeah, absolutely nothing was done illegally.

I expected those answers. They sum up for me why I don't consider such tournaments as real exhibitions of "high level" play.

one of the jobs of a judge is to answer questions when asked.

It's not up to the judge to guess at what someone else was trying to do and then intervene.

it's up to the players to know and follow the rules.

in everything else involving high level competition, be it basketball, volleyball, chess, etc. You don't see players admitting that oh, they committed a foul or, oh I touched the net after I hit that ball.

Nor do you see referees helping players out... if they touched the line during the serve, that's it, they get called for a foot fault. You don't have refs warning them.

That's high level play.

^^^This^^^

When we get together and play mid-week games at my place I am usually trying out new strategies or practicing a team I might play in Saturday's tournaments. In that environment, "take backs" are fine and even helpful in formulating strategy. In the tournament itself, however, there should be no expectations of 'take backs'. You're playing in a big game for some prize support - play fair and don't get angry if someone expects you to follow the rules.

I think part of the problem is that 'take backs' are such a common part of casual play that we are conditioned to just using them. Even to the point of expecting someone in tournament play to be as forgiving as our mid-week buds!