3 Gameplay Infractions

Gameplay infractions occur when a player unintentionally violates the game’s rules as outlined in the Wonders of The First Comprehensive Rules.

These infractions are generally assumed to be accidental, but if a judge believes the infraction was deliberate, it may be classified as Cheating, which carries more severe consequences.

Gameplay infractions are common mistakes but must be addressed consistently to ensure fair play and maintain the integrity of the tournament.

Judges should track repeated infractions to ensure that penalties scale appropriately. If a player commits three or more gameplay infractions of the same type during a tournament day (excluding Failure to Maintain Game State), the penalty for that infraction is upgraded by one severity level.

3.1 Failure to Maintain Game State

A Failure to Maintain Game State infraction occurs when a player, by their inaction, does not acknowledge an opponent’s gameplay infraction (other than a Missed Trigger).

Players are expected to maintain game integrity by catching illegal plays as soon as possible. The earlier an infraction is caught, the easier it is to rewind and correct without major disruption. If an infraction is allowed to continue, both players share responsibility for the resulting state advantage.

Examples:

• The opponent plays a card without having enough energy to do so.
• The opponent plays a card with Core, but does not have the required Orbital Link.

Recommended procedure:

Issue a Warning to the player in addition to the procedure and penalty for the original gameplay infraction. This Warning is never upgraded, even if repeated.

Recommended Starting Penalty:

• Competitive: Warning
• Professional: Warning

3.2 Game Rules Violation

A Game Rules Violation occurs when a player fails to correctly apply the game rules to an element of the game they are responsible for, and the infraction does not fall under another specific Gameplay Infraction.

Players must ensure their actions (or inactions) follow the rules, and they also share responsibility when their effects interact with an opponent or instruct an opponent to perform an action.

If an opponent allows a Game Rules Violation to occur (and they are not responsible for it), they have committed a Failure to Maintain Game State. However, if both players share responsibility, then both have committed a Game Rules Violation.

Examples:

• A player plays a card or activates an ability without paying the full cost to do so.
• A player plays a card with core but does not have the required orbital link.
• A player plays a card when an opponent’s effect prevents them from doing so (shared responsibility).

Recommended procedure:

If the infraction was caught immediately do a simple rewind to the moment before the infraction was committed. If additional actions have occurred after the infraction apply a Partial Fix, treating the game as if the rules were followed correctly. If a Partial Fix is not possible perform a Full Rewind to before the infraction occurred. If the game state cannot be fixed (partially or fully) take no further action, and the game continues despite the infraction.

If the game state cannot be rewound or partially fixed, and the player has gained a significant advantage from the infraction, upgrade to an AP1.

If the opponent had a reasonable opportunity to acknowledge the infraction but did not, issue a Warning for Failure to Maintain Game State.

If there is shared responsibility for the error, issue the opponent a Warning for Game Rules Violation.

Recommended Starting Penalty:

• Competitive: Warning
• Professional: Warning

3.3 Hidden Card Error

A player, through their own actions, has made a mistake involving private cards that cannot be rectified using only public information.

If a player mixes private cards from multiple zones but they can still be properly sorted back into their original locations without revealing additional information, this is not classified as a Hidden Card Error.

If a player accidentally views cards they were not permitted to see, but those cards can still be correctly separated, the infraction falls under Looking at Extra Cards instead.

Examples:

• A player draws extra cards during the start-of-round procedure.
• A player accidentally draws two cards instead of one due to card sleeves sticking together, and the extra card touches their hand.
• A player plays Wave Whisperer Bay, but the revealed card gets mixed into their hand.
• A player picks up a card from The Abyss and adds it to their hand.
• A player uses a seek effect, but the revealed cards are mistakenly mixed with their hand.
• A player moves a card from banishment into their hand when they were not supposed to.

Recommended procedure:

If a player has mistakenly combined private cards from multiple zones into a single group, they must reveal the entire combined set of cards to their opponent. The opponent will then determine how the cards should be redistributed, ensuring that each zone retains the correct number of cards as before the error occurred. Once the opponent makes their decision, the cards are returned accordingly. If one of the affected zones is the deck, the opponent chooses whether the card(s) should be placed on the top or bottom of the deck, in any order.

Recommended Starting Penalty:

• Competitive: Warning
• Professional: Warning

3.4 Looking at Extra Cards

A player, through their own actions, unintentionally views cards they were not permitted to see, provided that the cards remain in their original zone.

If the mistakenly viewed cards become mixed with another set of cards and cannot be distinctly separated, the infraction is instead considered a Hidden Card Error.

Examples:

• A player sees extra cards when drawing.
• A player sees extra cards when revealing/looking at cards from their, or their opponent’s, deck.
• A player sees cards from their opponent’s deck while shuffling it.
• A player accidentally knocks some cards off the top of their deck face-up.

Recommended procedure:

If the extra cards belong to the player’s non-randomized deck and were previously known to the player (due to effects like Reveal), leave the cards in their correct location. If the extra cards were not previously known, reveal them to the opponent, who will then decide whether each card should be placed on the top or bottom of the deck.

If the extra cards were seen during the drawing phase at the start of the turn, but the opponent has not yet acknowledged the change of phase (for example, if the opponent intends to play or activate cards or abilities), leave the cards on top of the deck as they were.

If the extra cards are part of the player’s fully randomized deck, issue the player a Caution and shuffle the extra cards back into the deck.

If the extra cards include five or more cards in the player’s non-randomized deck, upgrade the penalty to an AP1 and shuffle the deck.

Recommended Starting Penalty:

• Competitive: Warning
• Professional: Warning

3.5 Missed Trigger

A player, by their own inaction, fails to acknowledge the resolution of a triggered effect they control when it becomes relevant.

Acknowledging a triggered effect requires either a visible change to the game state or communication between the players confirming that it has triggered. Visible changes include alterations to the existence and location of physical objects such as cards, tokens, and counters. Any player can acknowledge a triggered effect, not just its controller.

A triggered effect is considered missed if the player does not acknowledge it in a timely manner. However, it is not considered missed if any of the following conditions are met:

• Decision-based triggers: A triggered effect that requires the controller to make decisions (such as choosing targets or modes) must be acknowledged before the controller passes the turn.
• Rule-changing triggers: A triggered effect that impacts the rules of the game must be acknowledged before an action is taken, or acknowledged by stopping an action that would be made illegal by the triggered effect.
• State-changing triggers with visible effects: A triggered effect that visibly changes the game state, or requires a decision upon resolution, must be acknowledged before any player takes an action that could only occur after the effect has resolved.
• State-changing triggers with non-visible effects: A triggered effect that changes the game state in a non-visible way must be acknowledged before it first affects the game state in a visible manner.

In addition, the following cases are not considered a Missed Trigger infraction:

• Optional effects: If the only part of a triggered effect that would impact the game is optional, and it is not acknowledged, it is assumed that the controlling player decided to not generate that effect, and it is not considered an infraction.
• Resolved effects: If part of a triggered effect has already resolved and had a visible impact on the game, the trigger is considered acknowledged, and any unresolved part(s) of the trigger that are missed will be considered a Game Rules Violation instead.

Players are responsible for ensuring the resolution of any triggered effects they control. While players are not required to acknowledge triggered effects they do not control, they may still choose to do so. The controlling player is responsible for ensuring that any decisions or actions taken by the opponent during the resolution of the effect are legal and appropriate; they cannot assume the opponent will choose not to take any optional action.

Although it may be beneficial for a player to not acknowledge the triggered effects of their opponents, they may not intentionally cause the effects to be missed. A trigger is only considered missed if the controlling player acknowledges or allows the game state to progress past the point where the trigger is relevant, without acknowledging the effect first. Intentionally progressing the game state to cause an opponent to miss a triggered effect is considered Rules Sharking.

Missing the resolution of a triggered effect, like a Game Rules Violation, can undermine the integrity of the game and potentially create an advantage for the player. However, unlike deliberate actions such as playing a card or activating an ability, triggered effects occur as a result of other in-game events rather than direct player decisions. Due to their frequency and the fact that they often do not visibly alter the game state immediately, players should not face severe penalties for missing them. That said, deliberately ignoring a triggered effect a player controls is considered Cheating.

Examples:

• Jorambe is targeted by a portal effect, but the controlling player does not banish him.
• Scarlet Devourer is played, but the controlling player does not return a Wonder they control to their hand.
• A player controls Rockskin Shredder but forgets to add counters when their opponent harvests a land.
• A player forgets to create an Insect token when attacking in a realm where they control Deep Pincer.

Recommended Procedure:

If the infraction is caught immediately, rewind the game to before the infraction occurred.

If additional actions have been taken, apply a partial fix as though the triggered effect resolved at the appropriate time.

If a partial fix is not possible, rewind the game to the latest point where the trigger should have been acknowledged.

If neither a partial fix nor a full rewind is feasible, take no further action, and the game continues as if the effect was triggered but did not resolve.

If the player would have gained a significant advantage from missing the trigger, and the effect was originally created by the player (not the opponent), issue a Warning.

Recommended Starting Penalty:

• Competitive: Caution
• Professional: Caution

3.6 Presenting Cards Error

The player, by their own action, has presented an illegal set of cards or cards in an illegal state during the start-of-game procedure, despite having a legal decklist and card pool.

This infraction only applies once the player has a legal decklist and card pool. If the cards presented are deemed illegal, it is typically considered a Card-Pool Contents Error.

Examples:

• A player presents a deck with too many or not enough cards specified by the format.
• A player presents their starting deck but accidentally includes tokens.

Recommended procedure:

If the game has not started and the presented deck does not contain the correct number of cards, the player must add cards from their card pool to reach the minimum required or remove cards to meet the maximum deck size.

If the game has not started and tokens are discovered in the deck, remove the tokens, and the deck should be reshuffled. Downgrade the penalty to a caution.

If tokens are discovered after the game has begun, carefully remove the tokens while maintaining the order of the deck.

At a Professional REL, for all infractions except those involving tokens being removed, upgrade the penalty to an AP1.

Recommended Starting Penalty:

• Competitive: Warning
• Professional: Warning

3.7 Shuffling Error

A player, through their own action, illegally randomizes an ordered set of cards, such as a deck, in a way that violates game rules or tournament policies.

When a player shuffles a non-randomized set of cards, the integrity of the game state is irreparably compromised. This action may result in one of the players gaining an unfair advantage due to the redistribution of cards in the shuffled set.

Examples:

• A player shuffles their abyss cards into their deck.
• A player absentmindedly shuffles their deck mid-game.
• A player counts the cards in their opponent’s deck, then shuffles it out of habit.

Recommended procedure:

Ensure the affected deck is sufficiently randomized before proceeding.

If the player has gained a significant strategic advantage through improper shuffling, upgrade the penalty to a Game Loss.

Recommended Starting Penalty:

• Competitive: AP1
• Professional: AP1