Daze Illustrated by Matthew D. Wilson

Hello, and welcome to Am I the Bolas?

This column is for all of you out there who have ever played some Magic and wondered if you were the bad guy. I'm here to take in your story with all of its nuances so I can bring some clarity to all those asking, "Am I the Bolas?"

I'm ready to hear you out and offer advice. All you have to do is email amithebolas@gmail.com! You might see your story in the column. You might even hear it on the podcast. Which podcast? 

THIS PODCAST!

I'm Mike Carrozza, aka Mark Carbonza, and I found the perfect card for this article!

It'll make sense when you realize Daze is originally from Nemesis!

This week, make sure an opponent knows what the card is.

(Post edited for brevity, clarity, and a bit of zip and zazz!)

HEY, MIKE!

Hello, Mike!

A few weeks ago, a one time event was happening at a card shop to test out how the store was going to be laid out, and to encourage play, a prize of a Secret Lair package was going to the winner of the two rounds.

In the first round, after a fun and long game, I notice my opponent (we'll call him Mr. H) is casting a big spell that seemingly keeps him entirely tapped out. In response I cast Daze as I want to ensure that the big spell that would shift the tide towards him does not resolve. Mr. H then goes towards a Treasure token I didn't see due to not paying close attention, and I react to it "Oh damn, I didn't see you had that." Mr. H then uses the Treasure to cast Swords to Plowshares on another player's commander in response, not paying the one to stop Daze's effect.

After a few more fun rounds of bantering, combos, excitement, I eventually sweep up the match due to a mixture of proper trigger order stacking from across several opponents. Everyone at the table had fun! During the post-game chat, I asked Mr. H "Why didn't you pay the one for Daze? I'm curious what the move there was. Was it bait?" And Mr. H stated he didn't properly read the card text.

It has been a few weeks, but I am usually good about reading the full text aloud. I also know Mr. H has run Daze before against me, but he's been playing for about 25 years, so I don't expect him to remember every single card in every single deck he's ever played.

Am I the Bolas for not checking what Mr. H knew about the card to counter it? He and I were not mad at each other, no one got upset or considered it a form of cheating, we seemed to have fun with the event. I don't want to try and justify any possible cheating, nor make it seem like I'm in the right. But my argument is: Mr. H has run the card before, I verbally spoke how I didn't see that he could pay for it, and it is a competitive event with a prize pool. If it helps at all, I made it to round two, but lost due to a mana issue.

-- Dazed and Confused in Tehachapi.

HOWDY, D&C!

Hello, hello, hello! Thank you so much for writing in. As I say every week, without folks writing in, there is no column, so if you, the reader, have a story you'd like to share or a Reddit post I should check out, send it over to amithebolas@gmail.com and I'll get to it here or maybe even the podcast!

This is an interesting case. 

It seems like Mr. H is in good spirits over the whole affair and kind of leaves it with a bit of a shrug and a whoopsie. That's really nice. It's a game, after all, and he misplayed. It happens!

I don't think it's a question of whether you're a Bolas. Clearly, there's no malice intended here: you alerted Mr. H to your recognition of him having the mana to respond to your counter. I think this is just a mistake and misunderstanding. I do think that, even when playing things that are well-known, it's worth reiterating the information that is relevant. When Mr. H reached for his Treasure token and you said, "I didn't realize you had that," the implication was clear if you know what Daze does, but if you don't, or, in Mr. H's case, you've forgotten, it could have also been read as "I didn't realize you had another play". It would be on you to maybe ask, "So are you going to use that to pay for the one on Daze?" 

This is one of those situations where a takeback would be totally respectable. I get that it's competitive, but I'm assuming that nobody reached for your Daze to give it a once-over either. Knowing that this player has played with the card before also would make me think that he was up to something else, but I definitely would say it's best to ask if the cost is being paid instead of allowing further action to be taken before clearing it up.

It's one thing if Mr. H realized that he could pay one to keep his spell and decided instead to opt for removing a commander, as this could, in many situations, be the intended play to keep himself around. In this case, thanks to the chat post-game, you know he just didn't remember. A little whoopsie. With a prize on the line or something, that'll drive some feel-bad energy on both parties, but I still think that, ultimately, it was a misplay, a mistake, a little whoopsie, oopsie, poopsie, my bad!

No need to be hard on anybody. The fun part is the game was good anyway and there's more games to come. 

Happy day! No Bolas!