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[Yeef]

Okay I thought I understood what happened here but are we then saying this shortcut ("Combat?") not only moves right to declare attackers but also presumes that you missed your own mandatory beginning-of-combat trigger?

Yeah. It's been that way for a long time. I'm surprised people in this thread don't know about that.

4.2 Tournament Shortcuts
A tournament shortcut is an action taken by players to skip parts of the technical play sequence without explicitly
announcing them. Tournament shortcuts are essential for the smooth play of a game, as they allow players to play
in a clear fashion without getting bogged down in the minutiae of the rules. Most tournament shortcuts involve skipping one or more priority passes to the mutual understanding of all players; if a player wishes to demonstrate or use a new tournament shortcut entailing any number of priority passes, he or she must be clear where the game state will end up as part of the request.
A player may interrupt a tournament shortcut by explaining how he or she is deviating from it or at which point in the middle he or she wishes to take an action. A player may interrupt his or her own shortcut in this manner. A player is not allowed to use a previously undec
lared tournament shortcut, or to modify an in-use tournament shortcut without announcing the modification, in order to create ambiguity in the game.
A player may not request priority and take no action with it. If a player decides he or she does not wish to do
anything, the request is nullified and priority is returned to the player that originally had it.
Certain conventional tournament shortcuts used in Magic are detailed below. If a player wishes to deviate from these, he or she should be explicit about doing so. Note that some of these are exceptions to the policy above in that they do cause non-explicit priority passes.
• The statement "Go" (and equivalents such as "Your turn" and "Done") offers to keep passing priority until an opponent has priority in t
he end step. Opponents are assumed to be acting then unless they specify otherwise.
• 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.
• Whenever a player adds an object to the stack, he or she is assumed to be passing priority unless he or she explicitly announces that he or she intends to retain it. If he or she adds a group of objects to the stack without explicitly retaining priority and a player wishes to take an action at a point in the middle, the actions should be reversed up to that point.
• If a player casts a spell or activates an ability with X in its mana cost without specifying the value of X, it is assumed to be for all mana currently available in his or her pool.
• If a player casts a spell or activates an ability and announces choices for it that are not normally made until resolution, the player must adhere to those choices unless an opponent responds to that spell or ability. If an opponent inquires about choices made during resolution, that player is assumed to be passing priority and allowing that spell or ability to resolve.
• A player is assumed to have paid any cost of 0 unless he or she announces otherwise.
• A player who casts a spell or activates an ability that targets an object on the stack is assumed to target the legal target closest to the top of the stack unless the player specifies otherwise.
• A player is assumed to be attacking another player with his or her creatures and not any planeswalkers that player may control unless the attacking player specifies otherwise.
• A player who chooses an opponent's planeswalker as the target of a spell or ability that would deal damage is assumed to be targeting that opponent and redirecting the damage on resolution. The player must adhere to that choice unless an opponent responds.
• A player who does not scry (or look at the top card of the library after taking a mulligan) when instructed to is assumed to have
chosen to leave the cards in the same order.
• In the Two-Headed Giant format, attacking creatures are assumed to be assigning combat damage to the defending team's primary head, unless the creature's controller specifies otherwise.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

There were two Scrapheap Scroungers and Heart of Kiran. So two artifact creatures and a vehicle. My read was that he was going to pump a scrounger so it could actually attack and trade with one of the potential blockers while getting in with Heart. He said "Move to Combat" to give Thien the chance to use removal BEFORE the trigger would go on the stack. If removal isn't used he then pumps Scrounger, crews Heart with the other Scrounger and swings in.

Ah I was only listening so didn't know the exact boardstate. Ruling is debateable but the reasoning behind the ruling is sound imo.

 

[Lucario]

If you skip the +2/+0 trigger by not saying anything you just miss it, I guess. I've never really heard of this manner of constructing words, though.

IIRC he did announce it after his opponent agreed to "move to combat", but that was too late.

 

[Santiako]

That was quite a decent day 1, with Copycat, GB and Mardu Vehicles making up about 75% of the field they were bound to be always on camera

 

[Jhriad]

Yeah. It's been that way for a long time. I'm surprised people in this thread don't know about that.

Pretty sure most folks here are aware of the "Combat" "Move to Combat" or "Move to attacks" shortcut. I assumed it was some combination of language barrier, MTGO player, and/or stress of being undefeated in the last round of his first Pro Tour that had the guy mixed up.

 

[Angry Grimace]

So basically the phrase "move to combat" is not effective to move to combat phase unless you say "move to combat phase" despite the fact its the only part of combat with the word combat. Checks out.

 

[Santiako]

The team name "Conflagreece" is amazing.

 

[Yeef]

So basically the phrase "move to combat" is not effective to move to combat phase unless you say "move to combat phase" despite the fact its the only part of combat with the word combat. Checks out.

Beginning of Combat is a step, not a phase. The Combat Phase includes all parts of combat, including the declare attackers step.

More to the point, the active player immediately receives priority at the beginning of combat step, so it's on them to signify that they intend to do something there. Otherwise it leaves the window open for the active player to trick the non-active player into unintentionally doing things during the main phase that they wanted to do during the beginning of combat step.

 

[charlequin]

Yeah. It's been that way for a long time. I'm surprised people in this thread don't know about that.

I didn't understand the apparent interaction between this shortcut rule and the current pro REL rules regarding missed triggers. I feel like that's pretty unintuitive, I would have assumed you could say this and then stop on the BoC trigger, especially since the purpose of the ruling is to avoid situations where people accidentally act during the Main phase.

So basically the phrase "move to combat" is not effective to move to combat phase unless you say "move to combat phase" despite the fact its the only part of combat with the word combat. Checks out.

Actually if I understand the ruling correctly there's no phrase you can say including "move to beginning of combat step" that will actually do that, you have to say you're stacking a trigger or playing a spell/ability during the BoC step for you as the active player to ever receive priority during it.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Beginning of Combat is a step, not a phase. The Combat Phase includes all parts of combat, including the declare attackers step.

More to the point, the active player immediately receives priority at the beginning of combat step, so it's on them to signify that they intend to do something there. Otherwise it leaves the window open for the active player to trick the non-active player into unintentionally doing things during the main phase that they wanted to do during the beginning of combat step.

There's literally only one step within the combat phase that includes the word combat unless you skip all the way to end of combat. The reason it never comes up is that you almost literally have no reason to ever do anything in your beginning of combat phase - the only time its ever relevant is crewing Heart of Kiran with Toolcraft Exemplar, since it can't crew it until the trigger resolves.

 

[Ashodin]

Yeah if you take Copycat out Fumigate can thrive on GB Counters deck. Meta becomes much healthier and interesting.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Wait, so it's actually improper to announce the start of combat with "Combat"? That's really weird. So what should I say instead?

EDIT: Moreover, how do you actually continue to the combat phase?

 

[bigkrev]

So, the Tezzeret Planeswalker deck pieces are worth more than the actual cost of the deck right now- EVEN ON MAGIC ONLINE https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/aether-revolt-planeswalker-decks

Was Rat's Nest in 2004 the last time a regular precon was worth more open than sealed MSRP?

 

[Yeef]

Actually if I understand the ruling correctly there's no phrase you can say including "move to beginning of combat step" that will actually do that, you have to say you're stacking a trigger or playing a spell/ability during the BoC step for you as the active player to ever receive priority during it.

You can say "move to beginning of combat and hold priority" or just "pass priority" during your main phase.

There's literally only one step within the combat phase that includes the word combat unless you skip all the way to end of combat. The reason it never comes up is that you almost literally have no reason to ever do anything in your beginning of combat phase - the only time its ever relevant is crewing Heart of Kiran with Toolcraft Exemplar, since it can't crew it until the trigger resolves.

To be clear, by saying "combat" (or anything similar) you're moving to the beginning of combat and passing priority. It's still the beginning of combat step, but you just don't have priority. It's the same way that, when you cast a spell or activate an ability, it's assumed you pass priority unless you specifically state that you're holding priority. The shortcut only applies at Competitive REL and higher, so players at that level are expected to know the rules. At FNM or in casual games, the shortcut doesn't apply.

Under the shortcut, you can still crew with Toolcraft Exmplar without any extra wording. Exemplar's trigger doesn't target and doesn't visibly change the game state, so it's not assumed to be missed until the player shows otherwise (for example if they say "swing for 1"). So if you use the shortcut, you pass until your opponent has priority. If they pass priority, Exemplar's trigger resolves and you get priority again, at which point you can use it to crew.

In the specific case at the pro tour, there were a few different things going on:

• He invoked the shortcut skipping to his opponent having priority in the beginning of combat step, which meant he missed his chance to crew.
• Weldfast Engineer's ability does target, which means he needs to declare targets when the ability is added to the stack. In this case, he could have said, "combat, trigger?" and indicated his engineer and been fine. Instead he said "combat?" and paused for a few seconds to await his opponent's response, invoking the shortcut.
• Because he passed priority without declaring a target on the trigger, the trigger is considered missed.
• He had also intended to crew the Heart of Kiran at the beginning of combat and target it with the engineer's ability, which isn't possible. It needs to be a creature already when the trigger is put on the stack to be a valid target. In order for that to be the case, he needed to crew in his main phase.

 

[Ashodin]

Wait, so it's actually improper to announce the start of combat with "Combat"? That's really weird. So what should I say instead?

EDIT: Moreover, how do you actually continue to the combat phase?

"Beginning of combat". Say that.

 

[kirblar]

The amount of times that you want to (unprompted by a triggered ability) mess with stuff in the beginning of combat on your turn is incredibly low, since it's more advantageous to retain priority in your main phase.

 

[platypotamus]

This whole discussion of combat is pretty much why a lot of folks I know refuse to play anything more serious than games with friends, what a god damn clusterfuck

 

[SigmasonicX]

The amount of times that you want to (unprompted by a triggered ability) mess with stuff in the beginning of combat on your turn is incredibly low, since it's more advantageous to retain priority in your main phase.

But you need to give your opponent a chance to act before you declare attackers.

 

[Angry Grimace]

"Beginning of combat". Say that.

According to the official shortcuts, that passes priority unless you specifically state you want to retain priority.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

According to the official shortcuts, that passes priority unless you specifically state you want to retain priority.

"Beginning of combat I what you want to do"




So first preliminary draft to try and goldfish with.

Land (37)
1x Ash Barrens
1x Blighted Woodland
1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1x Evolving Wilds
1x Flooded Strand
6x Forest
1x Forgotten Cave
1x Glacial Chasm
3x Island
1x Krosan Verge
1x Lonely Sandbar
5x Mountain
1x Myriad Landscape
1x Naya Panorama
3x Plains
1x Secluded Steppe
1x Slippery Karst
1x Smoldering Crater
1x Terramorphic Expanse
1x Thawing Glaciers
1x Tranquil Thicket
1x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
1x Windswept Heath
1x Wooded Foothills
Artifact (6)
1x Mana Crypt
1x Smokestack
1x Sol Ring
1x Storm Cauldron
1x Tangle Wire
1x Torpor Orb
Enchantment (21)
1x Astral Slide
1x Back to Basics
1x Blood Moon
1x Burgeoning
1x Burning Earth
1x Copy Enchantment
1x Exploration
1x Ghostly Prison
1x Greater Auramancy
1x Land's Edge
1x Mana Vortex
1x Pendrell Mists
1x Primal Order
1x Prismatic Omen
1x Propaganda
1x Retreat to Coralhelm
1x Seismic Assault
1x Solitary Confinement
1x Sphere of Safety
1x Sterling Grove
1x Trade Routes
Creature (11)
1x Academy Rector
1x Borborygmos Enraged
1x Courser of Kruphix
1x Dragonlord Dromoka
1x Eternal Witness
1x Knight of the Reliquary
1x Oracle of Mul Daya
1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
1x Sun Titan
1x Swans of Bryn Argoll
1x Wood Elves
Sorcery (19)
1x Austere Command
1x Blasphemous Act
1x Boundless Realms
1x Burning of Xinye
1x Cultivate
1x Explore
1x Kodama's Reach
1x Life from the Loam
1x Personal Tutor
1x Rampant Growth
1x Replenish
1x Rude Awakening
1x Ruination
1x Scapeshift
1x Search for Tomorrow
1x Subterranean Tremors
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Sylvan Scrying
1x Wildfire
Instant (5)
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Intuition
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Price of Progress

Thoughts to test right now: Astral Slide is too cute, no sac outlet for academy rector, the deck has no clear plan, nor sufficient interaction, not enough draw, too much ramp

 

["God's Beard!"]

The old 4cBloodMoon.dec strategy.

 

[kirblar]

But you need to give your opponent a chance to act before you declare attackers.

Yes, that is why when you say "combat", you're saying "I'm passing priority through main/beginning"

It's to keep you from tricking your opponent into making a proactive move during your main phase instead of your beginning of combat or end step.

 

[Ashodin]

According to the official shortcuts, that passes priority unless you specifically state you want to retain priority.

like you gotta say the actions you wanna trigger, dawg

 

[Santiako]

"Beginning of combat I what you want to do"




So first preliminary draft to try and goldfish with.

Thoughts to test right now: Astral Slide is too cute, no sac outlet for academy rector, the deck has no clear plan, nor sufficient interaction, not enough draw, too much ramp

There was a guy I knew that played 5 colours almost only basics with all the nonbasic hate like this, he played it with Scion of the Ur-Dragon. Deck was really sweet.

 

[Ozigizo]

"Beginning of combat I what you want to do"




So first preliminary draft to try and goldfish with.

Thoughts to test right now: Astral Slide is too cute, no sac outlet for academy rector, the deck has no clear plan, nor sufficient interaction, not enough draw, too much ramp

Greater Good. Also, maybe snap caster?

If you aren't drawing, maybe ensnaring bridge?

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Greater Good. Also, maybe snap caster?

If you aren't drawing, maybe ensnaring bridge?

I play barely any creatures as is? Snapcaster is always a consideration not sure about the ensnaring bridge the deck should be able to draw a lot I just think I constructed it very badly.

Some goldfishing later I definitely should drop the astral slide thing and add some more draw. Deck gets lots of mana fast and Swans + Blasphemous Act is hilarious. Mana can be awkward as well

 

[MoxManiac]

Wow, glad I picked up a Tezzeret PW deck for $12 last week.

 

[Ashodin]

The tap deal 3 life if you have a Tezzeret is an amazing card. If you mechanical production it, you can drop Tezz and deal instantly 6 damage with just TWO.

 

[charlequin]

Wait, so it's actually improper to announce the start of combat with "Combat"? That's really weird. So what should I say instead?

It's fine (in fact, encouraged) to do this in any circumstance where you aren't literally trying to do something yourself at beginning of combat, after the main phase but before declaring attackers. In normal circumstances everything you could do here you would just do in the main phase instead.

So, the Tezzeret Planeswalker deck pieces are worth more than the actual cost of the deck right now- EVEN ON MAGIC ONLINE https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/aether-revolt-planeswalker-decks

I clearly missed something, what about it is driving up the price and why?

The amount of times that you want to (unprompted by a triggered ability) mess with stuff in the beginning of combat on your turn is incredibly low, since it's more advantageous to retain priority in your main phase.

Yeah I feel like this is a weird side effect of the unusual number of "at the beginning of combat" triggers we've got due to vehicle shenanigans.

 

[Angry Grimace]

It's fine (in fact, encouraged) to do this in any circumstance where you aren't literally trying to do something yourself at beginning of combat, after the main phase but before declaring attackers. In normal circumstances everything you could do here you would just do in the main phase instead.



I clearly missed something, what about it is driving up the price and why?



Yeah I feel like this is a weird side effect of the unusual number of "at the beginning of combat" triggers we've got due to vehicle shenanigans.

I have no idea why. The 3 cards in the Tezzeret deck are pretty horrible. I don't get why you'd want to play a conditional deal 3 creature to begin with, and Master of Metal is only good in really weird board states where you want to just drop a million artifacts.

 

[Ashodin]

Maybe it's a commander thing

 

[y2dvd]

It's still so odd to me that cards outside of boosters are standard legal lol. As a mainly limited player, knowing I can't draft them is now annoying.

 

[SigmasonicX]

It's still so odd to me that cards outside of boosters are standard legal lol. As a mainly limited player, knowing I can't draft them is now annoying.

The idea is that they want the freedom to make new bad cards for these intro packs, but also want new players to freely take them to FNM without getting turned away. Of course, the problem is that if they're any good, they become very expensive.

 

[Card Boy]

Dumb idea, thinking of Hexproofing Platinum Angel and buffing it so it's big, beat you opponents till they have 0 life then having some removal to kill off Platinum Angel and you win. (speaking Commander here)

 

[MoxManiac]

Dumb idea, thinking of Hexproofing Platinum Angel and buffing it so it's big, beat you opponents till they have 0 life then having some removal to kill off Platinum Angel and you win. (speaking Commander here)

Why do you have to kill the angel?

 

[Card Boy]

Why do you have to kill the angel?

because you or your opponents can't win the game, even if they have 0 life. edit: fuck misread it.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Dumb idea, thinking of Hexproofing Platinum Angel and buffing it so it's big, beat you opponents till they have 0 life then having some removal to kill off Platinum Angel and you win. (speaking Commander here)

 

[MoxManiac]

because you or your opponents can't win the game, even if they have 0 life. edit: fuck misread it.

You can win the game with platnium angel, lol

 

[Poppy]

huh, i just now noticed that platinum angel and abyssal persecutor have opposite initials. thats probably supposed to be obvious

 

[Angry Grimace]

I remember when they made Desecration Demon just be Abyssal Persecutor but without an actively stupid drawback.

 

[Ashodin]

ok Dovin Baan actually won me a game

guy was trying to sacrifice his selfless spirit into board wipe to keep his dudes around but Dovin Baan stopped the sacrifice ability lolol

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

huh, i just now noticed that platinum angel and abyssal persecutor have opposite initials. thats probably supposed to be obvious

Mind Blown.

I remember when they made Desecration Demon just be Abyssal Persecutor but without an actively stupid drawback.

Aw man Abyssal Prosecutor is a great card. Flavour and playability wise.

ok Dovin Baan actually won me a game

guy was trying to sacrifice his selfless spirit into board wipe to keep his dudes around but Dovin Baan stopped the sacrifice ability lolol

as would have any real card.

 

[Ashodin]

Mind Blown.

Aw man Abyssal Prosecutor is a great card. Flavour and playability wise.

as would have any real card.

Disallow that comment. I won games with Dovin Baan. You lose!

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

The comments on reddit are fun using all sorts of weird reasoning why weird phrases or nondescript language is not only perfectly reasonable but also better than just saying "pass priority" in main phase 1.

Disallow that comment. I won games with Dovin Baan. You lose!

I got my aetherflux reservoir's activated ability disallowed once. I considered that unsportsmanlike behaviour and a moral victory.

 

[Santiako]

Kai Budde weighs in:

@Combat ruling, round 8 of PT Aether Revolt
The 'combat' ruling at PT Aether Revolt during Round 8 annoyed me so much that I decided to write something. You can watch the game here:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/119438395
Nguyen vs Segovia, game 1, the jduge call comes about 5:28 min in. I'll sum up the situation:
Segovia has two 3/2 artifact creatures and a 4/4 vehicle. Main phase 1 he casts a weldfast engineer, 3/3, 'at the beginning of combat on your turn, target artifact creature you control gets +2+0 until end of turn'. He sais the word 'combat' and taps his engineer to crew the 4/4 vehicle.
His opponent immediatly calls a judge. But he doesn't call a judge for the missed weldfast engineer trigger. He calls the judge because apparently someone somewhere decided that saying the word 'combat' means you're declaring attackers. That's the first time I've heard this. Both me and my opponents have declared 'combat' thousands of times to enter the combat step. If you google 'announcing combat magic the gathering', the top result is 'The Combat Phase' on wizards.com. Nothing there connects 'combat' with declaring attackers. That is very clearly defined as 'declaring attackers step'. If wotc or/and the dci want to mint phrases people can be called on, that should maybe be on their website and in the rulesbook. Because otherwise its a load of garbage. I tried 10 minutes to google the phrase that 'combat' means you're declaring attackers and I wasn't successful.
20 years ago people asked their opponents "okay, can I lightning bolt you?". If they answered "Yes", they'd say "Oh, I changed my mind. but you passed priority and thus ended your turn." What happened in this match for me is on the same level. In an ideal world I would've wanted to see an unsportsmanslike conduct warning for Nguyen as the outcome of this judge call. His opponent was obviously not very fluent in english and technically not a perfect magic player, but his intention was crystal clear.
He wanted to enter his attack step and activate his vehicle to attack. Calling him on the missed trigger is perfectly fine. Magically skipping the beginning of combat step he VERY obviously wanted to use to crew his vehicle is not. That's rules lawyering on a very low level and magic over the past 10-20 years has done a lot to make exactly this not possible.
Again, what Nguyen should have done here is wait what Segovia does after he crews his vehicle. If he then wants to use the trigger of his Weldfast Engineer, you THEN call a judge and explain that by saying 'combat' he clearly indicated entering the combat phase. No one can deny/argue that. Then he crewed his vehicle before attacks. The intention for that was absolutely clear. Between the word 'combat' and looking at Nguyen to see that he confirms we're in the combat step, he immediatly tapped his engineer to crew his vehicle. Now on PT level I suppose that's a missed trigger on the engineer and that's something Nguyen has a legitime claim that it was forgotten. That had to happen at the very beginning of the beginning of combat step and you can't play non-triggered effects like the crewing-ability without putting the engineer on the stack first and announcing a target for that.
Ruling that saying 'combat' means you're skipping straight from your main phase to declare attackers is beyond insane to me. There were beginning of combat effects, both a trigger and the crewing process. Of course you announce the combat step. And how do you announce it? by saying combat. Wizards of the Coast called it the COMBAT step.
MtG, the grand prix and pro tour circuits are international games. I don't know how many different nationalities are playing in PT Aether Revolt but it's surely above 50. You can not expect everyone to be fluent in english. Again, Segovia's intention was 100% clear and he communicated it perfectly. He wanted to enter the Combat Step, crew his vehicle and attack. He probably also wanted to use the engineer trigger, but well, he messed the timing up for that. There were seconds between him saying 'combat' and tapping his creature to crew. He didn't tap other creatures to indicate he is in declare attackers or anything like that.
Making this ruling basically means if you are not 100% fluent in english - and apparently now you have to be fluent in DCI english as well - who knows what some other word might mean? You could end your turn by saying 'okay, that's fine.' - you are priced into never talking to your opponent at all. Does the DCI really want to have a translating judge at every table because people are afraid to be rules lawyered out of their turn if they try to communicate with their opponent in english? Is that where we want to get to? Again, Magic has moved away from exactly that and I'm honestly not sure what happened today in this game at the PT and how that ruling ended up the way it was. I almost hope that Segovia did something wrong when he talked to the judge and messed something up there. But it's all on video and nailing a non-english native speaker who very, very clearly wanted to enter his attack step to crew a vehicle at beginning of combat on the word 'combat' when he wanted to enter his combat step is not understandable on so many levels for me.
I am extremely happy that Segovia ended up winning the match. I honestly don't know Thien Nguyen at all, but just from that judge call, I am tempted to hope for an 0-8 performance tomorrow. To be fair he was sitting at 7-0 at the PT and that puts a lot of pressure on you. But still, that judge call and the ruling is just not acceptable from my ethics point of view ...

Long post but good read and hard to disagree with.

 

[MoxManiac]

Playing magic at the pro level sounds like a miserable experience.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Kai Budde weighs in:

Long post but good read and hard to disagree with.

Yeah saw this on twitter, the ruling is definitely controversial given the language barrier and board state. I am surprised though at the objection and apparent unfamiliarity to the shortcuts that are imo fairly reasonable and able to be circumvented and specified.
What's the point of making combat, go to combat, etc. equivalent to just passing priority once? You're never going to skip to beginning of combat from your upkeep or draw step making that particular shortcut not a shortcut in any way. Pass Priority is also a much more commonly applicable term for non English speakers to use in MTG in addition.

 

[shrapnelmagnet]

I understand the Combat call. I know it's pedantic but if you say "Combat" and your opponent indicates a pass of priority that you acknowledge, you have to move to Declare Attackers, no?

The +2 Trigger would have saved it, though.

It is awkward though. Combat is easily the most difficult and strange aspect of Magic. I regularly fight with my playgroup around Icy Manipulator (theirs)

 

[Korgill]

When they introduced crewing vehicles they should have officially changed how saying "combat" worked so you can enter your combat phase, crew and do other beginning of combat tricks, then declare attackers.

 

[shrapnelmagnet]

When they introduced crewing vehicles they should have officially changed how saying "combat" worked so you can enter your combat phase, crew and do other beginning of combat tricks, then declare attackers.

The thing is, why would you wait to crew? Nothing changes if you just do it Main Phase.