Etiquette

Before Play

Testing and Scouting

If a player is going to be your upcoming opponent for a tournament match and they are conducting testing for that match, spectating on that testing is discouraged as it may provide an unfair advantage. For players who are conducting testing for tournament matches, it is recommended to make your online games private to avoid any unintentional scouting.

Spectating

For competitive online matches, check prior to the game whether the other player is ok with you inviting spectators to watch.

Recording and Streaming

Check prior to the game whether the other player is ok with you recording and/or streaming a match.

Chains in Casual Play

• The general assumption by the Discord community for online play (Ashteki) is that the chain rules are in effect for every constructed game.
  • If you wish to play without the chain rules this should be made explicit before the start of the game, and before decks have been chosen. Either include it in the game title or mention it to players who join.
• Preconstructed games do not play with chains due to the imbalanced nature and restrictions of the decks.

Time Limit / Sudden Death

For online tournament games, rules such as sudden death may apply and it is disappointing to have a game finish in an unexpected way. Please confirm any time limit with sudden death settings that the player creating the game has selected prior to starting the match. Make sure that you understand via your opponent, or the Tournament Organiser, what those settings mean.

Spectators

While spectating, try not to interrupt the play. If you spot a problem with a mandatory part of the game state (a “must” effect), ask the players to pause and either notify the judge (if it is a tournament match) or mention to the players what has been missed. If you interrupt the play for other reasons, the players may politely ask you to stop spectating.

Spectators are not to provide assistance to either player during a game. This can be especially difficult if you see the winning move, are watching a strategic blunder, or just want to show off your superior deductive reasoning skills! This behaviour can ruin the player experience if you don’t keep quiet and allow players to learn through play. The main exceptions would be where the players ask for assistance with an online game interface (such as how to do a particular action in TTS or how to perform a manual action in ashteki) or a rule interpretation where neither player is certain what to do and they ask a spectator if they know (such as how does Harold’s Hunter’s Mark interact with Root Armor?).

During Play

Conceding

• If you need to leave a game before it's over, for any reason, inform you opponent before conceding.
• If you feel the game state is such that your loss is inevitable but it will take several more turns, it is acceptable to concede but not necessary.

Take-backs

• If no new information or decision point was made, such as cards (eg reactions) played or discarded (eg meditated) it is generally in bad spirit to not allow a take back.

• If minor things happened, feel free to ask your opponent but they may say no.

• If major things happened, it would be in bad spirit to ask.

Ashteki Disconnections

Sometimes, despite your best intentions, you may have internet issues while trying to complete a game of Ashes on Ashteki. It is recommended that you try to use an alternate network (e.g. your cellular/mobile phone provider) to contact the other player on Discord to let them know the issue that has occurred. If you cannot reconnect within a specified time, Ashteki will eventually concede the game on your behalf.