1338970:

1539230:

In addition, when a judge is called to a table for slow play, they watch both players equally. If you call me to watch your opponent for slow play, I'm watching you too, and I've given warnings to players that thought their opponent was the problem. Slow play will always be a gray area. As such, it's a judgment call each floor judge has to make, and it always will be. As a player, the best thing you can do to insure that your match isn't decided by time is call a judge as soon as you feel your opponent is playing slowly. One of the biggest mistakes players make is waiting until there are only ten minutes in the round to call a judge. The more time's left in the round, the more we can do to make sure your match finishes in time or gets the appropriate extensions.

Thanks for the answers everyone. I took a particularly tough loss recently in the third round of a tournament with a 1w-1L standing, hence all my questions about this subject. I'm really having a tough time coming to terms with this loss because I feel I did everything in my power to prevent what happened (aside from playing a different deck, naturally). Given some of the more rudimentary responses here, I feel compelled to share some additional information about this matchup against a Varanis Slow deck. FAIR WARNING: Some of the following may not be objective information. ;-)

2428206:

b) Lets say me and you play, more of my turns are longer than you'd expect and the winner ends up being determined by the clock. One time, it happens, no big deal. Lets say that during my second set of matches the decision goes to the clock, again. The third time, again. This would be a trend and would obviously indicate foul play.

My point here is that there is a difference between 'logical' game play and 'manipulation.'

~ When my opponent first sat down, he told me straight up he'd been playing slowly against other opponents as he dropped his hero on the table. Possible trend incoming. ~ Game 1 lasted 35 minutes. He dropped Naliss the Sliencer around the 30 minute mark, asked how much time was left in the round, and began taking 40 seconds before attacking with her (the first action he took on each of his turns thereafter). Each of the first two times he did this, at the 30-second mark (my threshold for when I start thinking Slow Play might be happening), I told him he had to move along and play out his turn. Each of those first two turns, he attacked between the 40-45 second mark. ~ When we arrived at the third turn that followed his Naliss hitting the board, I raised my hand to summon the judge at the 30 second mark, since he hadn't taken an action. "Would you mind watching our match for Slow Play?" was the question I asked politely. ~ Within 3 turns, my opponent swung Naliss into me for fatal, and I informed the judge that we'd just concluded game 1. As we shuffled up for game 2, the TO announced there were 25 minutes left in the round. ~ During the course of game two, my opponent took more than 30 seconds before making his first play on at least three of his turns. Whenever this happened, I reminded my opponent "Come on, man. You've got to move this thing along!" The judge was silent as he stood behind me, never once moving to the opponent's side to view what he was considering. Is he obligated to? I suppose not, but isn't it worth gathering all the info possible when specifically asked to observe a match? ~ At the 54 minute mark in the round, my opponent asked how much time remained in the round. The TO announced that 6 minutes remained. I turned around to make sure the judge was still observing from behind me, which he was. At this point, I had been swinging in for 4 damage per turn, just played an Arcanite Dragonling, and had Varanis at 19 damage. Around the 30 second mark, he played Spell Suppression (edit: this must have been Metalmorph) on my weapon and passed turn. I quickly swung in for 2 (to 21 dmg w/ Arcanite Dragonling) and passed. ~ Another 30 second pause, and then he dropped Blood Knight Kyria. He then played Spell Suppression on my Arcanite Dragonling, chained a Fizzle on his own SS, then chained a Mystic Denial on his own Fizzle, healing for 12 total with BKK (down to 9 dmg). His hand is now empty. ~ I glanced behind me to make sure the judge was still observing, which he was. I then played a Whispering Blade to break the Denial, fished out Demonblood Eviscerator with Sunken Treasure, then replayed it to take out BKK. Pass turn. ~ 30 second turn: he draws one and passes, not playing anything. My following combat takes him to 13. Another 30 second turn with no play, and a pass with two cards in hand. I add a Whisper Blade and combat takes him to 18. Another 30 second turn with no play, and a pass with three cards in hand (the origin of my question above). Following combat takes him to 23. ~ Time is called, and I say "end turn". He considers (something?) for a moment, and then the judge says "whose turn is it?" as though he left sometime in the last few minutes. I point at my opponent, and the judge asks me "when time was called?". I repeated that I had ended, and my opponent points back at me. Without missing a beat, the judge points at my opponent saying "turn 1", then me: "turn 2", then back at him: "turn 3". ~ In the turn that followed, he healed to 19 with BKK. I took out BKK, and swung in to bring his life to 24. Out of options, I passed turn and he ended without me being able to deal the last 2 damage. After the match, I asked the judge "so you didn't see any Slow Play in that last match?" He replied "each player is allowed time to consider their options." So there you have it - the only thing I think I could have done differently was... call the judge in the first game, 20 minutes into the match. A totally frustrating outcome where I believe I was Slow Played starting at the 30 minute mark. Not your typical 10-minutes-left-in-the-round-panic-gesture.

Interested in a signature? (Link Fixed lol)

1189990:

I believe you should be able to tell a Judge - "My opponent is playing very slowly after winning game 1. Could you please check they are not stalling". Then, the Judge should watch the player (seeing their cards) to check for stalling.

Cheers

2377271:

I would agree that that player certainly seemed to fit the textbook description of stalling, indeed. Unfortunately, determining that as an observer would seem to be far more difficult than as a participant.

There is, of course, an 100% sure fix for all slow play issues, though the cure might be worse than the disease. That would be the adoption of the use of chess clocks. Set each clock for 45 minutes, and every time it's your turn, your opponent clicks his side of the clock so your timer starts counting down. Just would need to click back and forth whenever you wish to make a reaction play during your opponent's turn as well. (ie, he makes a play, you click the clock so you're on timer, exhaust resources, play nether fracture, then click the clock back to him, etc.) If your timer ever runs out completely, you lose the match.

If you've ever seen high-level competitive chess players playing speed chess (each person has 5 minutes on their clock for an entire game), you know just how fast people can make decisions and click the clock when they need to. heh.

Obviously, I severely doubt that that would ever be even considered for adoption for the game for a myriad of reasons. It would, however, as I said, completely eliminate slow play/stalling as an issue.

1420708:

I know the guy who judged that event and he is totally worthless and should never be allowed to judge again, he doesn't even play the game and is a rude little jerk to boot. I am just wondering... as a judge is it within your power to grant a time extension in a game you have determined to have been slow-played? That would throw a monkeywrench in the whole slow-play scheme.