"Once per round, you may prevent a friendly bomb from detonating."

Wondering about a scenario and if it could be considered missed opportunity outside of a casual setting.

Scenario: Nym has a Proton Bomb out on the field and declares his ability for the round. Fast foward to the next round and both players agree to enter the combat phase... The undetonated Proton Bomb is noticed and the Nym player did NOT declare his ability, does it immediately explode? And if so, can Nym stop it?

If bombs detonate at the end of the activation phase and Nym's ability was not explicitly stated (rather just assumed), is the opportunity to prevent detonation then missed?

What if the bomb is only noticed mid combat after dice have been rolled, instead of at the end/start of Activation and Combat? Can the Nym player still say, "oh yeah I meant to hold that -- and if its detonating now, I'm gonna use my ability to stop that."

Technically, I think by the rules right thing to do is explode the bomb: Nym's player ought to have declared it when it was supposed to trigger, or reached an agreement "this will stay here until I say it detonates" with the opponent. In general, the window to use an ability (like Nym preventing a bomb from detonating) is the moment the trigger happens. If you miss the trigger, you can't use the ability.

However, by the spirit of Flying Casually, the right thing to do is that the opponent of a Nym who forgot to declare the bomb-hold should allow them to hold it. Certainly in Casual. In a tournament, I dunno, seems sporting to give a person at least one "freebie" but maybe warn them that they've got to remember, or make a "this will stay until" sort of statement.

If both players have advanced to the Combat phase, but no attacks have been declared then the game state hasn't really changed and you should be able to rewind back to that point without drama. However, if other things have transpired and it would now be impossible to "rewind" to that point, then it should be counted as a missed opportunity.

I think the crux of the problem is the "assumption" that Nym would keep the bomb from detonating regardless. It's probably something that the Nym player should be very aware of, and declare his intention when he first triggers it.

But if neither player can reach an agreement on how to resolve the situation, the TO should be the final authority, and should probably rule it as a missed opportunity.

Awesome thanks for the responses!

Those points seem fair enough, so it's sorta like calling out a Dash player for not declaring the use of his ability before he does his thing... Some situations might arise where you really want him dead on a rock, or in Nym's case to clear a pesky bomb or detonate one that could hit himself. Technically a missed opportunity, one that they should be given a 'freebie' warning about the first time but after that... and especially in say an elimination game, I stop being obliged to remind you of your triggers.

Compulsory events, like a reveal bomb detonating, are the responsibility of both players to keep track of. If the detonation window of a bomb has passed and both players forgot to do it, then they are equally at fault. I would say the Nym player has not missed an opportunity because the players together neglected to do the trigger that would grant Nym said opportunity. So if I was TO I would say, even if attacks have been made etc, as soon as the bomb is remembered it should trigger it's detonation which only just now gives Nym his opportunity to stop it or not.

Thats my take at least, the argument for the opportunity already being missed has merit, that's just not how I would rule it.

I guess the problem is as the opponent you may want them to forget about using Nyms ability so that a bomb they have been holding goes off when it won't affect you.

As the opponent can you say "ok so were entering combat?" and they say "yes", can you then say "right you missed your Nym trigger and the bomb goes off"?

If not, at what point are you playing the game for your opponent by reminding them of optional triggers? Of course this should only apply to competitive matches, casual you can rewind as much as either player is comfortable with.

Problem is that Nym is not triggered at the end of the activation phase or the start of the combat phase. He is triggered by the bomb detonating, which is a mandatory effect which you should rewind for. At which point it will attempt to detonate, Nym's ability will trigger, and he can prevent it.

4 hours ago, DR4CO said:

Problem is that Nym is not triggered at the end of the activation phase or the start of the combat phase. He is triggered by the bomb detonating, which is a mandatory effect which you should rewind for. At which point it will attempt to detonate, Nym's ability will trigger, and he can prevent it.

This all over.

The better argument would be 'you missed the bomb detonating therefore nym's ability has held it', but that is a: not supported by RAW, and b: doesn't work if there's more than one dial bomb on the table.

We had this happen at a local tournament that I was the TO for and this is what I ruled.... the bomb was supposed to trigger... so we needed to rewind to the start of combat. The rebel player said they would have just used Nym's ability so we just left it as is.

"Missed Opportunities" should NEVER be a thing. There are times that something may deliberately be ignored but if there is a trigger of any kind it should be FULLY acknowledged by both sides to prevent any issues. This certainly is not "playing your opponent's squadron too" but just making sure that everything is progressing as it should with completely public information. It may be Nym in this question but it comes up all the time; if an ability triggers it should be acknowledged.

2 hours ago, StevenO said:

"Missed Opportunities" should NEVER be a thing. There are times that something may deliberately be ignored but if there is a trigger of any kind it should be FULLY acknowledged by both sides to prevent any issues. This certainly is not "playing your opponent's squadron too" but just making sure that everything is progressing as it should with completely public information. It may be Nym in this question but it comes up all the time; if an ability triggers it should be acknowledged.

I agree, but mistakes happen. I have seen many games when crits are overlooked or bombs don't get set off, etc. It all apart of human error.

52 minutes ago, shaunmerritt said:

I agree, but mistakes happen. I have seen many games when crits are overlooked or bombs don't get set off, etc. It all apart of human error.

There is truth to that and when a mistake happens that shouldn't things should be "reset" to best represent those mistakes not happening.

What I never what to see is someone who seems to casually miss all "missed opportunities" that would benefit him especially if they would have really hurt if they were somehow noticed but never seems to let a "missed opportunity" go when it would cause maximum grief to the other player. Nym could even be a good example of this: Casually forget to have a bomb go off because it may hurt your ship although Nym's controlled didn't say one way or another or perhap Nym had been used a time or two on a bomb but this turn his ships would be the ones damaged by it so this time you STICK IT TO HIM for not mentioning it being used and DEMANDING that the bomb goes off and hurts his ships.

Mistakes happen but it's how you respond to those mistakes that determines what kind of human you are.

I think the problem some people have is that Nym's ability is optional, and optional abilities are just that, optional, you don’t have to use them. Similar effects would be things like autothrusters. In competitive matches do you remind your opponent to use their autothrusters? Maybe, maybe not but you can't call someone a bad person for not reminding their opponent of an optional effect. In a casual game sure, go ahead and remind them.

Now the difference here is because reveal/drop bombs going off at the end of the activation phase is mandatory, you are forced to remind your opponent of nyms trigger point. It is physically impossible to miss nyms trigger point if you try to detonate. Having to remind your opponent how to play their cards can be very frustrating for many players.

What if the Nym player points at the bomb and says "that bomb doesn't explode until I say it does"? Kind of like Dash, you don't have to verbally announce his ability every time you go over an obstacle, you remembered to use it because you didn't roll for damage or skip your action.

This can also lead to a lot of he-said/he-said arguments, where one player announced Nym's ability, the other player didn't hear it and later accused the Nym player of forgetting, and there's no proof after the fact of who's right except that there's still a bomb on the field. When you miss a trigger like Whisper or R2-D2 or FCS or R3-A2 or HotCop, there's clear evidence on the board that is was missed because the tokens that should have been produced aren't there, or are still there if they should have been removed.

15 hours ago, Tvboy said:

What if the Nym player points at the bomb and says "that bomb doesn't explode until I say it does"? Kind of like Dash, you don't have to verbally announce his ability every time you go over an obstacle, you remembered to use it because you didn't roll for damage or skip your action.

Just like Dash, that is only acceptable if your opponent agrees to it, as the Nym player is not sticking to the rules. The problem then though if the opponent wont agree to the nym players request is the opponent is almost always then called a bad sport or WAAC, demonized because he wants to play to the rules rather than allowing the Nym player to not have to remember to use their ability properly each turn.

I mean, on the one hand, it's a pretty minor point to quibble over, since the Nym player would have to go forget about his ability in a future turn AND resolve the bomb detonation for there to be any difference made whatsoever. On the other hand, if that's how you'd prefer it, then as long as you're not being a jerk about it I don't see why anyone should get bent out of shape. Fly casual indeed.

in a friendly setting who cares everyone makes mistakes
In a tournament, dont expect people to be nice on missed opportunities. Unless it was something that is NOT an option (rebel captive assigning stress), per rules they missed the chance and it doesnt happen.

This is why its always good to glance over your cards before switchin phases.