“Activate the third ability of [card]Mist Dragon[/card], hold priority, activate the second ability of [card]Mist Dragon[/card], hold priority, activate the first ability of [card]Mist Dragon[/card]. Pass priority. Any responses? Resolve the stack, [card]Mist Dragon[/card] gains flying, then loses flying, then phases out. Proceed to draw step?”

No, that paragraph has likely never been uttered in any competitive Magic format in the history of ever. It probably never will. In the As Soon As Stack format though, this happens every. Single. Turn. It has to, or Mist Dragon’s controller loses the game.

Invented by some very evil and possibly sadistic European judges, As Soon As Stack is the perfect format to show you just how little you know about Magic’s rules. At (or more accurately just before) GP Washington DC I was introduced to the format by Elliot Raff and Casey Brefka, and was instantly hooked to the point that the three of us spent multiple hours (and hundreds of dollars) at the LGS buying bulk rares to make our own stack.

So How Does It Work?

The concept behind ASA is simple: infinite life, infinite mana, shared library and graveyard. If you can do something, you have to do it as soon as you can. If a spell or ability can target multiple things, you have to do as much as possible. Any abilities have to be activated as soon as possible after the permanent comes under your control, but only once (and exactly once) per turn cycle. If you miss an ability, don’t play a spell when you could or break a game rule, you lose.

Turns proceed as normal, and creatures must attack and block if able. Spells that can target multiple things must target as many as possible, so things like [card]Flames of the Firebrand[/card] have to have 3 targets (if there are three). If a card has modes, you can choose whichever you want but on all other cards you start from the bottom and work up. Take the aforementioned [card]Mist Dragon[/card], for example. It has three abilities, so you have to activate them from the bottom one up. Have a card in your hand with cycling? Since cycling is the bottom ability, you have to cycle it.

Graveyard order matters. Any spell that targets something in the graveyard targets the topmost legal target. Knowing things like holding priority, steps in casting a spell and the turn structure are all essential. If you’ve ever played one of those memory games where each player adds another thing to an ever-growing list of things to recite, it’s basically that…with Magic rules attached. Yeah, it’s that tangly. It’s also way, way more fun.

Who Would Enjoy It?

ASA is not for everyone; far from it. The majority of players, both casual and competitive, will find the format overwhelming at best, frustrating and annoying at worst. You’re relying on your opponent messing up to win, and although there are some things you can do to make that more likely it’s ultimately down to them. It’s also a very counter-intuitive format as the almost uniformly correct play is to avoid drawing cards, avoid having permanents and avoid having cards in your hand.

It’s also probably not great for potential L1 judges. No need to terrify them with how little they actually know so early in the process. The group I have found enjoying ASA the most is current judges, experienced L1s and up, and players who are what Mark Rosewater would call Melvins. Those are people who enjoy doing fun and funky things with the rules, like equipping [card]Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker[/card] to [card]Nicol Bolas[/card].

Building Your ASA Stack

Much like building a cube, you want your stack to be a reflection of your own style. That said, there are a few things you probably want to make sure you include in there: