Question about end phase

[Moonkeeper]

I got out of magic during the Urza block and made my return in the Mirrodin block. Back then, when someone said "I'm done," it was common (and still is), to say "Before your turn is over....." and then declare an effect. The way it worked at the time I left (or at least what I was taught at the nearest card store) was that if an opponent wanted to play anything in such a manner, it gave the "done" player a chance to still have a turn. This meant they could play sorceries, declare an attack, etc... after all effects resolved.

I just read an actual "turn structure" chart at a competing site. According to the chart, at the end turn phase there is actually a time set aside to throw stuff on the stack. Does this mean it is no longer possible to play sorceries, declare and attack, etc....

Second question for fun. If it is no longer possible to take such actions, was it ever possible or was I taught wrong (10 years ago)?

[vartemis]

The only thing that can be played during the end of turn step is instants and effects that can be played as instants.

I believe you were taught wrong.  The player who's turn it is can respond to the actions being taken with more instants and/or effects, but they dont get to take another turn.

j

[jro]

I don't know how very early rules would have handled this situation, but rules at that time were a total mess anyway.  But even the Alpha rulebook says that you may play instants and interrupts "at any time" so one might assume this includes the discard phase or the end phase (which are also listed in the original rulebook).

Under 5th Edition rules, the last chance an opponent would normally have to play something was during your (now deprecated) discard phase.  If you had entered your discard phase, there is no provision for backing up to your main phase.  I think the confusion may have come from the non-active player basically failing to indicate that the spell was being played during the discard phase, and the active player then assuming it was played during their main phase.  This would allow the active player to perform any of the actions that were then permissible during the main phase (play a land, cast spells, declare an attack).  So I don't think the rules ever strictly permitted the action you are describing, but they did engender misunderstanding.

Sixth Edition rules (which were around, incidentally, in Urza block when you left) changed this kind of mistaken player interaction in 2 ways.  First, by simplifying the turn structure, it became clearer to players when spells were being played.  Today, most players will say "during end of turn", or something to that effect when playing something at the end of the opponent's turn.  This is a lot more natural than saying "during your discard phase", since most of the time a player wasn't discarding any cards.  Second, the adoption of the "First Main / Combat / Second Main" structure makes it clear that when you declare your turn over, you are giving up the opportunity for an attack.

I don't know the official DCI policy for this, but in my experience, if you draw your card and immediately say "Go", you are declaring your intent to finish the turn.  If your opponent wants to back you up to your draw step, first main, combat, or second main, they can do so.  But if they play an instant at that point, and you Mana Drain it, I don't think you could successfully argue that they played the spell during (say) your First Main phase, so you could use the Mana Drain mana during your Second Main Phase.  (There's a great article at starcitygames that addresses the issue of playing against Mana Drain, and notice how which phase you are in becomes very important.)