One my decks is actually built around getting the game into infinite combos which cannot end but that also don't kill anyone so the game ends in a tie. Same sort of thing. Always fun to pull off.
Most IRL play groups I’ve played with would count that as a loss for you (or, most likely, just not invite you back). And in competitive/regulated play you would timeout and lose. Not sure who these weirdos are that are stipulating to a draw against a deck that is unable to win.
Edit: I was wrong! I’ve only been playing competitively on Arena for years now. Per Rule 725.4 infinite loops are draws.
Yeah you demonstrate the loop once and show that other whatever the output of the loop is (damage, mana, creature tokens, mill for your opponents) your board is in the same initial state so it can be repeated an arbitrary number of times (or it's forced to repeat in which case you're in a forced infinite loop).
A friend of mine had a black/white deck that could loop you to death, it was no fun to play against, soon as he got the cards out he needed, he could (IIRC) banish a creature to the graveyard, then bring it back, repeatedly, and one of those actions inflicted damage on the opponent.
It was clever, but also beardy AF, to use a phrase from my days of WH40K
I used the same type of deck in Yu-Gi-Oh a few years ago. Something with fusion summoning elemental heroes which banished everything before bringing everything back. Wasn't all that good, but was somewhat fun to watch opponents realize the loop :)
No it's a group hug Commander/EDH deck. We all win together!
But yes it does kinda frustrate people. That's the downside of liking Magic because of it being fun to break as a system and not because you want to smash giant monsters into each other.
I used to play with a guy who had a deck named “Judge Problems.”
I don’t know what all was in it (I never played against it) but remember being regaled with tales of what happens when Opalescence and Humility come into play together as part of an effect that puts a bunch of permanents into play all with the same time stamp.
There's a difference between the player having to decide to keep looping by performing actions vs. the loop continuing on its own via triggers. The rules make a distinction and specifically don't allow someone to do the former indefinitely.
