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Ok, so rules wise there's nothing wrong with these tricks, though the Giant Growth/Township ones aren't really underhanded at all; when you cast Giant Growth into open removal mana you're asking for a 2-for-1, and Gavony Township is on the battlefield so they know if you do or don't have the potential to use it.

Revealing a card and hoping your opponent misreads it or trusts you too much is much more underhanded, as you're trying to pressure them into making a fatal mistake. In terms of playing to win, it can certainly be a good strategy - if you've read Sirlin.net's articles on playing to win, they mention how you need to use every legal advantage you can in order to win if you truly want to be as dominant as possible, and not doing so out of honor and expecting others to do the same purely out of honor is what can define a scrub.

However, I'd suggest you consider your context. FNM or a prerelease, for example, are pretty casual events, where the focus should largely be on fun. Sure, you might be grinding out points for GP byes or something like that, but most people there won't be, so if you pull this kind of trick off and people realise you have, you likely won't be very popular no matter how much you can rationalise it (and it's easily rationalisable, if that's even a word). At anything like a GPT or higher though, I would say it's even expected that this kind of thing could occur. The prize is much more significant, and if you deserve that prize a player should be able to avoid a trick like this by the opponent. 

Dec 27, 2012 -- 11:07AM, Escef wrote:

Dec 27, 2012 -- 10:47AM, mr.physics wrote:

...but I fail to see how bluffing in a very competitive tournament is underhanded.

There's a difference between a bluff and tapping for 4 mana and revealing a 5 CC card that would win the game if you could cast it. That's not a bluff, that's outright unsportsmanlike. It also can easily be interpreted as falling under Cheating - Fraud, which is an automatic disqualification.

As I mentioned in my initial post, Ive never tried this in a game where anything of material value was on the line because I wasnt sure if it was legitimate play. In my opinion, if you are convincing you opponent you are actually casting it, then you are committing cheating-fraud, but if you are convincing your opponent you *could* cast it, then you are bluffing.

Obviously using this against a 13 year old at their first FNM is shady in the extreme and unethical, using this trick against someone who has played on the pro tour(while unlikely to work), if not considered cheating, is less clear to me.

Edit: An earlier poster mentioned the gavony township trick didnt seem underhanded, because they know if you can use it, but sometimes, especiall in longer tournaments where fatigue sets in, people may make mistakes. In the case of the 4 mana revealing chandra's fury, once you've actually revealed the fury, I dont see as different. Also, it seems like revealing information for strategic advantage is not considered cheating or underhanded. I believe the reason many people object to the chandra example is because it may seem like you are actually casting it, which would be cheating.

To quote JaxsonBateman "Ok, so rule wise there's nothing wrong with these tricks".

If there is nothing wrong with the trick ruleswise, I fail to see how its cheating, hence why its hard to understand.

If you reveal a card from your hand and tap lands, you're very clearly signalling that you're casting that spell. I think any neutral observer would interpret the actions that way. You'd need to actually say something like "I'm tapping these four Mountain s and floating four red mana" if that's what you're doing.

I see what you mean adeyke. In the actual situation, I was actually playing online via a forbidden program with an explicit *reveal card* option, so it was 100% clear that I was revealing and not casting. I didn't put a lot of thought into the hypothetical situation because thats not what happened and I try to avoid mentioning such programs on these boards.

I agree that signalling you are casting the spell is cheating, and I can definitely see how your wording is better, i.e. "I tap these mountains floating four red and reveal fury", which is basically the same as just revealing fury. I would hope if I explicitly say 'I reveal fury' that wouldnt be considered cheating.

To be clear, I am asking these questions because I havent tried them and am unsure if they are legitimate ways of playing or not. Some people might consider Owen's single-blocking of a pyreheart wolf 'underhanded' but thats how the rules are. Learning to understand and play competitively, within the rules, is my goal. Not to do shady things and cheat. Also, regardless of whether I use such ways of playing, I feel its important to be aware of them if they are legal at GP or PT (if I were to qualify)

EDIT: While I see what everyone is saying, my initial example I hypothesized I said I had fury "in hand" which explicitly means I have not cast it, in my opinion?