devtrackers.gg
[Edit: If you're not going to read the whole thing, at least read the TL;DR before replying with a "solution" that doesn't actually address the issue]
This problem has existed since the release of warboss, but it has yet to be fixed, so I'm bringing it up again.
Here's a situation. You have lightning strike as your only card in hands with plenty of lands untapped. Opponent casts legion warboss. Warboss goes on the stack. Obviously, you don't want to cast lightning strike in response to warboss, so you let it resolve. Game skips straight to combat phase, makes a token, too late to kill the warboss.
Well... this is a gotcha moment, but you learn, and next time this happens, you go in full control mode when legion warboss goes on the stack. It's definitely not great, but at least there's a solution.
Here's where there is a huge issue though. Same situation, but replace lightning strike with shivan fire, and assume there are no creatures in play. When opponent casts warboss, there are no legal targets for your shivan fire, so the game will auto resolve the warboss. No time for you to go into full control, the game is already skipping ahead to the combat step and you're f*cked. Even if you know that you need full control to kill warboss before it makes a token, the game just doesn't let you go into full control. Maybe if you're the Flash, you can press control fast enough, but MtG really shouldn't be a game of reflexes and speed. Even then though, I'm not convinced there's a way to press control fast enough. My experience with full control and stops is that once the game decides to skip ahead, there's nothing you can do about it.
I've been told that you can use stops to force the game to stop end of main phase, before the attack. The problem with that is the same as above: there is just no time to put a stop. You basically need to pre-emptively put a stop, before you even know your opponent will cast warboss. This is even worse, given the fact that you can't put permanent stops, so you need to refresh the stop every turn! What do the devs expect my play pattern to be? Put a stop at the end of everyone of my turn the moment I notice a mountain on my opponent's side? Or maybe I do it even if I don't see a mountain, in case they drop the mountain and warboss on the same turn? It's absurd.
TL;DR: BEFORE YOU TELL ME TO JUST PUT A STOP OR PRESS CONTROL, READ THE FOLLOWING: I know you love to reply before you read the whole post, but hopefully the big bold all caps letters caught your attention. The problem I describe is that if you do not have a legal play while warboss is on the stack, the game auto-resolves it and skips straight to combat, such that you have no opportunity to press control or put a stop.
External link →