Forum:Priority in the battle phase

I'm basically having a big issue with this flowchart Breakdown of the Battle Phase. I have 2 respectable judges whom I trust completely both telling me that when you enter the battle phase, you have priority to declare an attack before your opponent could activate an effect such as Book of Moon. They say that yes, cards can be used in the Start Step, but the Turn Player still has priority to attack because the steps of the Battle Phase besides the battle/damage steps during battle aren't really important and play out at cleanly as the rulebook tries to describe it.

Said flowchart has no official rulings source and I would agree with what these judges are telling me over that. In OCG too.

The chart, if you wish to call it that, does not state that those actions must be performed in that order in the Start Step, it is just a list of actions that the turn player has Priority to do. All the Breakdown of the Battle Phase does is illustrate what happens when. The steps are important, they tell you when a monster is flipped, which gives light to rulings of "Ally of Justice Catastor" and "Exploder Dragonwing" on when their effects activate. There are often steps that may be skipped, such as not having a monster to flip. Otherwise, you have always been following those steps, you just haven't noticed because you never really thought about it. DemonGodAsura 16:50, March 28, 2010 (UTC)

Actually, it's once you enter the Battle Step. There's nothing saying that you can attack in the Start Step. Your judges might have misread the ruling on Card Rulings:Ancient Gear Soldier. --Deus Ex Machina (Talk) 18:47, March 28, 2010 (UTC)