I can't respond to my own board wipes with protection.
Twice tonight I cast a sorcery speed board wipe while I had an instant in my hand that could protect my board. But the board wipe resolved without giving me a chance to cast my instant speed protections.
The first was the spell "Cast Off" which is the adventure side of Realm-Cloaked Giant and I had Tamiyo's Safekeeping in my hand and more than enough mana to cast both. I cast Cast Off with the intention of then casting Tamiyo's Safekeeping to protect one of my creatures from getting destroyed but the game never gave me a moment to respond to my own spell.
The second was I cast Vanquish the Horde because the spell's mana value was reduced enough so that I could cast it and Guardian of Faith. If I had cast Guardian of Faith first there wouldn't have been enough creatures on the board for me to also cast Vanquish the Horde so I had to cast the the board wipe first, maintain priority, and then cast Guardian of Faith in order to phase out my board thus saving them.
The first issue could've been avoided by changing the timing. The second issue however could not have been avoided due to not having enough resources in the game. Both issues however should not happen as per the rules of magic I should be able to respond to my own sorcery speed spells with instants/activated abilities if so long as I have the mana to do so. I double checked in both situation and it doesn't seem like I missed anything else that would have prohibited my casting additional spells.
Please fix this bug. I lost two matches tonight and while they're not important in the grand scheme of things, this is a game I play to relax and it's not very fun or relaxing when I lose games due to programing errors.
That all being said, I understand that magic is a complicated game and I do not envy your job of having to program all of these rules so they work. I appreciate your effort into making this a fun and mostly seamless online game. Thank you.
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[Deleted User] commented
Arena uses the tournament shortcut of passing priority whenever you cast a spell or activate an ability. And just like in a tournament, this shortcut can be shut off, if you announce that you want to respond first. In paper Magic you simply say as much, while in Arena you do so by entering Full Control mode. So BEFORE casting your spell/activating your ability, go into Full Control, and you get to respond.