AI steal bug when their field is full [unconfirmed]

[stickinthemud]

Here's a tough one; I think I know what's happening but I'm not sure how to efficiently test it, so I was hoping one of you out there could help me out.

I was playing T50 against (I think) Donot's deck, which as of this writing involves a bunch of Mindgates and Hourglasses.  The deck I was using packed a couple of steals as well, so before long the AI had a full field of permanents.  Once that happened, I noticed that every time I'd put a permanent down, it would disappear (using the usual "stolen" animation) *without* a played card appearing under the opponent's hand.  After a few turns of "wait what" running through my head, I played a Steal to take away something from the AI's side.  Immediately he stole it back, with the usual Steal card appearing.  After this point, my permanents stopped mysteriously disappearing.

[No screens, unfortunately, since I didn't have the foresight to take them while it was happening, and then once I formulated a hypothesis it wasn't happening anymore.]

What I think is happening: the AI says "I have a Steal!  I'd better go take that shiny thing over there".  The Steal effect takes the aforementioned shiny away from the player, finds no open permanent slots on the AI's field, and gives up, counting it as no play.  Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to rewind the steal, so the permanents just disappear.

This seems to be really hard to test; I don't have a good idea of which AIs/FGs/T50 decks would be able to: (a) pack a bunch of Steals, and (b) fill up their field with permanents.  Anybody ever heard of this before, or have a good way to test this?  Thanks.

[TheonlyrealBeef]

I tried using steal with a field full of permanents myself, and found my opponent's permanent destroyed, but the card Steal had dissappeared.

If the t50 used Mindgates he might have copied quite a few from your deck and simply play a lot of steals, could this be true (in other words, did your deck have steals)?

[stickinthemud]

Yes, my deck did have steals -- actually, all of the steals the AI used came from my deck.  I seriously wish I had a screenshot now to prove it, but everything happened as it would if a player used Steal with a full field (essentially acting as a Deflag) except that the Steal card did *not* show up as played, and was not used up. 

I realize that without any proof this is just hearsay, so I'll keep on the lookout next time I play a Mindgate AI, I guess.  Or, maybe I could decompile the AI and see if there is a bug there

[Memorystick]

Yes, my deck did have steals -- actually, all of the steals the AI used came from my deck.  I seriously wish I had a screenshot now to prove it, but everything happened as it would if a player used Steal with a full field (essentially acting as a Deflag) except that the Steal card did *not* show up as played, and was not used up. 

I realize that without any proof this is just hearsay, so I'll keep on the lookout next time I play a Mindgate AI, I guess.  Or, maybe I could decompile the AI and see if there is a bug there

This is consistent with the animate -> full field bug, where the weapon is destroyed, but the creature version isn't created because of a full field. (I really need to check RAB section more often)

[Avenger]

It is also the entropy kittens bug and a dozen of other AI bugs.
The AI almost always uses an ability if it is possible.
It works like: See a big red button? Push it!
Coding actual intelligence would probably bloat the code size and takes programmer time too
Also, it could make the FG's really invincible!