VtES History: The Sensible Players Tournament Rules

Originally the basic VtES(Jyhad) rules were written by Wizards of the Coast (WotC) and the tournament rules by the DCI ("Duelists' Convocation International, the organization that sanctions official tournaments of WotC games). A major step to the VtES tournament rules as they exist today was the publication of The Sensible Players Tournament Rules (as published by Adrian Sullivan) on March 15th, 1996. The biggest change to the existing DCI tournament rules was the introduction of the so-called Golden Tenets, which stated that no minion can take the same action twice and that vote card pushing was only allowed once per player per political action.

Here's the relevant change/diversion from the then official VtES tournament rule:

3. Revisions from official rules: The following rules are contrary to official policy.
   
   1. There is NO restricted list.
   2. The "Golden Tenets" of Jyhad will be used:
      
      1. No minion can take the same action type twice in a turn (regardless of untapping).
      2. A minion may only use one political action card during a vote (including the calling vote).
   3. Redefinition of (D)-Action:
      Actions directly affecting another player are called directed actions. Actions not directly affecting another player are called non-directed. A directed action can be taken upon oneself, causing the action to become undirected. Some directed actions specify who the action can be directed at.
   
   NOTE:
   1. No minion can attack a minion controlled by the same player.
   2. Darius Styx's special must always target another player.

Reference: VtES Usenet Newsgroup