Can a player pass priority, let their opponent play and resolve a spell, then play an action spell afterward before combat damage? Can a player play an action instead of a reaction when they have focus?

Ruling: Yes, both scenarios are valid. When a player has focus, they can play either actions or reactions. After passing focus and letting an opponent's spell resolve, the original player regains focus and can play actions or reactions before combat damage occurs.

Sequence:

• Attacker moves to battlefield and gets focus first
• Attacker can pass focus
• Defender receives focus and can play actions or reactions
• After that chain resolves, attacker gets focus again and can play actions or reactions
• This continues until both players pass focus consecutively with empty chains, then combat damage occurs

Nuances:

• Passing focus to bait responses is valid, but if the opponent also passes, the game progresses to combat damage
• There can be multiple focus passes as long as one player keeps starting a chain