Precision studies of scattering processes at colliders provide powerful indirect constraints on new physics. We study the helicity structure of scattering amplitudes in the standard model (SM) and in the context of an effective Lagrangian description of beyond-the-SM (BSM) dynamics. Our analysis reveals a novel set of helicity selection rules according to which, in the majority of 2 -> 2 scattering processes at high energy, the SM and the leading BSM effects do not interfere. In such situations, the naive expectation that dimension-6 operators represent the leading BSM contribution is compromised, as corrections fromdimension-8 operators can become equally (if not more) important well within the validity of the effective field theory approach.