Apologies for the wall of text. I’m starting by clarifying in response to @Legion’s last statement. (And thanks @Legion for your response. I’m not trying to be difficult, and I appreciate the thoughtful answer.)
I guess I was asking if the following two statements were true:
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Casting most spells, or playing “stand-alone” abilities off an in-play card (like, say Vandy’s spell-fetch, Tri-Cycloid’s direct damage ability, or the Sacrifice to flip ability on Harmony), are actions and have to be completely resolved before any other triggered effects can happen in response to them.
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BUT, passive effects–often referred to in this thread as “triggered abilities”–including the “whenever” gold-steal on Taxman, the “whenever” Dancer-creation on Harmony, and the two effects created by Promise of Payment (you don’t finish its abilities immediately; they “stay around” waiting for their triggers)–DO NOT have to be completely resolved at the moment of their trigger before all other effects: other effects that had the same trigger or another trigger that occurred simultaneous with that trigger (such as Scavenger bonus in the case of Taxman) can be resolved first, at the active player’s discretion.
If those are true, then I think I’m on the same page now.
Complication #1:
I think a lot of this came up when @EricF asked about a perceived discrepancy between the first point (Shadow Blade, specifically) and Earthquake. Earthquake is also an action, so it seems like all of it–both the “damaged buildings” ability and the “undamaged buildings” ability–should be resolved before passive/triggered effects, such as the base being damaged by a Tech building’s destruction from the first ability. It seems that it has been ruled (somewhat arbitrarily, but firmly) that the base taking damage from the Tech building’s destruction happens before the second ability on Earthquake.
The way in which Sirlin made that ruling seemed to say that there is space between two abilities on a spell (Earthquake) during which things can happen, which confused a lot of folks because the ruling on Shadow Blade seemed to equate to “There is no space between the abilities: resolve both, then move on to anything either triggered.” It seemed to open up for debate the idea of when triggered effects resolve.
The only explanation is that “Base takes damage when Tech building is destroyed” is not a passive triggered effect like the Technician bonuses (which, as already discussed, wait for spells or other actions to resolve fully), but is instead a unique thing. The base somehow takes damage not after the Tech building is destroyed, or triggered by its destruction, but simultaneous to its destruction. If I understand correctly, it’s the only effect like this in the game, as all other passive triggered effects have to wait for the current action to resolve fully before taking effect.
I think making the “damage your base when your Tech building pops” a triggered effect just like Technician and Scavenger (and making it wait until after EQ resolves completely) would seem more internally consistent and less random/arbitrary (and I think this was @EricF’s point), but if it’s just a separate thing, it’s just a separate thing.
Complication #2:
“Arrives” abilities. When you recruit a unit with an “Arrives” ability, do you have to have to finish the “Arrives” ability before any other abilities triggered by the unit’s arrival?
In other words, is resolving the “Arrives” ability just like resolving the abilities on a spell like Shadow Blade: you have to finish everything on the card related to playing the card before you can move on to effects that are triggered by the card’s arrival? (It fits into Statement 1 at the top of this post.)
Or is the “Arrives” ability just a triggered ability that can be resolved (at the active player’s discretion) after other abilities triggered simultaneous with the unit’s arrival? (It fits into Statement 2 at the top of this post.)
Complication #3
Leveling a hero is one of the actions you can take on your turn (just like summoning a hero, recruiting a unit, using a “stand-alone” non-triggered active ability on a hero/unit/building). But it can also happen as a triggered effect from another hero dying.
If you max a hero with “Max level” ability (like Zane’s shove), do you have to fully resolve that before it can trigger anything else? (Statement 1)
Or are “Max level” abilities triggered abilities that can be ordered at the discretion of the active player (Statement 2).
I assume what is true for “Max level” would be the same as for “Arrives”. I apologize for not having specific examples here; they may not exist. I’m trying to get at the hard-and-fast rules underpinning the system.
