Rules Questions thread

Achivement unlocked: #NailedIt :wink:

4 Likes

If I play Nature Reclaims on my opponent’s Graveyard with units buried in it, what happens to those units? I’m inclined to believe they are discarded, but just wanted to be certain.

1 Like

Does casting a spell exhaust your hero? I assume that that’s the usefulness of an ability like “Readiness”, right? Otherwise, what are the other uses of Readiness, since you can still only attack once? Thanks!

Casting a spell does not exhaust your hero. Readiness is useful because normally a unit that attacks cannot patrol, but a unit with readiness can attack and still patrol

4 Likes

Casting a spell does not exhaust your hero. There are some abilities that have exhausting the hero as part of the cost (like Arg’s midband), but these are explicitly stated.

The benefit of readiness is that you can attack with the unit/hero and also patrol the same turn. Without readiness, exhausted units/heroes can’t patrol.

2 Likes

Yes, when Graveyard is destroyed with Nature Reclaims (or for any other reason), the units buried in it get discarded. You don’t also trash those units if that’s what you were wondering.

3 Likes

Attacking and patrolling have been mentioned, but Readiness also lets heroes with exhaust abilities attack and then use their powers (i.e. Grave and his sword rune).

4 Likes

Ok. I think I still wasn’t completely understanding the patrol zone, but now I get it. Thanks so much.

Do indestructible units patrolling in the scavenger or technician slots let you gain 1 gold or draw 1 card when they take lethal damage and are exhausted?

1 Like

Nope, b/c they don’t die.

3 Likes

Makes sense and was what I expected, just wanted to confirm. Thanks!

2 Likes

In regards to Prynn Pasternaak. If she dies from removing 2 time runes to activate her max-band ability, does her mid-band ability trigger? Even in Sirlin’s official rulings, there are contradicting statements. It seems a bit too powerful of an interaction if it does work, but it also seems counterintuitive not to trigger based on the wordings on the card and in some of the rulings.

“Dies from fading” means that the last time rune she had was removed because the fading ability said to do that during the upkeep. It doesn’t trigger if something else removed her last time rune. — Sirlin

This implies that the mid-band only happens if she dies during your upkeep from the fading trigger each turn.

If she has exactly two time runes, she CAN use her max level ability to trash a unit. If she does, she then immediately dies from fading, then the trashed unit returns to play. — Sirlin

This implies that any time a fading rune is removed, even for her max-band ability, if it’s the last rune, then the hero “dies from fading”, which is the exact phrasing of the trigger condition on the card.

If it works the way I think it does (i.e. activating the max-band ability cannot trigger the mid-band ability), then hopefully we can fix the wording on the official ruling to avoid this seeming contradiction.

Have I interpreted this correctly?

4 Likes

Basically the text in the midband box is space constrained but should say something like “Dies from fading during upkeep: opponent skips draw discard phase.”

Is the burying portion of Graveyard a mandatory effect? The wording seems pretty clear that it is, but in this video the player on the left loses a Blackhand Dozer and sends it to the discard instead. They also don’t resolve the “Dies:” ability on Blackhand Dozer, so it might just be an earlier version of the card that never goes to the graveyard?

The mid-band does only trigger if the last time rune is removed by the “remove 1 time rune during upkeep” rule.

I think it’s fair to say that the mid-band could have been worded better (arguably the worst offender in the game in that regard). The fact that Sirlin himself used the “dies from fading” wording in that second quote goes to show that it is very easy to draw the wrong conclusion about this interaction.

Yes, burying in the Graveyard is not optional (otherwise the fact that it overloads at 4 units would never be an issue). Sounds like a mistake in the video.

Ok, will keep that in mind going forward. I can’t go back and re-do my turn from 6 turns ago, but I can re-do the current one… Thanks!

Prynn and Fading need their own entry at the top of this thread. The arguments about Fading and its two subparts are a never ending source of headaches.

Part 1) A unit/hero with Fading loses a time rune during their upkeep. This is a triggering action.
Part 2) A unit/hero with Fading dies if the last time rune is removed. This is a resulting effect from some other triggering action, and does not trigger anything by itself. This status is only checked once, when the last time rune is removed.

In order to “die from Fading,” part 1 must be the triggering action resulting in death. Other things can be the triggering action that removes the last time rune, and those all will still trigger Part 2. Examples of other triggering actions, casting Time Spiral, using Prynn’s Maxband, and Seer’s Arrives ability. These can trigger part 2, but do not count as “dies frm Fading.”

5 Likes

Do you think this is something that could be resolved with better phrasing on the rulings document? I don’t think this affects any cards besides Prynn, and I think the rulings doc is a better place for card-specific clarifications than the FAQ in this thread.

I think the 3rd Prynn ruling is the source of much of the confusion:

If she has exactly two time runes, she CAN use her max level ability to trash a unit. If she does, she then immediately dies from fading, then the trashed unit returns to play.

If instead of “dies from fading”, it said “fades away”, that would help. Even better if the next sentence clarifies that this does not trigger her midband, because she didn’t “die from fading” as defined in the previous ruling.

2 Likes

It IS a frequently asked question… but yes, it could just be clarified in the rulings spreadsheet.