Hi All,

Once again, it’s time for the ritualistic emptying of my mailbag in the lead-up to a new expansion. And as an added bonus, I’ve thrown in some questions from the pros from last weekend’s Pro Circuit Indy.

Let’s get to it!

If I control Doomstadt or anything else that says, “You are considered to control Dr. Doom,” does that let me recruit Sub-Mariner, Ally of Doom?

Erik P.

Yep, that works fine. Some cards check whether you “control Dr. Doom.” Such a check is satisfied by a character named Dr. Doom and/or a card that says a player is “considered to control Dr. Doom,” but not by a character with the identity Dr. Doom.

Can I choose the number 0 for Anti-Life Equation?

Erik P.

If a card says to choose any number, you can always choose 0. However, Anti-Life Equation is worded so that you can’t choose 0 if one of your opponents already did.

If you control a card that prevents stunned characters from being KO’d, does that stop triggered KO effects? For example, if Joseph Jones ◊ General Glory team attacks into Harry Stein and stuns him, and I have The Alley activated, can Harry be KO’d? I say he can’t.

Erik P.

You’re right. The Alley’s modifier saves Harry from being KO’d by any opponent-controlled effects during the combat phase this turn, triggered or otherwise.

When you move a character from your hidden area to your visible area or vice versa, does it stay in the same row? Or are you allowed to choose front or support row?

Ross G.

There are only two rules you need to remember for moving characters. Unless a card says otherwise:

1) You can move to the same position or to any empty position in an area.

2) You can’t move to a different area or different type of area (hidden or visible).

So, for example, Blackout reads, “Discard a card >>> Move Blackout to your hidden or visible area.” As his effect resolves, you can move him to the same position, to any empty position in either row of the same area, or to any empty position in either row of the other area.

There are several cards in Infinite Crisis that move a target character to its controller’s visible area, like Relentless Pursuit and Watch the Birdie! Does the target character have to be hidden?

Michael F.

Not necessarily. Both cards read, “The controller of target character moves it to his visible area.” So, the only requirement is that the target is a character. If the target is already visible, its controller can move it to the same position, or to any empty position in his or her visible area.

I have a question about Dr. Fate, Hector Hall, who reads, “Other characters you control get +1 ATK for each equipment equipped to Dr. Fate.” If I control Dr. Fate, Hector Hall equipped with all three Fate Artifacts and a second character with the identity Dr. Fate equipped with one other equipment, does that second character get +4 ATK? Or is that just wishful thinking?

Andrew S.

A little wishful. The key rule here is that a card referring to its own name (like Dr. Fate, Hector Hall) is referring only to itself, and not to any other card with that name (or identity, for that matter). In other words, you can essentially read the card as, “Other characters you control get +1 ATK for each equipment equipped to this card.”

Also, I need clarification on Insectoid Troopers. If I team attack with three Insectoid Troopers, do they each get +3 ATK / +3 DEF or +1 ATK / +1 DEF?

Andrew S.

They each get +1 ATK / +1 DEF, because each essentially reads, “This card gets +1 ATK / +1 DEF while team attacking.”

In order for each to get +3 ATK / +3 DEF, the card would have to read, “Characters named Insectoid Troopers get +1 ATK / +1 DEF while team attacking.”

I have a question about World War III. I thought that if you KO’d, say, three Injustice Gang characters, that you could KO opposing characters with a combined cost of 2. However, I’ve also heard the alternate view that it checks the combined cost of the IG characters you KO’d. It seems to me that WWIII checks only the number of characters you KO, regardless of cost. My native language isn’t English, so maybe I’m wrong?

Niek V.

You’re absolutely right. WWIII counts only the number of non-stunned IG characters you KO. It ignores their costs.

Say I have 4 resource points. Can I activate The Science Spire and target a teamed-up Ahmed Samsarra to return to my hand, then activate Ahmed to KO Spire and search out a location (or vice versa), and then play Ahmed again and use his effect again?

Roman D.

Vice versa works, but the rest of your scenario doesn’t, because The Science Spire returns a character as a cost rather than targeting. So, if you return Ahmed, he is no longer in play to activate in response. However, if you activate Ahmed first and then The Science Spire in response, both effects will resolve successfully.

After you replay Ahmed, you can use his power again because it’s no longer the same power (because he’s no longer the same object).

My opponent controls June Moon ◊ Enchantress, Good Witch and I control Hourman III ◊ Hourman, Time Machine. He has 24 endurance as he activates June Moon. Can I use Hourman’s power in response to take him to 27 endurance so that I gain control of June as her effect resolves?

Klint A.

Yep, that’s fine play. Note that Hourman’s power can be used only during an attack (because it has a duration of “this attack”). But yes, in general, you can surprise June’s controller by responding to her activation with an opponent-gains-endurance effect.

My opponent plays Check and Mate! I have an exhausted Slaughter Swamp and recruit Deadshot, Floyd Lawton. Will that recruit trigger Slaughter Swamp’s power?

ZSoulSucker

No. Even though Check and Mate! causes you to pay 1 more to recruit Deadshot, it doesn’t change the fact that Deadshot is a character with cost 2. Similarly, if you boost, say, Booster Gold, it’s still a character with cost 2.

Let’s say I control Lex Luthor, Champion of the Common Man and play Attend or Die! Can I recruit Lex Luthor, Criminal Genius from my KO’d pile (since he’s Secret Society), then play Crisis on Infinite Earths while the recruit is still on the chain so as to circumvent uniqueness and still get use out of Attend or Die!?

Olav R.

Absolutely. As you say, Lex Luthor, Criminal Genius has the Secret Society affiliation as you recruit him (so he interacts with Attend or Die!) and is not unique as his recruit effect resolves (so he circumvents the uniqueness rule).

Finally, here are those questions from last week’s Pro Circuit Indy:

I control a character equipped with Nth Metal and a second character with an ally power. I attack with the equipped character, triggering the Nth Metal. If that character becomes stunned in response to that triggered effect, will it still become powered-up and trigger the ally power?

No. Only an attacker or defender can become powered-up, and the equipped character stops being an attacker as it becomes stunned. Nth Metal’s triggered effect will do nothing on resolution and, as a result, the ally power will not trigger.

I control a character equipped with a Fate Artifact. For example, Amulet of Nabu. Can I recruit a second Amulet of Nabu onto that character, and what happens if I do?

Because you can equip any number of Fate Artifacts to a character already equipped with one, it’s legal to recruit the second Amulet. As the second Amulet becomes attached, the uniqueness rule will put the first one into its owner’s KO’d pile.

I activate Christopher Smith ◊ Peacemaker, Obsessed Outlaw and target a character I control. Later that turn, my opponent controls that character and it stuns a defender. Does Peacemaker’s modifier trigger? And if it does, who chooses a character with cost 3 or less to stun?

Yes it does, and you choose the character. The key is to understand when the various components of the modifier get “locked in.” Both the character and the player get locked in as the effect is played. In other words, the modifier essentially reads:

“Whenever [the targeted character, regardless of who currently controls it] stuns a defender this turn, [the player who used this power] may stun a character with cost 3 or less.”

I control Threat Neutralized. If it gets KO’d, does it get removed from the game?

That’s right. While Threat Neutralized is face up in a resource row, it creates a modifier that replaces each event of a card being put into a KO’d pile from play, including itself.

Both my opponent and I control Ahmed Samsarra and I control Fatality, Flawless Victory. If both copies of Ahmed become stunned in an attack conclusion, who wins?

You control Fatality, so you decide the order in which her triggered effects go on the chain, and thus the order in which the Ahmeds are KO’d, and thus who wins the game. It doesn’t matter who has the initiative or who is attacking.

Have fun at your Sneak Preview tournament! And if any questions come up, please send them in to vsrules@gmail.com.