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Now, many of you might say, “Jeez, that’s not that complicated,” but trust me when I say that it causes more problems than you may think. Whether these problems arise from a player complacently letting an effect resolve or misplacing effects on the chain, the chain has a direct impact on how Vs. System is played.

I know that many of you are saying, “Where is my Tim Batow story?” Before I began writing for Metagame.com, I asked Michael Barnes what the secret of his success was. For those of you not in the know, he writes a very fun and informative weekly article called Breaking Ground. He unflinchingly told me that Tim Batow had somehow put a voodoo curse on every article written about him so that it would be an undeniable success. Why fight that kind of power? So, without further ado . . .

Last weekend, my fiance and I were shopping for tuxedos for our impending wedding. If any of you have met me in person, you know that I am not the skinniest person around, so I instinctively gravitated toward anything long and big. Well, this presented a bit of a problem. First of all, Tim Batow is in my wedding party. This in itself is not a huge problem, but as many of you know, Tim Batow could have been a stand-in for an Oompa Loompa in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.* So, a jacket that goes to the middle of my thighs would likely drag to the floor on Tim. I tried to think of what we could do to offset this problem. Luckily, the girl helping us told us they had boys’ sizes,** so that problem was solved.

This may not be funny to the Average Joe, but it is important for one very specific reason. I had this wonderful idea of Tim Batow ◊ Aqua Pimp. With a long, drawn out jacket, we could put a purple velvet hat on him and give him a pimp cane and it would be the best wedding present ever. Unfortunately, I am sitting at the airport after visiting my fiance’s family, who was not warm to the idea. (Yes, I actually suggested it, and yes, they all think much worse of me now!)

So, what does all this have to do with how the chain works and its impact upon a diverse player base? Well, not much. Except to say that Mr. Batow taught me much of what I know, and I will do my best to impart to you what little knowledge I have gleaned through my experiences and teachings.

The first question we need to address, though it may seem overly simple, is “What is the chain?” This is especially important for new players. So, consider this that one multiple choice question you get at the beginning of a long, hard test that is designed to make you think you’re on a roll when the questions are really more complicated than you think (which, ironically, is like the chain—looks easy but really isn’t).

The chain operates whenever a player activates, plays, or triggers any type of effect. This includes activated character abilities, plot twists, and even location activations. So right off the bat, it’s easy to see that understanding how this concept works is important to the game.

Are we good on what the chain is? I hope so. Things start to become a little more difficult as we wade farther out.

As mentioned before, effects are put “on the chain.” What exactly does that entail? Well, first of all, any player with priority may place an effect on the chain. Essentially, what happens is that the effect that is put on the chain is frozen. This gives the player without priority an opportunity to respond with effects of his or her own.

For example, Player 1 has priority. He announces an attack of Ape X targeting Beetle, Armorsmith. Player 1 plays Flying Kick from his resource row targeting Ape X. Player 2 now has the opportunity to activate, play, or trigger any effect to put on the chain. If Player 2 decides not to put any effects on the chain, she should pass or indicate the verbal equivalent to her opponent.

Okay, that was a whole lot of technical jargon. Hopefully, this wasn’t anything new to most players, and if it was, don’t worry—I will try to keep it as simple as possible. I will assume that many players have used the chain without knowing the technical terms for it. So, now that we realize that we’re all a whole lot smarter than we thought, let’s put this newfound technical knowledge to good use.

Don’t you hate the concept of “first come, first served”? I know I do. It always reminds me of a Seinfeld episode I once saw where Jerry and his friends are waiting to be seated at a Chinese restaurant. For a number of different reasons, they get skipped over, and other patrons who came in after them are seated first. Obviously, hilarity ensued.

I say all that to illustrate the point that the first doesn’t always really mean the first. Specifically, effects that are placed on the chain first are not always the first to resolve. In fact, effects resolve backward. This means that the first player to act will be the last to get his or her effect. Conversely, as a responding player, you will get to place your effects on the chain and have them resolve before the effects of the player with priority.

Let’s look at our previous example to illustrate this point. Where we last left off, Player 1 had just played a Flying Kick from his resource row on Ape X, who was attacking Beetle, Armorsmith. After carefully considering her options, Player 2 discards a copy of Mikado and Mosha from her hand to stun Ape X. Now the chain has two effects waiting to resolve. Let’s assume that no other effect is put on the chain from either player (this is shown by both players “passing” on the chain, which is discussed briefly below). Working backward, Player 2’s effect from discarding Mikado and Mosha will resolve first, stunning Ape X. Next, Player 1’s Flying Kick resolves. It is important to note that the Flying Kick does resolve, even though Ape X is stunned. This is important because numerous recovery effects (not to mention the team-stamped one for Squadron Supreme, Panacea Potion) see a lot of play and can make the Flying Kick a relevant action.

Are you still with me? I hope so, because now we will delve into a non–combat oriented chain example that is a little bit more complicated.

Let us assume for this example that Player 1 has four resources face down and a She-Thing in play. Player 1 recruits Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius. With Dr. Doom’s effect on the chain, Player 1 flips up Common Enemy, teaming-up Fantastic Four and Doom. Player 1 now passes. At this point, Player 2 plays Have a Blast! from her resource row targeting the Common Enemy. Hopefully, you have gotten the resolving backward idea (and if not, I will continue to pound it into your head) and realize that the Have a Blast! will replace the Common Enemy so that when Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius’s ability is resolved, Player 1 cannot flip down Common Enemy because it’s no longer in his resource row.

Again, this isn’t rocket science yet, but we are starting to see how things can get more complicated. As more and more effects are put on the chain, wading through them and still being attentive in the game is difficult.

I read that title and it made me think of passing up a chain fast food joint or something. Probably not the first thing that comes to a lot of players’ minds, but I guess I am unique . . . or maybe just really hungry.

Anyway, what does passing on the chain mean? As mentioned above, each player has the opportunity to respond to another player’s effects. Now, if a player chooses not to take that opportunity to respond, he or she generally passes. This is communicated in a variety of ways. I’ve heard players say, “It’s good,” “Okay,” or “Sure,” or sometimes they just nod their heads to indicate that they have no response to another player’s action.

I would strongly stress to everyone reading this article that they inform their opponents, before the game begins, exactly how they plan to indicate an intention to pass after an effect is triggered. I have seen many instances, several to which I was a party, where there was a miscommunication and one player moved ahead and resolved an effect before the other player had an opportunity to respond. In this situation, it then becomes a judge’s responsibility to determine if an opportunity to respond was presented and/or passed. At this point, I have seen friendly matches turn into grudge matches in a matter of minutes. So, just do me this one favor and be sure to be completely clear when it comes to this (especially if you play me in Pro Circuit San Francisco).

What? Breaking the chain? What does that mean? I thought everything went on the chain and then resolved backward. Well, not exactly. Locations can be tricky little buggers, and in this situation, they are no different. I always like to use my favorite example when I talk about this: Latverian Embassy. This is where I first learned that this was an effect to which I could not respond. Latverian Embassy is a 2-threshold location that reads, “When you flip Latverian Embassy, discard a card unless you control Dr. Doom. Each of your opponents may not play a plot twist with the same name as a plot twist in his resource row.”

I always tried to respond to this card’s effect. Unfortunately, it is a continuous ability, meaning that it resolves instantly. So, I was never able to dump those duplicate plot twists out of my hand because Latverian Embassy would already be locking me down. Let’s look at our example for a better understanding.

After Player 1 plays Flying Kick from his resource row, Player 2 flips up Latverian Embassy in response. Player 1 cannot respond with another Flying Kick from his hand because the Embassy is already in effect. It should be noted that the discard associated with Latverian Embassy is paid immediately, as discussed below.

Rest assured that there are not many effects that break the chain like the one discussed above, but I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention it to you. (Also, Latverian Embassy is a very powerful card and . . . oh, it’s legal for Silver Age to boot! How interesting . . .)

It just keeps getting better and better here. I promise that the technical mumbo jumbo is almost over. This is another “well jeez, I know that” situation that I just want to clear up, as I did get a tad bit technical before. Additional costs that are associated with effects are paid when the effect is put on the chain. Therefore, in order to use a Bat-Signal, you must first exhaust a character before it is put on the chain. Likewise, a character like Alfred Pennyworth would return to your hand before his ability goes on the chain. It seems self-explanatory, but still, it needs to be said.

There is also an opportunity to respond before characters and equipment come into play. Just like with plot twists or any other game-based effect, you can then play all of your responses and have things resolve backward. The most useful example is Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius. I am sure that many people have seen his “come into play and flip up to flip down” routine. Essentially, what happens is that Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius comes into play, and his ability triggers and is put on the chain. Then, the player who triggered the ability can flip up a plot twist from his or her resource row and put its ability on the chain. Hopefully by now, I have hammered into your head that effects resolve backward, so the plot twist the player flipped up will resolve first, and Dr. Doom, Diabolic Genius’s ability will resolve next.

I am sure that many pro players out there are saying, “Shane, you haven’t told me anything I didn’t already know.” And that may very well be true. But I know there are players out there who knew how the chain worked but didn’t understand how it interacted in the game. Take the very best example I could possibly give: Xavier’s Dream.

Many of you who know me outside of this weekly web article know me as one of the members of the original Dream Team that played the Xavier’s Dream deck at PC: New York last year. During the course of Day 1, I had my opponents call a judge at least five times to check on whether Xavier’s Dream resolved before endurance totals are checked. Now this isn’t necessarily a chain problem, per se. However, it requires you to know timing details and when the chain is checked. Fortunately for me and Xavier’s Dream, the start of the recovery step occurs before endurance totals are checked. See how important knowing the chain is?

Like last week, I will now give you a short list of cards that can create a difficult thinking situation and could have an important impact on Silver Age play.

Secret Six Victorious: This card is a lot like Xavier’s Dream. It’s an alternative win condition that triggers and goes on the chain at a very specific moment. Keep an eye on this card; it could rear its ugly head.

Mikado and Mosha: This card can throw a kink in a variety of different deck strategies. If you are playing a Faces of Evil build, then stunning a team attacker in the middle of an attack is really good, especially in response to an opponent playing a plot twist on said attacker. Stunning G’Nort in any type of GLEE build is also really good.

Emerald Dawn: I know that many people don’t like this card or don’t play it, but I love it. Think about playing against an Anti-Green Lantern build where your opponent dumps all of his or her pump on one character to deal the finishing blow. Being able to reset the attack in response and essentially negate all of the combat plot twists your opponent just played is just too good to overlook.

Nth Metal: I list this card not because it is difficult to navigate, but because what it corresponds with is. This one card can effectively put three to four ally abilities on the chain every time it is triggered. That is a whole lot of chain to work through, and I just want to let everyone know that it may be a good idea to jot down the abilities that trigger here because it can get crazy.

Rain of Acorns and other exhausting abilities: Keep in mind that just because an opponent triggers an effect that will cause a character you control to do something, that doesn’t mean you can’t respond. If you have an activated ability or a plot twist that has an additional cost of an exhaust from a character, using it in response to an ability like Rain of Acorns is a good plan.

Well, I hope I didn’t lose you as I waded through all of that. Sometimes it can be difficult, but in the end, I think it’s manageable. Being able to pay attention and keep track of everything going on in the chain can make a huge impact on whether or not you get those wins you need to Day 2. Hopefully, this article will be of help to you as you prepare for the next PC, the next PCQ, or the next local tourney that comes your way. Until next time, see ya!

As usual, you can email me at piercedlawyer@yahoo.com with any questions and comments, and I will continue to respond faster than “Big Spooky” Michael Barnes!

** Fun fact of the day: Prince gets some of his clothes in the Nordstrom’s boys’ department. It’s true!