Thanks for the great response to my previous column. The questions below are just some of those that I’ve answered over the past two weeks. Please keep them coming to vsrules@gmail.com, and don’t forget to include your mailing address if you’d like to be eligible to win three Marvel Knights boosters.

Our first winner is none other than Orry S., from Singapore. He sent in an excellent question about replacing costs.

Lets say my board consists of Robot Destroyer, Tim Drake ◊ Robin, Young Detective, and Red Star. I also have a Marvel Team-Up on Teen Titans and Doom, and a Doomstadt. I team attack everyone into my opponent’s 4-drop, play Teen Titans Go! to ready all my attackers, and then activate Robot Destroyer to stun the defender. Is it possible for me to redirect the stun to any of my characters using Tim’s power? Also, if I had a Tamaran in play, could I redirect the stun to a powered-up Red Star to prevent the stunning of the Robot Destroyer?

Your plan is fine, except for the redirection of a stun event that paid a cost.

Let’s start with some terminology. Although “redirect” is commonly used shorthand for what Tim does, the more technical description is that his power generates a continuous replacement modifier. You can recognize these because they have this format: “If [something] would happen, then [something else] happens instead.” So, if a team attacker you control would become stunned, Tim may replace that event by stunning another team attacker instead.

The key rule for answering your question is that actions taken to pay costs cannot be replaced. Stunning the Robot Destroyer is part of the cost of using its payment power, and so it can’t be replaced by Tim’s modifier.

Note that it’s different if a Robot Destroyer would become stunned while team attacking by something other than paying a cost (for example, as a result of ATK and DEF comparisons during attack conclusion). In that case, you could certainly use Tim to “redirect” the stun to a powered-up Red Star, and neither Red Star nor the Robot Destroyer would become stunned.

Ryan M., from Vancouver, BC, asks some important questions about attack timing and my fitness regime.

Damn, Paul, are those your real arms in that Cerebro pic? Lookin’ good!

Thanks, Ryan. It’s not easy working out twenty hours a day and answering rules question for the other four, but it’s all worth it when I receive compliments like yours!

Anyway, I attack my opponent’s Medusa with, say, Lockjaw. Once Medusa is attacked, she is able to exhaust a character. My question is, does this happen before the attacker exhausts or after? If it’s before and she exhausts Lockjaw, then Lockjaw would fail the legality check, essentially making it impossible for Medusa ever to be attacked.

Fortunately, she exhausts her target(s) after attackers exhaust. Here’s how the sequence goes:

1. You propose attackers

2. Primary player (you) gets priority

3. After successive passes, proposed attackers exhaust and Medusa becomes a defender simultaneously

4. Your opponent’s “may exhaust one target character” triggered effect goes on the chain

5. Primary player (you) gets priority

6. After successive passes, triggered effect resolves

So, you can see that Medusa’s triggered effect resolves well and truly after proposed attackers exhaust.

Stephane G. would like to know how Elektra, Assassin really works.

I would like to know how Elektra, Assassin really works. For my part, I think that whenever the defender boosts its DEF, Elektra’s ATK goes up, but one of my friends says otherwise. He says that she gets her ATK at the start of the attack, and any future boosts don’t apply.

It sounds like your friend is right. This again uses the sequence from the previous answer. Elektra’s power triggers when she exhausts to attack, and then her effect goes on the chain just before the primary player gets priority. After successive passes, it resolves and Elektra gets +X ATK this attack, where X is the defender’s DEF on resolution.

So, if the defender’s DEF has increased (or decreased) before the resolution of the triggered effect, X will be equal to whatever the changed DEF is. However, if the defender’s DEF changes after resolution, which is what your question is asking, then X has already been calculated and doesn’t change.

This also covers another fine question I’ve heard on the subject—what happens when Elektra, Assassin attacks Blade, The Daywalker? The answer is that Blade’s power is continuous, so he gets his DEF bonus immediately upon gaining the defender characteristic. As a result, Elektra gets +10 ATK this attack when her triggered effect resolves.

Alex C. has another question about the ever-perplexing attack substep.

I was recently playing an opponent and attacked her Boris. She said she could allow Boris to take the damage, and then activate his power, meaning that my attacker didn’t ready. I don’t think she can do that. Either she can activate his power and my attacker readies, or she can stun Boris.

You’re one hundred percent correct. There’s no “damage” in Vs. System. If an attack concludes with a defender and one or more attackers, those characters simply compare their ATK and DEF. If a character becomes stunned as a result of ATK and DEF comparisons, its controller has no opportunity to use its powers because there’s no priority during attack conclusion.

If Boris is defending, his controller can, of course, use his activated power before the attack concludes. However, as you correctly point out, this means that the attack will conclude with no defender, causing your attacker to ready.

Chad D. leads off with the first of three questions about the new hotness that is X-Statix.

I was playing against a friend who had U-Go-Girl, Tragic Teleporter and Doop, Forward Observer on the field. He team attacked my Terra and then played Grandstanding, stunning Doop and pumping U-Go-Girl to 14 ATK/14 DEF. Even though there’s now only one attacker on the field, is it still considered a team attack? In other words, does U-Go-Girl cause breakthrough?

U-Go-Girl gains the “team attacker” characteristic when she exhausts to attack, and she’ll retain it even after Doop becomes stunned. As a result, she will not cause breakthrough endurance loss while attacking a character.

Dair G. continues the X-Fest.

I’m playing X-Statix and have some random dude in play. What happens when I boost out Vivisector, Myles Alfred and let his triggered effect go on the chain, but KO him with X-Statix HQ before it resolves? I assume the “burn” effect would still work, but does he return to your hand from the KO’d pile?

You’re correct in assuming that your opponent still loses 5 endurance (as long as your “random X-Statix dude” is still in play when the triggered effect resolves). However, Vivisector won’t return to your hand from the KO’d pile.

The reason he won’t is that a modifier only affects cards in the in-play zone unless otherwise specified. In this case, Vivisector’s triggered power doesn’t specify any other zones, so he will return to hand only if he is in play when the triggered effect resolves.

A similar trick that does work is bouncing Vivisector with Mind Over Matter in response to his triggered effect. Mind Over Matter resolves first, giving its bonuses to another X-Statix character you control. Then, Vivisector’s triggered effect resolves as fully as possible, “burning” your opponent for 5 endurance but failing to bounce Vivisector because he is no longer in play.

Raph W. concludes our trio of X-Statix questions and simultaneously begins a new series on card wording.

I have a single character in play. It is X-Statix affiliated. In my resource row is a face-up Star of the Show. If my opponent plays Dr. Strange with boost, can he or she move my character to the hidden area at the start of the combat phase?

Yes. Your opponent can choose your character, requiring you to move it.

The key word here is “target.” Your lone X-Statix character cannot be targeted while Star of the Show is in play, but Dr. Strange’s Boost power doesn’t use that word. As a result, you must move your character if it’s chosen.

On a separate but related note, the only time something targets without using the word “target” is when an equipment’s recruit effect targets the character to be equipped.

Several players have asked about Mr. Hyde’s bonus to characters named Cobra.

If a player controls both Cobra and Mr. Hyde, I believe that Cobra gets +2 ATK all the time and reinforcement while defending. My opponent read the same power, but interpreted it to mean that both bonuses apply only while defending. Who is right?

Both bonuses apply only while Cobra is defending. The power could be rewritten:

“While characters you control named Cobra are defending, they get +2 ATK and have reinforcement.”

Dan asks an oldie but goodie about Fizzle . . .

Can you Fizzle the non-ongoing part of an ongoing plot twist? For example, can you Fizzle the card draw from Common Enemy? In other words, is it “non-ongoing plot twist” effect, or non-ongoing “plot twist effect?”

It’s the first one. Ongoing is a possible characteristic of a plot twist. Fizzle can only target an effect whose source is a non-ongoing plot twist. So no, you can’t Fizzle the card draw from Common Enemy.

. . . And then tries his hand at rewriting Betrayal.

Even with the errata, I find Betrayal a bit confusing. Is it fair to say that it basically works as if it were worded: “Target player names an affiliation. That player stuns a non-stunned character he or she controls unless all affiliated characters he or she controls have the named affiliation” (assuming that the opponent doesn’t purposely name a “wrong” affiliation so that he or she can stun a character for some reason)?

Sure, that seems to work. You could possibly make it even simpler:

“If there is no affiliation shared by all of target player’s affiliated characters, that player stuns a non-stunned character he or she controls.”

Chris D. has another question about Betrayal.

My opponent controls Invisible Woman, The Invisible Girl, Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards, a couple of GCPD Officers, and Batman, The Dark Knight. He has played A Child Named Valeria, and I have used The Source on his team-up. After all that resolves, I play Betrayal. I say that he must stun Batman, because he cannot stun any of his small drops. He says that he doesn’t have to stun anybody, because he chooses one of his “unstunnable” characters. Who is correct?

Your opponent is correct in this instance. It’s like the Shocker question from Cerebro #5.

Betrayal doesn’t require the target to be a “stunnable” character, just like Shocker doesn’t require the targets to be “exhaustable” characters. Betrayal does require the target to choose a non-stunned character, but if your opponent chooses an “unstunnable” non-stunned character, the Betrayal modifier will simply do nothing.

Only when stunning a character is a cost (which it’s not in the case of Betrayal) is a “stunnable” character required.

Zac O., from Wellington, New Zealand, gives us a tantalizing glimpse of his master plan.

I was just wondering what exactly the play area was. Is it just the front and support row? Or does it include the resource row? It would be great to know for my master plan.

Strictly speaking, there’s no such thing as “the play area.” But hopefully, this is the information you’re after:

* The In-Play Zone: There is only one of these, and it’s shared by both players. It contains every row controlled by every player.

* Visible Areas: Each player controls one of these in the In-Play Zone. It contains all three rows.

* Hidden Areas: Each player controls one of these in the In-Play Zone. It contains only a front and support row.

Zach A. (no relation to Zac O.), from San Diego, CA, brings down the curtain on this column with some questions about his Mutant Nation deck.

I’m working on a Mutant Nation deck and I have a question about recruitment costs. I have Pyro down and I want to recruit Wolverine, Logan on the third turn, but I have only Brotherhood cards in my hand. Can I put Wolverine down, flip Mutant Nation, and then show a Brotherhood character to satisfy Wolverine’s additional cost?

Unfortunately, this won’t work. You need to reveal an X-Men character as an additional cost to recruit Wolverine as you’re putting the recruit effect on the chain. You can’t do so because you have only Brotherhood characters in hand.

You can play Mutant Nation after Wolverine has come into play, but you can’t actually get him into play unless you have another X-Men character card in your hand.

I have the initiative on the fourth turn. I have Beast and Wolverine, Logan in play, and my opponent controls no characters. Can I recruit Sabretooth, Feral Rage, team them up, and then play Mutant Supremacy to burn my opponent for 15 before he or she can recruit?

This works fine. You can play any number of effects during your recruit or formation steps before passing to let your opponent start his or her resource step.

Thanks again for the fantastic response. That address one more time is vsrules@gmail.com