Hi All,

’Tis once again the season to make way for a hot new expansion. And, as it happens, ’tis also the season to introduce a hot new document to go along with it!

In response to numerous requests from various avenues, I’ve been cobbling together a one-stop doc packed full of goodness from each of the FAQs released so far. At least, that’s how it started out . . . Since then, it’s mutated into a sort of user-friendly glossary of game terms. If there’s a word on a card that causes you confusion, the hope is that this document will lessen it.

Most excitingly, the initials of the title spell out an actual word! (It’s possible I need to get out more.) Anyway, if you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to head over and check out the SOFT (summary of FAQ terms). For new players, it’s an introduction to all the terms with which you may not yet be familiar. For veterans, it’s a handy reference for those of you who don’t consider the Comprehensive Rules Document to be a white-knuckle page turner.

We’ll be updating it as each future expansion is released, so if you have any suggestions for additions or changes, they are most welcome at vsrules@gmail.com.

Let’s answer some questions!

I am playing my Above and Below deck. I control Electric Eve equipped with Blackbird Blue. I have another Blackbird Blue in my hand. Can I evade Eve to “turn off” her Blackbird Blue’s text box, thus enabling me to play a second one?

John-Michael G.

Two things here:

1) You can’t play a second Blackbird Blue onto Eve because she is still equipped and therefore an illegal target.

2) You can play a second Blackbird Blue onto another character you control, but the uniqueness rule will put the first one into the KO’d pile as the second one comes into play (because it still has its name, even though its text box is inactive).

What if I recruit Black Panther, King of Wakanda into my visible area? Can I equip a Blackbird Blue to him without KO’ing the one on Electric Eve?

John-Michael G.

Well, not the one in your hand, but if you have a third Blackbird Blue in your deck, then yes, you can search for that one and equip it to Black Panther. Blank Panther’s triggered effect doesn’t recruit the equipment, so the uniqueness rule doesn’t apply.

If I were teamed-up with Brotherhood or Crime Lords, could I steal a Blackbird Blue using Misappropriation or Jester without KO’ing the one on Electric Eve? Basically, are any of these viable methods of getting to control two Blackbird Blues at the same time?

John-Michael G.

Yep. Both Misappropriation and Jester are viable because, again, the uniqueness rule applies only to recruitment.

I was told by one of my local judges that a new ruling was made where characters can be KO’d for multiple effects and still have the effects go off. Originally, he said that Henrietta Hunter could use her power in addition to other cards like X-Statix HQ, and both effects would still resolve. Is this true?

wolfrpa

No, that’s not true. If you KO a character to pay the cost of one effect, you can’t KO it to pay the cost of another.

If that’s the case, does it apply to other things like multiple copies of Devil’s Due?

wolfrpa

Nope, same answer. If you KO a character to use Devil’s Due’s power, then you can’t KO it to pay another cost (even another cost of the same power).

What you might be asking about are six characters from the X-Men expansion, each of whom has an unusual (and strong!) power explained in this [FAQ] entry:

You may KO <me> and <do something else>.

Six characters (Catseye; Changeling; Empath; Jetstream; Postman; and Firestar, Hellion) have a power with this text. When such an effect resolves, you may choose to KO the character and <do something else>, even if the character can’t be KO’d or is no longer in play.

Example: Firestar, Hellion reads, “Whenever Firestar becomes stunned, you may KO her and have target opponent lose 5 endurance.” Henrietta Hunter reads, “KO a non-Army character adjacent to Henrietta Hunter >>> Draw a card.” You control both characters and they are adjacent to each other. Firestar becomes stunned during attack conclusion, triggering her power. The effect goes on the chain after that attack concludes. In response, you may use Henrietta’s power to KO Firestar and draw a card. When Firestar’s effect resolves, you may choose to KO her (which fails) and burn your opponent (which succeeds), even though Firestar is no longer in play.

The difference is that these characters don’t require you to KO as a cost, nor do they check “if you do.” So when such a triggered effect resolves and you choose to take the KO option, you simply do as much as possible of “KO <me> and <do something else>.” If you can’t KO the character, you still get to <do something else>.

I was wondering what the result would be of an interaction between  and Piper. Specifically, if Player A responds to the triggered effect of Player B’s Felix Faust by stealing him with Piper, which player gets to choose whether or not to KO Faust and put Army characters from the KO’d pile into play? My suspicion is that the effect, once it has triggered and gone onto the chain, will remember who controlled Faust at the time, and thus Player B will still choose whether or not to KO Faust and return his or her Army characters, despite the fact that he or she no longer controls Faust. However, I’ve been wrong before.

David F., Toronto, Canada

But not this time! “You” and “your” refers to the controller of an effect, and for a triggered effect, the player who controlled the source of that effect as it triggered is indeed the controller of that effect.

Also, does Quentin Carnival’s checking of an equipment’s cost for the purpose of equipping it directly to an unequipped Marvel Knights character take into account modifiers that reduce the cost? For example, Titanium Sword costs 1 less to recruit while you control an MK character. Does that mean that you could equip it with Quentin Carnival (as it has a “cost” of 1 – 1 = 0)? Or would “costs 1 less to recruit” not actually affect the cost of the equipment for purposes other than recruiting?

David F., Toronto, Canada

The latter. Although Titanium Sword “costs 1 less to recruit” while you control a Marvel Knights character, it is always an equipment card with cost equal to the number printed in its top left-hand corner.

Does an effect like that of Quentin Carnival ignore restrictions of characters like “cannot be equipped”? For example, could I use Quentin Carnival to put an equipment card with cost 0 from my hand into play equipped to Speed Demon, James Sanders?

David F., Toronto, Canada

Nope. Speed Demon cannot be equipped, regardless of how you try to attach equipment to him.

Or could an effect like Punisher, Jury’s be used to equip him with equipment that would otherwise be illegal to equip him with—Medallion of Power, for example?

David F., Toronto, Canada

Similarly, Medallion of Power can be equipped only to a hidden character, regardless of how you try to attach it.

Just a quick question about Mob Mentality. What happens when  triggers if your opponent has all Physical characters and a face-up Mob Mentality?

Alton H.

Assuming you control H’ronmeer’s Curse (and a non-stunned character as it triggers), your opponent can choose any Physical character he or she controls with cost 2 or less to “satisfy” the Curse, but it won’t become stunned thanks to Mob Mentality.

For that matter, what happens if the opponent only has a single 2-cost Physical character and another non-Physical 2-cost character in play? Can he or she choose the Physical character for the Curse even if the Mob Mentality would prevent it from stunning?

Alton H.

Yes, that’s correct. H’ronmeer’s Curse requires the choice of a non-stunned character, but not necessarily one that can be stunned.

Player A controls Total Anarchy and Player B activates The Alley. Later that turn during the combat phase, Player B evades a character. Does it get KO’d?

Joel D.

No, the evading character cannot be KO’d by any effect controlled by Player B’s opponent during the combat phase. The Total Anarchy effect will resolve but do nothing.

What if Player A evades a character, and then in response, Player B plays Total Anarchy, and then in response, Player A activates The Alley? Does that character get KO’d?

Joel D.

Well, first of all, Player B can’t KO an evading character by playing Total Anarchy in response to that character evading. An evading character is stunned as a cost, so by the time Player B gets priority to play Total Anarchy, it’s too late for it to trigger off the stun.

As for the rest of the question, it’s the same answer as above. During the combat phase, as long as The Alley’s activated effect resolves before Total Anarchy’s triggered effect, that triggered effect will resolve but do nothing if it’s trying to KO a character controlled by Player A.

If I control Crisis on Infinite Earths and discard a character card for , can I search for an unaffiliated character card (since it is no longer unaffiliated, thanks to Crisis)?

Sadath A., NYC

Yep, that works!

Just some questions about uniqueness. I control Crisis on Infinite Earths and Batman, World’s Greatest Detective. If I recruit Batman, Caped Crusader, can my opponent play Have a Blast! to replace my Crisis, causing the uniqueness rule to put World’s Greatest Detective into my KO’d pile?

Anthony, NZ

Yep. World’s Greatest Detective will be put into your KO’d pile as part of resolving Caped Crusader’s recruit effect.

I control Crisis on Infinite Earths and Batman, Caped Crusader. Can I recruit Batman, The Dark Knight, who has loyalty?

Anthony, NZ

Yep, because The Dark Knight shares an affiliation with Caped Crusader (namely, Crisis).

I have a question about Sewer System. One of its powers lets me enable a target character to attack protected characters. As I understand it, that means that I can propose an attack with that target against a protected character, even if that target doesn’t have flight (unless the protecting character is something like Tomar Tu, because “cannot” overrules “can”). Is this correct?

Ben Q.

Absolutely correct. To answer another question I’ve heard asked on the subject, Sewer System does not allow characters without range to attack from the support row or anything like that.

I have a quick question. If I control two Wundagore Citadels, do I get an additional 6 breakthrough?

Ronald R.

Yes. If you manage to get a second Citadel into your resource row and activate both targeting the same character, that character will cause 6 additional breakthrough.

Let’s say I have Teamwork and a Team-Up card face up in my resource row, and then I play War of Attrition to replace an opponent’s face-up resource. Does my opponent get to replace my Team-Up resource, or does Teamwork “protect” it?

Al B., Detroit, MI

In this scenario, Teamwork fails to protect your resource for two reasons. The first is that War of Attrition does not target your resource (because its second sentence doesn’t use the word “target”—it targets only the resource your opponent controls). The second reason is that you actually control the War of Attrition effect, even though it allows your opponent to replace a resource you control.

Concerning Neutralized, if my Morlock defender is being attacked and I know I’ll be stunning the attacker during the attack conclusion, can I exhaust my defender to play Neutralized, wait until everyone stuns, and then resolve the chain backwards and choose that newly stunned attacker to be Neutralized?

Christian L.

Well, it’s true that Neutralized doesn’t target, so there’s no need for you to choose a stunned character (or for there even to be a stunned character to choose) as you play it. You do indeed choose one on resolution.

However, the wrench in the works is that you can’t actually get to the attack conclusion while there’s an effect on the chain. So, your plan becomes problematic as you “wait until everyone stuns and then resolve the chain.”

An attack does not conclude until successive passes on an empty chain. As a result, Neutralized must resolve first, and you must choose a stunned character as it does (before the attacker becomes stunned during attack conclusion).

If I use Jean Grey, Phoenix Force’s power to bounce everything, and I control Mageddon, will his power trigger even though he’s bouncing at the same time as my opponent’s characters?

Corey F.

Yes, his power will trigger. Powers that trigger off a character leaving play look back to the game state just before that character left play to determine if any powers existed that could trigger off that event.

In your scenario, Mageddon’s power triggers off a character leaving play, so it looks back to the game state just before that event. At that time, he was still in play, so his power could trigger.

And with that clash of the titans resolved, it’s time to roll the credits on another Cerebro.

I hope everybody had a great time at the Sneak Previews this weekend. Any rules questions that came up . . . send them to vsrules@gmail.com.