Item/Ally/Faction Timing
Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 6:40 am
There are several threads up now that need this to be worked out. Does playing an item/ally/faction follow normal timing rules? Assuming they do, doesn't that mean they need to be declared and resolved in a chain of effects?
LE Rulesbook: Timing Rules wrote:You and your opponent may both want to perform actions at the same time or actions that are sequenced with respect to other actions. This can happen during your movement/hazard phase (or during your site phase if your opponent has a card on-guard). Such actions almost always include playing a card, tapping a card already in play, and revealing an on-guard card.
Your opponent may always declare an action in response before your action is resolved. Then, you may respond to his action, and he can respond to your second action, and so on until neither player can (or wants to) perform an action.
You must give your opponent a chance to respond to every action, and vice versa. If you perform an action and move on to another action without giving your opponent a chance to respond, you must "backup" if he indicates that he wants to respond.
Such a series of declared actions is called a chain of effects. You always have the option of declaring the first action in a chain of effects during your turn. The actions in a chain of effects are resolved one at a time from last declared to first declared (i.e., the last declared action is resolved first, then the second to the last, etc.).
You may follow one of your declared actions with another of your declared actions in the same chain of effects, so long as you give your opponent a chance to respond to first action.
An action in a chain of effects is negated if the conditions required to perform it are negated by another action that is resolved before it in the chain of effects.
Creature hazards may not be played in response to other actions. They must always start a chain of effects.
These quotes indeed suggest that playing item/ally/faction does follow normal timing rules because they need to interact with on-guards, and that there is a chain of effects. So how exactly would item/ally/faction declaration and resolution be broken down? Can they be declared in response to something, can something be declared in response to them? There was some concern about 'playing' and 'succesfully playing', and I share that concern, because things can get confusing very quickly.CRF: Turn Sequence Rulings: Site Phase: On-guard wrote:# A revealed on-guard card retroactively takes effect as though it were both declared and resolved immediately prior to the chain of effects during which it was revealed.
# An on-guard card may be revealed when the company plays a resource that potentially taps the site. The card must affect the company or a character in the company that site phase. Note that this clarification is looser than the rule printed on page 61 of the Unlimited Rules book.
CRF: Rulings by Term: Playing a Card wrote:Playing a card is the process of bringing a card from your hand into play.
Does playing a card not mean its declaration? As for items/allies/factions, a site only taps upon their succesful play, which I took as meaning their resolution. I will think more about this and post some chain breakdown proposals later. I'm of course open to suggestions too.CRF: Rulings by Term: Nazgûl wrote:If a Nazgûl is tapped to become a short-event as printed on its card, it turns into a short-event upon declaration. At this point, the Nazgûl is a short-event just as if had been played as such from your hand.