There has been a long-standing debate about how the text of Await the Advent of Allies should be interpreted, whether with a “literal” approach or a “thematic” approach. Since there aren’t any previous digests that cover this situation, this committee has decided to put an end to this discussion and edit the card’s text so that it reflects the author’s intention. We even reached out to Ichabod, who was kind enough to reply to us and told us that the best way to go would be changing the active condition of the card.
Here is the new official text:
There are two major differences between this text and the original text:AWAIT THE ADVENT OF ALLIES
Permanent‐event
Playable on a non‐Wizard character with a mind of six or less at a non-Haven site. The character’s company may not move. Target character does not count against general influence and its marshalling points do not count. Discard this card when the character leaves play or becomes wounded, or when you play a resource that taps or requires the site (as an active condition of playing the resource itself). Cannot be duplicated on a given character.
1. We’re making clear that the character must be at a non-Haven site. This means that he can’t be moving or at a Haven.
2. We’re clarifying which resources discard AtAoA when played. For reference, there is this CRF entry:
Which leaves the question, what is a “resource that requires the site”? We are ruling that in order for AtAoA to be discarded, the site has to be required as an active condition of the resource itself that is being played.«Playing a resource at the site» means playing a resource that taps the site or a resource that requires the site.
For players who aren’t as familiar with the inner workers of active conditions, a simplified way to determine whether a site is required as an active condition would be to ask, “Could I play this resource if the given site wasn’t in play?” - If you could, then the site isn’t required as an active condition of the card; if not, then the site is required.
Some examples:
Cards that are “playable at [a given site type]” or “playable on a [given site type]”, like Fireworks, Houses of Healing, or Lucky Search, require the site itself (and by extension its particular site type) to be in play as an active condition of playing the card, and therefore they will discard AtAoA.
Marvels Told doesn’t require the site as an active condition. It can be played by a sage at any site, or even a sage in a moving company. Therefore, it doesn’t discard AtAoA.
We are aware of some complexities in certain interactions (e.g. Eagle-Mounts has a strange active condition that «the company started the turn at Eagle’s Eyre»); this commitee is studying them and will publish a future digest soon. For now, this text should clarify most of the questions related to AtAoA that arise during tournament games.