This is the full version of a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) list about the card game Blue Moon, or Blue Moon Legends, designed by Reiner Knizia. This list was created by Christopher Dearlove, christopher.dearlove@gmail.com. For complete acknowledgements, and a summary of the status of these answers, see main section 'Final Points' at the end of this list. This issue of the list is dated 14th January 2021. Its home is http://www. mnemosyne.uk/bgames/bluemoon, which also includes some other Blue Moon material mentioned in this list, including a shorter version of this list and a version of this list for Blue Moon Legends. This list is divided into seven main sections (see the second main section 'Contents') Main section 'Introductory Questions' is particularly aimed at people who have not played the game, although some questions may be of more interest to those who have. In particular it describes the relationship between the first edition of the game, known as Blue Moon, and the second edition of the game, known as Blue Moon Legends. The remaining main sections (other than the last) are, because of the revised rules in the second edition of the game, primarily aimed at players of the first edition of the game. Main section 'Emissaries and Inquisitors' is aimed at players of the first edition who have not played the Emissaries and Inquisitor decks. Main section 'Buka Invasion' is aimed at players of the first edition who have not played the Buka Invasion deck. (Note that having only part of the game is only an issue with the first edition, with the second edition you always have all of the cards.) Main section 'Specific Cases' covers matters that may arise during the game, and is the most important part of this list. As noted, this is primarily aimed at players of the first edition of the game, many of the answers in this section (which all quote the first edition rules) are covered in the second edition rules. However, using these answers, both editions should give identical results in any situation. Main section 'Final Points' gives details on the origins of the questions and answers in this list, its status, and other miscellaneous points. Regular users of this list may wish to consult main section 'Changes'. Changes ======= Changes since the last issue of this list (2nd October 2020): - Updated to indicate that neither edition of the game is in print. - Corrected details in two answers in section 'Special Power Texts: Ignored (Cards)'. Other recent changes (since 18th May 2014): - Updated website address and contact information. Contents ======== Changes Contents Introductory Questions About the Basics About the Game About Blue Moon Legends About Languages About Internet Support About the Decks About the Rules About Deck Building About This List Emissaries and Inquisitors About the Emissaries and Inquisitors Decks About the Emissaries About the Inquisitors About the New Rules in Emissaries and Inquisitors Buka Invasion About the Buka Invasion Deck About Buka Families About the New Rules in the Buka Invasion Specific Cases Card Play: General Rules Card Play: Locations and Status Card Play: Timing Card Play: Backtracking Card Play: Cards in Hand Values and Total Power: General Rules Values and Total Power: Printed Values Values and Total Power: Calculations Values and Total Power: Announce Power Icons: Shields Icons: STOP Icons: RETRIEVE Icons: PROTECTED Icons: FREE Icons: PAIR Icons: GANG Icons: REPLACE Special Power Texts: General Rules Special Power Texts: I Must Special Power Texts: You May Not Special Power Texts: Ignored (General Rules) Special Power Texts: Ignored (Cards) Special Power Texts: Ignored (Special Power Text) Special Power Texts: Ignored (Icons) Special Power Texts: Discard (General Rules) Special Power Texts: Discard (Caterpillar Cards) Special Power Texts: Discard (Holy Dragon Cards) Special Power Texts: Khind Cards Special Power Texts: Aqua Cards Special Power Texts: Buka Cards Special Power Texts: Other Influence and Achievement Cards Interference Cards Inquisitors Ships: General Rules Ships: Playing Ships Ships: Loading Ships Ships: Landing Ships Ships: Playing Cards from Ships Bluffing: General Rules Bluffing: Values and Total Power Bluffing: Calling a Bluff Bluffing: Ignored Cards and Icons Start of Fight End of Fight End of Game Final Points Introductory Questions ====================== About the Basics ---------------- Q: What is Blue Moon? A: Blue Moon was a two player card game that was designed by Reiner Knizia and published starting in 2004, in Germany by Kosmos and in the USA by Fantasy Flight Games. The game was was also, not quite completely, published in the Netherlands by 999 Games, and in France, quite incompletely, by Tilsit. This is described in this FAQ list as the first edition of the game. Q: What is Blue Moon Legends? A: In 2014 Fantasy Flight Games, and their partners Galakta (Poland), Heidelberger Spielverlag (Germany) and Hobby Japan published Blue Moon Legends, a new edition of the game. This is described in this FAQ list (and was also so described by Fantasy Flight Games) as the second edition of the game. When referring to both editions of the game, the name Blue Moon is used in this FAQ list. Q: Were there any significant differences between the first and second editions of the game? A: Yes. The main difference was that the first edition was sold as a basic set, plus additional decks, while the second edition was sold as a single complete set. For other differences see section 'About Blue Moon Legends'. Q: Which edition(s) of the game does this FAQ list cover? A: This list was originally written for the first edition of the game, but all the introductory and final material has been rewritten to describe both editions of the game. The largest main section 'Specific Cases' (about situations that can arise in the game) and the preceding main section 'Emissaries and Inquisitors' and main section 'Buka Invasion' (about those first edition decks) are presented as for the first edition. In particular all quotations from the rules, and of card text, are from the first edition. If questions arise based on the second edition rules (which incorporate the material from this list specific to the first edition rules) then these will be added to that version of the list (and to other versions of the list if appropriate). Q: Why are are the rules questions only described for the first edition? A: There is a practical issue of the effort that would be required to convert the material. But more importantly, it is one of the purposes of the second edition to make most of this list unnecessary, because of the improved rulebooks. Note however that the answers to these questions are not changed by the second edition, only the rules (and some cards) wording, and hence the explanations. If, at some later point, questions do arise from the second edition rules, I will include them in the appropriate version(s) of this list. About the Game -------------- Q: What sort of game is Blue Moon? A: Blue Moon is a two player card game, where each game consists of a sequence of fights between the players, each of whom has his own deck representing one of the peoples of the world of Blue Moon. Fights are what are sometimes called "climbing", where each player tries to equal or exceed what his opponent last did; however there are many special abilities of cards that expand on that simple pattern. (For a longer answer to this question, I wrote a review of the first edition of the game in the June 2004 issue of "Counter" magazine; a version of that review is online on the same web page as this FAQ list.) Q: What is the background to the game? A: The game is set in the world of Blue Moon, which was created for the game. The complete story of the "Blue Moon Legend" has never been told, parts are in every Blue Moon product (see also question "Have there been any other Blue Moon products?"), and, most importantly, in the background information on all of the cards. Q: How was the first edition of the game presented? A: The first edition of the game was an expandable, but not collectable, card game. The basic game set was a game that could be played on its own, and was included in the then Kosmos two player game series. It included two of the peoples of Blue Moon: the Vulca and the Hoax. It also included the rulebook, a board, and three dragons. Other decks were sold separately. Six decks represented the other peoples of Blue Moon: the Mimix, the Flit, the Khind, the Terrah, the Pillar and the Aqua. Each of these eight decks could be played against each other. Two "special" decks, Emissaries and Inquisitors: Allies and Emissaries and Inquisitors: Blessings, were not used in the same way, for details see main section 'Emissaries and Inquisitors'. Finally, the Buka Invasion was a deck which represented an "outside" people, the Buka, and was playable against the other eight people decks, for details see main section 'Buka Invasion'. Q: How was the second edition of the game presented? A: The second edition collected all of the cards (including the promotional cards described in question "Were there any first edition cards other than ... ?") together in one product, with two rulebooks (Rulebook and Advanced Concepts), the board, three dragons, and crystals for scoring. Q: Is the game available? A: Neither edition of the game is in print. Copies might be obtainable on the secondary market. Q: Were there any first edition rules other than those in the basic set? A: There were new rules in the Emissaries and Inquisitors decks, which each contained the same supplementary rulesheet, referred to here as the E&I rulesheet. (See main section 'Emissaries and Inquisitors'.) There was a new rulesheet in the Buka Invasion deck, referred to here as the Buka Invasion rulesheet. (See main section 'Buka Invasion'.) The second edition rulebooks incorporated all of these rules. Q: Were there any first edition cards other than those in the nine people decks and the two Emissaries and Inquisitors decks? A: Yes. Five cards were issued as promotional cards for the first edition of the game. In the second edition these cards were all included. These five cards were leadership card Water Spirit [Promo 901] ("Now I may discard up to three cards from my hand and then may draw up to the same number of cards."), leadership card Earth Spirit [Promo 902] ("If I have fewer cards in my hand than you, now I may draw to the same number of cards."), leadership card Fire Spirit [Promo 903] ("Now I may draw one card from your hand and discard it."), leadership card Wind Spirit [Promo 904] ("Now I may discard one of your active support cards.") and ship Sea Moon [Promo/Buka 31] (Capacity 1, "Now I may load one card from my hand onto this ship. On the turn in which I land this ship, I may also play one character/booster/support card from my hand."). The first three of these were released in English and German, the latter two only in German. Their German names were Wassergeister, Erdgeister, Feuergeister, Windgeister and Seemond. (Note that in the first edition Sea Moon was actually labelled as "Promo 31", but should have been labelled as "Buka 31". This list uses a combination of the two, as indicated. In the second edition the card was correctly labelled.) Q: Can you translate the promotional cards for me? A: All the functional information is given in the previous answer. The only other text is the background information on these cards, which are (in the same order): "Blue Moon squeezed water from the golden stars. Water binds the elements and propagates life across the world.", "Blue Moon forged earth from the golden stars. Earth is the foundation of the world, from which all are nourished and grow.", "Blue Moon took fire from the golden stars. Fire is the life-breath of the world, from which all are invigorated and renewed.", "Blue Moon breathed out and wind was born. The wind carries the voice of Blue Moon but some are still misguided." and "Choice is Freedom.". Q: Are the first edition promotional cards still available? A: No. Earth Spirit was included in the Pillar and Emissaries and Inquisitors: Allies decks (two copies in the latter) which are no longer available (though anyone with those decks has at least one excess copy). The other promotional cards will be harder to find, you will need to investigate the secondary market. Q: Didn't having promotional cards break the basic fairness of everyone having the same card set? A: Of course this is not an issue with the second edition of the game. With the first edition, everyone was on a level playing field with regard to one of the promotional cards. Otherwise, the promotional cards were clearly labelled, so if you were not happy, you could just not allow them in your game. In addition, the four "Spirit" cards are not particularly strong (all are one moon cost cards). Sea Moon is slightly stronger (two moons) and also is different in belonging to a people rather than none. (See question "Although it is a promotional card ... ?" in section 'About the Buka Invasion Deck', under main section 'Buka Invasion'.) This made a difference if using deck building and constructing a Buka deck. Q: Have there been any other Blue Moon products? A: Yes, there have been. Kosmos and Fantasy Flight Games released "Blue Moon City", a boardgame for 2 to 4 players by Reiner Knizia. It is currently in print from publishers including in English from CMON, see http://www.cmon.com. The game is set in the world of Blue Moon, after the fighting represented by the card game. It is an entirely independent game, with only thematic links to the card game (and some common artwork). A novel "Blue Moon" by Frank Rehfeld was published by Langenmueller-Herbig (a publishing house connected to Kosmos). It has not been published in English. Neither are covered by this FAQ list. About Blue Moon Legends ----------------------- Q: What were the main changes in the second edition (Blue Moon Legends)? A: In addition to putting all of the cards in one box, there were two main changes. First, while the first edition had large ("tarot sized") cards, the second edition had standard ("bridge sized") cards. Second, the first edition had a single rulebook, plus additional rulesheets for the Emissaries and Inquisitors decks and The Buka Invasion deck, while the second edition pulled these together, and rewrote and reorganised the rules into two parts, described as Rulebook and Advanced Concepts. In addition, some terms were changed, some card text was reworded, and there was also a new way to play the game. These differences are described in more detail in some of the following answers. Q: Were there any other changes? A: There were some other minor changes. For example the first edition had three dragons of the same design, while the second edition had three dragons of three new (to Blue Moon) designs. (The second edition green dragon was also green, the "green" dragon in the first edition was a greenish blue, or blueish green. There was a rather greener dragon, of the same design, in some copies of the board game "Blue Moon City", see question "Have there been any other Blue Moon products?".) Q: Can I read the second edition rulebooks as a first edition player? A: Yes. See section 'About Internet Support'. Q: How were the second edition rules divided? A: The Rulebook was designed to allow you to play with the nine preconstructed decks. It had three main sections. First, some introductory material. Second, what are called the Core Rules. These allowed you to play the original matchup of the Vulca against the Hoax. Third, rules allowing you to play the other seven people decks. The back page had a Core Rules summary. The Advanced Concepts rulebook provided reference material (which was needed to play even with preconstructed decks, once more difficult situations arise) and optional rules (including deck building and a new draft variant, see question "What was the draft variant?"). The back page had a complete quick reference (required even for preconstructed deck play that involved more than the Vulca and the Hoax). Q: Were all the cards in the second edition? A: Yes, all the cards were in the second edition, including all five promotional cards (two appearing in English for the first time). Q: Were the card names and numbering the same in the second edition? A: Yes. There was a small difference in that cards had a symbol rather than a word to represent their people or (for non-people cards) type. Cards in the basic preconstructed decks retained the same letter (and for Buka cards, family number) to indicate this. The X1 or X2 to indicate which Emissaries and Inquisitors deck a card was in had gone, but for non-people cards in those decks there was an indication (Tu, Fa, Ri, Ne) as to which emissary those cards are for, rather than the cards being listed on the emissary card. Q: Was the artwork the same in the second edition? A: The same artwork was used. The cards were, of necessity, cropped differently, usually resulting in slightly less of the original artwork appearing on the second edition cards (although in a few cases slightly more of the original artwork appeared). In some cases this was taken further, to a "zooming in" (to a greater or lesser extent) on the central figure in the artwork. The artwork on some cards was reversed, and that on the three "crystal" cards was rotated. Finally, in the first edition the five Buka "B.P." characters all had the same artwork, showing five masked figures. In the second edition each of these cards showed a different one of the masked figures. (This left three of the four Buka ships as the only cards with the same illustration.) Q: Were there any new components in the game? A: Nothing major, but the game came with nine plastic crystals for match scoring, and a two-sided card to indicate the current element. (Also, there were no icon summary cards.) Q: Do the two editions play the same? A: Yes. The intent was that the second edition plays exactly as the first edition is meant to play, where meant to play means also in accordance with cases such as answers in this FAQ list (which was used when the rules were rewritten). There is one difference in the handling of an irregularity when play is not conducted properly (see question "What was the difference in handling an irregularity?"). Q: What were the changes in terminology? A: First, the names of the phases of the game were changed. In the first edition these were: Beginning of Turn, Leadership, Retreat from Fight?, Character, Booster or Support (also Booster/Support), Announce Power, Refresh Hand, End of Turn. In the second edition these were: Beginning, Leadership, Engagement, Character, Booster/Support, Power, Refresh, End. Second, the areas in which Hyla and ships are played were described as separate influence areas, rather than a single influence area. Third, the icon PROTECTED was changed to the icon PROTECT (although, except on cards, icon names were usually written as, for example, protect). The term PROTECTED survived however in the term "PROTECTED card". (The term "FREE card" was also used, but here the adjective is the same as the icon name, except that in the rules the latter was written free.) Fourth, the instruction "may not" on cards was been changed to "cannot" (it is still an instruction). Q: What were the reasons for the changes in card text? A: First, due to the terminology changes described in the previous section (phase name changes, area name change, icon name change, use of "cannot" rather than "may not"). Second, for consistency in including the phrase "except active PROTECTED cards" wherever that applies. Third, to use the word "draw" only when taking cards from the deck, and the word "take" only as a general term in restrictions (this applied to Sarogakanas the Ancient [Hoax 17], Shaman of the Here and Now [Mimix 20], Blow Whistle of Friendship [Khind 29], Cardus Nikkus [Pillar 13, Mimix deck], and Fire Spirit [Promo 903]). Fourth, to clarify the timing of some cards (this applied to Ketharkopas the Astronomer [Hoax 15, Khind deck], Distract Holy Dragon [Flit 29], Torrential Flood [Aqua 25] and Tidal Flood [Aqua 26]). Fifth, to remove the use of the word "attack" or "attacked" (this applied to Bounce Back [Khind 31, Pillar deck] mutant Var-dis-Nar [Mutant 105, Hoax deck], mutant Zig-nur-Don [Mutant 106, Vulca deck], and mutant Ras-mus-Pan [Mutant 107, Terrah deck]). Sixth, other changes for clarity (this applied to KhindKin [Khind 23, E&I:A deck], Gloria Gracia [Pillar 12], and inquisitor Razor-Mind Royal Inspector [Inq 412, E&I:A deck]). Q: Can I play a first edition deck against a second edition deck? A: Yes, provided that you take into account the terminology changes described in this section. Since first edition cards were larger, it might be sensible to use the first edition board to play on. Mixing cards between editions in the same deck is of course not possible. Q: What was the draft variant? A: The Advanced Concepts rulebook contained a description of how 2 to 6 players can draft (taking one card from a set, then passing the set on for the next player to take a card, and so on for multiple sets of cards) from a pool of 3 to 9 decks, plus for each the additional people cards that were originally in the Emissaries and Inquisitors decks. Drafting finishes up with each player having between 35 and 42 cards (depending on the number of players, but in an irregular pattern) from which a player can construct a 30 card deck. Moons are not used in this process. Play is still two player games, in whatever format you choose to use. For details see the Advanced Concepts rulebook. Q: What was the difference in handling an irregularity? A: During a game, a player might attempt to continue a fight, but discover that he has miscalculated, and is not able to do so. In this case, the player has to "backtrack". Both editions allow for this happening. However in so doing the player might learn information that he was not entitled to, such as seeing new cards. The first edition rulebook had a specific punitive response to this. This however turned out to have some limitations (that there were additional ways to learn new information, and that the penalty was no longer maximal) that arose when new rules were added using the Emissaries and Inquisitors decks. In addition, the penalty (especially adjusted) was harsh for what can be assumed to be an accidental mistake in friendly play. This FAQ list therefore unofficially (but with the designer's approval) advised a more relaxed attitude in friendly play. This become the second edition rule: in friendly play be forgiving, but do not abuse this. In addition, the second edition rules supported that in tournament play a penalty is appropriate, but allowed the tournament organiser to select whatever penalty seemed appropriate (it should be pre-announced). Players of the first edition can choose to play similarly, now with official approval. About Languages --------------- Q: What languages was the game available in? A: The second edition was available in Chinese, English, German, Japanese, Polish and Spanish, from the six publishers (Game Harbor, Fantasy Flight Games, Heidelberger Spielverlag, Hobby Japan, Galakta and Edge Entertainment). A The first edition was available in English (except two promotional cards), German, Dutch (except the Buka Invasion and at least two promotional cards) and French (only the basic game set and the Mimix and Flit decks). Q: Should I buy the English language version of the game? A: Assuming that you are an English speaker, yes. Unless your alternative language, and that of all of your intended opponents, is very good, you will find an alternative language set hard to use. This is because almost half of the cards in the original eight people decks, over half of the cards in the Buka Invasion deck, and almost all of the cards in the Emissaries and Inquisitors decks, have special power text which you will need to understand to play. However in case you do need it, I have provided some help for using German Blue Moon material on the same web page as this FAQ list. Q: Which language version was original? A: The game was developed in English, and later translated into German and other languages. (This is most clearly shown by that Pillar is clearly a contraction of caterpillar. In German, caterpillar is Raupe, but the people are still the Pillar. However the name of the Khind is probably derived from the German Kind for child.) Q: Are there any pronunciations I should know? A: I can only tell you what the designer and playtesters do, it is up to you what you say. The Khind are pronounced more like "kinned" than "kiynd" and the Hyla are pronounced more like "huwla" than "hiyla" (in German style). The latter however hides what might be the inspiration for the name. About Internet Support ---------------------- Q: Have the publishers provides online support? A: Some information about Blue Moon Legends, in particular the rulebooks, is still available from Fantasy Flight Games; use the search function at http://www.fantasyflightgames.com. Kosmos used to supply material at a dedicated "Blue Moon Games" website, at http://www.blue-moon- games.com/us/index.html in English (or replace the /us/ by /de/ or /nl/ for German or Dutch). However this website was later (September 2007) removed. You might still be able to access its information using the Wayback Machine at http://www.archive.org. Q: Can I read the rules before I play? A: Yes. The second edition Rulebook and Advanced Concepts rulebook are available as indicated in the previous answer. The first edition basic set rules are still available online at http://www. fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/ Blue_Moon/bluemoonrules.pdf. The first edition Emissaries and Inquisitors and Buka Invasion rules are not, as far as I know, available online in English (although some material about each was available on the Kosmos "Blue Moon Games" website). Q: Can I see the cards online? A: The first edition card images were available on the "Blue Moon Games" website (the Buka Invasion only in German, and excluding the promotional cards). See question "Have the publishers provided online support?" for further details. The card images were also included in Keldon Jones's computer program (see question "Can I play Blue Moon against a computer (online or not)?"). For the second edition, the card images are not, as far as I know, available online. Q: Are there any other online resources? A: The best source of material in English is on the BoardGameGeek at http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/ 9446 and http://www.boardgamegeek. com/boardgame/147154. The largest Blue Moon site is the Blue Moon Fans site at http://www.blue-moon-fans.com/. It is mainly in German, but does include some English material at http://www.blue-moon-fans.com/index .php?c=3. Although the latter has been active in the past, it has not been for some time. (The German part of the Blue Moon Fans site was always more active, but this also is not as active as it was.) The home of this FAQ list, and some other Blue Moon material, is at http://www.mnemosyne.uk/bgames/ bluemoon. See also the next question. Q: Can I play Blue Moon online? A: This used to be possible at http://www.blue-moon-liga.com. However this league ("Liga" is German for "league") no longer appears to be active and that website has now gone. You might still be able to access its information using the Wayback Machine at http://www.archive.org. It was a peer-to-peer service using freely downloadable software called "CardTable", which was available at the Blue Moon Liga site. While it was primarily in German, it also supported English use. An alternative called "LackeyCCG" is still available, but not apparently supported, at http://www.lackeyccg.com/bluemoon. Q: Is the Blue Moon Fans online site official? A: My understanding is that it was (and presumably still is) acceptable to Kosmos as an unofficial non-commercial service only. Q: Can I play Blue Moon against a computer (online or not)? A: Maybe. An artificial intelligence, based on neural nets, was created by Keldon Jones, and was released at http://keldon.net/bluemoon. However it has not been updated for some time, and you might or might not be able to get it working. See also discussion in some threads on the Blue Moon forum at the BoardGameGeek. It only played the basic nine decks against each other. It was authorised by Kosmos. Q: The Blue Moon Fans site includes material for various "unofficial" peoples; what is their status, and are there any restrictions on what I can do with them? A: They were created by fans, and not part of the Blue Moon world. Because of issues such as my involvement in the development of the game, I have not looked at any details of any of them. Note that there are many aspects of Blue Moon that are protected, being owned by the designer, the publisher, the artists and so on. These include not only the name and rules of the game and the card artwork, but aspects such as the Blue Moon logos (first and second edition versions) and various details of the cards. This puts significant restrictions on what you can do. There is an official Kosmos statement on the subject, in German, at http://www. blue-moon-fans.com/viewtopic.php?t= 1219&start=15#13757. But in short, do not do anything remotely commercial without checking with the relevant parties. About the Decks --------------- Q: The decks seem to be mixed up slightly, the Vulca deck has only 26 Vulca cards (and a leader card), plus 3 cards from other peoples and 1 mutant. What's happening? A: This is deliberate, and has a number of purposes. It gives you a preview of the other sets (the basic game has one card from each of the other six Blue Moon peoples, as does each other pair of Blue Moon people decks). It also provides you with a touch of how deck building works (see section 'About Deck Building'). Note that the second edition retains the same arrangement. Q: Do I have to play only with the preassembled decks? A: No, you do not. There are the Advanced Rules (first edition) or Deck Building (second edition) which allow deck construction (see section 'About Deck Building'. Note that this is not "free for all" deck construction, but provides rules which allow deck construction while retaining the essential characteristics of each people. The Emissaries and Inquisitors decks and the Buka Invasion deck (and the second edition rules that describe the corresponding cards) also provide additional ways to play the game. For further details see main section 'Emissaries and Inquisitors' and main section 'Buka Invasion'. The second edition rules also contain rules for drafting, see question "What was the draft variant?" in section 'About Blue Moon Legends'. Q: I like to play "consolidating" the peoples, for example putting Heroine of the Great Plains [Mimix 06, Vulca deck] back into the Mimix deck, and in return getting back Titanic Gauntlets [Vulca 22, Flit deck] ("The Earth value of one of my character cards doubles."). Is this reasonable? A: It is not an option described in either edition rulebook, but if you and your opponent want to try it, you obviously can. It should be reasonably balanced (it is the starting point for building decks, see section 'About Deck Building'), however the preassembled decks are those that have been balanced against each other. With Emissaries and Inquisitors it is more complicated, you have more cards for each people than you need for a 30 card deck, but may be building a different sized deck if using emissaries or inquisitors. Also note that the emissaries are intended to be used with the preassembled decks (with added cards), not with "consolidated" decks. Q: The first edition card numbering has gaps in it. What's happening? A: The gaps are filled in by cards in other people decks and by the Emissaries and Inquisitors decks, see main section 'Emissaries and Inquisitors'. Q: How many different deck matchups are there? A: With eight people decks there are 28 different pairs of decks, or 56 if you allow for playing each way. Adding the Buka Invasion deck (or using the second edition) increases this to 36 or 72. See question "How many different matchups are there using emissaries?" in section 'About the Emissaries', under main section 'Emissaries and Inquisitors' for the number of matchups when playing with emissaries. Playing with deck building the number of possibilities is too large to consider calculating. Q: Have all the matchups of the preconstructed nine people decks been tested? A: Yes. Q: Are fire and earth completely balanced in the overall game? A: Yes, they are. For every pair of fire and earth values on a card there is another card with the values reversed, for every shield on a fire value there is a matching shield on an earth value, and vice versa, and for every reference to fire in special power text there is a similar reference to earth, and vice versa. (There is a subtle asymmetry in that all of the FIRE BLUFF and EARTH BLUFF icons appear on cards which are stronger in earth than in fire.) Q: How are the individual peoples and decks balanced between fire and earth? A: Four of the peoples (the Mimix, Flit, Khind and Aqua) are fully balanced in fire and earth (except for an extra shield in earth in the Flit), one (the Pillar) has a slight imbalance (in favour of earth), two (the Vulca and Hoax) have a significant imbalance in favour of fire and two (the Terrah and Buka) have a significant imbalance in favour of earth. (The people listed first has the stronger imbalance in each case.) The preassembled decks reduce the imbalances in the Vulca, Hoax and Terrah and introduce slight imbalances in the Mimix, Flit and Aqua (in favour of fire, earth and fire, respectively). The Emissaries and Inquisitors decks together are fully balanced. About the Rules --------------- Q: What's the best way to find out what happens in a complicated situation in the game? A: In all cases, whether you are playing with the first or second edition, read the rulebook, carefully. For the second edition, make sure this includes the Advanced Concepts rulebook. When playing with the first edition you may also need to read the E&I rulesheet and the Buka Invasion rulesheet when using those decks. For the first edition, although you may skip rulebook page 17 and rulebook page 18, Special Rules, on first reading (as it says) you will need to read them to cover all cases that may turn up. The next thing is to read all special power texts on cards carefully, and apply them straightforwardly. Finally, if you need them (if you read the rules and cards carefully you mostly should not - and with the second edition the intent is to remove that "mostly") the questions in main section 'Specific Cases' may help, both directly and (first edition only) as examples of how to reason from the rules. (For the second edition the answers are correct, but the reasoning from the rules may differ as the rules differ.) Q: Can I apply these questions and answers more widely? A: Yes, you can, and should. Many answers apply not only to the cards mentioned, but to other cards as well. Sometimes these are obvious, for example any answer applying to booster card Volcanic Gauntlets [Vulca 21] ("The Fire value of one of my character cards doubles.") also applies to booster card Titanic Gauntlets [Vulca 22, Flit deck] ("The Earth value of one of my character cards doubles."), with the obvious change of element. Similarly, answers discussing application of special power text referring to booster cards applies also, with appropriate changes, to special power text referring to support cards. There are also various less obvious examples. Q: Can you give a less obvious example? A: The interaction of support card Wall of Fire [Vulca 26] ("You may not take cards from your draw deck.") and leadership card Muster Reinforcements [Hoax 27] ("Now I may draw five cards.") works in the same way as that of support card Pandemonium [Khind 26, Vulca deck] ("You may not play support cards.") and leadership card Trigger Brainstorm [Hoax 29] ("On this turn, I may play any number of support cards.") in that the former card prevents the latter from working in each case. (The latter case is discussed in question "If you have active support card Pandemonium ... and I play ... ?" in section 'Special Power Texts: You May Not', under main section 'Specific Cases'.) Q: Are there any cases of cards behaving similarly that do not use similar text? A: Despite their different texts (especially in the first edition) leadership card Bounce Back [Khind 31, Pillar deck] (STOP icon, "My active cards attack again.") and character card KhindKin [Khind 23, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card into my combat area without pushing the previously active cards under it.") often behave very similarly. However because their texts are different, and because there are some significant differences, when a question in this list uses one, the answer may point out the other one if it is relevant. Q: Where do I look in this list if I have a question about the interaction of features covered in different sections? A: Each question has been put only in the section where I think that it is most appropriate. But in case we disagree, try all relevant sections. Q: Aren't there rather too many rulings here? Does this mean the rules are not clear? A: First, this only applies to the first edition, the second edition rules incorporate all the significant issues in this list. However, considering the first edition, what is here is not rulings (filling in holes in the rules) but explanations, applying the rules as written to more complicated situations. The only definite ruling is in question "Are shields icons? And why does it matter?" in section 'Icons: Shields', under main section 'Specific Cases'; for the reasons why see the answer to that question. In particular, this list covers many cases that should be obvious, but someone has asked them. (Also see question "Are all the questions on this list really frequently asked?" in section 'About This List'.) Q: How many optional rules are there in the game? A: There are essentially three optional rules, but each has some special cases. See the following three questions. Q: What alternative ways of playing the game are there? A: Using the first edition, you could play with the preassembled decks, or using the Advanced Rules for deck building, see section 'About Deck Building'. With Emissaries and Inquisitors you had two additional alternatives: playing with the preassembled decks and emissaries, or playing with the Advanced Rules and inquisitors. (See main section 'Emissaries and Inquisitors'.) With the Buka Invasion you had one additional alternative: playing with the other preassembled decks and Buka families. (See main section 'Buka Invasion'.) With the second edition, all of these options are possible, and an additional set of rules for drafting are also provided. (With the downloadable second edition Advanced Concepts rulebook, you can also play the drafting rules with first edition cards.) Q: What alternative ways of playing more than one game are there? A: You can continue with the same deck, the standard case, and always used with deck building, or change decks after each game, either swapping decks with your opponent or picking a new deck each at random. When continuing with the same deck, the standard case is to play a sequence of games up to a score of five crystals; you could agree to modify this limit, but this is not an option suggested in either edition rulebook. Q: What is the final optional rule? A: This is the rule that in the first edition is on rulebook page 19, under Optional Rule, which allows players to replace part or all of their initial hands. It should not be used unless both players agree to it in advance. In the second edition it is suggested as standard for tournament play, but as for all tournaments, that is up to the organiser. Q: Are there any "banned" cards in Blue Moon? A: No, there are not. At one point the unofficial online Blue Moon League (see section 'About Internet Support') banned leadership card Chosen of Nature [Mimix 32, E&I:A deck] ("Now we both shuffle our discard piles into our draw decks.") from their play. The banning was not accepted officially, and Reiner Knizia said "I am of the opinion that there is no need to ban any cards within Blue Moon. They have all been carefully tested and the further development of the game will certainly assume that all cards are in play.". The ban was later lifted. About Deck Building ------------------- Q: What are the Advanced Rules? A: As the term was used in the first edition, these allowed you to build your own decks. In the second edition these rules (in the Advanced Concepts rulebook) are described as deck building. Q: How does deck building work? A: Blue Moon deck building does not allow you to construct decks with any combination of cards. It starts with a selected people, whose cards are free. You can then "buy" cards from other peoples to augment your deck. The cost of a card is expressed in "moons", and is shown on the card. With cards costing from 0 to 4 moons, and with only 10 moons to spend, you still keep the particular "flavour" of your selected people, but you can customise your deck quite significantly, and in a manner of your choice. Q: Can I use more than 10 moons in a constructed deck? A: Within the published rules, only by using inquisitors, which modify the number of cards in your deck and the number of moons you may have and may give you an additional special power. See section 'About the Inquisitors' in main section 'Emissaries and Inquisitors'. Q: Do I have to learn how to build decks to play the game? A: No, you do not. Many people probably will not ever play anything other then the preassembled decks. But for those who want more, deck building offers this. Q: If we are playing with deck building, can each of us have a copy of the same card in our deck? A: Yes, we can. However each player may only have one copy of each card. This means that the ideal when deck building is one copy of the game each (second edition) or one copy of the decks we are to select from each (first edition). (If you have to share cards there are various ways you can devise to do so.) Q: If we are playing with deck building, can I use all types of cards from other peoples in my deck? A: Yes, you can, including character, booster, support and leadership cards. These are all the types available if you limit yourselves to the cards in the original eight Blue Moon people decks. You may (using the first edition assuming that you have these decks) also allow cards originally from the Emissaries and Inquisitors decks, thus also including Hyla, crystal and interference cards. You may (using the first edition, assuming that you have the Buka Invasion deck) also allow Buka cards, thus also including ship cards. Q: If we are playing with the deck building, can I use as many cards as I want with zero moons from other peoples? A: Yes, you can, subject to the overall card limit, and even in preference to your own zero moon cards. This also means that you can have more than one mutant in your deck. Q: If we are playing with deck building, do I have to pay for cards from other peoples which are usually included in the preassembled deck of the people I am playing? A: Yes, you do. For example if you are constructing a Vulca deck and you want to use Heroine of the Great Plains [Mimix 06, Vulca deck] (2 moons) you have to pay the 2 moons. But you can, for example, include Flash the Incendiary [Vulca 02, Terrah deck] (2 moons) for free. (Playing with the Emissaries and Inquisitors decks you can also, for example, include leadership card Inflame Mutant [Vulca 31, E&I:A deck] ("In my Character phase, I may play any mutant.", 1 moon) for free.) Q: I hve been playing with deck building. How do I reassemble my original decks? A: In the lower left corner of each first edition card, below the name of the people and card number, and to the left of the moons (if any) there's a letter (V, H, M, F, K, T, P, A) which shows which deck the card belongs to. The two Emissaries and Inquisitors decks use X1 and X2. The Buka Invasion deck uses Ba to Bf - the second letter relates to Buka families. (See main section 'Buka Invasion'.) The promotional cards (see section 'About the Game') have no deck indication, except the Buka ship is indicated as a Buka card with no family. (See question "Although it is a promotional card ... ?" in section 'About the Buka Invasion Deck', under main section 'Buka Invasion'.) Second edition cards have similar information, see question "Were the card names and numbering the same in the second edition?" in section 'About Blue Moon Legends', but it is on the lower right of each card, and does not indicate X1 or X2. Q: Do I have an advantage playing with deck building if I have more decks to choose from? A: This is only an issue for the first edition of the game, with the second edition you have all of the cards. Using the first edition, as you have a greater choice of cards to select from with more decks, then the answer is yes, at least to some extent, and in some cases to a significant extent. In particular you may get more cards from your people that you do not have to pay for, and you will have a significant advantage if only you can use one or both Emissaries and Inquisitors decks. In a friendly game we should agree which decks we can use to produce a fair game. About This List --------------- Q: Are all the questions on this list really frequently asked? A: No. Many of them I have only seen asked once, and putting them on this list is intended to stop them being frequently asked. Some have been asked to try to cover every corner of the first edition rules, no matter how unlikely to occur in play, and some have required answers on general principles of the game to be added. In a few cases, plus most of the questions not in main section 'Specific Cases', I have provided questions to "round off" the list and to provide an introduction to the game to those who have not played it, or have not played it all. In the case of the Buka Invasion I pre-emptively asked and answered questions in the interests of getting up to speed quickly, and the same also applied to Blue Moon Legends. Q: Wouldn't a shorter version of this list be better then? A: For many purposes, yes. However it attempts to cover the needs of many different people, for example people who have not played the game, people with beginner's questions, people who only want answers to rules questions they think are less obvious and people who want every case that might turn up in a tournament covered. That tends to produce a lengthy list. However I have created a shorter version of this list, containing only the more difficult and less obvious (under first edition rules) questions about actual game play situations from the full list. It is available from the same web page as this full version of this list. It is not much more than a tenth of the length of this list. I have also created a version of this list more appropriate for players of the second edition of the game, also available from the same web page. Q: How do you suggest I use this list? A: That's entirely up to you. Best of all is if you do not need it because everything in the game is clear. That should especially be true if using the second edition of the game. Worst is probably trying to continually consult this list during a game. (If it is a friendly game I suggest making a decision during the game and checking the point later for subsequent games, while if it is a tournament game let the organiser handle it. If that's you, feel free to use this list however works for you.) Q: How should I read the questions and answers in this list? A: As if you are asking the question, and I am answering it. Thus "I" in the question becomes "you" in the answer (see, for example, the previous question, or this question) and vice versa. This is particularly relevant to questions in main section 'Specific Cases'. Q: Wouldn't it be better if the questions in this list were numbered? A: It might be if the list were stable, but as I continue to add new questions, and reorganise the list from time to time, this would probably cause more problems than it solved. However as part of my XML conversion process (see the following question) I have given each question a meaningful "tag" (for example "numbered questions" for this question) although I do not currently use them in the published text versions of the list. Q: Would this list be better in another file format than this one? A: For much of its life, this list was a "flat" text file, with a 72 character width. However I later converted it so that its source is now in XML. The conversion to flat text currently uses a dedicated program, which allows alternative width text files of the full and short versions of the list to be created, and "narrow" and "wide" text versions of each, currently 72 and 120 characters wide, are now published, plus an unformatted version of the list for import into a word processor. In addition work, currently incomplete, has been done to create an additional HTML version of this list, converted from the XML, which will be able to highlight items such as card names and details, rulebook quotations and so on. If you can help complete that work, please get in touch. Emissaries and Inquisitors ========================== About the Emissaries and Inquisitors Decks ------------------------------------------ Q: What were the Emissaries and Inquisitors decks? A: These were two special decks for the first edition of Blue Moon. They are quite different in nature to the other decks, as the following questions and answers will explain. For the second edition, these decks are included as a standard part of the game (although only covered by the Advanced Concepts rulebook). Q: Can I play with the Emissaries and Inquisitors decks straight out of the box? A: No, you cannot. There is a fast play way to use the decks using the emissaries (see section 'About the Emissaries') and they also provide an extension to the Advanced Rules using the inquisitors (see section 'About the Inquisitors'). You can also use the cards provided, especially those which belong to the Blue Moon peoples, in normal Advanced Rules play. Q: Do I have to have both Emissaries and Inquisitors decks to use them? Do I have to have the first to use the second? A: No, and no. Apart from the use of X1 and X2 as deck designations, they are not officially considered to be "first" and "second". However using both is better than using either alone. (In particular, every Blue Moon people gets a Chosen One, the Mimix do not have only half of a pair, and all decks have 40 cards when using emissaries.) Q: Were there any new rules using the Emissaries and Inquisitors decks? A: Yes, there were. In addition to the rules for using the emissaries and inquisitors, there were rules for the Hyla, rules for interference cards, rules for crystal cards, rules for leadership phase cards and the new REPLACE icon, rules for the Chosen Ones and a new special rule. See section 'About the New Rules in Emissaries and Inquisitors'. Q: Were there any ordinary cards in the Emissaries and Inquisitors decks? A: Yes, there were. Each deck had a card filling in one of the two formerly missing numbers in each Blue Moon people's card number sequence. Together with the four Chosen Ones (numbered 32) in each Emissaries and Inquisitors deck, each Blue Moon people thus had cards numbered 01 to 32 (plus a leader numbered 00). There was also one mutant in each of the decks, filling in the numbers in that sequence (101 to 110). These cards can be used in standard Advanced Rules play as well as with emissaries or inquisitors. Q: Were there any new peoples in the Emissaries and Inquisitors decks? A: Yes, there were, but they are not Blue Moon peoples. They are represented by Emissaries from far lands. The Emissaries and Inquisitors: Allies deck contained emissaries of the Tutu and the Hyla, and the two decks together included 8 cards each from the Tutu and Hyla. The Emissaries and Inquisitors: Blessings deck contained emissaries of the Buka and the Phar, but no other Buka or Phar cards. About the Emissaries -------------------- Q: How do the emissaries work? A: The emissaries provide a fast play mechanism. With both Emissaries and Inquisitors decks available, you each start with a preassembled Blue Moon people deck, then add the three cards for that people from the Emissaries and Inquisitors decks. You then select an emissary, which lists seven cards from its deck which are not from any of the Blue Moon peoples. This gives you a 40 card deck (the emissary goes with your leader). With only one Emissaries and Inquisitors deck, four peoples produce 39 card decks and four peoples produce 38 card decks, because the eight Chosen Ones are divided four in each Emissaries and Inquisitors deck. Note that when all peoples and emissaries have been played, you will have used all of the cards in the Emissaries and Inquisitors decks other than the inquisitors. (Each Emissaries and Inquisitors deck has 2 emissaries, 2 inquisitors, 12 Blue Moon people cards and 14 cards divided among the two emissaries, making 30 cards in all.) The emissaries are not used with the Advanced Rules. Q: What kinds of cards do I get with the emissaries? A: With GashGash Prince of the Tutu [Emis 500, E&I:A deck] you get 1 interference card, 4 Tutu and 2 Hyla. With Farquhar The One Hyla [Emis 600, E&I:A deck] you get 3 interference cards, 1 Tutu, 2 Hyla and 1 mutant. With Ri Cha Commodore of the Buka [Emis 700, E&I:B deck] you get 1 interference card, 2 Tutu, 3 Hyla and 1 crystal card. With Nekra-Khati Vizier of the Phar [Emis 800, E&I:B deck] you get 2 interference cards, 1 Tutu, 1 Hyla, 2 crystal cards and 1 mutant. Q: How many different matchups are there using emissaries? A: With eight people decks and both Emissaries and Inquisitors decks, 336, or 672 if you allow for playing each way. Q: Are all combinations of a people deck and an emissary equally good? A: We do not know, we have not tested all the matchups. There probably will be some variation, although they should be comparable. Deciding which emissary goes best with each deck is something to be tried out. Note that any combination of a people deck and an emissary should usually be stronger than a people deck alone. About the Inquisitors --------------------- Q: How do the inquisitors work? A: When playing with inquisitors, each player takes an inquisitor and puts it with his leader. The inquisitor then modifies the Advanced Rules game in up to three ways. First it may add to the number of cards in the player's deck. Second it may add to the number of moons the player can put into his deck. Third it may provide a special power which the player can use in all fights in all games using that inquisitor. So playing, for example, using the Hoax with leader card Xelethotiras Genius of the Hoax [Hoax 00] ("30 cards 10 moons") and inquisitor Razor-Mind Royal Inspector [Inq 412, E&I:A deck] ("+5 cards + 5 moons I may play my cards as if they had the REPLACE icon.") you have a 35 card deck, with up to 15 moons, with Hoax cards not counting towards your moons total as usual, and with the indicated special power. Q: How many inquisitors are there? A: Two in each of the two Emissaries and Inquisitors decks. They are inquisitor Swift-Fist Royal Marshal [Inq 411, E&I:B deck] ("+0 cards + 0 moons At the start of the game, I attract one dragon."), inquisitor Razor-Mind Royal Inspector [Inq 412, E&I:A deck] ("+5 cards + 5 moons I may play my cards as if they had the REPLACE icon."), inquisitor Grease-Palm Royal Minister [Inq 413, E&I:A deck] ("+10 cards +15 moons") and inquisitor Weave-Tongue Royal Councilor [Inq 414, E&I:B deck] ("+15 cards +10 moons At the end of my turn, I may draw one additional card."). Q: Are the inquisitors neutral, is a deck with an inquisitor equally matched with a deck without an inquisitor? A: No, a deck with an inquisitor should be stronger than a deck without an inquisitor. This is obviously true for inquisitor Swift-Fist Royal Marshal [Inq 411, E&I:B deck] ("+0 cards + 0 moons At the start of the game, I attract one dragon."), where the deck is exactly the same as without the inquisitor, except with an attracted dragon. Q: Are the inquisitors evenly matched? A: They are intended to be, although some inquisitors may work better with some peoples than with others. About the New Rules in Emissaries and Inquisitors ------------------------------------------------- Q: What are the Tutu? A: Apart from the emissary of the Tutu, the Tutu consist of seven character cards and one support card. Each has the FREE icon, but also has special power text which either makes the owner pay a cost to play the card, or imposes a disadvantage while the card is active. Text which makes the owner pay a cost uses "I must" which takes the new top place in the precedence of special power texts, so cannot be ignored. Q: What are the Hyla? A: Apart from the emissary of the Hyla, Hyla are a new kind of card, an influence card. They are played in the influence area, which is off the board, beyond the support area. Hyla are not removed at the end of a fight, they carry over to the next fight, remaining active. However there can only be one Hyla. If you play a Hyla, then any active Hyla (mine or yours) is discarded. Hyla are leadership phase cards (see question "What are leadership phase cards?"). Q: What are interference cards? A: These are a new kind of card, each of which is played in response to a specific action of your opponent to prevent it, or to perform a related effect. Thus you play them in my turn, except for interference card I saw that coming! [Inter 407, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card when you play an interference card. Your card is cancelled and discarded."), which it is possible for you to play in either your turn or my turn. Q: What are crystal cards? A: These are a new kind of card, an achievement card. They are played in the achievement area, which is off the board, beyond your leader. There is one crystal card for each dragon, making the dragons different, for example crystal card Lika's Blessing [Ach 201, E&I:B deck] ("I must have the red dragon on my side to play this card. - If I win the game, I receive one additional crystal. If you win the game, you score one dragon fewer."). Your crystal card can improve your score by one or reduce my score by one, however note that you cannot deprive me of my one point for winning the game if I do. Crystal cards cancel one for one during play, so at most one player ever has active crystal cards. Q: What is the REPLACE icon? A: This is a new icon which allows you to discard a card with this icon and draw a replacement. The REPLACE icon appears on interference cards, crystal cards and one Tutu card. REPLACE is used in the Leadership phase, but only if the only action in that phase. (This does not make all cards with the REPLACE icon leadership phase cards.) Q: What are leadership phase cards? A: As well as leadership cards, Hyla and crystal cards are also classified as leadership phase cards (but not as leadership cards). All these three types of cards are played in the Leadership phase, but only one card in each turn. With the Buka Invasion, ship cards are a fourth type of leadership phase card, played using the same rules. Q: What are Chosen Ones? A: These are leadership cards, one per Blue Moon people. They each allow, or force, both players to do the same thing (I go first when you play the card). Note that using leadership card Chosen of Fire [Vulca 32, E&I:A deck] ("Now we both select one leadership card on our leaders, reveal it and shuffle it into our draw decks. Chosen of Fire may not be selected.") is the only way in which a leadership card can be played more than once by a player in a game. Buka Invasion ============= About the Buka Invasion Deck ---------------------------- Q: What was the Buka Invasion deck? A: It was the eleventh deck (ninth expansion deck) for the first edition of Blue Moon. It contained a deck for the Buka (whose emissary was seen in the Emissaries and Inquisitors: Blessings deck). In the second edition, this deck was included as a standard part of the game. Q: Can I play with the Buka Invasion deck straight out of the box? A: Yes, you can. The deck contains 30 cards, plus a leader card, as in the eight basic Blue Moon people decks, and it has been balanced against all of them. Q: Were there any non-Buka cards in the Buka Invasion deck? A: No, there were not. All 30 cards (plus leader card) are Buka cards. Q: Can I use the new Buka cards in constructed deck play using the standard Advanced Rules? A: Yes, you can. All the cards in the Buka Invasion deck can be used in other decks, and a Buka deck can be constructed including cards from other peoples, in each case with appropriate moon costs. Q: Can I play with emissaries using the Buka Invasion deck? A: You could, but thematically it is wrong, and there aren't three extra cards for the Buka (as there are for other peoples in the Emissaries and Inquisitors decks) so you would not produce a 40 card deck. Q: Can I play with inquisitors using the Buka Invasion deck? A: Yes, you can. I am not sure if it is thematically right or wrong, but a Buka deck can be constructed using an inquisitor. Q: Is there any other way to use the Buka Invasion deck? A: Yes, there is, using Buka "families". See section 'About Buka Families'. Q: Were there any new rules using the Buka Invasion deck? A: Yes, there were. In addition to rules for using Buka families, there were rules for the new features of ships and bluffing, plus some minor clarifications. See section 'About the New Rules in the Buka Invasion'. Q: Do I have to have the Emissaries and Inquisitors decks to use the Buka Invasion deck? A: No, you do not, they are quite independent. (There are concepts, influence cards and leadership phase cards, first introduced in the Emissaries and Inquisitors decks that are repeated in the Buka Invasion deck, but they are explained again, to the extent necessary, on the Buka Invasion rulesheet.) Q: Are there any other unusual features of the Buka Invasion deck? A: There are some, such as that it has an earth bias (but which has to be traded off against safe bluffing) and has more characters than any other deck except the Mimix. It has a non-mutant Buka character that can change the contested element of the fight, but no actual mutant card. It also has some features which do not change the rules, but which have not been seen before, such as characters with non-conditional special power text and values greater than 2, a character with special power text and the PROTECTED icon, and a booster card with values, an icon, and special power text. Q: Although it is a promotional card, ship Sea Moon [Promo/Buka 31] (Capacity 1, "Now I may load one card from my hand onto this ship. On the turn in which I land this ship, I may also play one character/booster/support card from my hand.", 2 moons) is indicated as being a Buka card. What does this mean? A: This means that you do not have to pay its 2 moons cost to include it in a Buka deck when playing with the Advanced Rules. However (despite having a deck indication of B) it is not part of the Buka Invasion deck and should not be included when playing with preconstructed decks, and nor is it part of any of the six Buka families when adding these to another deck. Note that it increases the number of Buka cards to 31, which is the same as the other eight peoples if you include the added cards in Emissaries and Inquisitors, but exclude the Chosen Ones (which have a 0 moon cost). About Buka Families ------------------- Q: What are Buka families and how do I use them? A: The 30 cards in the Buka Invasion deck are divided into six families with five cards in each. You can play by taking one of the preassembled people decks (other than the Buka Invasion deck) each, and then adding a Buka family each, giving you a 35 card deck to play. This is similar to playing with the emissaries in the Emissaries and Inquisitors decks, except that there are no cards equivalent to the emissary cards. Q: How can I tell which Buka cards are in each Buka family? A: The Buka cards are labelled Ba to Bf where the deck is designated, in the bottom left corner of each card, and the second letter indicates the family. (Also the character names, other than the "B.P." characters, show the family: Marn, Tan, Ko, Cha and Paal, omitting family Bc which has no such characters.) Q: How many ways does that mean that I can play with an added Buka family? Are they all equally good? A: Assuming you use different Buka families, 840, or 1680 if you allow for playing each way. Obviously not all of these have been tested, and some families may fit better with some decks, as they each have a different mix of card types. But they should be roughly comparable. Q: Can I play with two Buka families? Or a Buka family and an emissary? A: Obviously you could, but these are not options that have been designed for or tested. The number of combinations of play is enormous; in the former case it is 2520, or 5040 if you allow for playing each way, in the latter case it is 10080, or 20160 if you allow for playing each way. About the New Rules in the Buka Invasion ---------------------------------------- Q: What are ships? A: Ships are a new kind of influence card (the Hyla in Emissaries and Inquisitors are also influence cards). They are played into the Influence Area (beyond the Support Area) in your leadership phase, instead of playing a leadership card, but they are not leadership cards. They are leadership phase cards, see question "What are leadership phase cards?" in section 'About the New Rules in Emissaries and Inquisitors', under main section 'Emissaries and Inquisitors'. Q: What is the purpose of ships? A: Ships can be used to store character, booster and support cards from your hand, loaded onto the ship as if playing support cards. Ships can be landed at the beginning of your turn; cards are then played from the landed ship rather than your hand that turn. Buka characters are FREE if played from a ship. Thus ships allow you to "store" cards for later use and also to build up a large attack and play it when you land your ship. Q: What is bluffing? A: Most Buka characters have a BLUFF icon, which allows them to be played as support cards, but face down. They count as having a value of 2 in the contested element. However there are three kinds of BLUFF icons: FIRE BLUFF, EARTH BLUFF and EMPTY BLUFF, and only a card with the right element BLUFF icon is safe. When you declare your total power including bluff cards, your opponent can "call your bluff", and if you are bluffing then your opponent attracts a dragon and you must retreat (usually allowing your opponent to attract at least one more dragon). If you are not bluffing then you attract a dragon, but you also must discard your bluff cards. Q: Isn't it rather risky bluffing without using the right element, if your opponent can attract two or more dragons if your bluff is called successfully, while you only attract one dragon if you were not bluffing but were called? A: Yes, it is, so you probably want to be using the proper element BLUFF icon most of the time. But if you never bluff (in the sense of not using the right element) then your opponent will get wary about calling your bluff and may stop doing it, which will then allow you to get away with it safely, which means he might start calling your bluff again, and so on. In other words bluffing is worth using, but only sometimes, and with care. Specific Cases ============== Card Play: General Rules ------------------------ Q: When can I play a leadership card? A: Whenever it is your Leadership phase. This includes before you retreat, and before you decline to start a fight, as well as before you play a character card and start or continue a fight. You can only play one leadership card; in addition Emissaries and Inquisitors and the Buka Invasion introduce alternatives to playing a leadership card in the Leadership phase: playing a different type of leadership phase card (Hyla, crystal card or ship card) or discarding a card with the REPLACE icon. Q: What happens if I do not have any character cards and it is my Character phase? A: You have to retreat, with the usual consequences, unless you are starting a fight, when you do not retreat but decline to start the fight. You can continue a fight without a character card using leadership card Bounce Back [Khind 31, Pillar deck] (STOP icon, "My active cards attack again."), but you must play it before your Character phase. Q: If a character card I have previously played becomes uncovered, for example by retrieving my only active character, does the uncovered character card have any effect? A: No, it does not. Rulebook page 7, under CHARACTER: 'Only the most recent character cards played into your combat area are active until they are covered by new character cards on your subsequent turn.'. Character cards do not become active again when uncovered, and only active character cards have any effect (other than counting towards attracting two dragons if I retreat). Q: Are my booster cards attached to my character cards? Can I have more active booster cards than character cards? If my character card is ignored, are any booster cards ignored? A: No, yes and no. Booster cards are independent of character cards, an effect applied to a character card does not have any effect on a booster card, except for cases such as character card Carl Kamikaze Crow [Flit 11] ("The values of my booster cards double."). You can have more than one booster card, while still having only one character card, using booster cards with FREE or PAIR icons, or using, for example, leadership card Commence Mega Launch [Flit 31] ("On this turn, I may play any number of booster cards."). Q: If I play Genathones the Blind [Hoax 14] ("On my turn, I may play one additional support card."), can I play one booster card and one support card this turn? A: Yes, you can. Rulebook page 17, under Special Rule 3: 'if an instruction allows you to play any number of support cards, you may also play one booster card.'. Q: If I start a fight by playing Genathones the Blind [Hoax 14] ("On my turn, I may play one additional support card."), can I play a support card this turn? Can I play more than one? A: Yes, and no. When starting a fight you usually can play zero support cards. With Genathones the Blind active you can play one support card additional to zero, that is you can play one support card (but not a booster card). Q: Can I play a useless card? A: Yes, there's nothing that says you cannot. For example, if the contested element is earth, you can still play booster card Volcanic Gauntlets [Vulca 21] ("The Fire value of one of my character cards doubles."). In particular, you can always play any leadership card, for example leadership card Cast Cataclysm [Vulca 30] ("Now I may discard all of your active support cards.") when I have no support cards, or any leadership card whose special power text is ignored. Note however that the card text on a played card is always read out and applied, although if it uses "may" you may choose not to take any action. Q: Can I play a leadership card with no effect? A: Most leadership cards use "may", and so, as noted in the previous answer, you can play them and choose to take no action. However there are exceptions, for example leadership card Sprinkle Water of Tranquility [Aqua 29] ("Now you may not have more than five cards in your hand and you must discard any additional cards."), whose text is not optional and is always applied (unless ignored). Also see question "Are the Chosen Ones ... ?" in section 'Special Power Texts: Other'. Q: When do I refresh my hand? A: There are two cases where you refresh your hand. The first is in the Refresh Hand phase of your turn. The second is that after either of us wins a fight we both refresh our hands (rulebook page 9, under Winning a Fight: 'At the end of any fight, both players refresh their hands to six cards by drawing from their draw decks.'). Q: Do I refresh my hand when you decline to start a fight? A: No. What happens in this case is described in rulebook page 9, under Declining to Start a Fight: 'Then the player refreshes his hand to six cards.' (The player here is the declining player, i.e. Me.) Normally this makes no difference, as you will still have six cards in hand. However it is possible for me to play a leadership card, which you cancel with interference card How dare you! [Inter 401, E&I:B deck] ("I may play this card when you play a Leadership phase card: Your card is cancelled and discarded."), then I decline to start a fight, and you start the next fight (or decline to do so) with five cards in hand. Q: Do I have to refresh my hand even if I do not want to? A: Yes, you do. Rulebook page 8, under Refresh Hand: 'Refresh your hand by drawing from your draw deck.'. There is no suggestion of an option there. Note that this also applies at the end of a fight (rulebook page 9, under Winning a Fight: 'At the end of any fight, both players refresh their hands to six cards by drawing from their draw decks.'). Q: Can I discard a card I cannot play? A: Only under those circumstances where this is specifically permitted, not just because you cannot play the card. Particular circumstances include when you decline to start a fight, when the card has a REPLACE icon (from Emissaries and Inquisitors), when your special power text requires you to discard cards to achieve a result, and in response to my special power text that forces you to discard. Q: How exactly do mutants work? A: Note: this answer considers only the normal operation of mutants, and assumes that there are no other relevant active effects. Other questions, in appropriate sections, consider the cases when special power text or shields (icons) are ignored, and some other specific cases (which can modify several points which follow). In the normal case, first check the first sentence of the mutant's special power text (while the card is still in you hand - see question "When is special power text first effective?" in section 'Special Power Texts: General Rules') to see if it is satisfied. If it is not, then you cannot play the mutant. Then you play the mutant, and then (because the mutant has a STOP icon) proceed to your Announce Power phase and announce your power in the new element (which changed when you played the mutant, due the second sentence of its special power text). Note that because your mutant has a shield (in both elements, but only that in the new element matters, see question "If you have active support card Impenetrable Fog ... and I play ... ?" in section 'Special Power Texts: Ignored (Icons)') you do not have to worry about matching my power. And then you continue your turn, usually with your Refresh Hand phase. Q: What are the moons in the lower left of a card for? A: Generally, they are only used for deck building (see section 'About Deck Building' in main section 'Introductory Questions') and are therefore not relevant once play has started. However there two exceptions, in the special power texts of booster card Caterpillar Moondoom [Pillar 20, E&I:B deck] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard cards with a total of at least two moons from your hand, or retreat.") and leadership card Tempt Holy Dragon [Pillar 31, E&I:A deck] ("Now I may discard cards with a total of at least five moons from my hand to attract one dragon."). Card Play: Locations and Status ------------------------------- Q: Where can my cards be? A: In the basic game, your cards are always in your draw deck, in your hand (note that this includes disclosed cards), in your discard pile (not leadership cards), in a pile on your leader card (leadership cards only), in your combat area (character and booster cards only) or in your support area (support cards only). With Allies and Emissaries, your cards can also be in your influence area (one Hyla card only) or in your achievement area (crystal cards only). With the Buka Invasion your cards can also be in your influence area (ships and cards loaded on ships only), or landed (ships and cards loaded on ships only); in addition face down character cards with the BLUFF icon can be in your support area. A card is never "in limbo" between these places. (Rulebook page 18, Special Rule 10: 'At all times during the game, your cards are either in your hand or on your side of the game board.'.) Q: When I discard a leadership card, where does it go? A: As indicated in the previous answer, on top of your leader. (Rulebook page 9, under Discarding Cards: 'When discarding leadership cards, these are always placed face up in one separate stack partially overlapping the leader card (on top of any previously played leadership cards). Leadership cards are never placed on the discard pile!'.) Q: Does the size of the support area on the game board limit the number of support cards that I can play? A: No, it does not. If you play more support cards than fit then you can overlap them, or use some other arrangement to fit them in. Q: Which information is open and closed in the game? A: All cards in play, including covered character cards and booster cards in both players' Combat Areas, and cards loaded on ships, are open, as is the top card on each discard pile and the top leadership card on each leader (if any). The numbers of cards in each player's hand and each player's draw deck is open. (See rulebook page 18, Special Rule 10.) Each player's hand is known only to the player (unless disclosed) as are cards taken into it (unless revealed by special power text) as are his bluff cards (the number is open, as is which is which - in case any was subject to a restriction when played). All cards which enter the discard pile, or are played or discarded onto a leader, do so openly. See rulebook page 18, Special Rule 10 and rulebook page 9, Discarding Cards, and also Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing: 'Whenever any of your bluff cards are discarded, including facedown ones when a fight ends, they are revealed to your opponent when placed onto the discard pile.'. (The discard pile is almost, but not quite, trackable information owing to cards such as leadership card Open Lucky Bag of Life [Khind 30] ("Now I shuffle my discard pile face down and may draw three cards from it into my hand."). The cards on your leader are trackable.) Card Play: Timing ----------------- Q: Does the order in which cards are played matter? A: While the cards are being played, yes, but once they have been successfully played, the order in which cards are played does not matter. In particular the interaction of the special power texts of active cards is not affected by the order in which they were played. Q: Can I play cards, or do anything else, in your turn? A: With the basic people decks: no. Your cards can each only be played in the appropriate phase of your turn, and you can also only take voluntary actions, such as using a RETRIEVE icon or using the ability of TopNotch [Khind 07] ("On my turn, I may discard one of your active booster/support cards."), on your turn. The only things you do in my turn are in response to my actions, such as that of Bashdin [Terrah 15, Flit deck] ("Now I may force you to discard two cards from your hand."). With Emissaries and Inquisitors you can play interference cards in my turn, see section 'About the New Rules in Emissaries and Inquisitors', under main section 'Emissaries and Inquisitors'. With the Buka Invasion you can call my bluff in my turn, see section 'About the New Rules in the Buka Invasion', under main section 'Buka Invasion'. Q: If I have active Shaman of the Deeds to Come [Mimix 19] ("At the end of my turn, I may draw (up to) three additional cards and then shuffle any two cards from my hand into my draw deck.") and support card Oath of Khindship [Khind 28] ("At the end of my turn, I may draw one additional card.") can I choose the order in which I play these effects? A: Yes, you can. There is no specific rule stating this, however rulebook page 17, under Special Rule 2: 'The original player of a card always determines how the card is applied.', suggests this, although as written in a narrower sense. This is also consistent with the answer to the previous question, which indicates that a choice made in your turn must be made by you. Q: If you have active support card Irresistible Sirens [Aqua 28] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard one character card from your hand, or I attract 1 (additional) dragon - even if you retreat.") can I discard to prevent you attracting a dragon before my turn? A: Based on the last but one answer, no, you cannot. Q: When can I discard a card to satisfy the requirement of your booster card Caterpillar Fireeater [Pillar 16] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard cards with a total printed value of at least 3 Fire from your hand, or retreat.")? A: As indicated in the last but two answer, you must do this in your turn. You can do it in your Beginning of Turn phase, Leadership phase, Retreat from Fight? phase, Character phase or Booster/Support phase. You can do it before, between, or after actions in those phases, for example after retrieving a card and before landing a ship (both of which are done in the Beginning of Turn phase). You cannot do it "within" another action (even one divided into separate steps) nor can you use this to prevent me responding to any of your actions with an interference card. Q: If I have an active Hank Highflyer Hawk [Flit 12, Hoax deck] ("Your character cards are ignored, except Flit character cards.") and then you play Ember [Vulca 16] ("You may not play character cards that do not have special power text."), can I then play a character with no special power text such as Wogarathoras the Gloomy? A: Yes, you can. Ember's text is ignored until Hank Highflyer Hawk is covered, and that happens only when Wogarathoras the Gloomy has already been played. Q: If playing more than one card of the same type (character, booster or support) using FREE, PAIR or GANG icons, or as permitted by some special power text, are the cards played all at once, or one by one? A: One by one. The easiest way to see this is that special power text is read and then applied when the card is played, and the rules do not cover trying to read and apply two items of text at the same time. Q: If you have active support card Impenetrable Fog [Terrah 26] ("Your icons are ignored, except STOP and PROTECTED."), can I play TopNotch [Khind 07] ("On my turn, I may discard one of your active booster/support cards."), discard the Impenetrable Fog, and then, having restored TopNotch's GANG icon, add another character card in the "Top" gang? A: Based on the previous answer, yes you can. Q: When I play more than one card of the same type in a turn, does it matter which order I play them in of those which are possible? A: Generally, no. However there is a case where it matters using Emissaries and Inquisitors, where I might play interference card Shame on you! [Inter 402, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card when you play your first character card on your turn: Your card is cancelled and discarded. You must play a replacement or retreat."). For this reason you might want to consider playing your less important character card first. Q: If I play Shaman of the Deeds to Come [Mimix 19] ("At the end of my turn, I may draw (up to) three additional cards and then shuffle any two cards from my hand into my draw deck."), can I reshuffle any of the cards I drew back into my draw deck? A: Yes, you can. The word "then" means that you finish the part of the text before it before starting the part after it. Drawing the cards, applying the first part of the text, includes putting them into your hand, from where they can be reshuffled into your draw deck, applying the second part of the text. Q: If you play Baku But [Terrah 14] ("On your turn, you must play a booster card, or retreat.") when do I check this condition? What happens if I fail to meet it? A: Baku But's condition can be checked at the last point in the turn after which you cannot satisfy the condition, at the end of your Booster/Support phase. If Baku But's condition is not satisfied then you must backtrack to your Retreat from Fight? phase, similarly to failing to match my total power, with the same constraints, as defined by rulebook page 18, under Special Rule 11. Note that this means that you cannot play, or discard, any cards before retreating. Q: If I play a Chosen One (from Emissaries and Inquisitors) who takes the action first? Can this player win if he has already attracted three dragons and the card played is leadership card Chosen of Discovery [Pillar 32, E&I:B deck] ("Now we both may discard cards with a total printed value at least 2 Fire and 2 Earth (on different cards) from our hands to attract one dragon.")? A: If you play a Chosen One then I take the action first (E&I rulesheet, under Chosen Ones: 'When you play a Chosen One, your opponent always implements the effects first.'). And yes, if I have already attracted three dragons and perform the necessary discard, then I win the game before you get a chance to attract a dragon (rulebook page 10, under Game End: 'A player wins the game instantly if he has all three dragons on his side and then attracts further dragons.'). Card Play: Backtracking ----------------------- Q: The only way I can avoid having to retreat is to play a particular character card, and I suspect that you have interference card Shame on you! [Inter 402, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card when you play your first character card on your turn: Your card is cancelled and discarded. You must play a replacement or retreat.") in your hand and will play it. So instead I play a different character card, and if you cancel it I will play the character card I need to play and continue the fight. If you do not cancel it then I will continue to my Announce Power phase, be unable to match your total power, backtrack to my Retreat from Fight? phase and play the needed character card. It seems that there is no penalty for doing this since, from the only relevant rule (rulebook page 18, Special Rule 11) 'no cards have been drawn or revealed'. Is this a clever bluff of mine, or am I cheating (I did it deliberately). If I am cheating, how can I be penalised? A: You are cheating. Rulebook page 7, under Retreat from Fight: 'When you cannot or do not want to continue the current fight you announce your retreat.'. While you could argue that you are able to continue the fight, it is only by playing the "right" character card, and the spirit of this rule does not allow you to continue in such a way that you will have to retreat. As for a penalty, the only one available is that in Special Rule 11. While the rules do not strictly cover this case, it can be argued that you have "revealed" information about my hand and play, and hence you should be subject to the rule. See also the following question. Q: When should I apply the previous answer? A: This is a very strict interpretation of the rules, completely removing your allowance to make an honest error and backtrack. As such, this penalty should be applied in full only in the strictest of cases, such as a tournament. In a friendly game you should allow backtracking. This case can also only occur when using Emissaries and Inquisitors, and should only be applied then. However for consistency it should then be applied at all times, even when you know for other reasons that I cannot have Shame on you! in my hand. See also question "I have attracted three dragons ..." in section 'End of Game'. Note that the second edition rules adopt this approach. Card Play: Cards in Hand ------------------------ Q: Are the characteristics of my cards in hand relevant? A: Usually the characteristics of your cards in hand are not relevant, as they have no effect until after they are played. There are however four cases where cards can have an effect before they are played. The first is that of discarding cards to attract a dragon, for example using leadership card Charm Holy Dragon [Vulca 29] ("Now I may discard cards with a total printed value of at least 8 Fire from my hand to attract one dragon."). The second is that of discarding cards to avoid having to retreat, for example if I have active booster card Caterpillar Fireeater [Pillar 16] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard cards with a total printed value of at least 3 Fire from your hand, or retreat."). The third is that a limited number of cards have special power text which is effective while the card is still in your hand, see question "When is special power text first effective?" in section 'Special Power Texts: General Rules'. The fourth is that the FREE, PAIR and GANG icons are checked while in your hand to see whether and how the cards can be played (see question "When is the FREE icon on a character, booster or support card checked?" in section 'Icons: FREE'), the REPLACE icon in the Emissaries and Inquisitors decks is used from your hand (see section 'Icons: REPLACE'), and the BLUFF icons in the Buka Invasion deck (see section 'Bluffing: General Rules' and following) are checked while in your hand to see if cards can be played as bluff cards (as well as being checked when in play when your bluff is called). Q: Can effects be applied to my cards in hand? A: Where your cards in hand have no effect, effects which could apply to them are not relevant. This leaves only the four cases identified in the previous answer. Because in these cases your cards can be effective while they are in your hand, they can also be affected while they are in your hand. In general, characteristics of cards can always be affected by any effects, except where these are qualified by applying only to active cards or cards in particular areas. There is otherwise no distinction between cards in hand, cards in play, and cards which are played to your leader card or to your discard pile. Q: Which effects can be applied to my cards in hand? A: Ignoring special power text, ignoring icons (in particular the FREE, PAIR, GANG and REPLACE icons), ignoring cards (and hence their values, icons and special power texts) and reducing cards' printed values (see section 'Values and Total Power: Printed Values'). Note that as the PROTECTED icon is effective only when active, it does not protect your cards in hand from these effects (rulebook page 15, under PROTECTED: 'When these cards are active in the combat or support areas, they are protected from any opposing effects.'). Finally note that none of these effects causes you to have to reveal any of your cards in hand, they only limit which cards you can play, in the same way that my declared total power limits which cards you can play. Q: If you have active CoolCop [Khind 02] ("The even printed values of your character cards reduce to 0."), can I discard character card Blaze [Vulca 06] (Fire value 4) and character card Spark [Vulca 08] (Fire value 4) to satisfy the requirements of leadership card Charm Holy Dragon [Vulca 29] ("Now I may discard cards with a total printed value of at least 8 Fire from my hand to attract one dragon.")? A: No, you cannot. Blaze's and Spark's printed values are reduced to 0 by CoolCop, so they cannot be used to satisfy the requirements of Charm Holy Dragon. Q: If you have active CoolCat [Khind 01] ("The odd printed values of your character cards reduce to 0.") and booster card Caterpillar Fireeater [Pillar 16] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard cards with a total printed value of at least 3 Fire from your hand, or retreat."), can I discard character card Shimmer [Vulca 12] (Fire value 3) to avoid retreating? A: No, you cannot. Shimmer's printed value is reduced to 0 by CoolCat, leaving it unable to satisfy the discard requirement. Q: If I have active support card Duplicator of Strength [Hoax 25] ("The Earth value of one of my character cards doubles."), can I discard character card Terraton [Terrah 07] (Earth value 4) to satisfy the requirements of leadership card Impress Holy Dragon [Terrah 30] ("Now I may discard cards with a total printed value of at least 8 Earth from my hand to attract one dragon.")? A: No, you cannot. Impress Holy Dragon uses printed values, not values (see section 'Values and Total Power: Printed Values') and Duplicator of Strength does not affect these. (Note that the distinction here between values and printed values is also the point of rulebook page 17, Special Rule 6.) Q: If you have active Mad Mike Magpie [Flit 13, Terrah deck] ("Your cards with icons are ignored, except Flit character cards and PROTECTED cards.") and booster card Caterpillar Eartheroder [Pillar 17, Terrah deck] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard cards with a total printed value of at least 3 Earth from your hand, or retreat."), can I discard Ciklarethas the Bitter [Hoax 05] (Earth value 3, RETRIEVE icon) to avoid retreating? A: No, you cannot. There's no restriction on Mad Mike Magpie applying only to active cards, so Ciklarethas the Bitter is ignored because it has an icon, and hence its printed value is ignored, and discarding it does not satisfy the requirement of Caterpillar Eartheroder. Values and Total Power: General Rules ------------------------------------- Q: What is the difference between value and power? A: A value applies to a single card. All character cards, and many booster cards and support cards (and in the Emissaries and Inquisitors decks, some Hyla) have values in fire and earth. Your power, or more correctly total power, is the sum of the values in the selected element of all of your active cards. Note that some special power texts (a different use of the word power) modify values before they are summed, others modify total power after summation. Q: Does the special power text of mutant Zig-nur-Don [Mutant 106, Vulca deck] ("I may only play this card if I am attacked by at least 5 Earth. The contested element of the fight changes to Fire.") mean "5 total power with contested element earth" when it says "5 Earth"? A: Yes. Q: If I play Demegodas the Odd [Hoax 12] (Earth value 2, "The values of my support cards double.") and support card Duplicator of Strength [Hoax 25] ("The Earth value of one of my character cards doubles."), and each is applied to the other, then do I quadruple Demegodas the Odd's earth value, for a total power of 8? A: No, you do not. Demegodas the Odd doubles the Duplicator of Strength's values, not its effect. Values are numbers (rulebook page 5, The Cards) and the Duplicator of Strength's earth value is 0, and it is that which Demegodas the Odd doubles. Duplicator of Strength's text is unchanged, and it doubles (not quadruples) Demegodas the Odd's earth value, for a total power of 4. Q: What if in the previous question I also have active booster card Potion of Prodigious Passion [Pillar 26, Hoax deck] ("The values of one of my character cards increase to 5.")? A: The same line of reasoning shows that the character card's value is only doubled, but first it is increased to 5, and then doubled, for a total power of 10. (Rulebook page 18, under Special Rule 7: 'If there is more than one instruction influencing the fire or earth values of other cards, first apply all increasing instructions in the order that maximizes the values.'.) Note that even if you want to apply them in another order you cannot. Q: Do I always have to maximise my total power? A: In some circumstances you do, such as those covered by rulebook page 18, under Special Rule 7: 'If there is more than one instruction influencing the fire or earth values of other cards, first apply all increasing instructions in the order that maximizes the values.' (see previous question). However, in general you do not. For example, if you have active support card Duplicator of Strength [Hoax 25] ("The Earth value of one of my character cards doubles."), you can choose which character card's earth value to double, even if this does not maximise your total power. (Rulebook page 17, under Special Rule 2: 'If you apply the instruction on one of your cards to an active card and this active card is influenced or discarded by your opponent, then you may apply the instruction to a different active card. The original player of a card always determines how the card is applied.'.) Note that Special Rule 7 does not apply in this case because it refers to more than one instruction, while in this case there is only one instruction. Q: Can I double my values more than once, for example if I have active booster card Titanic Gauntlets [Vulca 22, Flit deck] ("The Earth value of one of my character cards doubles.") and support card Duplicator of Strength [Hoax 25] ("The Earth value of one of my character cards doubles.")? A: Yes, you can. Rulebook page 18, under Special Rule 7: 'If there is more than one instruction influencing the fire or earth values of other cards, first apply all increasing instructions in the order that maximizes the values.'. Values and Total Power: Printed Values -------------------------------------- Q: What is a printed value? A: A printed value is normally the value physically printed on a card (fire or earth). A card's value starts equal to its printed value but may be modified. Effects that apply to values do not usually affect a card's printed value, so for example booster card Volcanic Gauntlets [Vulca 21] ("The Fire value of one of my character cards doubles.") increases the fire value of character card Blaze [Vulca 06] (Fire value 4) to 8, but its printed fire value remains 4. However see the next question. Q: Are there any effects that modify the printed value of a card? A: Yes, there are. CoolCat [Khind 01] ("The odd printed values of your character cards reduce to 0."), CoolCop [Khind 02] ("The even printed values of your character cards reduce to 0."), CoolKid [Khind 03] ("The odd printed values of your booster/support cards reduce to 0.") and CoolCub [Khind 04] ("The even printed values of your booster/support cards reduce to 0.") affect printed values. For example if you have active CoolCop and I have active character card Blaze [Vulca 06] (Fire value 4) then the latter's printed value, and hence also its value, is 0. These four cards are the only ones that alter printed values, however in addition printed values have no effect when the card they are on is ignored. Q: If you have active CoolCat [Khind 01] ("The odd printed values of your character cards reduce to 0.") and support card Cloying Mud [Terrah 25] ("You may not play character cards that have a printed value higher than 4."), can I play Flamebreath the Dazzling [Vulca 01] (Fire value 7)? A: Yes, you can. Flamebreath the Dazzling's printed value is reduced to 0 by CoolCat, and hence it can be played. Values and Total Power: Calculations ------------------------------------ Q: If I have active Glimmer [Vulca 13] (Earth value 3), Earthwater [Aqua 20, Flit deck] ("My total power in Earth increases to 7.") and Tome of Wisdom [Hoax 20] (Earth value 3), what is my total power? What if I replace Glimmer by Heroine of the Great Plains [Mimix 06, Vulca deck] (Earth value 5)? A: 7, and 8. The key point is that Earthwater applies to total power, so it happens last. First you add the cards' values, getting 6 or 8 in the two cases. In the first case Earthwater increases your total power to 7. In the second case Earthwater does not reduce your total power, it stays at 8. (Rulebook page 18, under Special Rule 7: 'If there is more than one instruction influencing the fire or earth values of other cards, first apply all increasing instructions in the order that maximizes the values, then apply the decreasing instructions in the order that minimizes the values.' makes it clear that increasing and reducing are separate effects. Note that because Earthwater refers to total power, this rule does not make it happen first.) Q: If you have active CoolCat [Khind 01] ("The odd printed values of your character cards reduce to 0."), the contested element is fire, and I play Speedius Unnecessarius [Pillar 06] (Fire value 3, Earth value 4) and booster card Potion of Prodigious Passion [Pillar 26, Hoax deck] ("The values of one of my character cards increase to 5."), what is my total power? A: 5. Note that although usually cards which increase total power would be applied first (rulebook page 18, under Special Rule 7: 'If there is more than one instruction influencing the fire or earth values of other cards, first apply all increasing instructions in the order that maximizes the values, then apply the decreasing instructions in the order that minimizes the values.'), cards which apply to printed value have to be applied first, as after cards which affect total power are applied, this is no longer printed value. So CoolCat is applied first, then Potion of Prodigious Passion, resulting in a total power of 5. Q: As the previous question, but replace Potion of Prodigious Passion by booster card Potion of Cosmic Power [Pillar 21] ("The values of one of my character cards double.") A: 0. First apply CoolCat, reducing printed fire value, and hence total power, to 0, then apply Potion of Cosmic Power, doubling total power to 0. Q: As the previous two questions, but using booster card Potion of Conjoining [Pillar 22] ("The values of one of my character cards increase to the sum of its printed Fire value + its printed Earth value."). A: 4. First apply CoolCat, reducing printed fire value to 0 and leaving printed earth value at 4, then apply Potion of Conjoining to give 4 total power. Note that if CoolCat is replaced by CoolCop [Khind 02] ("The even printed values of your character cards reduce to 0.") then the result is 3, while if both CoolCat and CoolCop are active then the result is 0. Q: If I have active Gulpus Permanentus [Pillar 11] (Fire value 2, Earth value 2, "On my turn, I may play one additional booster card."), booster card Potion of Sparkling Fire [Pillar 24] ("The Fire value of one of my character cards increases to 6.") and booster card Potion of Conjoining [Pillar 22] ("The values of one of my character cards increase to the sum of its printed Fire value + its printed Earth value."), what is my total power? A: 6 if the contested element is fire, or 4 if the contested element is earth. To determine this, you can consider applying the two booster cards in either order; in this example it produces the same total power. (If one order produced a greater total power in the contested element then that order would be used.) Applying Potion of Conjoining first increases Gulpus Permanentus's values to 4 fire and 4 earth, and then applying Potion of Sparkling Fire increases Gulpus Permanentus's values to 6 fire and 4 earth. Applying Potion of Sparkling Fire first increases Gulpus Permanentus's values to 6 fire and 2 earth, but its printed values remain 2 fire and 2 earth, so that then applying Potion of Conjoining increases Gulpus Permanentus 's values to 4 fire and 4 earth, but an increase never reduces a value, so Gulpus Permanentus's values in this case are again 6 fire and 4 earth. As there are no other active cards, your total power is equal to Gulpus Permanentus's appropriate value. Q: If I have active Electric Eel [Aqua 05] (Fire value 4, Earth value 0, PROTECTED icon), Sun Setting [Mimix 22] (Fire value 2, Earth value 1, FREE icon), Moon Rising [Mimix 23] (Fire value 1, Earth value 2, FREE icon) and support card Water of Conjoining [Aqua 27, E&I:A deck] ("The values of each of my character cards increase to the higher of their printed Fire value or their printed Earth value."), and you have active CoolCop [Khind 02] ("The even printed values of your character cards reduce to 0."), what is my total power? A: 6 (regardless of whether the contested element is fire or earth). First CoolCop has no effect on Electric Eel due to its PROTECTED icon. (Rulebook page 15, under PROTECTED: 'When these cards are active in the combat or support areas, they are protected from any opposing effects. The cards cannot be ignored or discarded by the opponent, and their values cannot be reduced by the opponent.'.) So its printed values (fire/earth) remain 4/0. However this does not apply to Sun Setting or Moon Rising, whose printed values are reduced to 0/1 and 1/0, respectively, by CoolCop. Now Water of Conjoining (which acts on printed values, but produces values) increases these three cards' values to 4/4, 1/1 and 1/1, respectively, and your total power is 6. Values and Total Power: Announce Power -------------------------------------- Q: What total power do I need to achieve in my Announce Power phase? A: You need to achieve (equal or exceed) my current total power at that time (and at no other time). The total power I announced in my Announce Power phase is only relevant if it is still my current total power. Earlier values of your total power are not relevant. (Rulebook page 8, under Announce Power: 'The total power you announce on your turn must at least equal that of your opponent at this time. This is usually the total power announced previously by your opponent, but may have been altered as a consequence of your card play.'.) See also question "What is the effect of a shield?" in section 'Icons: Shields'. Q: If the contested element is fire and you have active Glimmer [Vulca 13] (Fire value 2) and booster card Elemental Enchantment [Vulca 20] ("My total power increases to 6."), and then I play leadership card Enthrall Opposition [Hoax 28] ("On this turn, your special power texts are ignored. (This card has no effect if opposed by Tittertweet or Laughing Gas.)"), what total power do I need to achieve? A: 2. I declared a total power of 6, but you reduced it to 2 by playing Enthrall Opposition, and, based on the previous answer, that is all you need to achieve. Q: If I have active Tittertweet [Flit 07] (Earth value 2, RETRIEVE icon, "Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards."), and you have active Helkomedes the Rhetorician [Hoax 09] (Earth value 3) and Duplicator of Strength [Hoax 25] ("The Earth value of one of my character cards doubles."), and announce a total power of 3, and then I retrieve Tittertweet to my hand, what total power do I need to achieve? A: 6. As the previous question, you need to achieve my current total power, which increased to 6 when you retrieved Tittertweet, as Duplicator of Strength is no longer ignored, even though this is higher that the total power I announced. (Note that you can reduce this to 3 by playing Tittertweet again.) Q: If I play leadership card Provoke Earthquake [Terrah 29] ("Now I may discard all cards from your combat area, except active PROTECTED cards."), what total power do I have to achieve? A: As the previous two questions, you have to achieve the total power, in the contested element, of my remaining cards. This will usually only be support cards, although with Emissaries and Inquisitors this may also possibly include Hyla cards. (Note that the values of my support cards, and Hyla cards, are used even if I have no active character card.) Q: If the contested element is earth and you have active Penemikanas the Paranoid [Hoax 07] (Value 2) and support card Tome of Wisdom [Hoax 20] (Value 3), with total power 6, and I play leadership card Cast Cataclysm [Vulca 30] ("Now I may discard all of your active support cards."), and discard your Tome of Wisdom, can I now play mutant Zig-nur-Don [Mutant 106, Vulca deck] ("I may only play this card if I am attacked by at least 5 Earth. The contested element of the fight changes to Fire.")? A: No, you cannot. Although you were attacked by a total power of at least 5, you reduced this to 3, and it is the current total power that applies, as for the previous three questions. Q: If you have active Hyla Tronknor [Infl 602, E&I:A deck] (Earth value 2) at the beginning of a fight, can I start the fight with NoRespect [Khind 22] (Earth value 1) with selected element earth? A: No, you cannot. As the previous four questions you have to achieve my current total power, regardless of my previous announcement (or that I have not made an announcement, as here) and I have a total power of 2 which you need to match. Icons: Shields -------------- Q: Are shields icons? And why does it matter? A: Shields are icons. This has been officially confirmed by the designer and the publisher. The answer is not clear from the English rulebook, but the German rulebook clearly makes shields icons, so in order to keep things consistent the German rule has been adopted. It can matter in a few cases, one being if opposing Mad Mike Magpie [Flit 13, Terrah deck] ("Your cards with icons are ignored, except Flit character cards and PROTECTED cards.") which results in your cards with shields being ignored. (The second edition rulebook is clear on this point.) Q: What is the effect of a shield? A: The effect of your having an active character card or booster card with a shield in the contested element is that you do not have to match (equal or exceed) my total power in your Announce Power phase, thus leaving you with no condition to check in that phase, and hence no possible need to backtrack. (Rulebook page 14, under SHIELD: 'You do not have to match your opponent's total power when announcing your power.'.) A shield on an inactive card, or in the other element, has no effect. Q: Does my shield reduce your total power to 0? A: No, shields do not reduce total power, they have only the effect described in the previous answer. Q: Rulebook page 13 shows (at the top of the page) the total power going from 5 to 3 after a shield is played. Does this mean my shield has some sort of effect on values played after it? A: No, it does not. What you have missed is that the character card played is Hank Highflyer Hawk [Flit 12, Hoax deck] ("Your character cards are ignored, except Flit character cards.") whose special power text has the effect of ignoring mutant Zig-nur-Don [Mutant 106, Vulca deck] ("I may only play this card if I am attacked by at least 5 Earth. The contested element of the fight changes to Fire."), thus reducing the required power. Shields have no effect on character cards, or any other cards, played after them, or before them. They just allow you to ignore my total power as described in the last but one answer. Q: If I play Wild Unicorn [Mimix 15, Pillar deck] (PAIR icon) and Wild Gazelle [Mimix 13] (Value 3, PAIR icon), do I get the benefit of the shield even though it is only on one of my character cards? A: Yes, you do. Note that this also applies to other combinations, such as when using booster cards or FREE character cards, and regardless of the order in which character cards are played. All that is necessary is for one of your active character cards or booster cards to have a shield in the contested element in your Announce Power phase. Icons: STOP ----------- Q: How do I play Shaman of the Here and Now [Mimix 20] ("Immediately after my Booster/Support phase, I search through my draw deck and may select one card, reveal it to you, and take it into my hand. Then I reshuffle.") or Shaman of the Afterlife [Mimix 21] ("Immediately after my Booster/Support phase, I shuffle my discard pile face down and may draw two cards from it into my hand.") when, since each has a STOP icon, I skip my Booster/Support phase? A: Rulebook page 14, under STOP: 'Playing a card with a STOP icon prevents you from playing any further cards during your turn. Your turn continues with the announcement of your total power that must at least match your opponent's power.'. The first sentence is the rule. The second sentence (in bold italics) is a summary of what usually happens. However the specific cards being discussed here supersede that. (Rulebook page 17, under Special Rules, first point: 'Instructions on the cards supersede these game rules.'.) So in this case you do not skip your Booster/Support phase, and gain the indicated cards before announcing your total power. You still cannot play any cards after the STOP icon. Q: If I play leadership card Trigger Brainstorm [Hoax 29] ("On this turn, I may play any number of support cards.") and then a character card with a STOP icon, does Trigger Brainstorm allow me to play support cards, despite the STOP icon? A: Yes, it does. Rulebook page 17, under Special Rules, first point: 'Instructions on the cards supersede these game rules.'. So because the STOP icon is a game rule (rulebook page 14, under STOP: 'Playing a card with a STOP icon prevents you from playing any further cards during your turn.'), the special power text on Trigger Brainstorm supersedes it. Q: If I play a character card with a STOP icon, and then on my next turn play character card KhindKin [Khind 23, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card into my combat area without pushing the previously active cards under it.") is the STOP icon effective again? A: No, it is not. Rulebook page 14, under STOP: 'Playing a card with a STOP icon prevents you from playing any further cards during your turn.'. This indicates that the STOP icon applies only when the card is played, it is not effective just because the card remains active. Note that if you used leadership card Bounce Back [Khind 31, Pillar deck] (STOP icon, "My active cards attack again.") rather than KhindKin then the STOP icon of the original character card is no longer effective, but the STOP icon of Bounce Back is effective. Icons: RETRIEVE --------------- Q: Can I retrieve more than one card with the RETRIEVE icon at the start of my turn? A: Yes, you can. Rulebook page 15, under RETRIEVE: 'If you have active cards depicting the RETRIEVE icon at the very beginning of your turn, you may return any of these cards into your undisclosed hand. - You may keep these cards in your hand or replay them this turn.'. Q: If we both have active character cards with the RETRIEVE icon, do they each block the other character card from being retrieved? A: Whether your RETRIEVE icon is blocked matters only when it is the start of your turn and you are due to use it. Thus if you play your character with a RETRIEVE icon first, then I play mine, you will not be able to retrieve your character. But then, unless you retreat, you must play a character card which will cover your character card with the RETRIEVE icon. If this new character card does not have the RETRIEVE icon then I will be able to RETRIEVE my character card in my turn. Q: If I have an active character card with a RETRIEVE icon and an active booster card without a RETRIEVE icon on top of it, can I retrieve the character card? A: Yes, you can. Rulebook page 15, under RETRIEVE: 'If you have active cards depicting the RETRIEVE icon at the very beginning of your turn, you may return any of these cards into your undisclosed hand.' and rulebook page 7, under CHARACTER: 'Only the most recent character cards played into your combat area are active until they are covered by new character cards on your subsequent turn.' and under BOOSTER: 'You may play a booster card from your hand face up into your combat area on top of your character cards, partially overlapping the last character card so that all values, icons and special power texts are visible.'. Q: If I play Wing Commander Razorfeather [Flit 01] (RETRIEVE icon), and you play cards including booster card Battling Boomerang [Hoax 19] (RETRIEVE icon), can I retrieve Wing Commander Razorfeather on my next turn? A: Yes, you can. Rulebook page 15, under RETRIEVE: 'If your opponent's combat area contains active character cards depicting the RETRIEVE icon then you may not apply the RETRIEVE function depicted on your character cards.' indicates that only character cards are effective in blocking RETRIEVE, and only of character cards, so that if you retrieve Wing Commander Razorfeather and re-play it, I can retrieve Battling Boomerang in my turn. Q: If I play Captain Ariosa Paal [Buka 03] (RETRIEVE icon) and Ciklarethas the Bitter [Hoax 05] (RETRIEVE icon) from a ship, and then you play a character card with a RETRIEVE icon, can I retrieve either of my character cards? A: No, you cannot. Rulebook page 15, under RETRIEVE: 'If your opponent's combat area contains active character cards depicting the RETRIEVE icon then you may not apply the RETRIEVE function depicted on your character cards.' refers to character cards. Q: If you have active Wing Commander Razorfeather [Flit 01] (RETRIEVE icon), and I have active Ciklarethas the Bitter [Hoax 05] (RETRIEVE icon) and support card Impenetrable Fog [Terrah 26] ("Your icons are ignored, except STOP and PROTECTED."), can I retrieve Ciklarethas the Bitter? A: No, you cannot. Rulebook page 15, under RETRIEVE: 'If your opponent's combat area contains active character cards depicting the RETRIEVE icon then you may not apply the RETRIEVE function depicted on your character cards.'. This specifies only that a blocking character card must depict the RETRIEVE icon, which Wing Commander Razorfeather does. Furthermore even though this RETRIEVE icon is ignored and cannot be used (I could not have retrieved Wing Commander Razorfeather in my turn) it is still present (see question "What is the effect of something being ignored?" in section 'Special Power Texts: Ignored (General Rules)') and hence blocks your retrieval. Q: If I have an active card with a RETRIEVE icon when you retreat and the fight ends, do I get to retrieve it? A: No, you do not. You can only retrieve a card at the start of your turn, so you cannot retrieve it. Icons: PROTECTED ---------------- Q: How should the phrase "PROTECTED cards" be interpreted on cards such as Mad Mike Magpie [Flit 13, Terrah deck] ("Your cards with icons are ignored, except Flit character cards and PROTECTED cards.")? A: As "cards with a PROTECTED icon which is not ignored". (Note that the German uses the equivalent of the phrase "cards with a PROTECTED icon" rather than "PROTECTED cards".) Normally this interpretation only matters for active cards, as the PROTECTED icon is usually only effective for such cards (rulebook page 15, under PROTECTED: 'When these cards are active in the combat or support areas, they are protected from any opposing effects.'), but the PROTECTED icon can also be relevant in some cases involving cards discarded using the REPLACE icon (see section 'Icons: REPLACE'). Q: If you have active support card Pandemonium [Khind 26, Vulca deck] ("You may not play support cards."), can I play support card Ravenous Razorjaw [Aqua 23] (PROTECTED icon)? A: No, you cannot. As noted in the previous answer, the PROTECTED icon is not effective until the card with it on is active, and hence Ravenous Razorjaw cannot be played. Q: Some cards explicitly mention the PROTECTED icon, but most do not. Does the PROTECTED icon protect against cards that do not mention it? A: Yes, it does. The rules on PROTECTED (see rulebook page 15) are written in general terms. The specific mentions of PROTECTED on cards are for clarity, and are used in two cases: on cards which affect "all" cards of some description, and cards which mention icons. There are two exceptions to the first of these: leadership card Cast Cataclysm [Vulca 30] ("Now I may discard all of your active support cards.") and, with the Buka Invasion, Lookout Dolora Paal [Buka 22] ("Now I may discard all of your active booster cards or all of your active support cards."). There is one exception to the latter: Mekarthas the Shrewd [Hoax 16, Aqua deck] ("Your icons are ignored, except STOP.") respectively. See the next two questions. Q: If one or more of my active cards have the PROTECTED icon and you play leadership card Cast Cataclysm [Vulca 30] ("Now I may discard all of your active support cards."), are they discarded? A: No, they are not. Cast Cataclysm's special power text does not provide any reason to override the general rule for cards with the PROTECTED icon. (Rulebook page 15, under PROTECTED: 'The cards cannot be ignored or discarded by the opponent, and their values cannot be reduced by the opponent.'.) The same applies to Lookout Dolora Paal [Buka 22] ("Now I may discard all of your active booster cards or all of your active support cards."). Q: If I have active support card Ravenous Razorjaw [Aqua 23] (PROTECTED icon), and you have active Mekarthas the Shrewd [Hoax 16, Aqua deck] ("Your icons are ignored, except STOP."), and then play leadership card Cast Cataclysm [Vulca 30] ("Now I may discard all of your active support cards."), is my Ravenous Razorjaw discarded? Is there any difference if you play leadership card Provoke Earthquake [Terrah 29] ("Now I may discard all cards from your combat area, except active PROTECTED cards.") rather than Cast Cataclysm? A: First, Mekarthas the Shrewd ignores the PROTECTED icon. This is because it explicitly applies to icons (and even explicitly only excludes the STOP icon) and rulebook page 17, under Special Rules, first point: 'Instructions on the cards supersede these game rules.' applies. Thus once the PROTECTED icon is ignored, Cast Cataclysm can discard these cards. The same applies with Provoke Earthquake, owing to the interpretation of the phrase "PROTECTED cards" in question "How should the phrase "PROTECTED cards" be interpreted ... ?". Icons: FREE ----------- Q: How should the phrase "FREE card" be interpreted on cards such as mutant Man-shu-Ran [Mutant 110, E&I:A deck] ("I may only play this card if you have an active FREE card. The contested element of the fight changes between Fire and Earth.") A: As "card with a FREE icon which is not ignored". See question "How should the phrase "PROTECTED cards" be interpreted ... ?" in section 'Icons: PROTECTED'. (Note that in this case it is only active FREE cards that are relevant, but only because that is explicitly said.) Q: What's the point of FREE cards? A: FREE cards played this turn are active, so they add to your total power. Rulebook page 8, under Announce Power: 'When you announce your power, always state your total power in the respective element that results from all your active cards'. FREE cards are also good for getting up to a total of six cards in your combat and support areas more quickly. Q: When is the FREE icon on a character, booster or support card checked? A: When the card is in hand, just before it is played. As noted in question "Where can my cards be?", in section 'Card Play: Locations and Status', a card goes directly from being in hand to in play. You cannot check the FREE icon on a card after it is in play, because you may not be able to play the card if it does not have a FREE icon, for example if it is the second card of that type that you have played this turn. Q: If you have active Mekarthas the Shrewd [Hoax 16, Aqua deck] ("Your icons are ignored, except STOP."), and I have active Tittertweet [Flit 07] ("Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards."), can I play two character cards, one with a FREE icon? A: Yes, you can, as long as you play the card with the FREE icon first. Based on the previous answer, its FREE icon is checked while in hand, while Tittertweet is still uncovered and active, so that the special power text on Mekarthas the Shrewd is ignored, and hence the FREE icon is not ignored. Thus that card does not count towards your one character card this turn, and you can play a second character card. However once you have played your first character card, Tittertweet is covered and no longer active, hence the special power text on Mekarthas the Shrewd means that any FREE icon on your second character card is ignored, and hence if your first character card did not have a FREE icon, you cannot play your second character card. Q: Can I play a FREE character card together with a STOP character card? A: Yes, you can, but you have to play the FREE character card first because the FREE icon only means that the card does not count towards the character card limit, it does not allow the card to be played when prohibited. (Rulebook page 15, under FREE: 'Cards depicting the FREE icon do not count towards your limit of one character card and either one booster or one support card expressed in the rules.'.) Q: Can I play a FREE character card and two matching PAIR character cards? A: Yes, you can. Rulebook page 15, under FREE: 'Cards depicting the FREE icon do not count towards your limit of one character card'. Rulebook page 16, under PAIR: 'If you have two character cards in your hand with identical first words in their names and both depicting the PAIR icon, you may play the pair together instead of a single character card.'. So you can play any number of FREE character cards, plus two matching PAIR character cards, all without breaking the usual one character card limit. Q: How can I play FREE character cards and character cards with the same GANG icon together? A: You can start with one or more FREE character cards. All previously played cards in your combat area are covered. You can then play a single character card with a GANG icon, and then you may add one or more additional FREE character cards. Alternatively you can start with any number of character cards with the same GANG icon. If all active cards in your combat area are character cards with a matching GANG icon then you may keep them active, otherwise you must cover all of them. You may then add one or more FREE character cards. (Rulebook page 16, under GANG: 'If you already played one or more character cards of the same gang on your previous turns, and there are no other active cards in your combat area (character cards not belonging to the gang or booster cards), then at the beginning of the CHARACTER phase of your subsequent turn you can add one or more character cards of the same gang from your hand without pushing the other cards under it.'.) Q: If I have active Mekarthas the Shrewd [Hoax 16, Aqua deck] ("Your icons are ignored, except STOP.") and play leadership card Rout Retainers [Hoax 30, E&I:A deck] ("Now I may discard your active FREE cards.") do I discard any of your cards? A: No, you do not. As noted in question "How should the phrase "FREE card" be interpreted ... ?", the phrase "FREE cards" is interpreted as "cards with a FREE icon which is not ignored" and I do not have any such cards since my FREE icons are ignored. Q: If I play Yang [Aqua 12] ("The next character/booster/support card I play on this turn is treated as if it had the FREE icon."), how long does the added FREE icon last? A: The FREE icon is effective only when the affected card is played, and the added FREE icon only lasts this long. Rulebook page 15, under FREE: 'Cards depicting the FREE icon do not count towards your limit of one character card and either one booster or one support card expressed in the rules.'. Thus for example the card played after Yang is not subject to leadership card Rout Retainers [Hoax 30, E&I:A deck] ("Now I may discard your active FREE cards."), as it has no FREE icon once played (unless it also has a printed FREE icon). With the Buka Invasion, this applies also to Buka character cards landed from a ship and Buka "B.P." character cards, such as B.P. Unity [Buka 13] ("If you have a total of at least six cards in your combat and support areas, I may play this card as if it had the FREE icon."). (See also Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Notes: 'The B.P. (Brotherhood of Pirates) character cards, once they are in play, regardless of how they were played and regardless of whether the condition on them is satisfied or not, do not count as having the FREE icon.'.) Q: You have active Mad Mike Magpie [Flit 13, Terrah deck] ("Your cards with icons are ignored, except Flit character cards and PROTECTED cards."). If I play Yang [Aqua 12] ("The next character/booster/support card I play on this turn is treated as if it had the FREE icon.") and booster card Butterfly Scout [Pillar 27] ("Now you disclose your hand.") then do you disclose your hand? A: Yes, I do. The FREE icon added by Yang lasts only while the card it is added to is played, it does not last until the card's special power text is read and actioned, and hence Butterfly Scout no longer has a FREE icon when its special power text is actioned, and hence Mad Mike Magpie has no effect on it, and I must disclose my hand. Q: If you have active Mekarthas the Shrewd [Hoax 16, Aqua deck] ("Your icons are ignored, except STOP.") and I play Yang [Aqua 12] ("The next character/booster/support card I play on this turn is treated as if it had the FREE icon."), can I play a second character? A: No, you cannot. Although the FREE icon added by Yang lasts only while the second character card would be played, it is still necessary, but would be ignored by Mekarthas the Shrewd. Q: If I play Yang [Aqua 12] ("The next character/booster/support card I play on this turn is treated as if it had the FREE icon."), can I also play Young Bear [Mimix 16] (PAIR icon) and Young Fox [Mimix 17] (PAIR icon) together? A: Yes, you can. Yang allows you to play Young Bear as if it had the FREE icon, and hence not to count it against your limit of one character card. Then the PAIR icon on the two cards allows you to play Young Fox with it, also not counting against the limit. (Rulebook page 16, under PAIR: 'If you have two character cards in your hand with identical first words in their names and both depicting the PAIR icon, you may play the pair together instead of a single character card.'.) Q: If I play Yang [Aqua 12] ("The next character/booster/support card I play on this turn is treated as if it had the FREE icon."), can I also play FunFair [Khind 10] (GANG icon) and FunFlop [Khind 11] (GANG icon) together? A: No, you cannot. Yang allows you to play FunFair, with the FREE icon, but you cannot then play FunFlop, because its GANG icon is ineffective because of Yang, which does not have a matching GANG icon. Icons: PAIR ----------- Q: Can I play a PAIR character card one turn, and a matching PAIR character card the next turn? A: Yes, you can, but it is a separate character card and the first character card is covered. The PAIR icon is effective only when the two cards are played together. (Rulebook page 16, under PAIR: 'If you have two character cards in your hand with identical first words in their names and both depicting the PAIR icon, you may play the pair together instead of a single character card.'.) Q: Can I play Wild Gazelle [Mimix 13] (PAIR icon), Wild Antelope [Mimix 14] (PAIR icon) and Wild Unicorn [Mimix 15, Pillar deck] (PAIR icon) all together? A: No, you cannot. The PAIR icon only allows you to play two cards together, not more than two. Q: Do two matched PAIR character cards count as one card or two? In particular can I play two matched PAIR character cards when you have active support card Brain Drain [Hoax 26] ("On your turn, you may not play more than one card.")? A: Rulebook page 16, under PAIR: 'If you have two character cards in your hand with identical first words in their names, and both depicting the PAIR icon, you may play the pair together instead of a single character card.'. This indicates that the PAIR icon allows you to play two cards instead of one card, but no more, so that the two cards still count as such. Thus with my active Brain Drain you can only play one character card, you cannot play two character cards, even with the PAIR icon (or FREE or GANG icons). Q: If you have two matched PAIR cards, can I discard both of them if I play Cinder [Vulca 14] ("Now I may discard one of your active booster/support cards.")? A: No, you cannot, by the same reasoning as the previous answer. Icons: GANG ----------- Q: How many characters with a GANG icon can I play in the same turn? A: Any number, as long as they have matching GANG icon (or, equivalently, the same first word in the card name). The maximum is limited only by the number in your hand, and hence by the number in your deck (7 in a preconstructed deck, 8 with a constricted deck). Q: If I play a booster card or a FREE character card on top of a GANG character card, does it "interrupt" the gang, so that I cannot add more character cards with the same GANG icon? A: It prevents you adding to the gang, unless you can retrieve the interrupting card, or it is discarded. You can play more character cards from the same gang, but all your previous cards are covered. (Rulebook page 16, under GANG: 'If you already played one or more character cards of the same gang on your previous turns, and there are no other active cards in your combat area (character cards not belonging to the gang or booster cards), then at the beginning of the CHARACTER phase of your subsequent turn you can add one or more character cards of the same gang from your hand without pushing the other cards under it.'.) Q: If I play a character card with a GANG icon that has special power text, and then on my next turn I play another character card with the same GANG icon, overlapping the first character card, then is the special power text of the first character card still active? A: Yes, it is. Rulebook page 7, under CHARACTER: 'Only the most recent character cards played into your combat area are active until they are covered by new character cards on your subsequent turn.' and rulebook page 16, under GANG: 'If you already played one or more character cards of the same gang on your previous turns, and there are no other active cards in your combat area (character cards not belonging to the gang or booster cards), then at the beginning of the CHARACTER phase of your subsequent turn you can add one or more character cards of the same gang from your hand without pushing the other cards under it.' Thus the first character card remains active, and its text remains usable. Note that this means that you can use all the abilities of the Khind "Top" gang on every turn that you can add another character and keep them all active; see also question "Can I use the ability of TopDog ... or TopNotch ... ?" in section 'Special Power Texts: Khind Cards'. Q: If I have one or more active character cards with the GANG icon, and then on my next turn play KhindKin [Khind 23, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card into my combat area without pushing the previously active cards under it."), keeping the gang active, can I, on my next following turn, play leadership card Summon Sorcerer [Vulca 28] ("Now I may retrieve one of my active cards into my hand.") to retrieve KhindKin, then play another character card with the same GANG icon, keeping all previously played character cards with the same GANG icon active? A: Yes, you can. Rulebook page 16, under GANG: 'If you already played one or more character cards of the same gang on your previous turns, and there are no other active cards in your combat area (character cards not belonging to the gang or booster cards), then at the beginning of the CHARACTER phase of your subsequent turn you can add one or more character cards of the same gang from your hand without pushing the other cards under it.'. The later sentence 'To keep the gang active, you must add at least one more character card from the gang each turn.' should be interpreted as describing the usual case, to which KhindKin provides an exception; so does leadership card Bounce Back [Khind 31, Pillar deck] (STOP icon, "My active cards attack again."), but without the need to play Summon Sorcerer. (Note that you do need to retrieve KhindKin, for example using Summon Sorcerer, to play another character card with the GANG icon without pushing all earlier character cards under it, as KhindKin's special power text does not apply to the quoted rule.) Q: If I start a fight with NoClass [Khind 21] (Earth value 2, GANG icon), declaring a total power of 2 with contested element earth, then you play Glimmer [Vulca 13] (Earth value 3), declaring a total power of 3, and I know your last card in hand is mutant Zig-nur-Don [Mutant 106, Vulca deck] ("I may only play this card if I am attacked by at least 5 Earth. The contested element of the fight changes to Fire."), can I play NoStopping [Khind 16] (Earth value 3, GANG icon), without using its GANG icon, pushing NoClass under it, thus declaring a total power of 3, and preventing you from playing Zig-nur-Don? A: Yes, you can. Rulebook page 16 under GANG: 'If you already played one or more character cards of the same gang on your previous turns, and there are no other active cards in your combat area (character cards not belonging to the gang or booster cards), then at the beginning of the CHARACTER phase of your subsequent turn you can add one or more character cards of the same gang from your hand without pushing the other cards under it.'. This is an option, it is not compulsory. You can then continue the gang in the usual way if you choose. Icons: REPLACE -------------- Q: Can I discard a card with the REPLACE icon and choose not to draw a replacement? A: Yes, you can. E&I rulesheet, under Leadership Phase Cards and the REPLACE Icon: 'you may play one card depicting the REPLACE icon from your hand into your discard pile without effect, and you may then draw a replacement card from your draw deck.'. There are two separate options indicated by "may", discarding a card, and drawing a card. You can choose to do the first but choose not to do the second. Q: If you have active Bottelus Emptius [Pillar 15] ("You may not take further cards into your hand."), can I use the REPLACE icon on one of my cards? A: You can use the REPLACE icon to discard the card, but you cannot draw a replacement card. Q: Does using the REPLACE icon count as playing a card? In particular, if you have active support card Brain Drain [Hoax 26] ("On your turn, you may not play more than one card."), and I discard a card with a REPLACE icon in my Leadership phase, must I now retreat? A: No, it does not count as playing a card. Although the REPLACE rule uses the word "play", the card does not count as played, as it does not satisfy the rules for playing cards. Rulebook page 17, under Special Rules: 'When a player brings a card with a special power into play, he reads out the text.'; this is not done when using the REPLACE icon. Hence in the given case the discarded card does not count towards Brain Drain's restriction and you do not need to retreat, you can still play a character card. Q: If you discard an interference card using its REPLACE icon, can I prevent this using interference card I saw that coming! [Inter 407, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card when you play an interference card. Your card is cancelled and discarded.")? A: No, you cannot, because using the REPLACE icon does not count as playing a card. Q: If you have active support card Heat Haze [Vulca 25, Pillar deck] ("You may not play character/booster cards that have special power text."), can I use the REPLACE icon on a card with special power text? A: Yes, you can, because using the REPLACE icon does not count as playing a card. Q: If you have played leadership card Deploy Butterfly [Pillar 30] ("Now you disclose your hand.") and my disclosed cards include one with a REPLACE icon which I use, is the replacement card disclosed? A: No, it is not. Because it uses "now", Deploy Butterfly applies only when it is played. Q: If you have active Mad Mike Magpie [Flit 13, Terrah deck] ("Your cards with icons are ignored, except Flit character cards and PROTECTED cards."), can I discard a card using the REPLACE icon in my Leadership phase? Does it make any difference if the REPLACE icon is due to my using inquisitor Razor-Mind Royal Inspector [Inq 412, E&I:A deck] ("+5 cards + 5 moons I may play my cards as if they had the REPLACE icon.")? In this case can I discard Wing Commander Razorfeather [Flit 01]? What about a card with a PROTECTED icon? A: To the first question, no. Rulebook page 17, under Special Rules, second point: 'When a card is ignored, its values, icons and special power texts have no effect.'. To the second question, no. REPLACE icons "added" by Razor-Mind are treated the same as other REPLACE icons. To the third question, yes. You can replace Wing Commander Razorfeather as, because it is a Flit card, Mad Mike Magpie excludes itself from affecting it. To the fourth question, a card with the PROTECTED and REPLACE icons can be discarded, not because the PROTECTED icon protects it (the PROTECTED icon is not effective unless active) but because Mad Mike Magpie excludes itself from affecting the card since it is "a PROTECTED card" (it has a PROTECTED icon which is not ignored, see question "How should the phrase "PROTECTED cards" be interpreted ... ?" in section 'Icons: PROTECTED'). Q: Are there any differences if I replace Mad Mike Magpie by support card Impenetrable Fog [Terrah 26] ("Your icons are ignored, except STOP and PROTECTED.") in the previous question? A: Yes, there are. In this case the REPLACE icon is ignored in all cases, so cannot be used, as Impenetrable Fog does not have the conditions that Mad Mike Magpie has. Special Power Texts: General Rules ---------------------------------- Q: When is special power text first effective? A: In most cases, special power text is first effective when the card has come into play, is active, and is read out. (Rulebook page 17, under Special Rules, first point: 'When a player brings a card with a special power into play, he reads out the text.'.) However in five cases special power text is also relevant when the card is in hand, before it is played. (Note that only the first of these cases applies if not using Emissaries and Inquisitors or the Buka Invasion.) The first is that the condition "I may only play this card if ..." on mutant cards and Old Goo Laa's Ghost [Buka 23] ("I may only play this card if I have no cards in my influence area. The contested element of the fight changes between Fire and Earth.") is checked to see if the card can be played. The second is that the condition "I may play this card when ..." or "I may play this card immediately after ..." on interference cards is checked to see if the card can be played. The third is that the text "I must ... to play this card" on Tutu cards is applied before it is played. The fourth is that the condition "I must have ..." on crystal cards is checked to see if the card can be played. The fifth is that the condition "If you have ..." on Buka "B.P." characters is checked to see how the card can be played. Finally note that the condition on Coxswain Mora Marn [Buka 19] ("If this card is played from a landed ship, now I may discard all cards from your combat area, except active PROTECTED cards.") is effective while the card is still loaded on a ship; it is checked while it is in hand, but the condition is never satisfied in that case. Q: If there are contradictory special power texts in play, how is this resolved? A: Rulebook page 17, under Special Rules, second point, and E&I rulesheet, under Special Rule describe how some special power texts take precedence over others, see the following sections for examples. Note that the order in which cards with special power texts were played is never relevant (although the playing of one may prevent the playing of another). Q: If we both have six cards in hand, can I play a leadership card and then mutant Sas-van-Son [Mutant 102, Aqua deck] ("I may only play this card if you have at least two more cards in your hand than I. The contested element of the fight changes between Fire and Earth.")? A: No, you cannot. After playing the leadership card, you have five cards in hand and I have six. According to the previous answer, the mutant's condition is tested at this point, while it is still in hand, and six cards is not at least two cards more than five cards. Q: If we both have six cards in hand, and I play leadership card Earth Spirit [Promo 902] ("If I have fewer cards in my hand than you, now I may draw to the same number of cards."), how many cards do I draw? A: One. First you play Earth Spirit, and have five cards in hand. Then you read and apply the card text, allowing you to draw to six cards, thus drawing one card. (Note that this is different to how cards are counted in the previous answer, because that text is a condition on playing a card from hand, and is read and applied while in hand, while this text is normal text which is applied after the card is played.) Q: If you have active support card Flickering Fires [Vulca 24] ("You may not play leadership cards.") can I play leadership card Enthrall Opposition [Hoax 28] ("On this turn, your special power texts are ignored. (This card has no effect if opposed by Tittertweet or Laughing Gas.)")? A: No, you cannot. Flickering Fires prohibits the play of Enthrall Opposition; the fact that if the latter were active its special power text would have precedence over the former's special power text is not relevant. Q: If I keep a card active for longer than one turn, can I use its special power text again? A: Special power texts divide into three groups. The first group is of texts which take effect when their card is played, and thereafter do not have any effect. This group contains texts using the word "now", texts applied while in hand (see question "When is special power text first effective?"), texts changing the contested element, and the texts on KhindKin [Khind 23, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card into my combat area without pushing the previously active cards under it."), Bounce Back [Khind 31, Pillar deck] ("My active cards attack again."), Yang [Aqua 12] ("The next character/booster/support card I play on this turn is treated as if it had the FREE icon.") and Yin [Aqua 13] ("The next character/booster/support card I play on this turn is treated as if it had the FREE icon."). The second group is of texts which, as long as they remain active, can be used once on each of my turns, or which apply once on each of your turns, or may be used each time the indicated event happens. This group contains texts including one of the phrases "On my turn", "At the end of my turn", "If my turn is about to end", "at the beginning of my turn", "During my Leadership phase", "By the end of your Booster/Support phase", "On your turn, you must", "If you retreat", or "At the end of each fight". The third group is of texts which continue to be effective as long as their card is active, and contains all other texts. Note that leadership cards, although they may fall in the third group, are not active long enough to have a lasting effect (rulebook page 7, under LEADERSHIP: 'The effects of most leadership cards are implemented immediately, some remain active for your entire turn, but never beyond the current turn.'). Q: Can you give some examples, based on the previous answer, of how special power texts behave if I play leadership card Bounce Back [Khind 31, Pillar deck] ("My active cards attack again.")? A: If you have active Gloria Gracia [Pillar 12] ("Now I may retrieve one card (not this card) from my combat area into my hand.") then you do not get to retrieve another card (first group). If you have active Gulpus Permanentus [Pillar 11] ("On my turn, I may play one additional booster card.") then you can play another booster card (second group). If you have active booster card Caterpillar Fireeater [Pillar 16] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard cards with a total printed value of at least 3 Fire from your hand, or retreat.") then I must discard again to avoid having to retreat (second group). If you have active booster card Potion of Cosmic Power [Pillar 21] ("The values of one of my character cards double.") then it continues to have its effect (third group). Q: What happens if you discard one of my active cards with special power text? A: The effect depends on the same groups as in the last but one answer. If you discard a card with special power text in the first group then nothing happens. If you discard a card with special power text in the second group then you can no longer use that effect. If you discard a card with special power text in the third group then the effect ends immediately. (The same also applies in all three cases if the special power text is ignored, or if the card is ignored or becomes inactive.) Q: If I play leadership card Drown Resistance [Aqua 30, Khind deck] ("Now I may discard all active cards from your combat area, except one active character card and any PROTECTED cards."), who chooses the one active character card? A: You do. Rulebook page 17, under Special Rules, first point: 'When a player brings a card with a special power into play, he reads out the text.'. When you read out the card, the "I" referred to you, so you discard the cards and hence you choose which card is not discarded. Q: If you have active Yang [Aqua 12] ("The next character/booster/support card I play on this turn is treated as if it had the FREE icon.") and Giant Octopus [Aqua 02] (PROTECTED icon), and I play leadership card Drown Resistance [Aqua 30, Khind deck] ("Now I may discard all active cards from your combat area, except one active character card and any PROTECTED cards."), can I discard Yang? A: Yes, you may. According to the previous answer, you may choose the one active character card, and there is no restriction preventing you from choosing Giant Octopus, and hence leaving Yang to be discarded. Rulebook page 5, under PROTECTED: 'When these cards are active in the combat or support areas, they are protected from any opposing effects.'; however here you are choosing what is not affected, not what is affected. Q: If I have active support card Duplicator of Strength [Hoax 25] ("The Earth value of one of my character cards doubles."), how is the character card chosen? A: Rulebook page 17, under Special Rule 3: 'The original player of a card always determines how the card is applied.'. Normally this means that the Duplicator of Strength applies to your one character card, applying to a new character card each time you play a character card. However if you have more than one active character card (for example using FREE, PAIR or GANG icons) then you can choose which character card is affected. Q: Can I use the special power text of my inactive cards? A: No, you cannot, this is what "inactive" means. There is not actually a specific rule to this effect, it is the point of specifying which cards are active, which is done separately for each of the four card types in the original game, and each new card type added in Emissaries and Inquisitors and the Buka Invasion (other than interference cards, which may be considered to be active only while their special power text is applied). In particular note rulebook page 7, under LEADERSHIP: 'The effects of most leadership cards are implemented immediately, some remain active for your entire turn, but never beyond the current turn.'. Also note that the addition of values to form a total power and some icons explicitly specify active cards, but inactive cards in play always have no effect, except when explicitly specified otherwise. Special Power Texts: I Must --------------------------- Q: Where and what are the rules for cards which have special power text using "I must"? A: E&I rulesheet, under Special Rule: 'Cards reading "I must..." take precedence over all other instructions on the cards, including cards that "ignore" instructions and cards reading "you may not...".'. Q: According to E&I rulesheet, under Special Rule, special power text containing "I must" cannot be ignored. Does this mean that special power text including "you must" also cannot be ignored? A: No, it can be ignored. "I must" and "you must" are different. Note that if "you must" were treated like "I must" then Emissaries and Inquisitors would have changed the rules of the game, rather than only adding to them, and this has not happened. Q: If you have active support card Laughing Gas [Khind 27] ("Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards. (This card has no effect if opposed by Laughing Gas.)"), and I play Tutu WhizWhiz [Tutu 501, E&I:A deck] ("I must discard one card from my hand to play this card."), do I discard a card? A: Yes, you do. The special power text which forces you to discard a card is "I must" special power text, and hence is not ignored. Q: If you have active support card Heat Haze [Vulca 25, Pillar deck] ("You may not play character/booster cards that have special power text."), can I play Tutu WhizWhiz [Tutu 501, E&I:A deck] ("I must discard one card from my hand to play this card.")? A: No, you cannot. Although WhizWhiz's "I must" special power text takes precedence over Heat Haze's special power text (E&I rulesheet, under Special Rule: 'Cards reading "I must..." take precedence over all other instructions on the cards, including cards that "ignore" instructions and cards reading "you may not...".'), it is not text that allows you to play the card, it only imposes a condition if you do play it. Special Power Texts: You May Not -------------------------------- Q: If I have a support card in play, and you play support card Pandemonium [Khind 26, Vulca deck] ("You may not play support cards."), is my support card either discarded or ignored? A: No, it is not. Pandemonium only prevents the play of new support cards, it does not cause existing support cards to be either discarded or ignored. Q: If you have active support card Pandemonium [Khind 26, Vulca deck] ("You may not play support cards."), and I play leadership card Trigger Brainstorm [Hoax 29] ("On this turn, I may play any number of support cards."), can I play any support cards? A: No, you cannot. Rulebook page 17, under Special Rules, second point: 'Cards reading "you may not..." take precedence over all remaining instructions on other cards.'. Q: If you have active support card Cloying Mud [Terrah 25] ("You may not play character cards that have a printed value higher than 4."), does this count either printed value, or only the printed value in the contested element? Specifically if the contested element is earth, can I play Heroine of the High Flames [Mimix 05] (Fire value 5, Earth value 3)? A: Either printed value counts, so, no, you cannot play Heroine of the High Flames. Note that you could play Amazon Leaping High [Mimix 09] (Fire value 4, Earth value 4) as 4 is not greater than 4. Q: If you have active support card Brain Drain [Hoax 26] ("On your turn, you may not play more than one card."), can I play a leadership card? A: Yes, you can. But unless it discards Brain Drain, or allows you to ignore it or its text, you will have to retreat as you cannot play a character card. (If instead you play a character card, that is all you can play, unless that character card cancels Brain Drain's effect in one of these ways and allows you to play a booster card or support card.) Q: If I play Tittertweet [Flit 07] (RETRIEVE icon, "Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards."), then you play Ciklarethas the Bitter [Hoax 05] (RETRIEVE icon) and support card Brain Drain [Hoax 26] ("On your turn, you may not play more than one card."), and then I play Summon Sorcerer [Vulca 28] ("Now I may retrieve one of my active cards into my hand.") to retrieve Tittertweet while Brain Drain is ignored, can I now, while Brain Drain is not ignored, play a character card, or do I have to retreat? A: You have to retreat. Brain Drain does not have a memory of whether it was ignored or not. At this point it is not ignored, you cannot play more than one card, you have played one, you cannot play another, and you have to retreat. (Note that the play of Summon Sorcerer is necessary to retrieve Tittertweet, as I also played a character card with the RETRIEVE icon, which blocks your use of RETRIEVE; see question "If you have active Wing Commander Razorfeather ... ?" in section 'Icons: RETRIEVE'.) Q: If you have active Ember [Vulca 16] ("You may not play character cards that do not have special power text."), can I play Ciklarethas the Bitter [Hoax 05] (RETRIEVE icon)? A: No, you cannot. Icons are not special power text. Q: If you have active support card Quivering Quicksand [Terrah 27] ("If you have four or more cards in your hand, you may not take further cards into your hand."), and I have two cards in my hand and am due to refresh my hand to six cards, how many cards do I draw? A: Two. Rulebook page 8, under Refresh Hand: 'As a general rule, you refresh your hand to six cards. However, some cards influence the number of cards that you refresh.'. Quivering Quicksand is such a card. Q: If you have active support card Quivering Quicksand [Terrah 27] ("If you have four or more cards in your hand, you may not take further cards into your hand.") and I have four cards in my hand and play Shaman of the Afterlife [Mimix 21] ("Immediately after my Booster/Support phase, I shuffle my discard pile face down and may draw two cards from it into my hand."), reducing my hand to three cards, how many cards do I draw? A: One. Rulebook page 17, under Special Rule 4: 'If the cards instruct you to act, you must do so. If you are unable to satisfy the instruction completely, you must act as far as is possible.' You draw cards one by one, and stop when you have reached four cards in hand, after one card. Q: If you have active support card Quivering Quicksand [Terrah 27] ("If you have four or more cards in your hand, you may not take further cards into your hand.") and I have four cards in my hand, can I return a card with the RETRIEVE icon into my hand at the start of my turn? A: No, you cannot. Retrieving a card is taking it into your hand. Q: If you have active support card Wall of Fire [Vulca 26] ("You may not take cards from your draw deck."), can I refresh my hand? A: No, you cannot. You cannot take cards from your draw deck for any reason, and that includes refreshing your hand. Note that, if permitted, you can still take cards into your hand from play (using a RETRIEVE icon or appropriate special power text) or from your discard pile (using appropriate special power text). Note that if I had active Bottelus Emptius [Pillar 15] ("You may not take further cards into your hand.") you could not even do these. Q: If you play Bottelus Emptius [Pillar 15] ("You may not take further cards into your hand."), and then on your next turn you play leadership card Chosen of Water [Aqua 32, E&I:B deck] ("Now we both shuffle our hands into our draw decks, then we refresh our hands."), what happens to me? A: Chosen of Water is played in my Leadership phase, so Bottelus Emptius is still active. Then according to rulebook page 17, under Special Rule 4: 'If the cards instruct you to act, you must do so. If you are unable to satisfy the instruction completely, you must act as far as is possible.'. This means that you shuffle your hand into your draw deck, but then you are unable to draw any cards due to the special power text on Bottelus Emptius, which as "you may not" text takes precedence over the remaining text on Chosen of Water. (Rulebook page 17, under Special Rules, second point: 'Cards reading "you may not..." take precedence over all remaining instructions on other cards.'.) So you end up with no cards in hand and, provided I do not retreat in my turn, no way to acquire more cards, and will have to retreat. Special Power Texts: Ignored (General Rules) -------------------------------------------- Q: What is the effect of something being ignored? A: Rulebook page 17, under Special Rules, second point: 'When a card is ignored, its values, icons and special power texts have no effect.'. However note that although these things have no effect, they are still there. This means that although the card's icons are ignored it still has icons, and although its special power text is ignored it still has special power text. A card also retains its other characteristics, including its people, its type (such as character, booster or support) and its moons. An active card remains active, even if ignored. Also note that as well as a card being ignored there are cases where only the card's icons, or only its special power text, is ignored. Q: If you have active Mad Mike Magpie [Flit 13, Terrah deck] ("Your cards with icons are ignored, except Flit character cards and PROTECTED cards.") and support card Impenetrable Fog [Terrah 26] ("Your icons are ignored, except STOP and PROTECTED."), which order are these effects applied in? In particular, if I have active Ciklarethas the Bitter [Hoax 05] (Value 3, RETRIEVE icon), what is its value and can I retrieve it? A: In this case the order does not matter because, based on the previous answer, whether Impenetrable Fog has ignored the icons or not, the icons are still there, and Mad Mike Magpie's effect is the same (Ciklarethas the Bitter is completely ignored, its value is 0 and it cannot be retrieved). More generally there is no rule applying continuous special power text in any order (except for special power text which affects values and total power, and where one takes precedence over another) and thus all such text is applied to the fullest extent. Special Power Texts: Ignored (Cards) ------------------------------------ Q: Which cards can be ignored? A: There are only six cards that have special power text which ignores cards, and they ignore only character cards, booster cards, support cards, and cards with icons (which includes only those cards, leadership card Bounce Back [Khind 31, Pillar deck] (STOP icon, "My active cards attack again."), and interference cards and crystal cards, which both all have the REPLACE icon). Q: If you have active Flitterflutter [Flit 08] ("Your support cards are ignored."), can I play support cards? A: Yes, you can. Although your support cards are ignored, they remain support cards (see question "What is the effect of something being ignored?" in section 'Special Power Texts: Ignored (General Rules)'). Q: What does playing Hank Highflyer Hawk [Flit 12, Hoax deck] ("Your character cards are ignored, except Flit character cards.") mean? Does it mean I automatically win the fight against you? A: No to the second question. I have to play a character card to stay in the fight, but a character card remains a character card even if ignored. But its values both become 0, and its icons and special power text have no effect. Thus my other cards (booster cards and support cards, and, with Emissaries and Inquisitors, Hyla) must produce a total power which matches yours. (Note that Hank Highflyer Hawk also reduces the values of my previously played character cards to zero, which makes it easier for you to play the card.) Q: If I have active Hank Highflyer Hawk [Flit 12, Hoax deck] (Value 0, "Your character cards are ignored, except Flit character cards.") and support card Menacing Wardance [Mimix 27] (Value 2), can you play Ciklarethas the Bitter [Hoax 05] (Value 3) and booster card Battling Boomerang [Hoax 19] (Value 2), and if so what is your total power? If so, can I now play only Cheepchirrup [Flit 10] (Value 2, "On your turn, you may not play more than one card into your combat area.")? A: Yes, 2, and no. Ciklarethas the Bitter is ignored, but Battling Boomerang is not, so my total power is 2, the same as yours. If you were to play Cheepchirrup it would cover Hank Highflyer Hawk, so my total power would go up to 5. You would have to match this 5, even though I only announced a total power of 2, and Cheepchirrup plus Menacing Wardance, with total power 4, is not enough. Q: In the previous question, what happens if I replace Battling Boomerang by booster card Potion of Prodigious Passion [Pillar 26, Hoax deck] ("The values of one of my character cards increase to 5.")? A: Now my total power is 0, because Potion of Prodigious Passion increases Ciklarethas the Bitter's value to 5, rather than the booster card itself having a value, and then Hank Highflyer Hawk ignores the character card. Since I have not matched your total power of 2, I cannot only do this. Q: If the contested element is fire and you have active only Hank Highflyer Hawk [Flit 12, Hoax deck] (Value 0, "Your character cards are ignored, except Flit character cards."), can I play mutant Zig-nur-Don [Mutant 106, Vulca deck] ("I may only play this card if I am attacked by at least 5 Earth. The contested element of the fight changes to Fire.")? And if I can, what total power do I announce? A: Yes, 0 fire. Since your character card is ignored, this includes the special power text on it limiting its play, and that changing the element. (Rulebook page 17, under Special Rule 2: 'Card instructions "ignoring" other cards take precedence over all cards - except cards with a PROTECTED icon.'.) Thus your total power is 0 fire. (Note that your shields, as icons, are also ignored, so you must also match my total power, which you have done.) Q: If you have active Mad Mike Magpie [Flit 13, Terrah deck] ("Your cards with icons are ignored, except Flit character cards and PROTECTED cards."), can I play two character cards, one having a FREE icon (or both having matching PAIR or GANG icons)? A: No, you cannot. Rulebook page 17, under Special Rules, second point: 'When a card is ignored, its values, icons and special power texts have no effect.'. So your FREE, PAIR and GANG icons cannot be used and you cannot play two character cards. Special Power Texts: Ignored (Special Power Text) ------------------------------------------------- Q: When a card is ignored, or its special power text is ignored, which text is ignored? Does this apply to all card types? A: The text indicated as 'Special Power' in the illustration on rulebook page 5, below the card name. This applies to all text on all cards, except to that relating to deck composition on leader cards, emissary cards and inquisitor cards (which it is too late to ignore) and to ship capacity (Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Loading a Ship: 'This capacity is neither special power text nor an icon, it cannot be ignored.'). Application to all cards includes character cards, booster cards, support cards, leadership cards, influence cards (Hyla and ship cards), achievement cards (crystal cards), interference cards and inquisitor cards, except as noted. (It would also apply to leader cards and emissary cards if any of them had any special power text.) Q: If you have active leadership card Enthrall Opposition [Hoax 28] ("On this turn, your special power texts are ignored. (This card has no effect if opposed by Tittertweet or Laughing Gas.)") does it only affect my currently active cards, or does this affect the next cards I play? A: Normally it only affects your currently active cards, during my turn. (Rulebook page 6, under Turn Phases: 'The players take alternate turns during a fight.', meaning that a turn is per player.) So none of your cards, old or new, are affected in your turn. The exception is that if you play an interference card (from Emissaries and Inquisitors) in my turn, its special power text is ignored. Q: What happens if we both have active cards which ignore special power texts? A: There are three such cards: character card Tittertweet [Flit 07] ("Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards."), support card Laughing Gas [Khind 27] ("Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards. (This card has no effect if opposed by Laughing Gas.)") and leadership card Enthrall Opposition [Hoax 28] ("On this turn, your special power texts are ignored. (This card has no effect if opposed by Tittertweet or Laughing Gas.)"). The interactions are handled by specific mention of other cards in these three cards' special power texts. See the following three questions. (The remaining case, two active Enthrall Opposition cannot occur, as indicated by the previous answer.) Q: What happens if both of us have active character card Tittertweet [Flit 07] ("Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards.")? play? A: Each Tittertweet cannot affect the other, because each is a Flit character card, and hence all other special power texts (except on other Flit character cards) are ignored, on both sides. Q: What happens if you have active character card Tittertweet [Flit 07] ("Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards."), and I have active support card Laughing Gas [Khind 27] ("Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards. (This card has no effect if opposed by Laughing Gas.)")? A: According to the special power text on Laughing Gas it does not affect Flit character cards, which includes Tittertweet. Thus all of your cards, including Laughing Gas, have their special power texts ignored, but none of mine do. (The same result applies if I have active leadership card Enthrall Opposition [Hoax 28] ("On this turn, your special power texts are ignored. (This card has no effect if opposed by Tittertweet or Laughing Gas.)"), and you have active Tittertweet or Laughing Gas.) Q: What happens if both of us have active support card Laughing Gas [Khind 27] ("Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards. (This card has no effect if opposed by Laughing Gas.)")? A: Both Laughing Gas cards have no effect, and hence no other special power texts are ignored. Q: If you have active Tittertweet [Flit 07] ("Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards.") and a FREE character card, and I play leadership card Trigger Brainstorm [Hoax 29] ("On this turn, I may play any number of support cards."), and then play Highchirp [Flit 06] ("If you have more than one active character card, I may now discard one of them.") to discard Tittertweet, does my Trigger Brainstorm become active? A: Yes, it does. This is an example from the third group of cards covered in question "What happens if you discard one of my active cards with special power text?" in section 'Special Power Texts: General Rules'. Q: If you have active Tittertweet [Flit 07] (Value 2, "Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards.") and booster card Launch Burning Earth [Flit 15] (Value 3) and announce a total power of 5 fire, can I play mutant Var-dis-Nar [Mutant 105, Hoax deck] (Fire value 4 (shield), Earth value 4 (shield), "I may only play this card if I am attacked by at least 7 total power. The contested element of the fight changes between Fire and Earth.")? And if I can, what total power do I announce? A: Yes, 4 fire. The mutant's special power text is completely ignored, so it can be played even though its usual condition is not satisfied, and the element is not changed. The mutant's shields and values are not ignored, so it can be played even though your total power of 4 is less than my total power of 5. Q: If you have active Baku But [Terrah 14] ("On your turn, you must play a booster card, or retreat."), can I play a character card giving me a sufficient total power and support card Laughing Gas [Khind 27] ("Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards. (This card has no effect if opposed by Laughing Gas.)") rather than retreat? A: Yes, you can. As noted in question "If you play Baku But ... ?" in section 'Card Play: Timing', Baku But's condition can be checked at the end of your Booster/Support phase. However at this point your Laughing Gas has caused Baku But's condition to be ignored, and hence you do not need to retreat. Q: If you have active support card Laughing Gas [Khind 27] ("Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards. (This card has no effect if opposed by Laughing Gas.)"), can I play Tutu PamPam [Tutu 507, E&I:A deck] ("I may not play further character cards during this fight.") without being constrained by its special power text? A: Yes, you can. Although usually Laughing Gas's special power text works to my advantage, it is not optional and I must apply it here where it works to my disadvantage. (Note that this does not however apply to the five Tutu which use "I must" special power text, as that takes precedence over "ignored" special power text.) Q: If I am using inquisitor Razor-Mind Royal Inspector [Inq 412, E&I:A deck] ("+5 cards + 5 moons I may play my cards as if they had the REPLACE icon.") and you have active Tittertweet [Flit 07] ("Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards."), can I play all of my cards as if they had the REPLACE icon? A: No, you cannot. The text on inquisitors, including Razor-Mind, is special power text and is ignored in this case. (Note that it is not possible to affect Razor-Mind's "+5 cards +5 moons" text, which is only relevant before the game starts.) Q: If I have active Hyla Piplox [Infl 604, E&I:A deck] ("On my turn, I may play one additional booster/support card."), and you have active Tittertweet [Flit 07] ("Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards."), can I use Piplox's ability? A: No, you cannot. The text on a Hyla is special power text and is ignored by Tittertweet. Q: If I have active Hyla Octak [Infl 607, E&I:A deck] ("At the end of each fight, if I hold fewer than eight cards in my hand, I may draw to eight cards."), and you have active Tittertweet [Flit 07] ("Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards."), and the fight ends, can I use Octak's ability? A: Yes, you can. Rulebook page 9, under Winning a Fight: 'Both players now remove all their cards from their combat and support areas and place them face up on their respective discard piles.' is followed by 'At the end of any fight, both players refresh their hands to six cards by drawing from their draw decks.'. Tittertweet is discarded under the former point, and then Octak's ability is used under the latter point, when its special power text is no longer ignored. Note that it does not matter who retreated. Q: If you have active Tittertweet [Flit 07] ("Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards."), is the special power text on my crystal card Lika's Blessing [Ach 201, E&I:B deck] ("I must have the red dragon on my side to play this card. - If I win the game, I receive one additional crystal. If you win the game, you score one dragon fewer.") ignored? A: No, it is not. The first sentence on the card cannot be ignored as it uses "I must". This means that the card can only be played when you have the red dragon on your side, as usual. This does not apply to the independent second sentence on the card. However this is applied at the end of the game, which is after the end of the final fight, before which Tittertweet will have been discarded. Special Power Texts: Ignored (Icons) ------------------------------------ Q: What's the difference (apart from the qualifications) between the special power texts on support card Impenetrable Fog [Terrah 26] ("Your icons are ignored, except STOP and PROTECTED.") and Mad Mike Magpie [Flit 13, Terrah deck] ("Your cards with icons are ignored, except Flit character cards and PROTECTED cards.")? A: Both affect cards with icons, but in the former case only the icon is affected, so for example Ciklarethas the Bitter [Hoax 05] loses its RETRIEVE icon, but retains its value of 3. In the latter case the card would also lose its value. Similarly special power text is ignored in the latter case, but not in the former case. Q: If I have an active gang in my combat area, what happens to it if you play support card Impenetrable Fog [Terrah 26] ("Your icons are ignored, except STOP and PROTECTED.")? A: Nothing when Impenetrable Fog is played, the effects of the GANG icon only apply when character cards are played. At that point you can only play one character card, and it covers all of your active character cards. Note that it would not matter if the character card you played was TopNotch [Khind 07] ("On my turn, I may discard one of your active booster/support cards.") and you used it to remove the Impenetrable Fog because TopNotch will have already covered your earlier character cards. Q: If you have active support card Impenetrable Fog [Terrah 26] ("Your icons are ignored, except STOP and PROTECTED."), and I play a mutant, whose shields are ignored (as they are icons, see question "Are shields icons? And why does it matter?" in section 'Icons: Shields'), which contested element do I consider when trying to equal or exceed your total power: the old one, the new one, or both? A: The new one. When the mutant is played its special power text is applied, and the contested element changes at that point. When you get to your Announce Power phase, it is the new contested element in which total power is compared. Special Power Texts: Discard (General Rules) -------------------------------------------- Q: Is "discard" the same as "play" when from hand? A: No, it is not. A discarded card goes straight from your hand to your discard pile (or on top of your leader in the case of a leadership card). If it has any special power text it is not read out and has no effect. (Note that interference cards, from Emissaries and Inquisitors, are played onto the discard pile, and the second part of their special power text is applied then, but this is not discarding the card. The same applies to leadership cards played onto your leader card.) Q: If I play Bashdin [Terrah 15, Flit deck] ("Now I may force you to discard two cards from your hand."), do I choose the cards? A: No, you do not. You force me to discard, you are not mentioned, so I get to choose. Q: If I play Sarogakanas the Ancient [Hoax 17] ("Now I may draw two cards from your hand and discard them.") do I get to look and choose, or draw randomly? A: Draw randomly. The exception is if some or all of your cards are disclosed (rulebook page 18, under Special Rule 8: 'If your opponent is allowed to draw one card from your hand, he may select a disclosed one.'). Note that this rule also covers the usual case. Q: What happens in the previous question if three of your cards are disclosed (face up on the table)? A: You can choose to discard two of the disclosed cards, one disclosed card and one non-disclosed card or two non-disclosed cards. If you choose any disclosed cards you can choose which ones. If you choose any non-disclosed cards you draw randomly. (Rulebook page 18, under Special Rule 8: 'If your opponent is allowed to draw one card from your hand, he may select a disclosed one.'.) This applies to each of the two cards you discard. Q: Is "reveal" the same as "disclose"? A: No, it is not. When your cards are revealed, you show them to me, but you then put them into your hand, hidden from me as usual. Disclosed cards stay open. (Rulebook page 18, under Special Rule 8: 'The cards remain there for your opponent to see, until they are used.'.) Q: How can cards become disclosed? A: Using either booster card Butterfly Scout [Pillar 27] ("Now you disclose your hand.") or leadership card Deploy Butterfly [Pillar 30] ("Now you disclose your hand."). Q: If you play Sarogakanas the Ancient [Hoax 17] ("Now I may draw two cards from your hand and discard them."), and this reduces my hand to four cards, when do I get to refresh my hand back to six cards? A: In the Refresh phase of your turn, or after the end of the fight if you retreat. Special Power Texts: Discard (Caterpillar Cards) ------------------------------------------------ Q: If you have active booster card Caterpillar Eartheroder [Pillar 17, Terrah deck] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard cards with a total printed value of at least 3 Earth from your hand, or retreat."), when can I make my discard? Can I make a discard and then retreat? A: You can make your discard at any time from your Beginning of Turn phase to your Booster/Support phase. If you make a discard before that point, you can still retreat. Otherwise, you could make the discard, reach your Retreat from Fight? phase or later and determine that you needed to backtrack, but that the only rule permitting backtracking (rulebook page 18, Special Rule 11) does not permit backtracking that far. Q: If you have active booster card Caterpillar Eartheroder [Pillar 17, Terrah deck] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard cards with a total printed value of at least 3 Earth from your hand, or retreat.") do I retreat at the end of my Booster/Support phase? Can I therefore play a character card before retreating? A: You retreat as normal, in the Retreat from Fight? phase. Thus you cannot play a character card before retreating. Although if you are not retreating you do not have to discard cards until after your Retreat from Fight? phase, you are committed to it once you do not retreat, just as you are to matching my total power if you do not retreat. If you later determine you cannot, you must backtrack your turn (applying rulebook page 18, under Special Rule 11: 'If no cards have been drawn or revealed, then the game may be backtracked to the situation before the play of the character card.'). Q: If you have active booster card Caterpillar Fireeater [Pillar 16] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard cards with a total printed value of at least 3 Fire from your hand, or retreat.") and booster card Caterpillar Eartheroder [Pillar 17, Terrah deck] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard cards with a total printed value of at least 3 Earth from your hand, or retreat."), can I satisfy both by discarding Ciklarethas the Bitter [Hoax 05] (Fire value 3, Earth value 3)? A: No, you cannot. Rulebook page 17, under Special Rule 5: 'If several cards instruct you to discard fire or earth values, you must satisfy each card independently.'. Q: If you have active booster card Caterpillar Watertamer [Pillar 18] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard cards with a total printed value at least 2 Fire and 2 Earth (on different cards) from your hand, or retreat."), can I satisfy it by discarding two cards each with 1 fire and 1 earth? A: No, you cannot. The parenthesised comment in the card text indicates that each of the fire and earth requirements must be satisfied independently; this applies even if more than one card is needed in either or both cases. It would take four cards each with 1 fire and 1 earth to satisfy the requirement. Q: If you have active booster card Caterpillar Watertamer [Pillar 18] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard cards with a total printed value at least 2 Fire and 2 Earth (on different cards) from your hand, or retreat."), can I satisfy it by discarding NoStopping [Khind 16] (Fire value 1, Earth value 3) and NoClass [Khind 21] (Fire value 1, Earth value 2) for the 2 fire, and NoNo [Khind 15] (Fire value 3, Earth value 1) and NoClue [Khind 20] (Fire value 2, Earth value 1) for the 2 earth? A: No, you cannot. Rulebook page 17, under Special Rule 5: 'if you are instructed to discard a number of fire or earth values, you may not discard additional cards that do not contribute to satisfying the instruction.'. The discarding of both fire and earth values is specified by a single instruction, which could be satisfied by discarding fewer of those cards. Q: If you have active booster card Caterpillar Moondoom [Pillar 20, E&I:B deck] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard cards with a total of at least two moons from your hand, or retreat."), and then I play Scorch the Inflammable [Vulca 03] (2 moons), in response to which you play interference card Shame on you! [Inter 402, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card when you play your first character card on your turn: Your card is cancelled and discarded. You must play a replacement or retreat."), does the resulting discard satisfy the requirement of Caterpillar Moondoom? A: No, it does not. The rule which covers such cases (rulebook page 17, under Special Rule 5: 'If several cards instruct you to discard fire or earth values, you must satisfy each card independently.') does not completely clearly cover this case. However it is the obvious intent, and also makes similar cases behave similarly (for example the combination of my booster card Caterpillar Fireeater [Pillar 16] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard cards with a total printed value of at least 3 Fire from your hand, or retreat.") and your leadership card Charm Holy Dragon [Vulca 29] ("Now I may discard cards with a total printed value of at least 8 Fire from my hand to attract one dragon.")). Q: If you have active booster card Caterpillar Lightseeker [Pillar 19] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard cards with a total printed value of at least 5 Fire or 5 Earth from your hand, or retreat.") and then I play Tittertweet [Flit 07] ("Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards.") does this relieve me of the need to make a discard? Can I choose to make the discard before playing Tittertweet? A: Yes, because if you do not retreat then the condition is not checked until the end of your Booster/Support phase, at which point the condition is ignored, and yes, because you can discard at any point before then, including before character cards are played. Q: If I have active Tittertweet [Flit 07] ("Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards.") and you have active booster card Caterpillar Lightseeker [Pillar 19] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard cards with a total printed value of at least 5 Fire or 5 Earth from your hand, or retreat.") and then I play another character card covering Tittertweet, do I have to satisfy the requirement to make a discard? Can I make a discard before covering Tittertweet? A: Yes, because if you do not retreat then the condition is not checked until the end of your Booster/Support phase at which point the condition is not ignored, and no, because as long as Tittertweet is active, there is no special power text justifying your discard which is not ignored. Q: Which cards does Crysalus Frendus [Pillar 14] ("The effect of one of my Caterpillar booster cards doubles.") affect? A: Pillar booster cards with names beginning Caterpillar. There are five such cards, from Caterpillar Fireeater [Pillar 16] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard cards with a total printed value of at least 3 Fire from your hand, or retreat.") to Caterpillar Moondoom [Pillar 20, E&I:B deck] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard cards with a total of at least two moons from your hand, or retreat."). Three are in the Pillar deck, one is in the Terrah deck and one is in the Emissaries and Inquisitors: Blessings deck. Q: Does Crysalus Frendus [Pillar 14] ("The effect of one of my Caterpillar booster cards doubles.") double the numbers on a Caterpillar card, or apply it twice? A: It doubles the numbers. This is indicated by "effect" being singular and doubled, not repeated. Q: I have active Hank Highflyer Hawk [Flit 12, Hoax deck] ("Your character cards are ignored, except Flit character cards.") and you have active character card Crysalus Frendus [Pillar 14] ("The effect of one of my Caterpillar booster cards doubles.") and booster card Caterpillar Fireeater [Pillar 16] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard cards with a total printed value of at least 3 Fire from your hand, or retreat."). I discard Ledinemras the Monk [Hoax 03] (Fire value 4) to satisfy Caterpillar Fireeater's requirement (since Crysalus Frendus is ignored), but then I play another character card, covering Hank Highflyer Hawk, so that Crysalus Frendus is no longer ignored. Do I have to make a further discard to satisfy the doubled requirement of Caterpillar Fireeater? If so, can I make this discard before covering Hank Highflyer Hawk? A: Yes, of at least 2 fire. You check the card text at the end of your Booster/Support phase, and at this point you have only discarded 4 fire, while the requirement is now to discard 6 fire. You must discard a further 2 fire, or retreat. You cannot however make this discard earlier as there is no effective instruction to discard this large a value (rulebook page 17, under Special Rule 5: 'if you are instructed to discard a number of fire or earth values, you may not discard additional cards that do not contribute to satisfying the instruction.'). Q: If I play Crysalus Frendus [Pillar 14] ("The effect of one of my Caterpillar booster cards doubles.") and then two caterpillar booster cards, one after the other, when do I choose which caterpillar card is doubled? Can I apply Crysalus Frendus to the second of those booster cards? A: You choose as the caterpillar cards are played. Crysalus Frendus 's text is continuous, not immediate. (It cannot be immediate, as when Crysalus Frendus is played you have no active Caterpillar booster cards.) You can thus choose either booster card as it is played. Q: I have active Mad Mike Magpie [Flit 13, Terrah deck] ("Your cards with icons are ignored, except Flit character cards and PROTECTED cards."), and you have active character card Crysalus Frendus [Pillar 14] ("The effect of one of my Caterpillar booster cards doubles."), booster card Caterpillar Fireeater [Pillar 16] (FREE icon, "By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard cards with a total printed value of at least 3 Fire from your hand, or retreat.") and booster card Caterpillar Eartheroder [Pillar 17, Terrah deck] (FREE icon, "By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard cards with a total printed value of at least 3 Earth from your hand, or retreat."). I play a character card covering Mad Mike Magpie, so that your Caterpillar booster cards are no longer ignored; when is it decided which of them is doubled? What happens if I can manage to make a discard if Caterpillar Fireeater is doubled, but not if Caterpillar Eartheroder is doubled? A: The effect of Crysalus Frendus is decided when you cover Mad Mike Magpie. Rulebook page 17, under Special Rule 2: 'If you apply the instruction on one of your cards to an active card and this active card is influenced or discarded by your opponent, then you may apply the instruction to a different active card.'. Your Caterpillar booster cards becoming no longer ignored is an instance of such influence, and hence I may decide at this point to which Caterpillar booster card Crysalus Frendus's effect is applied. If you are unable to make the necessary discard (or choose not to) then you are required to retreat, however strictly you are not allowed to backtrack on hearing my choice of which card to double the effects of (see question "The only way I can avoid having to retreat ... ?" in section 'Card Play: Backtracking' for the consequences of this). Thus if you cannot handle both choices I might make, you should retreat. Q: What if in the previous question Mad Mike Magpie [Flit 13, Terrah deck] ("Your cards with icons are ignored, except Flit character cards and PROTECTED cards.") is replaced by Hank Highflyer Hawk [Flit 12, Hoax deck] ("Your character cards are ignored, except Flit character cards.") so that when it is covered it is character card Crysalus Frendus [Pillar 14] ("The effect of one of my Caterpillar booster cards doubles.") that is no longer ignored? A: The effect is the same. This relies on an interpretation of the quoted rule that includes the influence on the two Caterpillar booster cards being indirect, through Crysalus Frendus no longer being ignored. This is in the spirit of the quoted rule, if not its exact letter, is consistent with the previous question, and avoids having to introduce any form of memory to the situation. Special Power Texts: Discard (Holy Dragon Cards) ------------------------------------------------ Q: If I play leadership card Charm Holy Dragon [Vulca 29] ("Now I may discard cards with a total printed value of at least 8 Fire from my hand to attract one dragon."), can I discard three cards with values 7, 2 and 1? A: No, you cannot. You can discard the cards with values 7 and 2, or the cards with values 7 and 1. Rulebook page 17, under Special Rule 5: 'if you are instructed to discard a number of fire or earth values, you may not discard additional cards that do not contribute to satisfying the instruction.'. This also means that you cannot discard cards without values, or with 0 fire value. (Note that the argument that the total of all three cards, 10, is still only "at least 8" is inventive, but not good enough, as the lower number of cards still satisfies the instruction.) Q: Is the special power text on leadership card Charm Holy Dragon [Vulca 29] ("Now I may discard cards with a total printed value of at least 8 Fire from my hand to attract one dragon.") effective immediately, or does it wait until the end of the fight? Does the attracted dragon count towards the limit of a later leadership card Distract Holy Dragon [Flit 29] ("If I retreat now, you attract no more than one dragon.")? A: Immediately (that's what the "now" means). This dragon is extra and not affected by Distract Holy Dragon, or other cards modifying the number of dragons gained at the end of a fight, such as support card Fearsome Spirits [Vulca 27] ("If you retreat, I attract one additional dragon."). Note that the fight then continues, unless this would be your fourth dragon, in which case you win the game immediately, without having to wait for the fight to end. Q: With the Buka Invasion, can I discard two ships to satisfy the condition on leadership card Sway Holy Dragon [Hoax 31, E&I:B deck] ("Now I may discard two leadership cards, two Hyla cards or two crystal cards from my hand to attract one dragon.")? A: No, you cannot. Although Sway Holy Dragon names all the other types of leadership phase cards, ships are not mentioned and cannot be discarded. Special Power Texts: Khind Cards -------------------------------- Q: Can I use the ability of TopDog [Khind 06] ("On my turn, I may discard one of your active cards that has an icon, except your last remaining active character card and PROTECTED cards.") or TopNotch [Khind 07] ("On my turn, I may discard one of your active booster/support cards.") in my turn before I either retreat, or play a character card not from the "Top" gang? What about Genathones the Blind [Hoax 14] ("On my turn, I may play one additional support card.") which has similar wording? A: Yes, you can use TopDog's or TopNotch's abilities again - even though this means you have used the card's ability twice, but it has only been active for one turn (or three times for two turns, and so on). However Genathones the Blind is different. Its ability is only usable in your Booster/Support phase, so you cannot use it before retreating, and you can only use it once (or once per turn if you can keep it in play). Q: I played TopNotch [Khind 07] ("On my turn, I may discard one of your active booster/support cards.") and used its ability, then on my next turn, used its ability again, played leadership card Call Spirit of the Battlefield [Mimix 30] ("Now I may retrieve any one card from my combat area into my hand."), retrieved TopNotch, and then played TopNotch again; can I use its ability again this turn? A: Yes, you can. When TopNotch is played its special power text is read as usual, and it is treated as a new card, and can be used again. Q: If I have an active gang, you have active support card Impenetrable Fog [Terrah 26] ("Your icons are ignored, except STOP and PROTECTED."), and then I play leadership card Bounce Back [Khind 31, Pillar deck] (STOP icon, "My active cards attack again."), do all the character cards in the gang remain active, despite that their GANG icons are ignored? A: Yes, they do. They remain active because Bounce Back keeps them so, regardless of whether they do, or do not, have GANG icons. Note that they also would remain active if you played KhindKin [Khind 23, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card into my combat area without pushing the previously active cards under it.") because its text provides a similar exception. Q: If I have active mutant Zig-nur-Don [Mutant 106, Vulca deck] (Fire value 4 (shield), Earth value 0 (shield), "I may only play this card if I am attacked by at least 5 Earth. The contested element of the fight changes to Fire."), and the contested element is fire, can I play leadership card Bounce Back [Khind 31, Pillar deck] (STOP icon, "My active cards attack again.")? If I can, what is the contested element and what is my total power? A: Yes, fire, and 4 (with a shield). Bounce Back causes your active cards to "attack again", there is no suggestion that it causes them to be played again. (Also note that while the rulebook does not formally define "attack", it does use the word excluding playing cards on rulebook page 8, under Announce Power: 'An attack with "zero" power is possible, provided that your opponent's total power is also "zero".'.) Each sentence of Zig-nur-Don's special power text is of a form that is only applied when the card is played (see question "If I keep a card active for longer than one turn, can I use its special power text again?" in section 'Special Power Texts: General Rules') and hence neither is applied in this case. Consequently there is no restriction on playing Bounce Back, and the element is not changed. (Note that KhindKin [Khind 23, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card into my combat area without pushing the previously active cards under it.") behaves similarly.) Q: Can I play leadership card Bounce Back [Khind 31, Pillar deck] (STOP icon, "My active cards attack again.") when I have no active character cards? If so, what is my total power? A: Yes, you can. The usual rules (rulebook page 7, under CHARACTER: 'In order to continue the current fight, you must play a character card.') are superseded by Bounce Back (rulebook page 17, under Special Rules, first point: 'Instructions on the cards supersede these game rules.'). There is no rule that you must have a character card. If this is the start of a fight you still choose the element. (This can also occur if I retrieve my active character, or if you discard cards from my combat area.) Q: Can I play leadership card Bounce Back [Khind 31, Pillar deck] (STOP icon, "My active cards attack again.") if my total power is less than yours? What happens if I do? A: Yes, you can. But then you must retreat (or if this is the first turn of a fight, which is possible if I have an active Hyla card from Emissaries and Inquisitors, decline to start the fight). Note that the only rule which allows backtracking (rulebook page 18, under Special Rule 11: 'If no cards have been drawn or revealed, then the game may be backtracked to the situation before the play of the character card.') does not allow backtracking this far. However, in a friendly game I can (and should, especially if you are a beginner) allow you to retract Bounce Back. Also note that the STOP icon on Bounce Back does not prevent you retreating (even if you matched my total power). Q: If you have active Baku But [Terrah 14] ("On your turn, you must play a booster card, or retreat."), can I play leadership card Bounce Back [Khind 31, Pillar deck] (STOP icon, "My active cards attack again.")? A: Yes, you can, but this does not satisfy Baku But's requirement to play a booster card, even if you have an active booster card played on your previous turn, and you would still have to retreat. Special Power Texts: Aqua Cards ------------------------------- Q: If you have active support card Torrential Flood [Aqua 25] ("If I have more than one active Flood support card after the end of my turn, then you must immediately retreat.") and support card Tidal Flood [Aqua 26] ("If I have more than one active Flood support card after the end of my turn, then you must immediately retreat."), when exactly do I retreat, and what can I do before retreating? A: You retreat after the end of my turn, but before the beginning of your turn, so you cannot do anything else. Note that this differs from all other cases of retreating due to the effects of special power text, due to the use of the word "immediately". In all other cases you retreat only in your Retreat from Fight? phase. (This does not include retreats due to having your bluff successfully called when using the Buka Invasion deck, when you retreat in your Announce Power phase.) Q: If you have active support card Torrential Flood [Aqua 25] ("If I have more than one active Flood support card after the end of my turn, then you must immediately retreat.") and support card Tidal Flood [Aqua 26] ("If I have more than one active Flood support card after the end of my turn, then you must immediately retreat."), but when you announce your total power I end your turn by playing interference card Enough of this! [Inter 404, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card immediately after you announce your power: Your turn ends immediately.") must I then retreat? A: Yes, you must. Your retreat is after the end of my turn, regardless of it being caused by Enough of this!. Q: If I play leadership card Enthrall Opposition [Hoax 28] ("On this turn, your special power texts are ignored. (This card has no effect if opposed by Tittertweet or Laughing Gas.)"), and then in the same turn play support card Torrential Flood [Aqua 25] ("If I have more than one active Flood support card after the end of my turn, then you must immediately retreat."), when I already have active support card Tidal Flood [Aqua 26] ("If I have more than one active Flood support card after the end of my turn, then you must immediately retreat."), forcing you to retreat, do I attract any dragons if you have active Bethenitana the Storyteller [Hoax 11] ("If I retreat, you may not attract dragons.")? A: No, you do not. I must retreat after the end of your turn, at which point your Enthrall Opposition is no longer active (rulebook page 7, under LEADERSHIP: 'The effects of most leadership cards are implemented immediately, some remain active for your entire turn, but never beyond the current turn.'). Thus Bethenitana the Storyteller is no longer ignored, and you do not attract any dragons. Q: If you have six cards in your combat and support areas, including active support card Irresistible Sirens [Aqua 28] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard one character card from your hand, or I attract 1 (additional) dragon - even if you retreat."), and then I retreat, how many dragons do you attract? Can I reduce this by discarding a card? A: If you do not discard a card, then I attract three dragons, because of the "even if you retreat" clause. But you can discard a card, because there's nothing in the text to suggest this case is different in this regard, in which case I only attract two dragons. See also question "Can I play cards, or do anything else, in your turn?" in section 'Card Play: Timing'. Q: If you have active support card Irresistible Sirens [Aqua 28] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard one character card from your hand, or I attract 1 (additional) dragon - even if you retreat."), and I retreat, can I play interference card Who do you think you are? [Inter 406, E&I:B deck] ("I may play this card when you attract exactly one dragon: You do not attract the dragon.") to prevent you attracting a dragon, even if I do not discard a character card? A: Yes, you can. Although I am due to attract two dragons, these are separate: one for the retreat, and one because you did not discard a character card. You can play Who do you think you are? to prevent either of these. Q: If I have active support card Irresistible Sirens [Aqua 28] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard one character card from your hand, or I attract 1 (additional) dragon - even if you retreat."), and you play Bethenitana the Storyteller [Hoax 11] ("If I retreat, you may not attract dragons."), and then retreat without discarding a character card, do I attract a dragon? A: Yes, you do. Bethenitana the Storyteller only prevents you attracting dragons due to my retreat, but the dragon you attract for Irresistible Sirens is not due to my retreat, so is not prevented by Bethenitana the Storyteller, and you attract a dragon. Q: If you have active support card Irresistible Sirens [Aqua 28] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard one character card from your hand, or I attract 1 (additional) dragon - even if you retreat."), support card Torrential Flood [Aqua 25] ("If I have more than one active Flood support card after the end of my turn, then you must immediately retreat.") and support card Tidal Flood [Aqua 26] ("If I have more than one active Flood support card after the end of my turn, then you must immediately retreat."), and I am then forced to retreat by the two Flood cards, how many dragons do you attract, and can I reduce this by discarding a card? A: Two, and no. You do not get to your Booster/Support phase, but this is also true if you retreat normally. That your retreat is earlier than usual, and forced, does not matter, Irresistible Sirens applies to retreats in general, so I attract an additional dragon. However as the discard to prevent this is optional, you cannot do it until your turn, but you do not reach your turn, so you cannot make a discard to prevent me attracting the additional dragon. Special Power Texts: Buka Cards ------------------------------- Q: If you have active Boatswain Mena Marn [Buka 18] ("You may not have more than one active character card at the end of your Character phase."), what happens if I try playing so as to violate its condition? A: You are not allowed to do this, in the same way that you cannot play a second card when I have active support card Brain Drain [Hoax 26] ("On your turn, you may not play more than one card."). Q: If I play Coxswain Mora Marn [Buka 19] ("If this card is played from a landed ship, now I may discard all cards from your combat area, except active PROTECTED cards.") from hand, what happens? A: Its special power text condition is not satisfied, so its special power text has no effect. Q: If you have active support card Laughing Gas [Khind 27] ("Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards. (This card has no effect if opposed by Laughing Gas.)"), and I play Lookout Dolora Paal [Buka 22] (PROTECTED icon, "Now I may discard all of your active booster cards or all of your active support cards."), can I discard your Laughing Gas? A: Yes, you can. Lookout Dolora Paal is immune to the effects of Laughing Gas due to its PROTECTED icon rulebook page 15, under PROTECTED: 'When these cards are active in the combat or support areas, they are protected from any opposing effects.'). Thus its special power text is effective and can be used to discard Laughing Gas. Q: Is Old Goo Laa's Ghost [Buka 23] (STOP icon, "I may only play this card if I have no cards in my influence area. The contested element of the fight changes between Fire and Earth.") a mutant? If not, what is the difference? A: No, it is not. The main difference is when using the Advanced Rules, Old Goo Laa's Ghost has a cost of 3 moons, so including it in a non-Buka deck costs these 3 moons, but as it is a Buka character it does not cost anything in a Buka deck. In addition, as a Buka character, Old Goo Laa's Ghost can be played from a ship as if it had the FREE icon, but a mutant cannot, and you cannot play Old Goo Laa's Ghost after leadership card Inflame Mutant [Vulca 31, E&I:A deck] ("In my Character phase, I may play any mutant.") if you have cards in your influence area. Q: If you have an active Hyla, and I have no ships in my influence area, can I play Old Goo Laa's Ghost [Buka 23] ("I may only play this card if I have no cards in my influence area. The contested element of the fight changes between Fire and Earth.")? A: Yes, you can. Although there is only space for one Hyla in the influence area, a Hyla I have played is still regarded as being in my influence area, and does not prevent you playing Old Goo Laa's Ghost. (A Hyla you have played is in your influence area and does prevent you playing Old Goo Laa's Ghost.) Q: Can I play support card Armory [Buka 25] ("On my turn, I may play one additional support card.") and another support card in the same turn? A: Yes, you can, provided that you play Armory first. Q: Can I play leadership card Entreat Favor [Buka 27] ("Now I search through my draw deck and may select either one influence card and play it, or one character/booster/support card and load it onto one of my ships. Then I reshuffle.") to play a Hyla card from Emissaries and Inquisitors? A: Yes, you can. A Hyla is an influence card, so you can. You can also use this to replace an existing Hyla card (mine or yours). (Note that you cannot use this to play a crystal card, which is an achievement card, not an influence card, see question "What are influence and achievement cards?" in section 'Influence and Achievement Cards'.) Q: If you play leadership card Entreat Favor [Buka 27] ("Now I search through my draw deck and may select either one influence card and play it, or one character/booster/support card and load it onto one of my ships. Then I reshuffle.") and use it to play an influence card, which is also a leadership phase card, can I cancel the latter card using interference card How dare you! [Inter 401, E&I:B deck] ("I may play this card when you play a Leadership phase card: Your card is cancelled and discarded.")? A: Yes, you can. Entreat Favor indicates that I play the second card, and hence you can play How dare you! in response. Q: If you have active support card Wall of Fire [Vulca 26] ("You may not take cards from your draw deck."), can I use leadership card Entreat Favor [Buka 27] ("Now I search through my draw deck and may select either one influence card and play it, or one character/booster/support card and load it onto one of my ships. Then I reshuffle.")? A: You can play Entreat Favor, and you can search through your draw deck, but you cannot either play a card from it, or load a card from it onto one of your ships, as either is taking a card from your draw deck. Q: If you have active Bottelus Emptius [Pillar 15] ("You may not take further cards into your hand."), can I use leadership card Entreat Favor [Buka 27] ("Now I search through my draw deck and may select either one influence card and play it, or one character/booster/support card and load it onto one of my ships. Then I reshuffle.")? A: Yes, you can. Unlike in the previous answer, Bottelus Emptius prevents you from taking cards into your hand, rather than taking cards from your draw deck, and the card played or loaded as a result of using Entreat Favor is not taken into your hand. Special Power Texts: Other -------------------------- Q: If I have six cards and play Ketharkopas the Astronomer [Hoax 15, Khind deck] ("If my turn is about to end with me holding fewer than nine cards in my hand, I may draw to nine cards.") and support card Oath of Khindship [Khind 28] ("At the end of my turn, I may draw one additional card."), how many cards do I draw altogether? A: 5, up to 9. First you refresh your hand up to 6 cards, drawing 2 cards, then you draw 1 card for Oath of Khindship in your End of Turn phase, up to 7 cards, then your turn is about to end, so you draw 2 more cards up to 9 cards for Ketharkopas the Astronomer. Q: If you have active Bottelus Emptius [Pillar 15] ("You may not take further cards into your hand.") and I play Shaman of the Holy Sacrifice [Mimix 18] ("At the end of my turn, I may reveal (up to) three cards from the top of my draw deck, then discard one of them and take the others into my hand.") what can I do using its special power text? A: Nothing. When you reveal cards, this is as part of taking these cards into your hand. (See also question "Where can my cards be?" in section 'Card Play: Locations and Status'.) But as you cannot do this due to Bottelus Emptius, you cannot reveal any cards. Note that you cannot discard a card either, as that follows the revealing of cards, and is dependent on it. Q: If I play Shaman of the Deeds to Come [Mimix 19] ("At the end of my turn, I may draw (up to) three additional cards and then shuffle any two cards from my hand into my draw deck."), can I draw, for example, two cards rather than three even though I have at least three cards in my draw deck? A: Yes, you can. The card says "up to", without any qualification, so you can draw any number of cards from zero to three. Note that you still have to reshuffle two cards into your draw deck even if you draw fewer than three cards. You also do not have to draw any cards (the card also says "may") if you do not want to, in which case you do not have to reshuffle any cards. Thus if you do not draw any cards, then you can choose to reshuffle two cards, or not, by treating this case either as drawing zero cards, or as not drawing cards, respectively. Q: If I play leadership card Call Spirit of the Battlefield [Mimix 30] ("Now I may retrieve any one card from my combat area into my hand."), can I retrieve a support card? A: No, you cannot. The combat area (where character cards and booster cards are played) and the support area (where support cards are played) are separate, and effects which apply to one do not apply to the other. See the illustration of the game board on rulebook page 4, or the board itself. Q: What does "character/booster/support cards" mean in the special power text of mutant Neth-sur-Pot [Mutant 104, Mimix deck] ("I may only play this card if you have at least three active character/booster/support cards. The contested element of the fight changes between Fire and Earth."), do they have to be of the same type? A: No, they do not. This means any combination of three active character cards, booster cards, or support cards. Q: If you have active support card Chitter Chatter [Flit 28, E&I:B deck] ("You may not draw additional cards at the end of your turn.") and I play Ketharkopas the Astronomer [Hoax 15, Khind deck] ("If my turn is about to end with me holding fewer than nine cards in my hand, I may draw to nine cards."), and I have six cards in my hand at the end of my turn, do I draw another three cards? A: Yes, you do. Chitter Chatter stops you drawing any "additional cards at the end of your turn" which applies to cards with this wording, for example Flare [Vulca 15] ("At the end of my turn, I may draw two additional cards.") or Shaman of the Deeds to Come [Mimix 19] ("At the end of my turn, I may draw (up to) three additional cards and then shuffle any two cards from my hand into my draw deck."). It does not apply to normal refreshing, nor to other cards which allow you to gain cards using any other wording, such as Ketharkopas the Astronomer, Shaman of the Holy Sacrifice [Mimix 18] ("At the end of my turn, I may reveal (up to) three cards from the top of my draw deck, then discard one of them and take the others into my hand."), Shaman of the Afterlife [Mimix 21] ("Immediately after my Booster/Support phase, I shuffle my discard pile face down and may draw two cards from it into my hand.") or leadership card Muster Reinforcements [Hoax 27] ("Now I may draw five cards."). Q: If I have active support card Crashing Thunder Storm [Terrah 21] ("If I have more than one active Storm support card at the beginning of my turn, I immediately attract one dragon (in total).") and support card Swirling Snow Storm [Terrah 22] ("If I have more than one active Storm support card at the beginning of my turn, I immediately attract one dragon (in total).") at the beginning of my turn, how many dragons do I attract? Does this apply even if I retreat? A: One. This is why the "(in total)" appears, as without it each Storm card would indicate that a dragon was attracted, and hence you would attract one dragon each. And yes, you attract the dragon even if you retreat. Q: If I play Gloria Gracia [Pillar 12] ("Now I may retrieve one card (not this card) from my combat area into my hand."), can I retrieve an inactive card? A: Yes, you can. Gloria Gracia does not refer only to active cards, so any card in your combat area is allowed. Q: Can I use leadership card Summon Sorcerer [Vulca 28] ("Now I may retrieve one of my active cards into my hand.") to retrieve itself? A: Strictly speaking, there is no rule that prohibits this. But it would be pointless and unlike the similar case of Gloria Gracia [Pillar 12] ("Now I may retrieve one card (not this card) from my combat area into my hand.") that has a specific prohibition. It is thus suggested that Summon Sorcerer should be considered to have a similar prohibition. Q: If I play leadership card Inflame Mutant [Vulca 31, E&I:A deck] ("In my Character phase, I may play any mutant."), can I then play mutant Man-shu-Ran [Mutant 110, E&I:A deck] ("I may only play this card if you have an active FREE card. The contested element of the fight changes between Fire and Earth.") even if you do not have an active FREE card? What is the effect? A: Yes, you can play the mutant, that's the purpose of Inflame Mutant, and permitted by its special power text. The mutant then behaves as usual, including its values, shields and the second sentence of its special power text. This is confirmed by Special Rule 4: 'If the cards instruct you to act, you must do so. If you are unable to satisfy the instruction completely, you must act as far as is possible.'. Q: What happens if in the previous question Man-shu-Ran is replaced by mutant Zig-nur-Don [Mutant 106, Vulca deck] ("I may only play this card if I am attacked by at least 5 Earth. The contested element of the fight changes to Fire.") and the contested element is fire? A: Again, you can play the mutant, and the contested element remains fire. Q: Are the Chosen Ones (from Emissaries and Inquisitors) special power texts optional? Can I play one and have it affect neither of us, in effect discarding it? A: In six cases the card is compulsory, both players must take the appropriate action, if they can. In two cases (leadership card Chosen of Affinity [Khind 32, E&I:B deck] ("Now we both may play one crystal card as if we had the respective dragon on our side.") and leadership card Chosen of Discovery [Pillar 32, E&I:B deck] ("Now we both may discard cards with a total printed value at least 2 Fire and 2 Earth (on different cards) from our hands to attract one dragon.")) the action is optional, but for each player. If you play the card, I choose whether to take the action first, but I cannot deny you the choice of whether to take the action by not taking it myself. You cannot discard the card. Q: If I have active Tutu PamPam [Tutu 507, E&I:A deck] ("I may not play further character cards during this fight."), played on a previous turn, what can I do this turn? A: You can take Beginning of Turn phase actions and a Leadership phase action, and then usually you have no choice but to retreat; although PamPam prohibits you from playing a new character card, it does not free you from the need to play one and not retreat. Note however that leadership card Bounce Back [Khind 31, Pillar deck] (STOP icon, "My active cards attack again.") allows you to continue play with active PamPam and not retreat. You can also avoid having to retreat if you can retrieve or discard PamPam. Also note that PamPam also applies on the turn it is played, it must be your last character card played. Q: If you have active support card Flickering Fires [Vulca 24] ("You may not play leadership cards."), can I play a Hyla or crystal card, or discard a card with the REPLACE icon? A: Yes, you can. Hyla and crystal cards are leadership phase cards, but are not leadership cards. Cards with the REPLACE icon are neither (unless they are due to their card type). Play of Hyla and crystal cards is prevented by support card Evil Eye [Terrah 28, E&I:A deck] ("You may not play Leadership phase cards.") but this still does not prevent use of the REPLACE icon. Influence and Achievement Cards ------------------------------- Q: What are influence and achievement cards? A: These are new types of cards introduced in the Emissaries and Inquisitors decks, although these terms are only used on the cards, not in the E&I rulesheet. Hyla cards are influence cards; crystal cards are achievement cards. Q: If I have an active Hyla, and then play Hyla Reappearance [Infl 608, E&I:B deck] ("Now I search through my discard pile and may exchange this card with any Hyla card from there."), can I exchange Reappearance for my discarded previously active Hyla? A: Yes, you can. E&I rulesheet, under Hyla: 'When played, display your Hyla card face up next to the board on the opposite side of the leader cards. Any previously played Hyla card, irrespective of which player played it, is instantly discarded face up on the discard pile.'. Thus my original Hyla is discarded when Reappearance is played, and before its text is read an applied (rulebook page 17, under Special Rules, first point: 'When a player brings a card with a special power into play, he reads out the text.'), and thus the original Hyla is available. Interference Cards ------------------ Q: How much time am I allowed to play an interference card in response to one of your actions? A: There is no formal answer to this question, it is up to agreement between you and your opponent (or set by a tournament organiser). What I would suggest is reasonable is allowing a short period (maybe a couple of seconds) in which a player can ask for a pause and a longer length of that pause in which the player decides whether to play an interference card (or call a bluff). But players also should not abuse this by pausing every action. Q: When you play an interference card, does it become active? If so, can I discard it using the special power text of TopDog [Khind 06] ("On my turn, I may discard one of your active cards that has an icon, except your last remaining active character card and PROTECTED cards.")? A: The E&I rulesheet does not specify whether an interference card becomes active. It specifies, under Interference Cards: 'Place the interference card face up on your discard pile and read the special power text aloud.'. This indicates that the effect of the special power text is applied on playing the card, as usual, and there is no opportunity to use TopDog to prevent the interference card's effect. After that the interference card is simply on the discard pile, and cannot be active. It is convenient to consider the interference card to be active while it is being applied, but this actually has no effect on play. Q: What is the exact timing of interference card Shame on you! [Inter 402, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card when you play your first character card on your turn: Your card is cancelled and discarded. You must play a replacement or retreat.")? A: In general the order is that first I play a character card, then you can play Shame on you!. If you do then the character card does not come into play, does not cover any previous cards in my combat area, does not become active and does not have its special power text read or applied. Some examples are given in the following questions, but after an exception. Note that play of interference card How dare you! [Inter 401, E&I:B deck] ("I may play this card when you play a Leadership phase card: Your card is cancelled and discarded.") is handled similarly. Q: If I play Tutu WhizWhiz [Tutu 501, E&I:A deck] ("I must discard one card from my hand to play this card.") and you play interference card Shame on you! [Inter 402, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card when you play your first character card on your turn: Your card is cancelled and discarded. You must play a replacement or retreat.") must I discard a card? A: Yes, you must. As noted in question "When is special power text first effective?" in section 'Special Power Texts: General Rules', this text on a Tutu card applies while it is still in your hand, before it is played, and therefore before the interference card is played. Q: If I play a character card with a STOP icon, and then you cancel it using interference card Shame on you! [Inter 402, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card when you play your first character card on your turn: Your card is cancelled and discarded. You must play a replacement or retreat."), can I play another character card, and a booster card or support card, despite the STOP icon? A: Yes, you can. The first character card is cancelled without effect, so the STOP icon is ignored. E&I rulesheet, under Interference Cards: 'A card canceled in this way does not become active, so cards with the PROTECTED icon can be canceled and discarded.'. The first part of this rule also applies to the STOP icon, with analogous effect as for the PROTECTED icon in the second part. Q: If you play Tittertweet [Flit 07] (RETRIEVE icon, "Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards."), can I cancel it with interference card Shame on you! [Inter 402, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card when you play your first character card on your turn: Your card is cancelled and discarded. You must play a replacement or retreat.")? A: Yes, you can. Tittertweet's special power text is not effective until after it comes into play, and Shame on you! is effective before that. Q: If you have active Tittertweet [Flit 07] ("Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards."), can I play interference card Shame on you! [Inter 402, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card when you play your first character card on your turn: Your card is cancelled and discarded. You must play a replacement or retreat.") to cancel a character card played to cover Tittertweet. A: No, you cannot. The text on interference cards is special power text and is ignored, since until the character card is successfully played, Tittertweet is uncovered and active. Consequently Shame on you! cannot be played as only its text allows this. (E&I rulesheet, under Interference Cards: 'You play your interference card from your hand in response to your opponent's action, as indicated on the card.'.) Q: If you have active Baku But [Terrah 14] ("On your turn, you must play a booster card, or retreat."), I play a character card and a booster card, and then you play the interference card Away with this! [Inter 403, E&I:B deck] ("I may play this card immediately after you announce your power: I may discard one of your active booster or support cards that you played on this turn."), does this negate my playing of the booster card, and do I thus have to retreat? A: No, and no. Away with this! discards the booster card, it does not cancel it having been played. (It differs from Shame on you! [Inter 402, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card when you play your first character card on your turn: Your card is cancelled and discarded. You must play a replacement or retreat.") which does cancel a character card.) Q: If I play Ketharkopas the Astronomer [Hoax 15, Khind deck] ("If my turn is about to end with me holding fewer than nine cards in my hand, I may draw to nine cards.") and then, after I have announced my total power, you play interference card Enough of this! [Inter 404, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card immediately after you announce your power: Your turn ends immediately."), do I get to draw to nine cards? A: No, you do not. The interference card ends the turn immediately and there is no usual "about to end" of the turn for Ketharkopas the Astronomer to use. Q: If you have active support card Brain Drain [Hoax 26] ("On your turn, you may not play more than one card."), and I play a character card, and you respond with interference card Shame on you! [Inter 402, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card when you play your first character card on your turn: Your card is cancelled and discarded. You must play a replacement or retreat."), can I respond with interference card I saw that coming! [Inter 407, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card when you play an interference card. Your card is cancelled and discarded.")? A: No, you cannot. Although Shame on you! will cancel the character card, and cause it not to count as a played card, this would not apply until after I saw that coming! is not played. This is because if, in the absence of Brain Drain, Shame on you! caused the character card to not count as played before I saw that coming! may or may not be played, then the character card would be played, become not played, and then, if I saw that coming! were played, become played again, and the rules do not include the concept of playing a card again, or what its effects would be. Note that I saw that coming! is your only interference card that is affected by Brain Drain, and only if not played in response to my I saw that coming!, as it is the interference card you play in your turn. Q: If I start a fight and play a character card, which you cancel by playing interference card Shame on you! [Inter 402, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card when you play your first character card on your turn: Your card is cancelled and discarded. You must play a replacement or retreat."), and I cannot (or choose not to) play a replacement character card, can I decline to start the fight, or must I retreat? A: You must retreat. By playing a character card you have entered the Character phase and finished the Retreat from Fight? phase, so the fight has started and it is too late to decline to start the fight. Normally at this point you could not retreat either, but Shame on you! allows you to retreat, so you can, but does not allow you to decline to start the fight. Note that this text allows you to retreat in the first turn of a fight, where the rules do not usually allow this. (Rulebook page 17, under Special Rules, first point: 'Instructions on the cards supersede these game rules.'.) Q: If I play a leadership card, which you cancel using interference card How dare you! [Inter 401, E&I:B deck] ("I may play this card when you play a Leadership phase card: Your card is cancelled and discarded."), can I now play a Hyla, crystal or ship card, or discard a card using the REPLACE icon? A: Yes, you can. The leadership card is cancelled, and does not count as played, so you can take any permitted action in your Leadership phase (including playing another leadership card, or taking no action). Inquisitors ----------- Q: If I am using inquisitor Swift-Fist Royal Marshal [Inq 411, E&I:B deck] ("+0 cards + 0 moons At the start of the game, I attract one dragon."), when do I attract the dragon and choose which one? A: At the start of the game means as early as possible. So following rulebook page 3, Game Preparation, you lay out the game board, put the three dragons in the middle, and each take your deck and display your leader and inquisitor. This is now the earliest point at which you can attract the dragon. It is also consistent with rulebook page 17, under Special Rules: 'When a player brings a card with a special power into play, he reads out the text.' and this applies to Swift-Fist too. Note that this is before you see your opening hand. Q: If I am using inquisitor Weave-Tongue Royal Councilor [Inq 414, E&I:B deck] ("+15 cards +10 moons At the end of my turn, I may draw one additional card.") or Hyla Hagbaad [Infl 605, E&I:B deck] ("At the end of my turn, I may draw one additional card."), do I draw an additional card when I refresh my hand, after either you or I retreat or decline to start a fight, before the next fight starts? A: No, you do not, neither of these is at the end of a turn. Also note that you do not refresh your hand at all after I decline to start a fight, only I do. Ships: General Rules -------------------- Q: What is the relevance of ships being 'leadership phase cards but not leadership cards' (from Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Playing a Ship)? A: If you do not have the Emissaries and Inquisitors decks, just that ships are played in the Leadership phase, but are not leadership cards, and hence are not affected by cards such as support card Flickering Fires [Vulca 24] ("You may not play leadership cards."). Leadership phase cards are defined in the E&I rulesheet, this adds ships to the list of those cards considered as leadership phase cards (leadership cards, Hyla and crystal cards). Playing a ship prevents the playing of any other leadership phase card (or using the REPLACE icon from Emissaries and Inquisitors) in that leadership phase. However unless playing with cards from Emissaries and Inquisitors (such as support card Evil Eye [Terrah 28, E&I:A deck] ("You may not play Leadership phase cards.")) the term leadership phase cards is not important. Q: Can I do more than one thing with a ship in a turn? A: If you land a ship you can play cards from it, or if you play a ship you can load a card (or, if permitted, cards) onto it, but because you land a ship in the Beginning of Turn phase you cannot play a ship and land it in the same turn, and because you can only load cards onto a ship in the influence area, you cannot load cards onto a landed ship. Q: Is there any way I can remove your ships from your influence area, or prevent you from landing a ship, or make you do so? A: No, to all of these. You can prevent me playing a ship, for example by having active support card Evil Eye [Terrah 28, E&I:A deck] ("You may not play Leadership phase cards."), or cancel it when I do by playing interference card How dare you! [Inter 401, E&I:B deck] ("I may play this card when you play a Leadership phase card: Your card is cancelled and discarded."), you can prevent me loading a ship, for example by having active support card Pandemonium [Khind 26, Vulca deck] ("You may not play support cards."), you can limit my play of cards from a landed ship, for example by having active support card Brain Drain [Hoax 26] ("On your turn, you may not play more than one card."), and you can ignore the special power texts on my ship cards, for example by having active support card Laughing Gas [Khind 27] ("Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards. (This card has no effect if opposed by Laughing Gas.)"), but you cannot affect the indicated aspects of ships, and nor can you affect their capacities in any way. Q: What happens if a ship's special power text is ignored? A: The ship behaves exactly as does ship card Rising Sun [Buka 30] (Capacity 4), except for the smaller capacity. You can still play, load and land the ship, and play cards from the landed ship. You cannot load cards when the ship is played, or play character, booster or support cards from hand when the ship is landed, even if the ship is one which normally permits this. Q: If I have a landed ship, can I play leadership card Charm Holy Dragon [Vulca 29] ("Now I may discard cards with a total printed value of at least 8 Fire from my hand to attract one dragon.")? If so, do I discard cards from my hand or from my landed ship? A: Landed ships only affect the playing of character, booster and support cards, so you can play Charm Holy Dragon. You discard cards from your hand. (Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Landing a Ship: 'The discarding of cards from your hand and the drawing or retrieving of cards into your hand remain unaffected by landed ships.'.) Note that this also applies to all other forms of discards, including Pillar Caterpillar cards, Tutu (from Emissaries and Inquisitors) and cards such as support card Irresistible Sirens [Aqua 28] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard one character card from your hand, or I attract 1 (additional) dragon - even if you retreat."), and also means that you cannot use the REPLACE icon (from Emissaries and Inquisitors) on a card loaded onto a ship, but that you can play the new card types in Emissaries and Inquisitors (Hyla, crystal cards and interference cards), or another ship, even though you have a landed ship. Q: Can I retrieve a card from a ship using the RETRIEVE icon? A: No, you cannot. Rulebook page 15, under RETRIEVE: 'If you have active cards depicting the RETRIEVE icon at the very beginning of your turn, you may return any of these cards into your undisclosed hand.'; Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Loading a Ship: 'Cards on ships are not in play, they are not active, they have no effect and are not affected by any other cards.'. Since cards loaded onto ships are not active, they cannot be retrieved. Q: I have exhausted my draw deck and I played my last card from hand before retreating from a fight. But I still have a full ship and I want to start a new fight by landing it. Can I? A: No, you cannot. Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Loading a Ship: 'A game will end if, after a fight, a player has neither cards in his hand nor in his draw deck, even if he has one or more ships with cards on them.'. This is not optional, if you want the game to continue you need to keep at least one card in hand. Q: Can I retrieve a ship in my influence area to my hand using leadership card Summon Sorcerer [Vulca 28] ("Now I may retrieve one of my active cards into my hand.")? What about a landed ship? Can I use Summon Sorcerer to retrieve a card loaded onto a ship? A: Yes, yes, and no. The only condition imposed by Summon Sorcerer is that the card which may be retrieved is active. Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Landing a Ship: 'Ships are active while in your influence area and while landed.', and under Loading a Ship: 'Cards on ships are not in play, they are not active'. Note that if you do retrieve a ship, any cards loaded on it are discarded (Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Loading a Ship: 'If a ship is retrieved or discarded, all cards loaded on that ship are discarded onto the discard pile.'). Ships: Playing Ships -------------------- Q: If I have a Hyla (from Emissaries and Inquisitors) in my influence area, can I play a ship? A: Yes, you can. You can have one or more ships in your influence area regardless of anything else in either your or my influence areas, including whether you, or I, have a Hyla, or any other ships, in play. Q: If I use leadership card Entreat Favor [Buka 27] ("Now I search through my draw deck and may select either one influence card and play it, or one character/booster/support card and load it onto one of my ships. Then I reshuffle.") to put ship card Sea Devil [Buka 29] (Capacity 3, "Now I may load up to three cards from my hand onto this ship.") into play, can I use the latter's special power text? A: Yes, you can. Entreat Favor allows you to play Sea Devil, so you read its special power text and follow it. Q: If I play ship card Sea Devil [Buka 29] (Capacity 3, "Now I may load up to three cards from my hand onto this ship."), do I use its special power text in the Leadership phase when I play it, or in the Booster/Support phase when I usually load cards onto ships? Do the loaded cards limit my loading of other cards onto a ship (or ships if allowed) in this turn? A: You use the special power text in the Leadership phase, because that is "now". These cards are additional to your normal allowance, they do not affect you loading any other cards. Ships: Loading Ships -------------------- Q: Can I modify the capacity of either your ships or my ships? A: No, you cannot. Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Loading a Ship: 'This capacity is neither special power text nor an icon, it cannot be ignored.' and there are no other effects that apply (ship cards, being without icons, cannot be ignored). Q: If you have active support card Pandemonium [Khind 26, Vulca deck] ("You may not play support cards."), can I load cards onto ships? A: You cannot load cards onto ships in your Booster/Support phase. Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Loading a Ship: 'If you are prevented from playing support cards you may not load any cards onto ships.'. There is an exception to this rule, you may load cards when playing ship card Sea Devil [Buka 29] (Capacity 3, "Now I may load up to three cards from my hand onto this ship."). This is because the quoted rule applies only to loading cards in the Booster/Support phase. (This is not entirely clear from the English rules, the German rules however add words equivalent to "at this point in time" to the quoted rule.) Note that similar reasoning applies if using support card Brain Drain [Hoax 26] ("On your turn, you may not play more than one card.") instead of Pandemonium, it prevents loading cards in your Booster/Support phase (as you must have already played a card) but does not prevent loading cards after playing Sea Devil (although you will then have to retreat, having played Sea Devil). Q: If you play leadership card Cast Cataclysm [Vulca 30] ("Now I may discard all of your active support cards."), are my cards loaded onto ships discarded? A: No, they are not. Although loading cards onto ships is instead of playing support cards, cards loaded onto ships do not count as support cards. Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Loading a Ship: 'Cards on ships are not in play, they are not active, they have no effect and are not affected by any other cards.'. Q: If I have active support card Armory [Buka 25] ("On my turn, I may play one additional support card."), can I load two cards onto the same, or different, ships? A: Yes, you can. Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Loading a Ship: 'Instead of playing a support card, you may load a card onto one of your ships in your influence area. If you are prevented from playing support cards you may not load any cards onto ships. If you can play additional support cards then for each support card you could play you may load a card onto a ship instead. If you load more than one card then these may be loaded onto the same or different ships.'. Q: If I have an active card with a STOP icon, can I load a card onto a ship? A: No, you cannot. Rulebook page 14, under STOP: 'Playing a card with a STOP icon prevents you from playing any further cards during your turn.', and Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Loading a Ship: 'If you are prevented from playing support cards you may not load any cards onto ships.'. The former is an example which causes the latter to apply. Q: Can I load any of the new types of cards in Emissaries and Inquisitors onto a ship? A: No, you cannot. You can only load character, booster and support cards onto a ship, you cannot load Hyla, crystal or interference cards (or leadership cards, or ship cards) onto a ship. Q: Can I load a mutant onto a ship? A: Yes, you can, because it is a character card; however you must still satisfy its condition to play it from the ship. (This also applies to Tutu cards from Emissaries and Inquisitors.) Q: Can I load a bluff card onto a ship? A: A card with a BLUFF icon does not become a bluff card until it is played face down in the support area (Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing: 'Such a facedown card in play is known as a bluff card'). As a character card such a card can be loaded onto a ship, but face up. See also question "Can I play a bluff card from a ship?" in section 'Ships: Playing Cards from Ships'. Q: Are cards loaded onto ships counted as being in my hand? A: No, they are not, for any purpose. If special power text refers to cards in hand (for example mutant Sas-van-Son [Mutant 102, Aqua deck] ("I may only play this card if you have at least two more cards in your hand than I. The contested element of the fight changes between Fire and Earth.")) it does not include cards loaded onto ships, see Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Loading a Ship: 'Cards on ships are not part of your hand.'. Q: Can I play leadership card Entreat Favor [Buka 27] ("Now I search through my draw deck and may select either one influence card and play it, or one character/booster/support card and load it onto one of my ships. Then I reshuffle.") to load a card onto a landed ship? A: Yes, you can. Normally you cannot load a card onto a landed ship, but also normally you cannot load a card onto a ship in your Leadership phase. Entreat Favor allows both of these restrictions to be superseded. (Rulebook page 17, under Special Rules, first point: 'Instructions on the cards supersede these game rules.'.) Q: If you have active Kabu Kat [Terrah 13] ("On your turn, you must play a support card, or retreat."), can I avoid retreating by loading a card onto a ship? A: No, you cannot. Buka Invasion rulesheet under Loading a Ship: 'Instead of playing a support card, you may load a card onto one of your ships'. This makes loading a ship an alternative to playing a support card, not an instance of playing a support card. Q: If you have active support card Brain Drain [Hoax 26] ("On your turn, you may not play more than one card."), can I play a character card and load a card onto a ship? A: No, you cannot. Buka Invasion rulesheet under Loading a Ship: 'Instead of playing a support card, you may load a card onto one of your ships'. Because Brain Drain would prevent playing a support card after playing a character card, you cannot load a card onto a ship instead of this. Q: If you have active Ferro Fos [Terrah 12] ("You may not play cards that have special power text."), can I load a card with special power text onto a ship? A: Yes, you can. Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Loading a Ship: 'Instead of playing a support card, you may load a card onto one of your ships' defines loading a card as instead of playing a card, not as playing a card, and therefore Ferro Fos's restriction does not apply. (Note that the later rule 'If you are prevented from playing support cards you may not load any cards onto ships.' is not applicable here, it refers only to a complete inability to play support cards, not a limitation on playing some support cards.) Ships: Landing Ships -------------------- Q: Can I land an empty ship? A: Yes, you can. Note that this still prevents you from playing character, booster or support cards from hand (unless permitted to by special power text). Q: Can I land more than one ship in a turn? A: Yes, you can. Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Landing a Ship: 'During your Beginning of Turn phase, you may land one or more of your ships from your influence area'. Q: If I land two ships, one of which is ship card Sea Falcon [Buka 28] (Capacity 2, "On the turn in which I land this ship, I may also play cards from my hand."), can I play cards from my hand due to Sea Falcon's special power text, even though landing the other ship would normally prevent it? A: Yes, you can. Sea Falcon overrides the normal restriction, both from itself and from the other ship, see rulebook page 17, under Special Rules, first point: 'Instructions on the cards supersede these game rules.'. (This includes game rules in the Buka Invasion rulesheet.) Q: If you have active Ferro Fos [Terrah 12] ("You may not play cards that have special power text.") can I land ship card Sea Falcon [Buka 28] (Capacity 2, "On the turn in which I land this ship, I may also play cards from my hand.")? A: Yes, you can. Landing a ship is not playing it. (Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Ships: 'There are three actions you can take with a ship: playing it, loading it and landing it.', landing a ship is separate from playing it.) Q: If I land ship Sea Moon [Promo/Buka 31] (Capacity 1, "Now I may load one card from my hand onto this ship. On the turn in which I land this ship, I may also play one character/booster/support card from my hand."), and play a character card, and either a second character card, or a character, booster or support card, one from the ship and one from my hand, are there any restrictions on which card is which? A: No, there are not. If there were then the ship card text would say so. Thus the card you play from Sea Moon may be the first or second card you play of those of the indicated types. You may also play a leadership phase card, as this is not restricted by the play of a ship and does not count against the one card limit set by Sea Moon. Q: If I land a ship, and then realise that I cannot match your total power, can I backtrack and not land it? A: Strictly speaking, no. You landed your ship in the Beginning of Turn phase, and the rule that allows you to backtrack (rulebook page 18, under Special Rule 11) only does so to 'before the play of the character card'. However in a friendly game, provided no cards have been revealed, you should allow this. Q: Once I have landed a ship is there any way I can avoid having to discard it? A: Not usefully. Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Landing a Ship: 'Immediately before you announce your power, any ships that were landed are discarded onto your discard pile. Landed ships are also discarded if you retreat, or decline to start a fight, or if your turn ends for any other reason.'. It is possible to retrieve a ship using a leadership card, see question "Can I retrieve a ship ... ?" in section 'Ships: General Rules', but this is before you can play any cards from the ship, and has the same effect as if you had not landed the ship. Ships: Playing Cards from Ships ------------------------------- Q: Can I play all of my cards from the ship or ships I have landed this turn? A: Yes, you can, except that you are still restricted by the usual game rules. For example if you have two non-Buka characters without icons in a ship, you cannot land both and must leave one in the ship to be discarded with the ship, and similarly you cannot play two booster or support cards, or one of each, from a ship without either special power text or a FREE icon. (You can actually play any or all of the Buka cards of these types from a ship in one turn, but because they provide those exceptions, not because they are Buka cards.) Q: Do I have to play all of my cards from ships I have landed this turn? A: No, you do not, not even if you can. You can even retreat after landing a ship. But all of your cards in your ships which you do not play will be discarded this turn when your ship is discarded, and you cannot avoid this. (Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Landing a Ship: 'If a ship is retrieved or discarded, all cards loaded on that ship are discarded onto the discard pile.'.) Q: If I land a ship and then play Trigger Brainstorm [Hoax 29] ("On this turn, I may play any number of support cards."), can I play support cards from my hand? A: No, you cannot, unless the special power text on the ship permits it. While Trigger Brainstorm permits the play of additional support cards, its text does not indicate that the prohibition of playing support cards from hand is lifted, and so it is not. Q: What is "a Buka character" that gets played as if it had a FREE icon from a ship? A: A character card from the Buka people, indicated as "Buka" in the lower left corner of the card. These are only found in the Buka Invasion deck. When using the Advanced Rules, these cards remain Buka cards in other peoples' decks, but other peoples' character cards used in a Buka deck are not Buka characters. Q: Are all of my Buka characters FREE? What about other characters? So which characters can I play when I land a ship? A: All of your Buka characters are FREE. Your non-Buka characters are not FREE (unless they have their own FREE icon or are FREE for another reason). This means that you can play all of your Buka characters from the ship, plus a non-FREE character (from the ship or, if permitted, from hand). Also see the following question. Q: Can I use PAIR, GANG and FREE icons as usual when playing cards from a ship? A: Yes, you can. Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Landing a Ship: 'you play such cards from the landed ships as if they were in your hand'. This also means that STOP icons and special power texts have their usual effects. Q: Can I play a card with a condition on its play from a ship? If so, how do I interpret the condition? A: Yes, you can. You interpret the condition as usual; in particular references to your hand still refer to your hand, not to the ship the card was played from. Q: Can I play a bluff card from a ship? A: Yes, you can. Of course it will be obvious whether it has a BLUFF icon matching the contested element. Also note that this counts as the play of a support card, not a character card, and hence does not have the FREE icon due to playing a Buka character from a ship. Q: Can I play Old Goo Laa's Ghost [Buka 23] (STOP icon, "I may only play this card if I have no cards in my influence area. The contested element of the fight changes between Fire and Earth.") from a ship? A: Yes, you can, provided that you have no other ships (or Hyla from Emissaries and Inquisitors) in your influence area. Note that, because when you land a ship you move it out of your influence area, the ship that Old Goo Laa's Ghost is landed from does not prevent playing it. Q: You have landed a ship and play a character card from it; can I prevent you from playing this character card by playing interference card Shame on you! [Inter 402, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card when you play your first character card on your turn: Your card is cancelled and discarded. You must play a replacement or retreat.")? If so and you now cannot match my total power from the ship, can you play cards from your hand instead? A: Yes, you can play Shame on you!. Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Landing a Ship: 'you play such cards from the landed ships as if they were in your hand', this allows the play of an interference card against them. But I have already landed my ship in the Beginning of Turn phase, and I am limited to playing character, booster and support cards from my ships, so I will have to retreat. Bluffing: General Rules ----------------------- Q: What use is an EMPTY BLUFF icon? A: An EMPTY BLUFF icon allows you to play the card with it as a bluff card. Thus you can play Captain Su Cha [Buka 04] (EMPTY BLUFF icon) as a bluff card, but you cannot play Captain Ariosa Paal [Buka 03] (RETRIEVE icon) as a bluff card, because it does not have a BLUFF icon of any sort. But an EMPTY BLUFF does not match either element (Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing: 'Some Buka characters have the FIRE BLUFF icon (yellow), the EARTH BLUFF icon (black) or the EMPTY BLUFF icon (clear).'). Thus a bluff card with an EMPTY BLUFF icon is always a losing bluff; if your bluff is called, then you lose, both allowing me to attract a dragon and forcing you to retreat (usully allowing me to attract an additional dragon, or dragons). This is because the bluff card with the EMPTY BLUFF icon, once revealed, matches the condition 'If any of your revealed bluff cards do not have a BLUFF icon in the current element' (Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing). Only the "real" bluff cards with the FIRE BLUFF and EARTH BLUFF icons can win a bluff (and only if you only have those, and all are of the right element). Q: Which are the real bluff cards? A: The "Cannoneer" cards, from Cannoneer Tara Ko [Buka 07] (FIRE BLUFF icon) to Cannoneer Alo Cha [Buka 12] (EARTH BLUFF icon). They alternate in element. Q: Cards with a BLUFF icon are character cards, but are played as support cards, so are they affected by cards that affect character cards, or by cards that affect support cards? A: In hand these cards are character cards, as indicated on them, they are affected by effects that apply to character cards, but not by effects that apply to support cards (see section 'Card Play: Cards in Hand' for effects that apply to cards in hand). However while they are character cards, they are played as support cards (Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing: 'You may play a card with a BLUFF icon facedown into your support area, unseen by your opponent. This is treated as the play of a support card.'). Finally, once in play, bluff cards are treated as support cards (Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing: 'Such a facedown card in play is known as a bluff card, and it is considered as an active support card in all regards'). See the following five questions. Q: If you have active Hank Highflyer Hawk [Flit 12, Hoax deck] ("Your character cards are ignored, except Flit character cards."), can I play a card with a BLUFF icon as a bluff card? A: No, you cannot. Your card is a character card, and hence is ignored while in your hand, including its BLUFF icon. Q: If you have active Flitterflutter [Flit 08] ("Your support cards are ignored."), can I play a card with a BLUFF icon as a bluff card? A: Yes, you can. Your card is a character card, and hence is not ignored while in your hand, hence neither is its BLUFF icon. Q: If you have active Corono Cos [Terrah 16] ("You may not play cards that do not have special power text."), can I play a card with a BLUFF icon, and without special power text, as a bluff card? A: No, you cannot. Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing: 'You may play a card with a BLUFF icon facedown into your support area, unseen by your opponent. This is treated as the play of a support card.'. Consequently it is subject to the restrictions of such card play, and in this case that includes that it must have special power text. Of course at the time of play, this cannot be verified, but that also applies to that it must have a BLUFF icon. In order that this can be verified when the bluff card is discarded, it must be noted which bluff card(s) are subject to such a restriction. This can be done because bluff cards can be tracked (there is no suggestion otherwise). Q: If you have active support card Pandemonium [Khind 26, Vulca deck] ("You may not play support cards."), can I play bluff cards? A: No, you cannot. Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing: 'You may play a card with a BLUFF icon facedown into your support area, unseen by your opponent. This is treated as the play of a support card.'. Q: If you play leadership card Cast Cataclysm [Vulca 30] ("Now I may discard all of your active support cards."), and discard all my support cards, does this include my bluff cards? A: Yes, it does. Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing: 'Such a facedown card in play is known as a bluff card, and it is considered as an active support card in all regards'. Q: If you have active Hyla Piplox [Infl 604, E&I:A deck] ("On my turn, I may play one additional booster/support card.") and play leadership card Bounce Back [Khind 31, Pillar deck] ("My active cards attack again.") and a card with a BLUFF icon as a bluff card, can I play interference card Shame on you! [Inter 402, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card when you play your first character card on your turn: Your card is cancelled and discarded. You must play a replacement or retreat.") in response to the latter card? A: No, you cannot. The card with a BLUFF icon is played as a support card, not as a character card (Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing: 'You may play a card with a BLUFF icon facedown into your support area, unseen by your opponent. This is treated as the play of a support card.'). Q: If I have active Quartermaster Kura Ko [Buka 20] ("On my turn, I may play any number of support cards."), how many cards can I play as bluff cards this turn? A: As many as you have. Playing a card as a bluff card counts as playing a support card (Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing: 'You may play a card with a BLUFF icon facedown into your support area, unseen by your opponent. This is treated as the play of a support card.'), and hence is permitted by Quartermaster Kura Ko. Q: If I have played a bluff card, and you play a mutant to change the contested element, what happens to my bluff card? A: Nothing, except that it actually changes element to match the new contested element. However either it was a bluff that could have been successfully called or, more typically, can now be called successfully (or both). But you can get rid of the bluff card if it is now a problem (Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing: 'During your Beginning of Turn phase you may discard any of your facedown bluff cards, including those which are ignored and those whose icons are ignored.'). Q: If my bluff cards have become useless due to their icons being ignored, or the contested element changing, and I forget to discard them in my Beginning of Turn phase, what can I do about it? A: Strictly speaking, your only options are to retreat (if it is not already too late for that as well), or to hope that I do not call your bluff. However in a friendly game you may hope I am prepared to let you off your error and backtrack, if you point it out in time (although backtracking as permitted by rulebook page 18, Special Rule 11 does not allow you to backtrack this far). However note that when the element changes it can be to your advantage (you can play a FIRE BLUFF card as a bluff card when the contested element is earth, and the other way round) so sometimes when the element changes you may not discard deliberately. Thus even in a friendly game once you have declared your total power, it is much too late to do anything other than accept the loss of the bluff (including the dragon I attract for that) and the fight (and the dragon or dragons I usually attract for that). Q: If you have active Kabu Kat [Terrah 13] ("On your turn, you must play a support card, or retreat."), can I avoid retreating by playing a bluff card? A: Yes, you can. Buka Invasion rulesheet under Bluffing: 'This is treated as the play of a support card.'. Q: If you have four cards in your combat area, and two bluff cards, can I play Pen-dor-Nith [Mutant 103, Pillar deck] ("I may only play this card if you have a total of at least six cards in your combat and support areas. The contested element of the fight changes between Fire and Earth.")? A: Yes, you can. While bluff cards do not count towards the total of six cards which are needed to attract two dragons, this limitation applies only to that particular case and not to this one. Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing: 'Such a facedown card in play is known as a bluff card, and it is considered as an active support card in all regards, except that bluff cards are not counted towards the six cards needed to attract an additional dragon when your opponent retreats.'. Q: How can I tell that all the cards you have played face down are legal? What happens if they are not? A: Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing: 'Whenever any of your bluff cards are discarded, including facedown ones when a fight ends, they are revealed to your opponent when placed onto the discard pile.'. (For possible exceptions to this rule, and how to handle them, see the following question.) You will thus eventually discover that I have misplayed. Strictly, this should then be treated similarly to rulebook page 18, Special Rule 11, and I would lose the game with you scoring maximum. You may, or may not, choose to be more forgiving in a friendly game. Q: What happens if I have an active bluff card, which you have not seen, and I then play leadership card Summon Sorcerer [Vulca 28] ("Now I may retrieve one of my active cards into my hand.") to return it to my hand? What if the card did not actually have a BLUFF icon? A: Strictly speaking, this case is not covered by the previous answer, and it may be argued that, by the letter of the rules, your card is returned to hand unseen by me, and that I cannot detect that you played a non-bluff card. Note that such play is not however permitted by the rules, and it is cheating to do this and attempt to cover it up. That this cannot be detected is not satisfactory, and the spirit, and intent, of the rule quoted in the previous answer is that a bluff card is revealed whenever it ceases to be a bluff card. You should therefore reveal a retrieved bluff card, even in friendly play; in a tournament this is essential. Note that a similar answer applies if you play Erupta [Vulca 17, E&I:B deck] ("Now I may force you to shuffle all cards from your combat and support areas into your draw deck, except active PROTECTED cards.") rather than Summon Sorcerer. Bluffing: Values and Total Power -------------------------------- Q: If I have played a bluff card, and you play CoolCub [Khind 04] ("The even printed values of your booster/support cards reduce to 0."), does it have any effect on my bluff card? A: Yes, it does. A bluff card counts as a support card (Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing: 'Such a facedown card in play is known as a bluff card, and it is considered as an active support card in all regards'), and as having a printed value of 2 in the contested element (Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing: 'facedown bluff cards are counted as having a printed value of 2 in the current element'), hence CoolCop reduces the bluff card's printed value, and hence value, to 0. Note that none of the other "Cool" gang members affect bluff cards. Q: If the contested element is fire, I have active Powdermaster Yina Ko [Buka 21] (Fire value 2, "The values of my active bluff cards increase to 4.") and a bluff card, and you have active CoolCub [Khind 04] ("The even printed values of your booster/support cards reduce to 0."), what is my total power? A: 6. Your bluff card starts with a printed value of 2 (Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing: 'facedown bluff cards are counted as having a printed value of 2 in the current element'), which is reduced to 0 by CoolCub, which is applied first as it affects printed values. Your bluff card's value is then increased to 4 by Powdermaster Yina Ko. With the added 2 from Powdermaster Yina Ko itself, this totals 6. Q: If you have active Mekarthas the Shrewd [Hoax 16, Aqua deck] ("Your icons are ignored, except STOP."), and I have active Captain Ariosa Paal [Buka 03] (Value 4), booster card Letter of Marque [Buka 24] (Value 2, "You may not call my bluff.") and a bluff card, what is my total power? Can you call my bluff? A: Your total power is 8, because although your BLUFF icons are ignored, your face down bluff cards remain bluff cards, with value 2. (Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing: 'If your icons are ignored, this includes your BLUFF icons. Your facedown cards remain bluff cards and count as having a printed value of 2 in the current element'.) You cannot call my bluff because Letter of Marque's special power text is unaffected by Mekarthas the Shrewd. (Note that you must have played your bluff card before I played Mekarthas the Shrewd, because it prevents the play of bluff cards.) Q: If I have active Demegodas the Odd [Hoax 12] ("The values of my support cards double."), Powdermaster Yina Ko [Buka 21] ("The values of my active bluff cards increase to 4."), and a bluff card, what is the value of my bluff card? A: 8. Your bluff card's value is increased to 4 by Powdermaster Yina Ko and then doubled by Demegodas the Odd (rulebook page 18, under Special Rule 7: 'If there is more than one instruction influencing the fire or earth values of other cards, first apply all increasing instructions in the order that maximizes the values'). Bluffing: Calling a Bluff ------------------------- Q: If my bluff is called successfully, do you really attract two dragons (or three if you have six cards in your combat and support areas)? If you call my bluff unsuccessfully do I really lose my bluff cards? So do I actually lose both ways? A: Yes, yes, and it depends what you mean. Yes, either way you lose something, but when I call your bluff unsuccessfully you also attract a dragon. Q: Can I call your bluff when I believe, or know, that all your bluff cards match the contested element? A: Yes, you can. Note that there may be a good reason for this, it allows you to discard all my bluff cards, even though I get to attract a dragon. Likewise you can decline to call my bluff even if you know one or more of my bluff cards do not match the contested element. Q: If I have active Bethenitana the Storyteller [Hoax 11] ("If I retreat, you may not attract dragons.") and a bluff card with an EMPTY BLUFF icon, and you call my bluff successfully, do you attract dragons? A: I do attract a dragon for calling your bluff, but do not attract any dragons due to your retreat. Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing, lists the actions taken in order when I call your bluff. I attract a dragon under the second point, you retreat under the third point. Consequently the dragon I attract for calling your bluff successfully is not limited by Bethenitana the Storyteller as you have not yet retreated. Bethenitana the Storyteller does however affect the 'usual consequences' following retreat under the third point however. Q: Can I cancel the dragon you attract as a result of a bluff being called by using interference card Who do you think you are? [Inter 406, E&I:B deck] ("I may play this card when you attract exactly one dragon: You do not attract the dragon.")? A: Yes, you can, whether it is due to my calling your bluff successfully, or your calling my bluff unsuccessfully. Note that in the former case this dragon is separate from any dragons I attract due to you having to retreat, as noted in the previous answer. Q: If you have active booster card Letter of Marque [Buka 24] ("You may not call my bluff.") and a bluff card and announce your total power, can I play interference card Away with this! [Inter 403, E&I:B deck] ("I may play this card immediately after you announce your power: I may discard one of your active booster or support cards that you played on this turn.") and then call your bluff? A: Yes, you can. While Away with this! must be played immediately after I announce my total power, this does not apply to calling my bluff, which can be done at any time during my Announce Power phase. (Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing: 'After you announced your power, your opponent may call your bluff'.) Note however that you cannot take these actions in the opposite order. Q: If you have an active bluff card and announce your total power, can I call your bluff and then, if that call fails and the fight continues, play interference card Enough of this! [Inter 404, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card immediately after you announce your power: Your turn ends immediately.")? A: No, you cannot. You can only play Enough of this! immediately after I announce my total power, and if you call my bluff you have given up this opportunity. (Note that you cannot play Enough of this! first and then call my bluff either, as once you have played Enough of this! my turn is over and you cannot call my bluff.) Bluffing: Ignored Cards and Icons --------------------------------- Q: If I have played a bluff card, and you play Mad Mike Magpie [Flit 13, Terrah deck] ("Your cards with icons are ignored, except Flit character cards and PROTECTED cards."), is there anything you or I can do with or about the bluff card? A: You can discard it (Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing: 'During your Beginning of Turn phase you may discard any of your facedown bluff cards, including those which are ignored and those whose icons are ignored.') but that's all (Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing: 'If your bluff cards are ignored, they do not count, you cannot play further bluff cards and your opponent cannot call your bluff.'). Q: If you have played one or more bluff cards and I play Mekarthas the Shrewd [Hoax 16, Aqua deck] ("Your icons are ignored, except STOP."), can I automatically call your bluff, attract a dragon, and win the fight? A: No. You cannot call my bluff at any point except in my Announce Power phase (Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing: 'After you announced your power, your opponent may call your bluff if you have any facedown bluff cards.'). If I allow play to reach that point while still having bluff cards in play then, yes, you can call my bluff and win the fight. However from Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing: 'During your Beginning of Turn phase you may discard any of your facedown bluff cards, including those which are ignored and those whose icons are ignored.'. I can use this to discard my bluff cards, so that you cannot call my bluff. Start of Fight -------------- Q: How does a fight start? A: When you are due to start a fight, you start the turn sequence on rulebook page 6, under Turn Phases. However the fight does not start until you do not decline to start the fight in your first Retreat from Fight? phase. Note that if you played a leadership card before the fight started, it was still played in the same turn, and remains active until the end of your turn. Q: If a player declines to start a fight, is this the end of a fight? And does that matter? A: No, the fight has not started, so it is not the end of a fight. This means that the player refreshes his hand to six cards as described on rulebook page 9, under Declining to Start a Fight, rather than due to the fourth point under Winning a Fight on the same page. This has two consequences. First, only the player who declined to start the fight refreshes his hand, and second, if the player who declined to start the fight has active Hyla Octak [Infl 607, E&I:A deck] ("At the end of each fight, if I hold fewer than eight cards in my hand, I may draw to eight cards.") he refreshes only to six cards, not eight, because this is not the end of a fight. Q: What are the differences between declining to start a fight and retreating? A: While both of these usually (and the former only) take place in a player's Retreat from Fight? phase, they are mutually exclusive, you are never allowed a choice between them. If you are due to start a fight, but this is your first turn, then, and only then, you must decline to start a fight. As noted in the previous answer, this is not the end of a fight. You must discard one to three cards, but I do not attract any dragons - while if you retreat you cannot discard cards, but I do attract dragons. Finally, as well as the point noted in the previous answer, if you declined to start a fight then I am due to start the next fight, while if you retreated, you are due to start the next fight. Other matters are the same (including the allowed play of a leadership card in the preceding Leadership phase). Q: If I am due to start a fight, and have no character cards in my hand, what do I do? What if I have no draw deck either? A: You start the usual turn sequence, which means you can play a leadership phase card if you want to (which might give you a character card). If you do not play a leadership card, do not get a character card, or do not want to start a fight, then you get to your Retreat from Fight? phase but then, instead of retreating, you decline to start a fight, discard one to three cards (note that discarding no cards is not an option), refresh your hand to six cards, and allow me to start the fight. If the cards you discarded were all the cards you have (including your draw deck) the game ends. Otherwise the game continues. Q: Can you and I keep declining to start a fight, discarding one to three cards, and passing the start of the fight to the other player? A: Yes, we can, if we both want to. Q: I am due to start a fight, but plan to decline to do so. But first I play leadership card Charm Holy Dragon [Vulca 29] ("Now I may discard cards with a total printed value of at least 8 Fire from my hand to attract one dragon."), and I need to discard all my five remaining cards to do so. What can I do now, as I should discard at least one card to decline to start a fight? A: Decline to start the fight without a discard. The only rule which allows backtracking does not backtrack far enough to cover this case. (Rulebook page 18, under Special Rule 11: 'the game may be backtracked to the situation before the play of the character card.'.) Declining the fight without discarding is as close as you can get to following the rules, which do bot quite cover this case. (This is analogous to, but not covered by, rulebook page 17, Special Rule 4.) Note that the second edition rules do cover this point, and in this way. Q: Am I limited to just playing a single character in the first turn of a fight? A: No, you are not. The actual restriction is rulebook page 8, under BOOSTER or SUPPORT: 'On the first turn of each fight, the starting player is restricted to playing neither a booster nor a support card, unless his cards specifically allow him to play additional booster cards or support cards.'. While this is followed by 'The most common card play during a starting turn of a fight consists of one character card.', there are several exceptions to this. You can play a leadership card (or other leadership phase card), you can play more than one character card using the FREE, PAIR or GANG icons, you can play booster or support cards with the FREE icon or if permitted by special power text on an already played card. Q: Can I start a fight with mutant Fel-nar-Gan [Mutant 109, Flit deck] ("I may only play this card if I have no cards in my combat and support areas. The contested element of the fight changes between Fire and Earth.") even though no element has yet been chosen? A: Yes, you can. Rulebook page 17, under Special Rule 4: 'If the cards instruct you to act, you must do so. If you are unable to satisfy the instruction completely, you must act as far as is possible.'. You choose the element as usual in your Announce Power phase and it does not change. Q: If it is between fights and I have three or fewer cards in hand (and no cards in my deck), do I have to play on? A: If you lost the last fight and are due to start the next fight, no, you can decline to start the fight, discard your cards and end the game. (You might be able to get rid of a fourth card in your Leadership phase.) But if you won the last fight, you do not get the choice, I can start a new fight and you have to make the best of it. End of Fight ------------ Q: What exactly happens at the end of a fight? A: This is described in rulebook page 9, Winning a Fight. Note that the order there is significant, first a player retreats, then his opponent attracts dragons, then cards in both players' combat and support areas are discarded, then players refresh their hands before the next fight. Note that this means that cards such as support card Fearsome Spirits [Vulca 27] ("If you retreat, I attract one additional dragon.") have an opportunity to have effect, but can also be ignored by cards such as Tittertweet [Flit 07] ("Your special power texts are ignored, except on Flit character cards."). Note that disclosed cards stay disclosed, and when using Emissaries and Inquisitors or the Buka Invasion, cards in your influence area (Hyla and ships) and your achievement area (crystal cards) are not affected. Q: If I have active Flare [Vulca 15] ("At the end of my turn, I may draw two additional cards.") and I retreat in my Retreat from Fight? phase, can I draw the two cards? A: No, you cannot. Rulebook page 7, under Retreat from Fight: 'When you cannot or do not want to continue the current fight you announce your retreat. This ends the fight and your turn concludes without any further obligations or activities.'. Drawing cards would be an activity. (Also note that when Flare refers to the end of your turn, this means your End of Turn phase, which you do not reach.) Q: If you have active Redamikanas the Cartographer [Hoax 10] ("If you retreat, I attract one additional dragon.") and then I play leadership card Enthrall Opposition [Hoax 28] ("On this turn, your special power texts are ignored. (This card has no effect if opposed by Tittertweet or Laughing Gas.)") and then retreat from the fight, do you attract an additional dragon? A: No. Redamikanas the Cartographer is ignored as long as Enthrall Opposition is active, and that is for the rest of your turn (rulebook page 7, under LEADERSHIP: 'The effects of most leadership cards are implemented immediately, some remain active for your entire turn'). As your Retreat from Fight? phase is in your turn, Enthrall Opposition remains active while you retreat. Q: What special cases are there that end a fight, other than retreating in my Retreat from Fight? phase either voluntarily or due to being unable to match your power? A: First, there are some cases where you retreat as usual, but are forced to do so by the special power text on a card. Examples include Kabu Kat [Terrah 13] ("On your turn, you must play a support card, or retreat.") and Caterpillar Fireeater [Pillar 16] ("By the end of your Booster/Support phase, you must discard cards with a total printed value of at least 3 Fire from your hand, or retreat."). Second there are two cases where special power text may force you to retreat other than in your Retreat from Fight? phase, either due to support card Torrential Flood [Aqua 25] ("If I have more than one active Flood support card after the end of my turn, then you must immediately retreat.") and support card Tidal Flood [Aqua 26] ("If I have more than one active Flood support card after the end of my turn, then you must immediately retreat."), or due to interference card Shame on you! [Inter 402, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card when you play your first character card on your turn: Your card is cancelled and discarded. You must play a replacement or retreat."). Third, when using the Buka Invasion deck, you may be forced to retreat due to having your bluff called. Each of these cases are the subject of several questions in this FAQ list. Q: Who starts the next fight? A: The player who retreated from this fight, except that if a player declines to start a fight, this then passes to his opponent. Note that players do not start fights alternately. However if this is the last fight of a game then the player who starts the first fight of the next game is the loser of this game, not the loser of its last fight. Q: If I play my last card (none left in my hand or draw deck) when do I lose the current fight? A: You lose the fight when you cannot play a character card, so have to retreat. Depending on when you play your last card this may be the same turn (for example if your last card was a leadership card which you played) but is usually on your next turn. This is then the end of the game, which you may win or lose (see section 'End of Game'). Q: Which cards do I count when determining if I have six cards, so that if you retreat I attract two dragons, only my active cards, or do I include all my covered cards in my combat area? A: The latter (all cards). Rulebook page 9, under Winning a Fight: 'If you have a total of six or more cards (not necessarily all active) in your combat and support areas you attract one additional dragon.'. Note that this includes character, booster as support cards, but does not include bluff cards (Buka Invasion rulesheet, under Bluffing: 'Such a facedown card in play is known as a bluff card, and it is considered as an active support card in all regards, except that bluff cards are not counted towards the six cards needed to attract an additional dragon when your opponent retreats.') nor does it include cards in other areas (in particular it does not include leadership cards, or the new card types introduced in Emissaries and Inquisitors and the Buka Invasion). Q: If I play booster card Launch Sloth Gas [Flit 27] ("If I retreat, you attract one fewer dragon."), how can that effect be applied since I will not retreat until my next turn, when Launch Sloth Gas will be discarded? A: While you will not retreat until your next turn, Launch Sloth Gas will still be active until the Character phase of your next turn (rulebook page 7, under BOOSTER or SUPPORT: 'booster cards played into your combat area are active until they are covered by a new character card on your subsequent turn.', note that character cards have a similar rule) and your Retreat from Fight? phase is before your Character phase. So if you retreat on your next turn, Launch Sloth Gas is still active and I attract one fewer dragon. Q: If I have active booster card Launch Sloth Gas [Flit 27] ("If I retreat, you attract one fewer dragon."), play leadership card Distract Holy Dragon [Flit 29] ("If I retreat now, you attract no more than one dragon.") and retreat, how many dragons do you attract if you have played six cards in your combat and support areas? What if you also have active Redamikanas the Cartographer [Hoax 10] ("If you retreat, I attract one additional dragon.")? A: One and one. Distract Holy Dragon should be viewed not as a reduction in the number of dragons attracted, but as imposing a constraint on the number. So in the first case you take the usual number of dragons (two) and apply modifiers (subtract one due to Launch Sloth Gas) giving a number of dragons (one) to which is not affected by Distract Holy Dragon. In the second case the total number of dragons is two, plus one and minus one, giving two dragons, reduced to one dragon by Distract Holy Dragon, which is always applied last. Q: If I have active support card Fearsome Spirits [Vulca 27] ("If you retreat, I attract one additional dragon."), then you play Bethenitana the Storyteller [Hoax 11] ("If I retreat, you may not attract dragons."), then I play a character card, and then you retreat, how many dragons do I attract? A: None. Rulebook page 17, under Special Rules, second point: 'Cards reading "you may not..." take precedence over all remaining instructions on other cards.'. So Bethenitana the Storyteller takes precedence over Fearsome Spirits. Q: If you have active support card Wall of Fire [Vulca 26] ("You may not take cards from your draw deck.") and I have to retreat, do I refresh my hand to six cards at the end of my turn? A: No, you do not, because your retreat ends your turn and you do not get an End of Turn phase. However you do get to refresh your hand between fights. (Rulebook page 9, under Winning a Fight: 'At the end of any fight, both players refresh their hands to six cards by drawing from their draw decks.'. Note that this rule is the reason you refresh to six cards after you retreat, even without the Wall of Fire.) In most situations this has the same effect, but there is a difference if you are using inquisitor Weave-Tongue Royal Councilor [Inq 414, E&I:B deck] ("+15 cards +10 moons At the end of my turn, I may draw one additional card.") or have active Hyla Hagbaad [Infl 605, E&I:B deck] ("At the end of my turn, I may draw one additional card.") as described in question "If I am using inquisitor Weave-Tongue ... ?" in section 'Inquisitors'. End of Game ----------- Q: When exactly does a game end before either player runs out of cards? A: A game ends in this way not when a player has attracted all three dragons, but when a player would attract a fourth dragon. This can happen because he already has three dragons and attracts another, or has two dragons and attracts two more, or so on. In all these cases the player finishes with three dragons and scores accordingly (four crystals, unless this is modified by the crystal cards in Emissaries and Inquisitors); there is no additional score for the fourth dragon. Q: When exactly does a game end when a player runs out of cards? A: A game ends when, after a fight or after a player has declined to start a fight, either or both players have run out of cards, in hand as well as exhausting the draw deck. Q: What happens if I run out of cards during a fight? A: This does not end either the fight or the game. The fight continues until either you or I retreat. Q: When a game ends due to my running out of cards, who is the winner? A: Whichever of us has attracted one or more dragons. You do not lose just because you have run out of cards. Running out of cards only matters in deciding a win if all three dragons are in the neutral position in the centre of the game board. In this case whoever who ran out of cards loses, or if both of us have run out of cards, whoever who ran out of cards first loses. If you run out of cards in hand, but then regain (retrieve or otherwise acquire) cards in hand, you do not count as having run out of cards. If you run out of cards, then regain some cards, and then run out of cards again, only your running out of cards for the final time counts. In other words, if the game ends with all three dragons in the centre of the game board, then the winner is the player who most recently had any cards in hand. Q: If I play my last card, which is a character card, and you respond to it with interference card Shame on you! [Inter 402, E&I:A deck] ("I may play this card when you play your first character card on your turn: Your card is cancelled and discarded. You must play a replacement or retreat."), which is also your last card, I retreat, you attract a dragon, and we finish the game with all dragons in the centre of the board, who has won the game? A: I have. Your character card is played out of your hand into your combat area, thus emptying your hand, before I play my interference card. E&I rulesheet, under Interference Cards: 'You play your interference card from your hand in response to your opponent's action, as indicated on the card.', indicating that I play Shame on you! in response to your character card play, the action indicated on Shame on you!, thus you have played your character card first, and run out of cards first, and I win the game. Q: What does the winner of a game score? A: One plus the number of dragons on his side. This score therefore ranges from one to four. The winner does not score for more than three dragons by finishing the game by attracting a fourth dragon. The score is one if and only if the game ends with neither player having any dragons, the score going to the player who did not run out of cards (first). Note that a game cannot be a draw. The score is expressed in crystals. With the Emissaries and Inquisitors: Blessings deck this scoring may be modified by crystal cards, but a game still cannot be a draw; only the winner can score, and the winner still always scores at least one crystal. However the winner can now score more than four crystals. Q: How should we play a sequence of more than one game? A: Rulebook page 14, under More Games: 'The player who first reaches a total of at least five crystals becomes the final winner.'. The first edition rulebook does not give a name to such a sequence of games, but the official simple tournament rules (see question "Are there any official tournament rules?" in main section 'Final Points') introduced the term 'campaign'. The second edition Advanced Concepts rulebook uses the term 'match'. Note that you cannot win a match/campaign in one game, and that a finished match/campaign also cannot be a draw. (With the crystal cards in the Emissaries and Inquisitors: Blessings deck it is possible to win a match/campaign in one game, but a match/campaign still cannot be a draw.) Q: I have attracted three dragons, have an active crystal card, have announced a total power which you cannot match, and am about to win the game with a total score of five crystals. But you decline to retreat, start to play and in so doing reveal some of my cards. Then, as you cannot match my total, you have to backtrack. But at this point you claim that rulebook page 18, Special Rule 11 applies, specifically that you lose the game because of the revealed cards, and by four crystals. But I was going to win by five crystals. This cannot be right, can it? A: No, it cannot. But first note that with reasonable players this should never be an issue, the rule is only there to cover a case that cannot happen without erroneous play, and I would expect most players in friendly games to not need it. In the second edition this has become the standard rule, except in tournament play not to penalise, but not to abuse this either. The penalty in second edition tournament play has been left up to the tournament organiser to define. However when using first edition rules strictly, and if you get to the point of needing it, note that the rule in question says 'Otherwise the player loses the entire game, the opponent winning the maximum score of four crystals.'. Before Emissaries and Inquisitors was released, the maximum score from a game was four crystals. When using Emissaries and Inquisitors the maximum score is now more (seven, but usually scores above five do not matter), and in keeping with the obvious purpose of the rule, it is the 'maximum' that matters, rather than the 'four'. This maximum should apply whenever using Emissaries and Inquisitors, not only if you have played crystal cards, or even not only if you selected them in your deck. When playing strictly, you should also apply this rule (using whichever maximum number of crystals is appropriate) to other irregularities such as playing with an invalid deck. Final Points ============ Q: Are the Vulca stronger than the Hoax? A: This is a common question from a first game, but is generally reckoned to be because the Vulca are easier to play than the Hoax. More experience generally tends to the view that they are well balanced. Q: Are any of the other decks too good or too bad? A: The general consensus is that the preconstructed decks are all at least reasonably well balanced. Again some decks are easier to play (and to play against) than others. Q: This list always refers to the Vulca, the Hoax, the Mimix, the Flit, the Khind, the Terrah, the Pillar and the Aqua (and those introduced in Emissaries and Inquisitors, including the Buka) as "peoples". Sometimes I see "races" being used. Should it be? A: No. Q: I keep losing, what advice can you give me to improve my play? A: I will keep the number of pieces of advice down to the usual limit of three. First, you often should retreat even when you do not have to. Two of the things to look for here are when I have four or five cards in my combat and support areas (since allowing me to attract one dragon now may save you from my being able to attract two dragons later) or when I have strong support cards in play (which may mean you are playing good cards against bad odds of winning the fight, while I can play poorer cards). Second, keep your hand balanced. Too few character cards may mean you run out of them and have to retreat, too many and you usually are too weak. Do not be too afraid to "waste" cards if you need more draws to get back in control; you do not lose the game due to running out of cards (except when all dragons are in the centre). A special case of this is to know how the end of the game works and not be caught out by it; many games that should have been narrow wins have become losses this way. Third, it helps to know the decks, yours and mine. This can help advise you which element to select, and tell you particular threats to look out for, and which of your cards are not likely to be useful. While you probably will not count all, or even most, of the cards played, tracking a few key cards from both decks (such as mutants and the "signature" cards of a deck) can help you plan better. Q: Are there any official tournament rules? A: A set of official (from the designer) rules for "Simple Tournaments for Blue Moon" have been created. Their preamble states 'The following suggestions provide a simple tournament structure for the card game Blue Moon. They are intended to produce a tournament which allows players to play as much as possible without having to wait between games (or campaigns). More structured round-based tournaments may be preferred for serious competition, but are not covered here, although some of the suggestions may serve as guidelines.' These rules may be found, among other places, at the home of this FAQ list http://www. mnemosyne.uk/bgames/bluemoon. Q: Are there any official multiplayer or solitaire rules? A: No, Blue Moon is designed solely as a two player game. Q: Are there any card protectors available that fit the cards? A: The second edition of the game indicated which Fantasy Flight Games card protector size were appropriate (green, or bridge sized, 7 packs of 50 protectors required). For the first edition of the game (whose cards are exactly 7 cm x 12 cm in size) thin card protectors are available from a number of sources, which this list no longer attempts to report, while more durable card protectors (Tarot Card Sleeves, FFS66) were produced by Fantasy Flight Games. The latter are protecting all of my first edition cards, with no failures when sleeving. Q: How do you score the crystals for games? A: The first edition rules suggested recording on a piece of paper, but obviously you can use any way you like (unless a tournament organiser specifies a method) for example using paper, dice, tokens or even by just remembering the current score. If using tokens, it would be thematic if these looked like crystals, or crystal shards. That suggestion has been taken up by the second edition of the game, which supplies such components. Q: Who wrote this FAQ list? A: Christopher Dearlove, christopher.dearlove@gmail.com, who wrote all of the actual wordings of the questions and answers. However many of the specific questions in the main version of this list were based on questions on the BoardGameGeek, the Blue Moon Fans website, and the former Yahoo bluemoongame group. Answers to game play questions are based on the rulebook where obvious, and otherwise on discussions as described in question "Who else has helped with this list?". Note that the former official German FAQ list, which was at http://www.blue- moon-games.com/de/faq.html, was also based on the same process. (German questions are now handled on the Blue Moon Fans website.) As usual with FAQ lists, your corrections and comments are welcome. Q: Is that your name on the back of the rules? A: Yes, it is (first edition rules and additional rulesheets, and second edition rules). If wondering what my credit for "additional material" is in the latter, that would be use of some of the material from the main version of this list (and associated discussion) in the second edition rulebook, rather than genuinely new material. (I was not involved in creating the drafting rules that are the genuinely new material.) Incidentally, my involvement in Blue Moon, particularly the Buka Invasion, has also meant that I have been able to write an article on how that deck was created; it is available on the same web page as this FAQ list. Q: Does that mean these are official rulings? A: What is here is not absolutely official, although according to a statement that was at http://www. blue-moon-games.com/us/news.html it "(almost)" was, and there is nothing more official. Also, as noted, the second edition rules have incorporated some of this material. I do not (except as credited in the rulebook) have any official relationship with Fantasy Flight Games. Reiner Knizia usually refers questions to me, but remains the final design authority (to whom I refer back as needed, see the next question). Q: Who else has helped with this list? A: The main question answering team for difficult questions in the main version of this list has also included Reiner Knizia, Sebastian Rapp (from Kosmos), Martin Higham, and Mario Ludwig ("Ruwenzori"), although most questions did not need the full team. Sebastian Rapp and Mario Ludwig also reviewed versions of this list, as did Matthew Monin ("Octavian"). My thanks to all of these, and for other significant corrections and contributions from (in alphabetical order) Gerrit Ansmann, Adrian Brooks, Alex Eaton-Salners, Keldon Jones, "KivasFajo", Ken Shoda (from Hobby Japan) and Brendan Weiskotten (from Fantasy Flight Games). Any remaining errors are my responsibility. Addition of a contents list was due to a suggestion by Colin Baumgarten. Peter Mumford suggested an unformatted version of the list and fitting a version in the game box. Thanks to Robert Rossney for much help with the XML version of this list, and for work on the (still unfinished) HTML conversion; giving questions tags, as is in the XML, was first suggested by "meowsqueak". Thanks to Karl Frank for some suggestions on the contents of the shorter FAQ list. Thanks to "GeoMan", Manuel Pombeiro and "Mark ma" for information on card sleeves, and to Kevin Wood for crystals (though most information on sleeves and crystals is no longer reported here). Also my thanks to Maik Golias ("Randan") from the Blue Moon Liga site for walking me through an online game, allowing me to comment on it. Finally, thanks (mostly) to the people who asked the questions which, directly or indirectly, appear in this list. Note that with regard to game credits, for the first edition rules the Emissaries and Inquisitors rulesheet probably best indicates where most of the real work was done, with special mentions by Reiner Knizia of the late David Farquhar, Kevin Jacklin and Martin Higham due to their particular contributions. The second edition rulebook has the latest version of the credits. My first edition playtesting was mostly done with Jon Blackwell. David Farquhar is commemorated by the Emissary of the Hyla named after him (Farquhar) originally in the Emissaries and Inquisitors: Allies deck. "I applaud your quest for enlightenment. However, the path will be difficult, and may take you to unexpected places.".