On this page you’ll find some of the latest FFG rulings for Marvel Champions post-RRG 1.7 (the week of December 17, 2025). All prior 1.0-1.4 questions and responses can be found on this main page, along with errata. All 1.5 and beyond questions can be found here. All 1.6 questions can be found here.
To create a link to a specific ruling, just use this format and note the number at the start of the question. Note that some numbers may not be accounted for as a result of being pulled for outdated/legacy rulings.
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Current Rules Reference Guide
Prior Rules Reference Guides
1.0 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.4.2 (Undocumented) | 1.5 | 1.6
Learn to Play (L2P)
Rule changelog
Keyword list
France RRG
Spanish RRG
Italian RRG
Legacy (outdated) rulings (1.0-1.4) | 1.5
Rulings from 2024 to 2025 can be found here
December, 2025
I have some questions to consult with you.
1.Can actions on minions be triggered by players who haven’t engaged with them?
2.Does Aerial Evacuation reduce the damage dealt or the damage taken?
3.When Beguiled is attached to an ally that I control, will there be a process where the ally leaves play and a minion with the same title enters play? Or there are no characters enters play or leaves play?
- Yes. As stated under “Ability” on page 4 of the online Rules Reference, any player can trigger an “Action” ability on an encounter card, with the exception of certain attachments and obligations.
- Aerial Evacuation reduces the damage taken, as is the case for damage prevention abilities.
- No, when Beguiled attaches to an ally, the ally does not leave play and the “minion” does not enter play; the character remains in play and retains all tokens and attachments. (The process is essentially a status change.)
-Alex Werner, FFG Game Rules Specialist – December 17, 2025
Context: I am seeking to understand how Basic Powers are used or perhaps not used when making their respective ability:
Question (1): The villain attacks me and I decide to NOT basic defend and to take the attack undefended. On step 4 of the Attack (Enemy Activation) [RRG v1.6 pg 8], I decide to use Side Step (https://marvelcdb.com/card/14015) which now makes me the defender via Labeled Ability [RRG v1.6 pg 15; Defend]. Am I allowed to play Stopping Hitting Yourself (https://marvelcdb.com/card/52016) If so what would be the value (assuming my Hero has 2 DEF)?
Question (2): Using Question 1’s scenario. Imagine I also play Not Today (https://marvelcdb.com/card/38016) on top of the Side Step. This would give me +2 DEF. Am I allowed to play Stopping Hitting Yourself? If so what is the value?
Question (3): Building upon Questions 1 and 2, if I am playing against Enemy Leader Captain America who has Cap’s Shield (https://marvelcdb.com/card/56143), if I use an attack-labeled ability. Am I considered to have “use my ATK to attack and damage”?
- Yes, you’d still be able to play “Stop Hitting Yourself” and deal damage based on your current DEF (2). Your hero still has a DEF value even if it wasn’t used to reduce damage dealt.
- Yes, similar to above, you’d still be able to deal damage based on your DEF. Not Today! gives you +2 DEF, for a total of 4.
- This depends on the attack-labeled ability being used. A lot of attack-labeled abilities do not use your ATK to deal damage, but some do.
- If the ability is phrased as a flat damage amount, e.g. “Deal # damage to an enemy”, that would not allow you to take Cap’s Shield.
- If an ability calls out your ATK in some way, e.g. “Deal to an enemy equal to your ATK”, that would allow you to take Cap’s Shield.
-Alex – December 17, 2025
Context: The following 3 questions focuses on better understanding “after the villain attacks you” and its meaning.
Question (1): What does the phrase “After the villain attacks you” refer to – the character or the player? Based on these RRG below, “after the villain attacks you” should reference the player rather than the character? Relevant Rules Referenced [RRG v1.6]: 1) Abilities that trigger “When/After [enemy] attacks you” are resolved when/after a player is attacked, regardless of which character they control was attacked… [RRG v1.6. Pg 8] 2) Abilities that resolve while/when/after the attacking enemy “attacks you” resolve against the attacked player [RRG v1.6 Pg 10] 3) Exception: For abilities that trigger “after [enemy] attacks you” “you refers to the attacked player, even if that player defended with an ally [RRG v.16 Pg 44]
Question (2): Are there differences when the text originates from a player or encounter card? For example Drax’s Payback (https://marvelcdb.com/card/19007) and Concussive Bombs (https://marvelcdb.com/card/27137) have the exact same triggering condition. Does that mean both cards can be triggered when an ally [controlled by Drax] defends? Question (3) Building upon questions 1 and 2, should we consider Nick Fury’s Stealth Suit (https://marvelcdb.com/card/50035a) and Iceman’s Flash Freeze (https://marvelcdb.com/card/36012) to be based on the player? Or the respective hero characters?
- The rules for abilities that reference “you” are that “you” refers to the player’s identity where able, and otherwise refers to that player; with the exception being “After [enemy] attacks you” abilities where “you” refers to the player, because such abilities also trigger when an ally that player controls is attacked.
- Drax’s Payback and Concussive Bombs are both phrased the same as the “you” exception in the Rules Reference, so both can be triggered when Drax’s ally is attacked.
- Nick Fury’s Stealth Suit triggers “when” an enemy would attack, and Storm’s Flash Freeze triggers “when” the villain attacks, neither of which fall into the “you” exception. Stealth Suit only triggers when Nick Fury would be attacked, and Flash Freeze is only playable when Storm is attacked.
-Alex – December 17, 2025
Context: I am seeking clarification on how cards interact with “removed from the game” and “outside the current game” states.
Question (1): If a card is removed from the game, are they now part of your collection? If a card is removed from the game, can you bring that back that same physical card back into the game via Armed to the Teeth (https://marvelcdb.com/card/44009)? Or are they prevented from coming back to the current game?
Question (2): In older rulings, Med Lab (https://marvelcdb.com/card/38028) has had the ability to “retrieve the ally from out-of-play areas (discard pile, victory display, The Collection) so long as the ally was defeated by consequential damage.” Is this still correct? If Odin (https://marvelcdb.com/card/21139a) [KING side] is defeated by consequential damage and thereby is removed from the game, can Med Lab retrieve the Odin?
Question (3): Is there a difference between cards that are “in the game, but out of play” (e.g. set-aside), compared to cards “outside the current game” (e.g. collection)? I believe the FIND is only allowed to find cards that are within the game?
- Once a card is removed from the game, it can’t be returned to the game by any means (e.g. Armed to the Teeth), and it does not become a part of the collection.
- Med Lab can target allies from out-of-play areas that are still in the game, such as a player’s discard pile. It cannot target allies that have been removed from the game.
- Because Odin is removed from the game as a Forced Interrupt, he would be removed from the game before Med Lab’s Response can trigger, making him untargetable.
- Yes, there is a difference between “in the game, out of play” and “outside the current game.” The examples above lay out some differences, and you’re right that the “Find” keyword can only search “in game” areas.
-Alex – December 17, 2025
January, 2026
When exactly is the Fearless Determination side scheme discarded after its defeated? (Amplify icon) -Does Teddy Altman’s ability prevent me from playing a second shape shift upgrade? (Or discard down to 1) -If I defeat an enemy with the first sentence of Armored Defense, does the second sentence still resolve and give hulking a tough status card? -With Caps Shield, if I attack a minion with my hero using my ATK and that attack has overkill and I damage Captain America, does that trigger the response on the Shield? (Wondering if the shield is asking if I attacked someone and damaged Captain America or specifically attacked Captain America and damaged Captain America which is the most intuitive way but I’ve heard that this might not be the case.) –
Similar question as above. With the Captain Marvel Leaders forced response, if her attack against an ally had overkill and she defeated a hero that way, would she trigger twice and get 2 energy counters? ( I would think she only attacked and defeated the ally and the hero just happened to be defeated as well but there’s some discussion from the community around this) –
Can I count the number of cards left in the encounter deck to get that information? (Without looking at the faces) -Can I count the number of cards left in a player deck to get that information? (without looking at the faces) -If the answer is no for the 2 questions above, can I count them with my eyes closed? (Orange backs) (Blue backs) -Can I use mod sets from one side with a Leader from the other side in co-op mode?
- When Fearless Determination is defeated, it is considered in play until its When Defeated ability is resolved. This means that its amplify icon will be in effect when Captain America activates.
- Yes, Teddy Altman’s constant ability prevents the player from playing another Shapeshift upgrade while they already have one in play. His ability does not allow the player to play a second and discard down.
- Yes, if Armored Defense defeats the attacking minion, Hulkling still gets a Tough status card.
- Yes; if you use your ATK (e.g. basic attack) and deal damage to Captain America via overkill, you would trigger the Forced Response on Cap’s Shield.
- Yes; if Captain Marvel attacks with overkill and defeats an ally and identity, her Forced Response triggers twice to place 2 total energy counters.
- Yes, you can count the total number of cards left in a deck, as long as you do not change their order or look at their facedown sides.
- No, you cannot use Registration modular sets with a Resistance leader, nor vice versa.
-Alex – January 11, 2025
So we are hoping to get a better understanding of the triggering conditions of “attacks and damages” and “attacks and defeats” especially in combination with the overkill keyword. Recent discussion from the community is around Caps shield, the Captain Marvel Leader and the Jigsaw minion.
1.Can you steal Caps Shield from overkill damage since you only damaged him but didn’t attack him?
2.Can the Captain Marvel leader get an energy counter from defeating an identity with overkill because she defeated them but didn’t attack them?
3.If Jigsaw attacks with overkill and damages both an ally and an identity, does his ability trigger twice and place 4 threat on Criminal Underworld because two characters were damaged but only one was attacked?
- Yes, assuming the attacker used their ATK (e.g. made a basic attack) and that attack had overkill, any damage dealt to the Captain America leader this way would trigger the Forced Response on Cap’s Shield and attach it to the attacker.
- Yes; if the Captain Marvel character attacks with overkill and defeats both an ally and identity, her Forced Response triggers for both instances, placing 2 total energy counters.
- Yes; if Jigsaw attacks with overkill and damages an ally and identity, his Forced Response triggers twice and places 4 total threat.
-Alex – January 11, 2025
I had a question about printed resources. Nova’s Nemesis side scheme “Bring the War!” makes the players discard cards with a printed wild resource. Does Supernova Helmet count for that because of the printed resource in its ability? Or does it only include cards with a printed resource in the resource area?
No; for the When Revealed ability on “Bring the War!”, the discarded card must have a wild resource icon printed in its bottom left corner. The only time a “printed resource” can refer to a resource generated by an ability is when paying a cost.
-Alex – January 11, 2025
If I attack a guard minion with the aggression Bombshell ally from the Iron heart hero pack while the only other enemy in play is the villain, how would you resolve her damage dividing ability? Can any of the damage be dealt to the villain? If so, is she considered to have attacked the villain?
You’d resolve Bombshell’s ability by dividing her attack as evenly as possible among valid targets. In your example, the villain is not a valid target for her ability, so it is ignored; all of her damage is then dealt to the guard minion.
-Alex – January 11, 2025
The new Rogue (Protection ally) now copies the base ATK and THW of her ability’s target (instead of printed). Hope Summers (from the Hope Summers) encounter set has star icons as values of her ATK and THW and her textbox defines her base ATK and THW as ATK and THW of your hero.
However, the Star Icon entry says that when referred to by a game step or ability, it’s supposed to be treated as 0. When Rogue ally uses her ability on Hope Summers, what bonus does she get? 0 or equal to your hero’s ATK and THW? 2. The “Leave Play” entry now has a “when a card leaves play” bullet point. Is the timing of that “when” before the card actually leaves play? Or at the same time?
The star icon entry is outdated; it should say that the value of the star icon is defined by the associated ability, except in the case of no associated ability, in which the value would be treated as 0. Hope Summers’ ability defines her star icons as matching your hero’s basic power values, so if Rogue copies Hope she will in essence add your hero’s power values to her own. 2. The updated bullet under “Leaves Play” is not intended as an interrupt ability; this bullet and all subbullets are carried out simultaneously with the card leaving play.
-Alex – January 17, 2025
Recently, I played a game with the Winter Soldier, facing off against the Black Widow villain from the Agents of SHIELD expansion, and found myself in a weird situation. It went like this: BW attacks, I play Arm Block. I resolve BW’s interrupt because Arm Block is an attack. BW flips A.I.M. Grunt. What happens here?
Does A.I.M. Grunt take the damage from Arm Block, and the whole ‘cancel the damage from the enemy’s attack’ segment of the card just fails, or does the ‘defense’ part of the card still apply to BW’s attack, while the ‘attack’ part of the card damages the Grunt?
The sequence of events is this:
- Black Widow initiates her attack
- Winter Solider plays Arm Block, an attack/defense event
- Black Widow’s interrupt triggers, revealing AIM Grunt
- AIM Grunt is now being “attacked” by Arm Block, so it takes the 3 damage
- Arm Block can then prevent damage from Black Widow’s attack, because her attack triggered the “When an enemy attacks” condition on Arm Block, and “prevent all damage from that enemy’s attack” can only refer to that same attack made by Black Widow, since AIM Grunt is not making an attack.
-Alex – January 17, 2025
About the RRG1.7 Piercing rule and prevent all abilities:
1- Some card abilities can prevent all damage but do not specify whether they prevent damage dealt or damage taken.
For example: If an enemy with Piercing, attacks me playing Rogue, and using “Bulletproof Belle” to prevent all damages and give her a Tough status card. Is Piercing removing the tough status, or not ?
2- “Piercing discards any tough […] before dealing damage”, but after dealt damage is calculated (ATK – DEF) because it need to check if the attack would deal any damage. I assume the Piercing keyword timing resolution is “would deal”.
Falcon’s “Aerial Evacuation” interrupt is also triggered on: “would deal” Since a keyword has timing priority over interrupt, does piercing removes any tough just before “Aerial Evacuation” prevent all damages?
- Effects that “prevent damage” prevent damage taken, not dealt. Because of this, if Rogue plays Bulletproof Belle and gets a Tough status card, an attack with Piercing that still deals damage to her will remove that Tough status card.
- Piercing triggers when the attack would deal damage to the target, so the same timing as Aerial Evacuation; however, since Piercing is a keyword, it has timing priority over a triggered ability. So, a Piercing attack would remove the Tough status card from the attacked character before Aerial Evacuation triggers to prevent the damage taken.
-Alex – January 17, 2025
I have some questions about overpay that I would like to consult with you. 1.Can I consider using a wild resource to overpay for a cost as any type of resource? 2.When I play Repulsor Beam, can I exhaust two Gauntlet Gun to place 1 additional ammo counter on War Machine?
- Yes; when generating a wild resource, you specify which resource type it’s being used as, even if it’s overpaying for a cost.
- Yes, paying for Repulsor Beam with two Gauntlet Guns would result in an additional ammo counter being placed onto War Machine.
-Alex – January 17, 2025
I have some questions about The Wrecking Crew scenario that I would like to consult with you. 1.When I play a Cosmic Entity event, which encounter deck should I shuffle to it? 2.Can I play Face the Past event? If I can play it, which encounter discard pile should my nemesis minion discard to it?
In the Wrecking Crew scenario, only the active villain’s encounter deck can be interacted with. Playing a Cosmic Entity card will shuffle it into the active villain’s encounter deck. And you can play Face the Past to find your set-aside nemesis minion (since it will be set aside during setup), and if it’s defeated it’s placed in the active villain’s encounter discard pile.
-Alex – January 17, 2025
In the 1.7 rules, a target rule was changed from saying you cannot deal damage to a target that cannot take damage (the original 1.6 rule) instead to now say you cannot target a character that cannot take damage with an ability that ONLY deals damage to the target as its effect.
Does this mean that you can use the Nova ally Ms. Marvel’s ability (deal a damage and exhaust her is the cost) when you have played Go for Champions? Because she is no longer not allowed to be targeted by that ability, as the ONLY affect is not to deal her damage as she must be exhausted as well?
A cost in an ability is still considered part of that ability, and is therefore subject to the valid target rules. Since the cost of Ms. Marvel’s ability both deals damage to and exhausts her, she would be a valid target for her ability cost even if “Go for Champions!” were played earlier to prevent her from taking damage. (Note, since “Go for Champions!” now removes itself from the game, she’d have to be returning a different event to her hand this way.)
-Alex – January 26, 2025
What if an all-purpose counter with a certain type is placed on card, does it gain the type defined on the card it occupies? Lets say, (with the help of Cameo) I use Captain Americat to place a toon counter on Drax (the hero), does it become a vengeance counter?
Correct; once an all-purpose counter is placed on a card, it gains the type of counter defined on the card it occupies. In Drax’s case, an all-purpose counter placed on him via Captain Americat’s ability would become a vengeance counter.
-Alex – January 26, 2025
Since RRG1.7, overkill definition has evolved from “dealt” to “taken” damage. it is a great clarification: it comes naturally that a tough status card on a minion prevents damage he would take, so any overkill damage.
But the RRG paragraph “EXCESS DAMAGE” has not been updated the same way: “Excess damage is any amount of damage that is dealt to a character beyond that character’s remaining hit points.”
=> so Rocket Raccoon “Murdered You!” is about excess damage dealt? even there is no excess damage taken?
Also the paragraph “OVERKILL” says: “If a card ability counts excess damage dealt, that ability counts the same value of excess damage that is calculated when resolving the overkill keyword”
=> “Into the Fray” is about excess damage taken? maybe not because it has no overkill…
=> “Into the Fray” + “Marked” is about excess damage taken?
Let’s take an exemple mixing dealt/taken excess damage: What if as the hero “Rocket Raccoon”, I play “Into the Fray” on the minion Nimrod with 4 remaining hit points ?
Is Rocket Raccoon “Murdered You!” triggered?
Does “Into the Fray” remove threat?
Having “Marked” attached on Nimrod changes anything?
Overkill was updated to count damage taken, not dealt. However, the definition of excess damage has not changed; it’s still defined as damage dealt to a character beyond its remaining hit points. Excess damage can be dealt to a target even if that target doesn’t take that damage, which is important for the cards you’ve asked about. Rocket Raccoon’s “Murdered You!” ability still triggers when he deals excess damage to an enemy, even if that enemy doesn’t take all of that damage.
Into the Fray still has its additional effect if the minion is dealt excess damage, regardless of damage taken. So, if Rocket Raccoon plays Into the Fray to attack Nimrod with 4 remaining hit points, Rocket “deals” 6, Nimrod “takes” 3, and because Nimrod had 4 hit points, the excess damage dealt by the event is 2, so 2 threat is removed and Rocket draws 1 card. If Nimrod had Marked attached at the time, nothing additional would happen, as no excess damage was “taken” by Nimrod so no damage is dealt to the villain via overkill.
-Alex – January 26, 2025
I have some questions to consult with you. 1.After Headpool attack a villainous minion and trigger his response, which player should resolve the boost ability during the minion’s attack? The first player or the player controlling Headpool?
2.When Wheel of Genres or Alert Level environment is flipped, can I trigger Black Widow(protection ally) to cancel the effects of that card and discard it?
3.If there are 2 players, A and B, and multiple encounter cards are dealt to each players simultaneously, such as when revealed ability of Green Goblin(II), what is the order of distribution? AABB or ABAB?
4.What specific types of cards can be selected for Psychic Override? Can I select a type that is not in my hand? Can I select a type that is not in my remaining deck? Can I select a type that is not in my entire deck?
5.How do Operation Zero Tolerance and the facedown Drone minion interact? Is it related to the original card type of the Drone minion?
6.For Kang (The Conqueror), is “The Conqueror” his subtitle?
7.Are Valkyrie(hero) matches with Valkyrie(ally)?
- Headpool’s controller should be the one that resolves the minion’s boost card.
- No; Black Widow can be triggered when a card is revealed from the encounter deck, and neither Wheel of Genres nor Alert Level are cards that are revealed from the encounter deck.
- In this case, as stated in the “Each Player” entry, the first player decides the order in which each player is dealt cards, and those cards are then dealt simultaneously. This means the cards are distributed as either AABB or BBAA.
- For Psychic Override, you can choose any card type that exists in Marvel Champions when resolving the ability, even a type not in your hand or deck.
- There is no direct interaction between Operation Zero Tolerance and a Drone minion, beyond the fact that if a Drone minion attacks and defeats an ally, that ally will be placed under OZT. The facedown side of a Drone minion essentially does not matter as that side is not in play.
- No, “(The Conqueror)” is not a subtitle, but part of his title. Note, this means that “Kang (The Conqueror)” and “Kang (Master of Time)” aren’t considered to “match” for the rules of uniqueness, as they have different titles and no subtitles, so they can both be in play.
- No, they do not match, because the Valkyrie hero has an alter-ego title that does not match the title of the Valkyrie ally. (In hindsight, they probably should have matched, but we are not planning to update them at this time.)
-Alex – January 26, 2025
I have a question about the new Captain Marvel leader’s Energy Channel attachment. I saw a ruling that it’s wording would be getting changed a little bit and I just wanted to make sure I understand the card.
Do I understand correctly that Energy Channel will always trigger to add a counter and if there are 4 or more counters after triggering it I should remove all of them even if the character that attacked her isn’t in play anymore? (Ally defeated by retaliate for example)
Correct. The planned erratum for this card is to replace the cost arrow with “and”. This means that when the Captain Marvel leader is attacked, an energy counter will always be placed; then if there’s 4, they’re all removed and Captain Marvel will attempt to attack the character, even if that character is no longer in play.
-Alex – January 26, 2025
I’m playing as the Falcon hero and I have a couple questions. If the top card of the encounter deck has 0 icons on it, I am assuming that I cannot trigger the Redwing ally hero action or choose to discard that encounter card with cards like Bird’s Eye View and Bird of Prey because I couldn’t affect a target with 0 or 0 additional, is that correct? If I use Sam Wilson’s action, change to hero form, and change back to Alter-Ego during that same turn with Aerial Evacuation, can I use Sam’s action again?
- No; if there are no boost icons on the top card of the encounter deck, Redwing’s ability will have no effect, and therefore cannot be initiated.
- No. Limits are card-specific, and do not apply to “new copies” of a card, which is what a card becomes when it leaves and re-enters play. However, an identity card never “leaves play”; when it flips, any limits applied to its abilities remain in effect.
-Alex – January 26, 2025
If an ally attacks and defeats a minion with “Coordinated Attack” attached, I assume the minion and the attachment are discarded before consequential damage is dealt. Does the ally still benefit from the consequential damage reduction from “Coordinated Attack”?
Rules as written, if an ally attacks and defeats a minion with Coordinated Attack attached, any “When Defeated” abilities on the minion would resolve, then it and Coordinated Attack would be discarded, all of which occurs before consequential damage is dealt to the ally. Coordinated Attack has a constant ability reducing consequential damage which is no longer in effect when it’s discarded, so the ally would not have its consequential damage taken reduced.
This interaction wasn’t the intention when Coordinated Attack was created, and its ability should probably have created a lasting effect instead. We are fine with you playing it as intended, that an attack that defeated the attached minion still reduces consequential damage. However, we are not planning to officially errata this card’s text at this time, in part because it still functions under the current rules (reducing CD for attacks where the attached minion is not defeated).
-Alex – February 8, 2025
I continue my previous question about dealt/taken excess damage: If the hero Hercules attacks Thumbelina (3HP, reduce damage taken by 1). He triggers his Golden Mace to get a bonus of +3ATK and overkill. Sequence: – damage dealt by Hercules 6 – excess damage dealt by Hercules: 6 – 3 = 3 – damage taken by Thumbelina 6 – 1 = 5 – excess damage taken by Thumbelina: 5 – 3 = 2 – overkill deals 2 damage to the villain (excess damage taken value) – Thumbelina is defeated – Hercules triggers Prince of Power to heal for 3 (excess damage dealt value) ??? Is that sequence valid?
Yes, that all looks correct. Hercules with Golden Mace attacks with 6 ATK and overkill; Thumbelina “takes” 5 of that damage; since she has 3 HP, 2 of that “taken” damage is dealt as overkill damage to the villain; and Hercules having “dealt” 3 excess damage can heal 3 with Prince of Power.
-Alex – February 8, 2025
For the Protect Humanity labor in the Hercules pack, I’m unclear on exactly what happens if I don’t have an ally in play. It says “after that attack resolves, if Hercules defended…” and I’m unclear if that attack can only ever refer to the attack against the ally (which didn’t happen in this case), or if it can refer to the attack which initiated the interrupt (in the case where there is no ally and the replacement ‘fizzles’).
With Protect Humanity, in order for the Forced Interrupt to have an effect, Hercules must have an ally in play. “After that attack resolves” refers specifically to the villain’s attack against his ally, and if he defends that attack he removes a labor counter.
-Alex – February 20, 2025
Again, asking about When Revealed timing, we were discussing attachments, and I noticed that cards like Cruel Experiment (among several others) use their When Revealed effects to create the targets they attach to. But the rules for Reveal have us attach the card first in step 2, then do When Revealed.
It seems evident that we’re meant to handle the When Revealed here as part of the reveal, but the way that When Revealed has been pushed to after the cards enter play (as for the Quickstriking Minion case) seems to break these attachments. Mostly, I just keep seeing cards that I knew how to resolve when I assumed When Revealed effects were simultaneous with entering play, that seem to break with this new timing, and I wonder how it’s really meant to be working.
The rules for Reveal were written assuming that a revealed attachment has “attach to” text that resolves immediately after the card is flipped faceup, but that doesn’t apply to every attachment. If an attachment does not have “attach to” text, it must instead attach once its “When Revealed” ability triggers, as is the case with Cruel Experiment. We plan to better clarify this in a future rules reference update.
-Alex – February 20, 2025
I had a couple questions. 1.In RRG 1.7 on page 14 under Cost arrow icon →, does “Responses” refer specifically to the bold Response: triggered ability or is it more general to include things like the Quickstrike keyword? I wanted to make sure I understand that if I play “Come get me, bub!” and while paying the cost I discard a minion with quickstrike, that minion will attack me before I heal 3 damage and or get a tough status card, is that correct?
2.Page 6 under Activation. Does “All abilities “triggered” by the initial activation resolve before subsequent activations initiate.” refer specifically to bold triggered abilities or is it more general to include things like the Retaliate keyword? I wanted to make sure that if an attack is initiated during an attack, I should finish the first attack including all responses and keywords before resolving the next attack.
In both cases, any abilities triggered as a result of the triggering condition resolve right away, whether or not they have a bold triggered ability text. When you play “Come Get Me, Bub!”, engaging a minion with Quickstrike will trigger its attack immediately, before you heal 3 and get a Tough status card. When a new attack would initiate in the middle of an ongoing attack, all abilities triggered by the ongoing attack resolve first, before the new attack initiates; this includes Response abilities and the Retaliate keyword.
-Alex – February 28, 2025
I noticed that the Black Widow hero got changed from “trigger” to “resolve” but her synth suit did not. Is there a difference in trigger and resolve between these 2 cards now or should the synth suit also be changed to resolve?
Both Black Widow’s ability and Synth-Suit’s ability should have changed “trigger” to “resolve”; we unfortunately missed updating Synth-Suit in our last pass. Please play it with this update in mind!
-Alex – February 28, 2025
In the God of lies scenario, when “shattering the illusion” you swap a fading figmant Loki with an aviator of Loki Loki. Reading 1.7 do I understand that the permanent intense focus or total focus attachment would be removed from the game in that swap?
In this case, the rules & intention of the scenario should take precedence. Intense Focus/Total Focus should not leave play when resolving “Shatter the Illusion”, instead the swapped-in Avatar of Loki should have Intense Focus/Total Focus attach to it, similar to when two Avatar of Lokis swap.
-Alex – February 28, 2025
1.If I’m instructed to discard a random card from my hand and I only have one, do I still do that? 2.With revealing a minion, what is the order of When Revealed abilities and Quickstrike? The new Hellcat minion for example.
Yes, even if you have 1 card in hand when you have to discard “at random”, you still discard the card. 2. First a minion engages a player, then resolves its “When Revealed” abilities. Quickstrike triggers upon engagement, so Hellcat’s Quickstrike resolves first, then her “When Revealed” ability.
-Alex – February 28, 2025
I have a couple of questions about the Spell blast treachery card. 1. Resolving the card sentence by sentence, after choosing one of the options if your identity gains the enchanted trait from the first sentence, do you then choose both options repeating one for a total of 3?
In comparison to a card with different wording, the Erratic Teleportation treachery from the Spiral scenario can cause a similar situation in that the first sentence can cause Spiral to go from having the cornered trait to the escaped trait causing the player to do both effects. Do we understand these kind of effects correctly?
Basically if a card ability is like: If A do B If B do C If C do D Should we read ahead and resolve the card with the option that is currently true or is it intended that it’s checking for every effect 1 by 1 if that makes sense. 2.If I reveal Spell blast and Enchantress is confused, can I choose the option for her to scheme? Basically does the game know she’s confused and take that into account with the Choose option rules?
Both Spell Blast and Erratic Teleportation are resolved sentence by sentence, but since Spell Blast is formatted a little differently its resolution looks a little different as well. If your identity has the Defiant trait when you reveal Spell Blast, you resolve its first sentence by “choosing” but not resolving one of the bulleted options. You’d then resolve the second sentence, which has no additional effect since you’re not Enthralled. Finally, you’d resolve your chosen option.
And yes, if Enchantress is confused when you reveal Spell Blast, you can choose to have her scheme, which then removes the confused status card. The “Choose (Option)” rules will be updated slightly in a future rules reference release to hopefully make this clearer; for now, you can think of this as similar to a friendly confused character being able to attempt a thwart even if it would result in just a status card removal.
-Alex – February 28, 2025
If a minion with the Villainous keyword is activating and a boost card is the Pirate Lackey minion which has a boost ability while the villain currently has 1 or more boost cards, do I give the villain another boost card and then discard that same boost card after the activation from the minion because it says “for this activation”?
No; since the villain is not activating, do not give it a boost card.
-Alex – February 28, 2025
I have some questions about two answers in APPENDIX IV: FAQ after Rules RefeRence 1.6. The first question is about Marked for Death. 1.1Why can’t Hawkeye player place Mockingbird(Hawkeye-specific ally) beneath Marked for Death when there are other Mockingbirds in play?
I think Mockingbird was out of play when it beneath Marked for Death. 1.2Marked for Death belongs to the Hawkeye Nemesis encounter set. Should the Mockingbird written on it only be effective for Mockingbird(Hawkeye-specific ally)?
The second question is about the Mister Knife. I think when Star-Lord reveals Mister Knife, Shadow of the Past was still on the table, and the constant ability of Mister Knife would affect Shadow of the Past. After Shadow of the Past resolved, the surge given by Mister Knife will take effect.
The ruling on Marked for Death is outdated, and the card itself will need to be updated based on current convention. When Marked for Death is revealed, the Clint Barton player must search the listed areas for his identity-specific copy of Mockingbird and “tuck” her underneath Marked for Death, and while tucked she is out of play and does not affect unique cards that are in play. Then, when Marked for Death is defeated, only the “tucked” copy of Mockingbird should be returned to her owner’s hand, not any in-play copies. If Mister Knife is revealed via Shadow of the Past, his constant ability does not give Shadow of the Past surge, as he was not in play when Shadow was revealed.
-Alex – February 28, 2025
I have some questions to consult with you. 1.I play Infiltrate the Museum scenario witch added Infinity Gauntlet modular encounter set. After resolve the Special ability of each infinity stone, will they be put faceup into The Collection?
2.Can I trigger alter-ego action of Family Matters if a portion of the support I control is already exhausted? If I don’t have control support, will the answer change? …
- Yes; Collector’s Forced Interrupt affects cards placed into any discard pile, which includes Infinity Stones.
- To trigger the Alter-Ego Action on Family Matters, you must exhaust each support you control; if any are already exhausted, you can’t initiate that ability. If you control zero supports, then you can initiate the ability by just exhausting your identity.
-Alex – February 28, 2025
I was looking at the rules for Prevent and I’m wondering if damage that gets prevented before it’s dealt is prevented on the deal or take side? A couple examples. Playing Winter Soldiers Arm Block event and then getting the Sonic Boom treachery as a boost card.
Do you exhaust your hero? Triggering Falcons Aerial Evacuation upgrade when an ally you control would be dealt damage from an attack with overkill. Would the overkill damage be dealt to Sam Wilson?
1. Unless stated otherwise, damage prevention effects reduce the amount of damage “taken” but not “dealt.” Arm Block prevents Winter Soldier from taking damage, but since damage is still dealt, Sonic Boom will still exhaust Winter Soldier.
2. No, Sam Wilson would not take any excess damage from Overkill, though we will need to update the Overkill rules to reflect this. It’s in the rules that an ally with a Tough status card will prevent Overkill damage from being dealt to an identity; Aerial Evacuation should be treated the same way when it comes to Overkill.
-Alex – March 6, 2025
If I play Quick Quip while there are 2 non steady enemies in play, can I place confused card on 1 of them and 0 confused cards on the other if I wanted to?
Yes. Since Quick Quip allows you to place confused status cards on “up to 2” enemies, you are able to choose just 1 enemy to attempt to place the “total of 2” confused status cards on, which will generally result in just 1 confused status card being placed.
-Alex – March 6, 2025
I have two questions: 1. Can I use the Response on Wonder Mans Ionic Physiology when I’m at full HP? 2. What Happens to Hercules Labor, if there is no valid target? For example: I reveal defeat the Hydra and the only possible Minion (Lernean Hydra) ist already dealt as an encounter or boost Card?
1. As written, Ionic Physiology would not allow Wonder Man to tuck an event if he is not able to heal. This limits him in a way that was not intended, so it will need an update. Ionic Physiology’s cost arrow should instead be replaced with “Then” (“…tuck that event from your discard pile under this card. Then, heal 1 damage from your identity.”). This allows him to tuck a card even if he’s at full health, while also maintaining that he doesn’t heal when triggering the ability unless he tucks a card first. This erratum will be included in our next Rules Reference Update.
2. If a Labor card cannot enter play (such as Defeat the Hydra being unable to attach to Lernean Hydra), place that card on the bottom of the Labor deck. (This can cause it to become the only card in the Labor deck. You can then use Hercules’ alter-ego to reveal it at a more preferable time.) Since this rule isn’t outright stated in his hero pack, we will look to adding an FAQ entry in the next Rules Reference update.
-Alex – March 6, 2025
What is timing of the Protection event Leading Blow with Wonder Man’s Forced Response and Ionic Physiology’s Response? The way I’ve been playing it is that Leading Blow’s Hero Interrupt triggers when Wonder Man initiates an attack. It discards the top card of the encounter deck and adjusts Wonder Man’s ATK accordingly.
Then, I’ve been triggering Wonder Man’s Forced Response to discard each tucked card under Ionic Physiology before Leading Blow’s final sentence that readies Wonder Man. If this is correct, Wonder Man can now tuck Leading Blow under Ionic Physiology using its Response to heal 1. Is this correct?
Not quite. The sequence of events is this:
Exhaust Wonder Man to initiate a basic attack.
Play Leading Blow, adjusting your ATK and creating a delayed effect that resolves later in the sequence. Place LB in the discard pile.
You have “played” Leading Blow, so here is where you can trigger Ionic Physiology if there’s less than 3 cards tucked. (Note, IP will be updated to where its cost arrow becomes a “Then” instead. Wonder Man will be able to tuck a card even if he’s at full health.)
Deal damage from Wonder Man’s attack.
Leading Blow’s delayed effect checks if damage was dealt, and if so, it readies Wonder Man.
Trigger Wonder Man’s Forced Response, discarding the cards beneath Ionic Physiology.
-Alex – March 6, 2025
I have a question about the Basic/Vision event “Phased Out”, which came in Synthezoid Smackdown for PVP mode use. This card can be used on an attachment on the enemy leader with either bolded text reading “Hero Response” or “Hero Interrupt” to discard it.
As far as I can tell, the only attachment in the entire game thus far that has the Hero Interrupt text is Bandolier of Stakes in the Horror module (Mojomania pack). There isn’t a single attachment in Civil War or Sythezoid Smackdown that includes this text. Was this card perhaps meant to discard attachments with Hero Actions, much like the Vision hero’s Phase Distruption or Shadowcat’s Phase Strike?
Please find a rules response from FFG. It’s for Marvel, not sure why it says Arkham.
-Alex – March 19, 2025
A question came up regarding the ability of a friendly character to do a basic attack on a target who cannot take damage. In RRG 1.7, under “Target”, we see the following statement: ‘A target that “cannot take damage” is not a valid target for an ability whose only affect on that target is to deal it damage.’ However, a basic power is not defined as an ability in the RRG. Under “Basic Power”, it is defined as a “statistic that allows a character to perform a certain game function”.
Elsewhere, they are defined as “game functions”. The particular scenario that this question arose from was the following: Can the Whirlwind linked ally from Trickster Magic do a basic attack on the Enchantress villain while Future of Despair is in play in order to remove threat from schemes, per his ability (Future of Despair says that Enchantress cannot take damage). While I’m sure I know the intent of the rules, can you please confirm if a basic attack is allowed in those conditions in general, and whether that basic attack on Enchantress would be allowed in particular.
Using a basic power is not considered to be using an ability, that is why it’s generally referred to as a “game function.” However, a basic power was not intended to be exempt from that particular bullet under “target”, it should have said a target that “cannot take damage” is not a valid target for an ability or game function whose only effect on that target is to deal it damage, which would include a basic power. Additionally, for Whirlwind to trigger his ability, he must first have a valid target for his attack. While Future of Despair is in play, Enchantress cannot take damage, and is not a valid target for a basic attack, even if an ability triggered by that attack would have an additional effect on the board state. Whirlwind could not attack Enchantress in this case.
-Alex – March 19, 2025
I noticed an apparent conflict between an (old) FAQ answer related to the Power Stone (card #149 from Galaxy’s Most Wanted) and the latest rules updates around Permanent cards. The Power Stone FAQ instructs players to discard the Power Stone if it’s attached to a player when they’re eliminated. The new rules say that for permanent attachments, you first have to try to resolve the “attach to” text, which, for the Power Stone, would have you attach it to the villain.
With the updates to the permanent keyword, the current FAQ entry on Power Stone is now outdated. When an identity with Power Stone (GMW #149) is defeated, Power Stone is not discarded, but instead resolves its “attach to” text.
-Alex – March 19, 2025
Since the new Unique rule in RRG 1.7, the Valkyrie Aggression ally (which has no subtitle) can apparently now be played in a Valkyrie hero deck, since there is no subtitle and the rule doesn’t check for title matches if one has a subtitle or alter-ego title. Was this intentional? Does the card represent a different Valkyrie the way that the Protection Daredevil does?
That is correct; currently, the Valkyrie ally can be included in a Valkyrie hero deck, as they are not considered “matching” in terms of uniqueness. Regardless of original intent, that is the current ruling, and we are not planning to update the ally at this time.
-Alex – March 19, 2025
I have some questions about Falcon’s hero-specific ally, Redwing. 1) If the top card of the encounter deck is visible to me and it has 0 icons in its boost area, can Redwing’s ability be triggered? (I understand we can pay the cost, but it’s unclear to me if the ability requires a valid target and if that prevents this.)
2) a) If the top card of the encounter deck is not currently faceup (for example if Falcon’s text box is blanked or if Redwing came into play via Cameo) and it is unknown, can Redwing’s ability be triggered? b) Does it still require a valid target? c) If yes, what happens if there are no icons in the boost area?
3) a) If the top card of the encounter deck is not currently faceup but it is known (for example, Falcon has flipped to alter-ego or it was seen using Global Logistics or Melinda May), can Redwing’s ability be triggered? b) Does it still require a valid target? c) If yes, what happens if there are no icons in the boost area (and this was known)?
If the top card of the encounter deck is visible and has 0 boost icons, Redwing’s ability can’t be triggered, as you cannot trigger an ability that has no effect (assuming you know it will have no effect). If the top card of the encounter deck is not visible, then Redwing’s ability can be triggered similarly to other cards that pay costs on incomplete information (e.g. Return the Favor).
You confirm you have at least 1 valid target to deal damage to or remove threat from, then discard the card and resolve Redwing’s ability as completely as possible. It does not matter if you know what the facedown card is when you trigger the ability. (Redwing was designed with the assumption that you’d be seeing the faceup side of the encounter card when triggering his ability, so if that changes it makes more sense to us to rule this situation based on the precedent set by other cards. Also note you must be in hero form to trigger Redwing’s ability.)
-Alex – March 19, 2025
My main question is regarding Cameo, which is simply: does it allow players to circumvent the Unique rule? Cameo shuffles a hero-specific ally into your deck at step 16 of the game setup. The Unique rule tells us that “a player cannot include multiple matching cards in their deck.” What does it mean to include?
If a card is added during Setup, does that count as being included, or is that just deck customization (i.e. the deck you bring into the game before you even start the setup process.) Also, some follow-up questions for completeness: – what about cards that enter play under your ownership during setup or during play that match a card in your deck? – what about if a card was shuffled into your deck during gameplay and it matched another card in your deck.
The rule that no more than one copy (by title) of each unique card may be included in a player’s deck is specific to the process of deckbuilding; it does not affect the contents of a deck during a game. Once the players have built their decks and start to set up a game, any unique cards they add to their deck (via Cameo, a scenario instruction, etc.) can match the title of another unique card in their deck.
-Alex – March 19, 2025
Hall of Heroes 