This page is for old rulings that have been replaced/directly contradicted by a future ruling, or an RRG update.
Is a card like Wiggle Room considered a “defense?” More clarification: Say you didn’t choose to exhaust anything to defend against an attack, then the villain draws a boost.
Then a boost card says “if this attack is undefended, it gets +X attack.” Could you at this point use Wiggle Room, which has the “defense” action on the card, to make the attack defended?
You cannot “defend” an attack by playing a defense card. In order for an attack to be “defended” a character must be declared as a defender. If no character is declared as a defender, then the attack is “undefended.”
-Caleb
Worded differently, can I use parenthetical (defense) events to trigger abilities that say “When your hero defends..” in the same way that I can use (attack) events to trigger abilities that say “When your hero attacks…”?
No, playing a (defense) card does not count as defending. The only way to defend an attack is to exhaust a hero or ally to declare that character as a defender.
-Caleb
If I have Widow’s Bite out on the table as Black Widow, and Scorpion appears as my encounter card, which has priority: Widow’s Bite (hero response) or quickstrike? Whatever the answer might be, is this priority level found in the RRG? I can’t seem to find it.
I think an order of priority is something we have noted we plan to add to the RRG. When we do, it will go something like this:
- Constant effects
- Forced effects
- Response effects
Quickstrike is like a Forced in effect in that you don’t have a choice: when the minion engages you, it immediately attacks. This will trigger before you have the option to trigger Widow’s Bite. However, you can still trigger Widow’s Bite after the attack begins and before it is resolved. The stun will not prevent the enemy from finishing the attack it already started, but it will prevent the next one. And if 2 damage was actually enough to defeat the minion, the rest of the attack would not resolve.
-Caleb
Player A has three allies in play, one of which is Nick Fury. Player B has Nick Fury in their discard pile. Can Player A Make the Call target Nick Fury in Player B’s discard pile, discarding their current Nick Fury to satisfy the ally limit?
That sounds legit
-Caleb
For further clarification, how does one interpret the phrase “You” for cards like Electro?
Villains and minions activate against the player, so Electro’s ability resolves against the player he attacks. If you defend with an ally, he has still attacked you – the player.
-Caleb
“You” clarification as of May 2020
We have received a lot of questions regarding the use of the word “you” in our game, and our answer has evolved with time as our original answers did not sufficiently clarify everything. That is why you are right to point out the difference between the two answers you quoted.
The original answer to the Interrogation Room question was from a long time ago, and the Unflappable answer was more recent. We will be updating the online Rules Reference guide again in the near future, and we plan to update the entry for the word “you” again.
I expect the entry to make it clear that “you” refers only to your identity whenever possible, which will reinforce the Unflappable answer while possibly changing the interaction with Interrogation Room. In the meantime, I am encouraging players to play the game as if the word “you” only refers to your identity wherever possible.
-Caleb
So, I’ve seen the suggestion that “you” be treated like the identity for all cases where it can be, and I’m curious how it interacts with Interrogation Room/Hall of Heroes: “When you defeat an enemy”. Particularly cards like Ground Stomp, Lightning Strike, or “Do you Even Lift”, where the “hero” is effectively dealing damage, but not through an attack.
Do any of these trigger those cards? What about if I spend the resources to remove Advanced Ultron Drones and defeat several drones that way, is that my hero doing it (it’s a Hero Action, if that makes a difference). Or What about using a Tac Team to defeat a minion, would that trigger the above cards?
Events like Ground Stomp, and Hero Actions like the one on Advanced Ultron Drones, represent things your hero is doing, so that counts as “you.” Support cards like Tac Team represent other entities that are assisting your hero, so they do not count as “you.” The same is obviously true for allies.
-Caleb
Regarding the latest “You” ruling it still seems very unclear. For instance: if I am Spider-Woman and trigger Energy Barrier to defeat a minion, does that trigger Hall of Heroes’ response? Would triggering Jjarnbjorn also allow me to place a counter on Hall of Heroes?
Upgrades are things your hero wears and wields, so when you use an upgrade to defeat a minion that count as your hero (or you) defeating that minion.
-Caleb
My question is for an ability that appears on the Mutagen Formula main scheme, Goblin Reinforcements side scheme, and Wicked Ambitions encounter card. All of them refer to discarding a set number of cards, and performing an action when a certain type of card is revealed (they do not say to stop discarding when that card type is found).
Is this considered “looking for a specified card” such that the discarding stops? If so, what happens in a multiplayer scenario if you reach the end of the deck for the first player. Does it resume after reshuffling for the second, or does all discarding cease?
No you are not looking for a specified card in these instances. You are being instructed to discard a certain number of cards. After that there is an effect that triggers depending on what you discarded.
-Boggs
Gamora is stunned and confused. 1. Can I play crosscounter to remove both status cards? 2. If I play an attack event to remove stun, does that count as having played an attack event? 3. Will playing an attack or thwart event while stunned and confused trigger ‘finesse’ or ‘precision’?
- Yes, because Crosscounter is both an (attack) and a (thwart), it will remove both the stunned status card and the confused status card simultaneously.
- Yes, when you play an Attack event, even if the (attack) ability is replaced by the removal of a stunned status card, you still played an event with the Attack trait.
- Yes, playing an Attack/Thwart event while stunned/confused will still trigger Finesse/Precision.
-Boggs
Similarly for Overkill, is it the same, or does it work differently in this case?
Overkill will work because it defeats the minion first and then excess damage is applied to the villain.
-Caleb
The team-up keyword names two characters. To include a card with the team-up keyword in your deck, your chosen identity must match one of the two named characters. Additionally, a card with the team-up keyword cannot be played unless both of the named characters (hero and ally) are in play.
-(Ant-Man insert)
Hi there, timing question for you guys. Player Cards like “counterattack” and “shake it off” respond to “receiving damage from an attack” which is step 4 of the enemy attack sequence. Do these responses share the same timing response window of responses with “after being attacked”? for example the retaliate keyword. And if so, retaliate would resolve first in priority correct?
You are correct in that, if you were in a situation where you could activate (for example) “Counterattack” and you also had “Retaliate”, “Retaliate” would resolve first because it’s a keyword (with timing that falls into that window). We will likely add to a future FAQ that keywords should be resolved either similar to “constant abilities” or that keywords ARE constant abilities. In either case, they take timing priority over “interrupt” and “response” abilities.
-Alex Werner, FFG Game Rules Specialist
How does the Collector 1 work with cards that “save” others (e.g. Bruno Carelli, Hawkeye’s Quiver, George Stacy), are those attached cards in play? Is there any difference of attaching them facedown or faceup? So let’s say if the Quiver leaves play it will enter the collection along with all the cards attached to it? And what if I play one of those event cards, would they go to the collection?
For this scenario, if you had Hawkeye’s Quiver in play, and then played one of the Arrow events you attached to it, then yes, the Arrow event would be put into The Collection after it was resolved. I can assert that cards attached to the Quiver or in The Collection are faceup so that the player can always see and know what they’re interacting with. I cannot speak on all faceup vs. facedown cases, though. If Hawkeye’s Quiver left play, it and any cards attached to it would be put into The Collection. Any Arrow events put there would not be considered attached to the Quiver once they entered The Collection, and you could not play an Arrow event while it’s in The Collection.
-Alex
I had an interesting interaction occur that I’m curious about; I had “Media Coverage” on my identity, and drew “Shadows of the Past.” With my Nemesis already in play, “Shadows of the Past” should gain surge. But when I trigger the “when revealed” effect a second time, the card gains surge again? As there is no precedence for this, I just wanted to know, can a card have “Surge 2” or can the Surge keyword be on it twice?
A card can indeed gain more than one instance of surge. If a card has two instances of surge, you will have to reveal 2 additional encounter cards.
-Caleb
I’m wondering about the game state change rule, and what limitations there are on ignoring other abilities. In particular, I’m fighting Nebula, and she has 2 copies of Wide Stance attached, so each attack against her has the damage reduced by 2. There are no minions in play. Can I play Gamora’s “Acrobatic Move” which deals 2 damage to an enemy, or am I restrained because it will not change the game state?
You would not be able to play Gamora’s Acrobatic Move if Nebula (villain) had 2 Wide Stances attached, because that action would not affect the game state. Because it cannot be played, you could not use it to trigger Gamora’s “Finesse” either.
-Alex
So say you have the “honed technique” upgrade in play and you use the “the power of aggression” resource card to pay for the “no quarter” event card, doubling the wild resources generated, can you meet both the physical resource requirement of no quarter and the mental resource kicker of honed technique at the same time?
No. Wild resources used toward a cost should be declared as a specific resource type. If a wild resource is used toward the “Requirement” for No Quarter, it is acting as a Combat resource, and Honed Technique could not trigger off of it.
-Alex
91 – How do card effects like Height Advantage or Vision’s Intangible Mass Form that reduce the damage taken from attacks interact with the Tough status condition? If the damage would be reduced to 0 by one of these effects, does the tough still come off?
A Tough status card will take precedence over damage-reducing abilities, such as Height Advantage. This is still the case even if the damage that would be dealt would amount to 0 from the damage-reducing abilities.
The Tough status card would be taken off of a character should damage be directed at that character, even if there are abilities in play that would reduce the damage that the hero would take.
-Alex
Hi there, timing question for you guys. Player Cards like “counterattack” and “shake it off” respond to “receiving damage from an attack” which is step 4 of the enemy attack sequence. Do these responses share the same timing response window of responses with “after being attacked”? for example the retaliate keyword. And if so, retaliate would resolve first in priority correct?
You are correct in that, if you were in a situation where you could activate (for example) “Counterattack” and you also had “Retaliate”, “Retaliate” would resolve first because it’s a keyword (with timing that falls into that window). We will likely add to a future FAQ that keywords should be resolved either similar to “constant abilities” or that keywords ARE constant abilities. In either case, they take timing priority over “interrupt” and “response” abilities.
-Alex
How does Powerful Punch interact with Shadowcat’s Solid form and her Phased form?
Powerful Punch is considered a simultaneous Attack AND Defense event. It is not one than the other. If you used Powerful Punch while in Solid mass form, you’d flip once to Phased mass form after you resolved Powerful Punch’s damage.
-Alex
The rules reference states that only one character can defend an attack and playing a defense card makes your identity the target of an attack. I assume that this means if I exhaust an ally to defend and they then defeated by a boost ability I can’t then play a card like shield block to stop my hero from taking the damage. But can I use a card like shield block which has the defense tab to block overkill damage since overkill wouldn’t count as an attack against my hero? Or am I unable to play that card since we will still be in an attack window and only one character can be declared defender?
- Thank you for your question. We believe that you should be able to play Shield Block in order to prevent Overkill damage and become the new defender of the attack, and we will plan to update the Rules Reference to reflect this.
- We will most likely change “Defend, Defense” to say that WHILE an ally is defending against an attack, no other friendly character can defend, opening up the possibility for you to declare yourself defender if that ally was defeated before the attack finishes. (Go ahead and play your games using this ruling.)
-Alex
Just looking through the recently revealed cards from the Mutant Genesis box, and I am confused about one of Colossus’s signature cards – Steel Fist – it reads “Hero Action (attack): Deal 5 damage to an enemy. You may discard a tough status card from your hero -> stun and confuse that enemy.” Is the “Deal 5 damage to an enemy” part of the ability cost? If it is, what happens if I play this card whilst Stunned?
The RRG and a previous ruling regarding Defender of the Nine Realms suggest ability costs must be paid even if the effect is replaced by the removal of the Stunned status. Also that both resource and ability costs are paid simultaneously. So, if the 5 damage is not part of the ability cost, is it dealt before or after the cost of discarding a Tough status? Should the cost arrow perhaps be a “then”? Additionally, how does this ability interact with Guard, if I have a Tough status? Can I target the villain, not deal the damage, remove the Tough, and stun the villain?
To answer your question(s):
No, dealing 5 damage while resolving Steel Fist is not part of the cost to Stun & Confuse the targeted enemy. Only discarding Tough is the “cost” to Stun & Confuse an enemy, and you are able to choose to pay that cost or not while resolving Steel Fist.
If you were to play Steel Fist while you were Stunned, you would be forced to discard Stunned instead of resolving the ability text on Steel Fist (and then discard Steel Fist). You would not be forced to discard Tough if you were discarding Stunned this way.
Dealing 5 damage as a part of resolving Steel Fist would occur before you can choose to discard a Tough status.
If a minion with “Guard” was engaged with you, you would not be able to attack the villain or play an attack event targeting the villain. If you were to play Steel Fist, you could target the Guard minion with it (or another minion engaged with you), and you would have to choose the same target to apply Stun/Confuse to.
-Alex
Hall of Heroes 
