Advanced Rulings and Clarifications
1. The Concept of Effect Stack
Every time a Player casts a Spell or Invoke an ability, it will go to an Effect Stack. The spell will be resolved on a Last-In-First-Out basis. This means that spells being cast later in the instance will be resolved first. For example, a spell (Spell A) that deals 2 damage into the stack is targeting a Unit with 1 Life. If another spell (Spell B) with Quickcast is being cast as a response to Spell A, Spell B will resolve first. So, if Spell B states that it will “deal 1 damage to any target unit” and is targeting the same Unit, Spell B will destroy the Unit instead of Spell A. Spell A’s effect will be considered void since it has lost its target.
2. Spell Targetting
If a spell loses its target or if a spell’s target is invalid, that spell’s effect will be considered void. The most common example of this would be an effect that says “Target unit you control cannot be the target of spells and abilities.” Any spell targeting a unit that owns this property will be considered void. If such an effect is applied through a spell that comes later on the stack, it will resolve first and apply the effect. Any other spells in the stack, targeting the Unit will become void.
3. Verdant’s “Go to Midnight”
When the spell resolves, all remaining instances of spells in the Effect Stack do not resolve. Magna Cycle immediately skips to “Midnight”, indicating the End of Cycle Phase. Resolve all actions that are to be done during the Midnight Phase and then the turn begins anew with the Dawn Phase.
4. Hybrid Sovereigns
Hybrid Sovereigns belong to two or more Unit Types, which means that if an ability targets specific Unit Types, it will also affect them. For example, The Phantom of Saint Michael will affect Horrors and Undead. Hybrid Units like Branwen, Lost Protector who are both Undead and Spirit will be affected just as the other Horrors and Undeads.
5. Changing Targets
Changing the target of a Spell or Ability does not change the ownership of a Spell or Ability. If a Spell or Ability with an altered target destroys a Unit, the caster of the Spell or invoker of the Ability is still considered the destroyer of the Unit.
6. Ethereal vs Shield
If a unit has Ethereal, no combat damage can be assigned to that unit in combat. Should there be an excess combat damage to assign, it will be void. All combat damage must be assigned to a unit whenever possible, thus if another unit is present, combat damage must be assigned to the other unit. However, a unit with Shields can still be assigned combat damage. This means that the player can choose to assign combat damage to a unit that already has a Shield Counter applied to it, for which the combat damage will be prevented.
7. Clarifications on The Dead Shall Rise Again (Undead Bonus)
In the event that a Player has more than 3 Vassals and that Player has no The Dead Shall Rise Again active, that player must sacrifice their Vassals until they only have 3 Vassals remaining. This can actually happen through Ianira Heartslaver’s Spell.
8. Swapping Units
Swapping only works when there are at least two valid targets to swap. In the case where there are not enough valid targets to swap, the swapping effect is void.
9. Losing and Improving
Remember, not everyone is good on their first try! Learning more about your Action resources and how the Effect Stack works can help you make better decisions in the future. Relive your moment as a Death Summoner, and you can only get more skillful.
