Hello again for another Q&A day!

Today I want to give you some examples of situations that can leave you thinking “What is resolved first?

1.

Question: What happens first in this situation? Does Asuna get reversed or does it gain a marker?

VERSUS

SAO Asuna ability:

【CONT】 This card gets +1 level and +1500 power for each marker underneath this card.【AUTO】 When this card’s battle opponent becomes 【REVERSE】, you may put the top card of your deck underneath this card as a marker.

Log Horizon Isuzu ability:

【AUTO】 When this card becomes 【REVERSE】, if this card’s battle opponent is level 1 or lower, you may 【REVERSE】 that character.

Answer:

The important part here is:

Is it the master of Isuzu’s turn or the master of Asuna’s?

If it’s the SAO player’s turn and Asuna is attacking:

1. Asuna’s ability is resolved first, so she gets the marker and +1 level.

2. Isuzu’s ability does nothing, ’cause Asuna is now Level 2.

If it’s the Log Horizon player’s turn and Isuzu is attacking:

1. Isuzu’s ability is resolved first and she reverses Asuna.

2. Asuna still gets her marker, but she is already reversed, and goes to the waiting room in the encore step.

Explanation:

In the battle step, Isuzu gets reversed ’cause she has the lower power:

7.6.1.2. Compare the power of the attacking character with the power of the attacked character. Whichever card with the lower power is put to reverse state.

In that moment…

1. Both abilities become stand-by (they trigger when Isuzu gets reversed).

8.5.1.2. If any automatic abilities controlled by the turn player are on stand-by, then the turn player chooses one of them, plays it, and resolves it. If he or she does, go to 8.4.1.1.. 8.5.1.3. If any automatic abilities controlled by the non-turn player are standing by, then the non -turn player chooses one of them, plays it, and resolve it. If he or she does, go to 8.4.1.1.

Note here that Asuna getting a marker is optional and not mandatory.

2.

Question: Do I still put the top card of my deck into the clock (Sayaka’s ability) if the sayaka was sent to clock first?

VERSUS

Sayaka ability:

【AUTO】 When this card becomes 【REVERSE】 in battle, put the top card of your deck into your clock, and 【REST】 this card

Homura ability:

【AUTO】 When this card attacks, if a card named “Truth Behind the Barrier” is in your climax area, until end of turn, this card gets +2000 power and the following ability. “【AUTO】 When this card’s battle opponent becomes 【REVERSE】, you may put that character into your opponent’s clock.”

Answer: Yes.

Explanation:

Homura is attacking Sayaka, and Sayaka gets reversed:

1. Homura’s ability is first ’cause it’s her master’s turn: Sayaka gets sent to the clock.

2. Then Sayaka’s ability resolves, the player puts the top card of his deck into the clock, but cannot rest Sayaka as she is not on the stage anymore.

If you remember my last Tip or Tricks article you can see how important Sayaka’s Wish is in this situation.

8.7.7. When you play an automatic ability, even if the card with that ability had changed its zone after triggering , you still need to play that automatic ability. However, if that automatic ability cannot legally resolve because the card had moved, then that effect fails to resolve.

1.3.2. If by any reason a player is forced to perform an action that he or she is unable to perform, then he or she does not perform any action. If by any reason a player is forced to perform multiple actions and he or she is only able to perform partially, then he or she performs the actions as much as he or she is able to. 3.

Question: How this card work? Can I still perform the first ability written on the card when it goes to stock with the second ability?

【AUTO】 When this card is placed on the stage from your hand, you may put the top three cards of your deck into your waiting room.

【AUTO】 When this card is placed on the stage from your hand, put the top card of your deck into your waiting room. If that card is a climax, put this card into your stock.

Answer: Yes. You choose the order in which you resolve both abilities. The first ability isn’t mandatory, the second one is. If the card is sent to the stock with the second ability you must still resolve first one (and may choose whether to send the cards to the waiting room or not).

Explanation:

8.5.1.2. If any automatic abilities controlled by the turn player are on stand-by, then the turn player chooses one of them, plays it, and resolves it (….) 8.7.7. When you play an automatic ability, even if the card with that ability had changed its zone after triggering , you still need to play that automatic ability.

4.

Question: I have a Kancolle – Musashi attacking, and in the trigger step I trigger a climax with a Shot icon. My opponent revealed the damage cards and a climax was the last card of his deck.

My opponent must take the trigger shot, the Musashi ability, and refresh penalty. But in what order?

PLUS

【AUTO】This ability activates up to one time per turn. During the turn that this card is placed on the stage from your hand, when damage dealt by this card is canceled, put the top card of your deck into your waiting room, and deal X damage to your opponent. X is equal to that card’s level +1. (Climax are regarded as level 0. This damage may be canceled)

(【Shot】: During this turn, when the next damage dealt by the attacking character that triggered this card is canceled, deal one damage to your opponent.)

Answer: First the refresh point resolves, then you can choose which burn you want to do first as the attacking player (the climax trigger or Musashi’s ability).

Explanation:

The damage taken with the attack is on the resolution zone (a temporary zone), and it’s interrupted by the deck refresh. Your opponent must reshuffle his deck.

9.2.1. Resolving a reshuffle occurs when either player has no cards in his deck. This is an interrupt type rule action. 9.2.2. When there exists no cards in a player’s deck, that player moves all cards in his or her waiting room and put it to his or her deck and shuffles it. After doing so, the player gains 1 refresh point.

We are at the end of the Damage Step, and the damage cards are still in the resolution zone:

4.9.1.2. If a climax card is moved to the resolution zone, resolve this damage by putting all the cards in the resolution zone into the waiting room and conclude the damage process. This is called “Damage Cancel” At this point, with the “Damage Cancel” both AUTO abilities become stand-by. So we have 2 automatic abilities and a refresh point to resolve. And now we have a check timing.

7.6.2.Resolve a check timing. After completing all actions in the check timing, this attack sub phase ends, and the player goes back to attack declaration step

The resolution of a refresh point is a check type rule action:

9.9.1. If a player has 1 or greater refresh points, that player will put 1 card from the top of his or her deck to his clock area, and reduce his or her refresh point by 1. This is a check type rule action.

So… we just need to know that in a check timing, first resolve rule actions and then automatic abilities on stand-by in any order chosen by the player.

4.4. Check Timing 4.4.1. The check timing is the time that is used to resolve rule actions or play auto matic abilities. 4.4.2.In a check timing, resolve all rule actions, then, when there are no rule actions to resolve, play and resolve an automatic ability that had been triggered.

5.

Question: What if in the same situation, when I’m attacking with Musashi, I have just one card left in my deck after the trigger. I’m at level 3 with 6 damage. I choose to resolve Musashi’s ability first, so I must put the top card of my deck into the waiting room.

Will I lose first with the refresh penalty or does my opponent take damage first?

Answer: Your opponent takes the damage first! If you don’t do enough damage to defeat him, then you lose with the refresh point resolution!

Explanation: You put the top card of your deck into the waiting room for Musashi’s ability. Your deck ran out of cards, so you must interrupt to refresh it. You’re in the middle of resolving the automatic ability, so you finish resolving it: you deal X damage to your opponent and then, if your opponent didn’t lose, there is a rules action check, and your refresh point resolves, and so you lose the game.

In this situation, the order you choose for your abilities to resolve can be relevant if you have the shot trigger and Musashi’s ability to resolve. For example, if your opponent is also at Level 3 with 6 damage, you may want to resolve the shot trigger first, and this way you have two opportunities to do the last damage you need to win.

1.2.5. Players may win or lose the game by an effect. In this case, that player wins or loses while resolving the effect and the game ends without proceeding to a check timing.

6 .

Question: Can I attack a back stage character with Homura’s Lonely Battle ability if Naotsugu is in the middle position of the front stage of my opponent (Great Performance)?

VERSUS

(Note: We provided this example initially with Megurine Luka “Original” F2nd, but as a commenter pointed out, the situation didn’t work as Luka must first reverse Naotsugu for the back stage attack to activate and that would shut down Naotsugu’s Great Performance)

Naotsugu’s continuous ability:

【CONT】 Great Performance (When your opponent attacks, if this card is in the middle position of your center stage and not 【REVERSE】, your opponent frontal attacks this card instead)

Homura’s Lonely Battle ability:

【AUTO】［(2)］ When a card named “Time Manipulation” is placed on your climax area, you may pay the cost. If you do, this card gets the following ability until end of turn.”【CONT】 If this card would attack, you may instead choose a character on your opponent’s back stage, and have this card frontal attack with the chosen character as the defending character.”

Answer: Yes! You can attack the back stage. (You can attack the 3/2 Shiroe there!!)

Explanation:

These are both replacement effects and as such:

8.10.2. When multiple replacement effects happen at the same time, the player will choose the order which the replacement effects will apply on his or her cards.

So in this case you frontal attack Naotsugu with Homura’s Lonely Battle and replace the effect with Homura’s back stage attack.

These were just six examples, but there are a great deal of situations like this, and it’s really fun to find them while playing the game: the more you play, the more you feel the importance of all your decisions!

I’ll be writing some articles like this!

Feel free to comment about these situations or ask about other ones you found!

Don’t forget to check my other Tips or Tricks: Encore & Counters!

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