Hi Scott,
I wanted to say (belatedly) how great it was to get a good,
reasonable set of rulings from the Rules Team. Thanks for making them
see the light. :-) And, I have a few questions...
1) When exactly can a vampire ignore "burn blood" effects? I know
that a vampire with less blood than would be burned by Blood to Water burns
only the available blood and is otherwise unaffected. What about somebody
like Magdalena Schaefer, who burns an additional blood when she uses a
Thaumaturgy strike? Can she use a Thaumaturgy strike she doesn't have the
"extra" blood for? Finally, what about Majesty, where you "burn a blood
to untap" -- can you untap "for free" if you're empty?
2) How the heck does Scrying of Secrets work? Which Methuselahs
get to look at the seven cards? Who picks the card to be discarded?
3) If a a vampire has First Strike, does his retainer damage also
resolve as First Strike? In a related question, if a First Strike sends
the opposing minion to torpor, does the opposing minion's retainer damage
resolve? The rulebook only specifically mentions that the opposing minion's
strike doesn't resolve.
4) For the purposes of Seeds of Corruption, what constitutes a
"special ability"? I assume any text unique to that vampire is a special
ability. What about +X bleed or +X hand damage? The vampire's title?
5) Before you became official netrep (I think) you expressed the
opinion that Fast Reaction "trumps" superior Form of Mist (ala Psyche!).
Do you want to make this official now? I ask since the requirements for
Psyche! and Fast Reaction are different; Psyche! only requires two ready
minions whereas Fast Reaction requires combat to have just completed with
a *blocking* minion. Since superior FoM continues the action "as if
unblocked", Does the former blocker still qualifies as a blocking minion?
Superior FoM is an incredibly cheesy card, so I wouldn't be unhappy if
your unofficial opinion becomes official. :-)
---
Eric Pettersen
pe...@diderot.ucsf.edu (NeXTmail capable)
Eric Pettersen wrote:
>
> Hi Scott,
> I wanted to say (belatedly) how great it was to get a good,
> reasonable set of rulings from the Rules Team. Thanks for making them
> see the light. :-) And, I have a few questions...
>
> 1) When exactly can a vampire ignore "burn blood" effects? I know
> that a vampire with less blood than would be burned by Blood to Water burns
> only the available blood and is otherwise unaffected. What about somebody
> like Magdalena Schaefer, who burns an additional blood when she uses a
> Thaumaturgy strike? Can she use a Thaumaturgy strike she doesn't have the
> "extra" blood for? Finally, what about Majesty, where you "burn a blood
> to untap" -- can you untap "for free" if you're empty?
Vampires always ignore "burn blood" effects in excess of their current
blood supply (burning all of their blood and ignoring the excess) (card
text excepted, of course).
However, when failing to burn the required amount, the vampire is not
considered to have burned the required amount. So, if you have to burn
a blood "to" untap, and don't burn a blood, then you don't untap.
Similarly, if you have to burn an extra blood "to" play a card and
cannot burn an extra blood, then you can't play the card.
> 2) How the heck does Scrying of Secrets work? Which Methuselahs
> get to look at the seven cards? Who picks the card to be discarded?
The acting Methuselah (the methuselah who played the Scry).
The acting Methuselah (the methuselah who played the Scry).
> 3) If a a vampire has First Strike, does his retainer damage also
> resolve as First Strike? In a related question, if a First Strike sends
> the opposing minion to torpor, does the opposing minion's retainer damage
> resolve? The rulebook only specifically mentions that the opposing minion's
> strike doesn't resolve.
Yes. No (since the retainer deals damage during his controller's initial
strike resolution).
> 4) For the purposes of Seeds of Corruption, what constitutes a
> "special ability"? I assume any text unique to that vampire is a special
> ability. What about +X bleed or +X hand damage? The vampire's title?
All Non-Sect, Non-Title text (*)
> 5) Before you became official netrep (I think) you expressed the
> opinion that Fast Reaction "trumps" superior Form of Mist (ala Psyche!).
> Do you want to make this official now?
Sure, but I believe Tom Wylie made that official long before
I was Net.Rep.
> I ask since the requirements for
> Psyche! and Fast Reaction are different; Psyche! only requires two ready
> minions whereas Fast Reaction requires combat to have just completed with
> a *blocking* minion. Since superior FoM continues the action "as if
> unblocked", Does the former blocker still qualifies as a blocking minion?
Yes.
--
L. Scott Johnson (vte...@regency.wizards.com)
Official VtES Net.Rep for Wizards of the Coast.
(*) - Subject to review by Rules Team
Thanks for the quick answers, Scott! I have one follow-up question:
"LSJ (VtES Rep)" <vte...@regency.wizards.com> wrote:
> Eric Pettersen wrote:
> > 2) How the heck does Scrying of Secrets work? Which Methuselahs
> > get to look at the seven cards? Who picks the card to be discarded?
>
> The acting Methuselah (the methuselah who played the Scry).
> The acting Methuselah (the methuselah who played the Scry).
Is this second answer errata to the card? The full card text for Scry is:
"Only usable when this vampire successfully bleeds a Methuselah. Look at
the next seven cards in that Methuselah's library.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
(S) As above, and if any of those cards are action cards that can be used
to bleed, that Methuselah discards one of those cards."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I guess the superior doesn't say one way or the other who chooses which
card gets discarded, so it's not necessarily errata. Okay, nevermind...
:-)
--Eric