Aura Reading Question

Hi there! Just a quick question on the card Aura Reading. For Superior Auspex, it says that you now have a hand of 9 cards. Is there any errata/clarification on this? (I tried looking on the Wizards site, but the errata section is down or something). Whereas Elder Library and Cassandra - Magus Prime specifically state that your hand size is one larger, Aura Reading simply says it's 9 cards. Is it supposed to be interpreted this way (as was done with Anson and Rumours of Gehenna), or it is *supposed* to mean increase your hand size by 2 (like a rework of melee weapon damage and strength). If it's the former, then there are a lot of interesting scenarios. Just to make sure: If your hand size is larger than 9 and you play Aura Reading, you have to discard, right? Since it was ruled that "do not replace till end of combat" cards actually decrease your hand size (like Fake Out and Boxed In), if you have a normal hand of 7, you can play 2 Fake Outs (now hand size of 5), then play Aura Reading and draw 4 more cards, right? And when do the Fake Out and Aura Reading effects end? Is it simultaneous (so you go from 9 cards to 7 cards), or one at a time (9 cards, discard to 5 cards, then draw up to 7 cards)? And for an amusing example of "decking" yourself, if your hand size is really low, like 1, (due to Aggressive Tactics) and you play Aura Reading, you draw 9 cards for combat, but then after combat, you discard all the way down, right? If you have a hand size of 0 and somehow manage to play Aura Reading, you'd draw 9 and then later have to discard them all, right? Thanks a lot! Halcyan 2

halc...@aol.com (Halcyan 2) wrote: > Hi there! > > Just a quick question on the card Aura Reading. For Superior Auspex, it says > that you now have a hand of 9 cards. Is there any errata/clarification on this? > (I tried looking on the Wizards site, but the errata section is down or > something). No. (The page linked from WotC is down, yes. Try one of the other mirrors linked from my .sig below). > Whereas Elder Library and Cassandra - Magus Prime specifically state that your > hand size is one larger, Aura Reading simply says it's 9 cards. Is it supposed > to be interpreted this way (as was done with Anson and Rumours of Gehenna), or > it is *supposed* to mean increase your hand size by 2 (like a rework of melee > weapon damage and strength). It is officially to be interpretted that way (set to nine, not increased by two). > If it's the former, then there are a lot of interesting scenarios. Just to make > sure: If your hand size is larger than 9 and you play Aura Reading, you have to > discard, right? [1.6.1.2] >Since it was ruled that "do not replace till end of combat" > cards actually decrease your hand size (like Fake Out and Boxed In), if you > have a normal hand of 7, you can play 2 Fake Outs (now hand size of 5), then > play Aura Reading and draw 4 more cards, right? It was not ruled that DNRs decrease your hand size. It was ruled, however, that the cards you are currently not replacing count against your current hand size. [LSJ 03-AUG-1998] In your example, you would draw two cards (two bring your hand up to seven cards: seven being the size of your hand (nine) minus the two cards you are currently not replacing). > And when do the Fake Out and > Aura Reading effects end? Is it simultaneous (so you go from 9 cards to 7 > cards), or one at a time (9 cards, discard to 5 cards, then draw up to 7 > cards)? They both end with the end of combat. You may accept the reduction of hand size before or after drawing to replace your DNRs. > And for an amusing example of "decking" yourself, if your hand size is > really low, like 1, (due to Aggressive Tactics) and you play Aura Reading, you > draw 9 cards for combat, but then after combat, you discard all the way down, > right? If you have a hand size of 0 and somehow manage to play Aura Reading, > you'd draw 9 and then later have to discard them all, right? No. Your hand size would be nine, and would be modified by the Aggressive tactics in play. If you have six Aggressive Tactics against you and play Aura Reading, you would have a hand size of nine with six -1 modifiers for an effective hand size of three. Compare a vampire with "+1 strength" who plays Torn Signpost. With that reading, Aura Reading operates just as if it said "+2 hand size" with the exception that (like Rumors) it doesn't "stack" effectively with itself (or with any future cards that also set your hand size to some fixed amount). -- LSJ (vte...@white-wolf.com) VTES Net.Rep for White Wolf, Inc. Links to revised rulebook, rulings, errata, and DCI (tournament) rules: http://www.geocities.com/vtesrep Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.

In article <8bfo0n$h6i$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>, LSJ <vte...@white-wolf.com> wrote: > It is officially to be interpretted that way (set to nine, not > increased by two). > > No. Your hand size would be nine, and would be modified by the > Aggressive tactics in play. If you have six Aggressive Tactics > against you and play Aura Reading, you would have a hand size of > nine with six -1 modifiers for an effective hand size of three. > This seems inconsistent. Elder Library reads "increase your hand size by one". Why should hand size reduction apply, while the additions get ignored? Kevin

[ quoted text not captured ] It is not ignored. You hand size (now 9, due to Aura Reading) is still "increased by one" by Elder Library. See the parallel example I gave of Torn Signpost. -- LSJ (vte...@white-wolf.com) V:TES Net.Rep for White Wolf, Inc. Links to revised rulebook, rulings, errata, and tournament rules: http://www.geocities.com/vtesrep

>No. Your hand size would be nine, and would be modified by the >Aggressive tactics in play. If you have six Aggressive Tactics >against you and play Aura Reading, you would have a hand size of >nine with six -1 modifiers for an effective hand size of three. Ah! With this explanation and the explanation including the Elder Library, I now understand. Aura Reading is still modified by other "hand-size altering" effects in play. For some reason or another, I had the impression that to a certain degree, new cards that were played "overruled" previous cards that were played (with reasonable limits I mean). I think it was residual from my old Magic days (i.e. if you cast Flight on a creature after Gravity Sphere is already in play, the creature is still flying, despite the text of Gravity Sphere). >It was not ruled that DNRs decrease your hand size. >It was ruled, however, that the cards you are currently not replacing >count against your current hand size. Oh. Two quick followup questions then. First, I'm assuming that if you have to discard a card, you have to actually discard a card in your hand (not the empty slot), right? But on the other hand, if you're somehow reduced in hand size before replacing (as opposed to simply discarding), how would this work? If you have 7 cards in hand and play Fake Out (now you have 7 hand size but 6 cards in hand) and then your hand size is reduced (somehow) before replacing, what happens? I'm guessing you don't have to discard immediately (6 hand size and 6 cards in hand now), but at the end of combat, you replace the Fake Out and then have to discard a card, right? I know this is getting a bit complex and that the only difference is when you have to discard, but I'm just curious.... Thanks! Halcyan 2

In article <20000324230616...@ng-fp1.aol.com>, Halcyan 2 <halc...@aol.com> writes > If you >have 7 cards in hand and play Fake Out (now you have 7 hand size but 6 cards in >hand) and then your hand size is reduced (somehow) before replacing, what >happens? Your hand size is reduced by 1, so it is 6. However, the Do Not Replace cards count against your hand size temporarily, so you have 5 cards in hand - so you discard now. This means that your hand size is 6, but because you have 1 card not replaceable, you have 5 cards in hand. At the end of combat, you would draw two cards when your hand size goes back up to 7 and you can replace the Fake Out. -- James Coupe (Prince of Mercia, England) Vampire: Elder Kindred Network http://madnessnetwork.hexagon.net http://www.obeah.demon.co.uk

James Coupe <ve...@obeah.demon.co.uk> wrote: > In article <20000324230616...@ng-fp1.aol.com>, Halcyan 2 > <halc...@aol.com> writes > > If you > >have 7 cards in hand and play Fake Out (now you have 7 hand size but 6 cards in > >hand) and then your hand size is reduced (somehow) before replacing, what > >happens? > > Your hand size is reduced by 1, so it is 6. However, the Do Not > Replace cards count against your hand size temporarily, so you > have 5 cards in hand - so you discard now. This means that your > hand size is 6, but because you have 1 card not replaceable, you > have 5 cards in hand. > > At the end of combat, you would draw two cards when your hand size > goes back up to 7 and you can replace the Fake Out. Correct. [ quoted text not captured ]