I'd like to get clarified following questions relating to Dark archon's abilities:

1) Feedback ability.

Suppose a skirmish Protoss vs. Terran, each side has one FLU unit and one assist unit in this skirmish (Terran has Science vessel and Prottos Dark archon). After playing combat cards, Terran plays EMP shockwave and Protoss plays Feedback reinforcements cards. And now, do I understand it right that:

a) In case the Protoss is attacker, then his Feedback kills the Science vessel and also cancel his EMP shockwave cards before its evaluation.

b) in case the Terran is attacker, then Feedback is canceled - similar question was answered in official Broodwar FAQ.

Simply said does trigerring of card's effects in order (attacker then defender) override canceling ability of EMP shockwave's card?

2) Mind control ability.

After a succesful mind control, I take control of an enemy unit.

In rules there is a mention, that I may whenever destroy mind-controled unit (probably except the batle). But I do not know, whether it relates only to a situation when I would like to mind control the third unit (for which I do not have a mind-control token), or if I may do it whenever I like.

If I could do it whenever, then it would be very nice killing tool. You do not have to have a sufficient attack strength, Mind control card is enough.

What do you think?

Thanks for your answers.

1) I think you are right. "Feedback" card contains the keyword "Cancel", so it must be resolved as specified in rules.

2) IMO mind-controlled units can be destroyed according to rules from original SC:BG

"During the active player’s turn, except during a battle, he may voluntarily destroy his own units, bases, and transports."

But in rules of BW we can read:

"Each Protoss faction is limited to two mind controlled units at a time (but may voluntarily destroy units under their control)."

Destroying units during combat changes a lot, so i think it shouldn't be allowed.

Artemis said:

Why killing it voluntarly if you can keep it or use it as "splash shield"

Indeed it is a very powerful tool to instantly get rid of big units like battlecruisers/carriers (just like in the video game!)

Artemis said:

I had a run in with this type of question a few months ago. Here is what I asked and the responce Corey provided:

Q: What happens if a protoss player plays Feedback and a terran player plays EMP shockwave in the same skirmish? Would the Feedback be cancelled or would it depend on who is the attacker?

A: Since the "Cancel" part abilities are resolved first, EMP shockwave would cancel feedback. The Cancel part of feedback can only be resolved if the rest of the card has been resolved.

As always, thanks again Corey!

So EMP has priority on Feedback !?! that's sad

That means that also Hallucination (High Templar card) is resolved earlier.

However, this response is not very clear to me (especially: "The Cancel part of feedback can only be resolved if the rest of the card has been resolved." ).

Is "Feedback" resolved after "Cancel" ability but before comparing attack / health values?

I think the part: ("The Cancel part of feedback can only be resolved if the rest of the card has been resolved.") is about resolving it after destroying the opposing assist unit

Other interesting questions:

What happens when Dark Archon is trying to use "Feedback" on cloaked assist units ?

It is possible in two cases:

1) Defilers with Burrow card

2) High Templars / Dark Archons with support of Arbiter

According to Cloaking rules, they are not destroyed, but must withdraw... at the end of the “Destroy Units and Discard Cards” step of skirmish resolution .

So, does defender have to discard played reinforcement cards in the same moment (so: after resolving combat cards, using all reinforcement cards abilities), or immediately when cards are revealed?

What's more, in case #2 only Arbiter remains non-cloaked... So, is the defender forced to destroy Arbiter, or can he choose to withdraw the other Assist unit (instead destroying it)?

What happens when both friendly and enemy Dark Archons use "Feedback" in the same skirmish?

Notice that (assuming affected player is able to choose what to destroy, I don't remember the card rules) presence of other Assist units can make it more complicated. And what side should resolve his Feedback first? Attacking?

cyb3k said:

In the first case, I believe even the cloaked ghost (as an example) would die because the withdraw ability happens during the resolution of skirmishes in the attack vs health part. It wouldn't save it from special abilities like feedback

In the second case, acoording to the general rule, attacker has priority.

Railarian said:

Ghost is not an Assist unit, so it can't be killed by Feedback card.

There is no rule in instuction which limits Cloaking only to kills by combat values, e.g. Spawn Broodling can't kill cloaked units, just one of them must withdraw.

Tehre is a rule (for Splash Damage) which forces the oppotent to maximize casualties. It could also refer to such reinforcement cards, but i'm not sure of that.

hmm.. I read somewhere Cloaking doesnt protect against Spawn Broodling, it doesnt withdraw but is killed