Caleb doesn't answered me on this one, so I'll ask here, maybe someone has some insight:

What is the difference between playing an ally and playing an ally from your hand? How can you play an ally, but not from your hand? Glaurung assured me that putting a character into play is not playing it, so what's then?

The best example is Elrond with Vilya attached. Using Vilya, you can get an ally into play, but it is not coming from your hand but rather from your deck so Legacy of Durin would not trigger in that case. Another example is A Very Good Tale, which can put allies into play but again they are not coming from your hand.

The thing you described is "put into play" which does not equals "play" if we trust Glaurung.

Usually, 'play from hand' is in planning quest (when you pay for putting into play an ally), and only 'play' is by events, or another effects (for example, bofur spirit, good tale, elf stone, sneak...).

Would you post a link to what Glaurung said please?

ERRATA

(1.16) The phrase “put into play”

If a card effect uses the phrase “put into play,” it means that the card enters play through a card effect instead of through the normal process of paying resources and playing the card from hand. “Put into play” effects are not considered to be playing the card, and will not trigger any effects that refer to a card being played. “Put into play” will, however, trigger any effects that occur when a card “enters play”.

The two are identical. This game is not completely consistent with its wording, as you probably know. The term "play" is just shorthand for "play from your hand." These two phrases are to be distinguished from "enters play" which entails both from your hand and by other means (from discard pile or top of deck). I can't remember where I read about this, but I am pretty sure this has already been clarified elsewhere.

They might be anticipating the fact that we will be able (with future cards) to play ally cards from discard pile as we are already able to play events from the discard pile using the sphere books (Tome of Atanatar, etc). By the way, I just noticed that “playing” Emery through her action is definitely not playing Emery, but putting her into play (not working with lord of Morthond, for instance).

The thing is, none of currently existing cards allows you to play an ally NOT from your hand, that's why I got confused by the Lord of Mornthod in the first place.

tacomen253, the conversation was in skype.

Yeah play/play from hand should be identical. The three main distinctions would be:

*play/play from hand

*put into play

*enters play

Although I don't doubt there's probably some irregularity along the way.

So with Lord of Morthond, you have to actually pay to put the ally into play to benefit from the effect. You couldn't use something like A Very Good Tale, for example.

No, McDog was right. Read Vilya. You can "play" or "put into play" the card that is revealed. Therefore "play" and "play from your hand" are not identical, or Vilya is broken.

Vilya's "play" refers to events, as you can't put them into play. Ally cards are still put into play by Vilya.

I imagine what the designers were going for with the Vilya wording was that you could "play" events and "put into play" anything else, as it doesn't make sense to "put into play" an event and events always use the "play" wording.

No, McDog was right. Read Vilya. You can "play" or "put into play" the card that is revealed. Therefore "play" and "play from your hand" are not identical, or Vilya is broken.

Vilya is fine. The distinction on that card is between "play" and "put into play." Like Raven said, you don't "put into play" events, only allies and attachments. Vilya allows you to "put into play" allies so you cannot trigger abilities like Lord of Morthond.

Curious though, who says you cannot "put into play" an event? edit: I realize that seems like a silly question, but always just thought of "play" and "put into play" as distinct only in that they allow cards to restrict their response triggers...

Anyway, this misses the point. To reiterate : Vilya says you can "play" a card. "Play" and "Play from your hand" cannot be the same thing, because the card that Vilya reveals is never in your hand.

Curious though, who says you cannot "put into play" an event? edit: I realize that seems like a silly question, but always just thought of "play" and "put into play" as distinct only in that they allow cards to restrict their response triggers...

Anyway, this misses the point. To reiterate : Vilya says you can "play" a card. "Play" and "Play from your hand" cannot be the same thing, because the card that Vilya reveals is never in your hand.

The question was about playing allies not from your hand, and Vilya puts them into play, so your arguement is irrelevant.

Or Vilya can "play" the revealed ally (not "put into play"). The card gives you a choice.

No, it can't. Card doesn't gives you a choice, it just lists terms for both allies, attachments and events, because, as were mentioned previously, events can't be put into play. So, if Vilya had only "put into play" - that would be confusing.

OK, but now you are making a "confusing" argument about the verbage. Let me just restate your argument so you can tell me if you still agree with it..

Vilya can play events from your deck -- this is not in dispute.

So:

For allies and attachments: The word "play" is equal to "play from your hand."

For events, the word "play" is not equal to "play from your hand."

Not, it's not. But currently there is no thing in game that allows you to play an ally not from your hand.

It seems that Lord of Mornthod is made with thing of playing allies not from your hand in future.

If I play Fili from my hand then Kili enters play under my control from my deck and is not played from my hand. Furthermore, the errata to Nori now means I only get a threat reduction of one when this happens because I didn't play Kili from my hand.

When Kili/Fili comes into play, the other is "put into play", so you're right. I think what Trololo is saying is that Lord of Morthond would work if an Ally, say Bob, had the ability "You may play Bob from your discard pile as if he were in your hand" or "When a card effect causes you to search your deck, you may play Bob from your deck as if he were in your hand", or something similar to those.

Exactly.

Well, submit for a ruling then. As I read it, Vilya gives the player a choice: you may play an ally that has been revealed from your deck. There is no text that disallows this. The card text is pretty clear, and your interpretation is hinged on a100% game-wide prohibition of "playing" an ally from anywhere other than your hand.

If you choose to "play" the ally (and not "put it into play"), you can then trigger Lord of Morthrond. But not Legacy of Durin.

edit: I think you would be satisfied if there were a card that said "play the ally from your deck." But you are not satisfied when the card says "play the card from your deck" (as Vilya does, though not with those words).

No point. Even if assume that Vilya actually allows you to play allies from your deck, having Elrond in your team means that Lord of Mornthod wouldn't work.

Vilya does allow you to play allies from your deck. At least until it gets an FAQ or errata.