Hi, I am having a rules dispute with someone over Poison Wine. They are reading this card to say that any player can pay the 1 influence and move it from a character to another character. I, of course, think this is a completely silly interpretation of the card. I've been back and forth on this card, but I would love to get the "official" say on how it works. Maybe I'm confident in my interpretation that only the wine's controller can move and I'm totally wrong. I would like to know this as well if that's the case.

Basically my reading of the situation is that Poison Wine, though attached to another player's card, is still owned by you, and thus only you have control of it's effects. Just because you put it on an opponent's character doesn't mean he gains control of the effect, thus gaining the privilege to pay an influence to move it.

Thanks in advance for your help.

You can only activate abilities on cards you control, unless the text specifically states otherwise.

thank you. This is what I tried to explain, but it appeared that just me stating the rule was going to be enough. Thanks again!

gamefiend said:

Well, if someone has trouble with the "you can only use the abilities on cards you control," reach across the table and use their Arya Stark or Lannisport Brothel. If you can do it for an attachment you don't control, you can do it for any other type of card, too.

So just clarifying this for me - I haven't played with the Targaryen deck yet and was just looking at the cards this weekend, and had planned on asking about this card anyways...

So according to the rules, any card I bring to the game is a card I "own". There are a lot of Targ cards that are meant to be played as attachments on an opponents card, but because their text does not say that the card changes "control", that means they remain under my control, is that correct? I had originally assumed that attachments played on an opponent's card would change control at the same time, and since there's no mechanism in the game (at least none that I've seen so far) that can remove an attachment, it would make little difference, except for something like Poison Wine.

So if I put Poison Wine in to play and attach it to an opponent's card, do I both "own" and "control" that card still, or do I only "own" it?

OrionsByte said:

You own and control the Poison Wine. For a card that can remove an attachment, see Mad King's Legacy, a House Targaryen plot. Other attachment removing cards can be found in various chapter packs, such as The Shadow of the East, from the recent Time of Trials chapter pack.

In general you "control" all the cards you "own" unless an effect specifically changes control of the card.

A good example of this "you still control the 'negative' attachment you put on an opponent's character" is the card "Demon's Dance" from the Change of Seasons Chapter Pack. It reads:

" Response: After the season changes to Winter or to Summer, kill attached character (cannot be saved)."

Now, how many times would your opponent choose to trigger that if they controlled the attachment? And how often is killing your own character useful? (There are some very narrow circumstances, but still.) So this card really only makes sense if control of a character and control of each attachment on it are completely separate things.