I have a couple of rules to explore so that I can make sure I understand how things work in the game.

First Assertion : Heads on Spikes can move a character from one out of play space to another (hand to dead pile), but this has no effect on an already in play copy of a unique.

I think this is true because the rules for the dead pile note that "A player cannot marshal, play, put into play, or take control of a copy of any unique card that is in his or her dead pile" (5). The rules state no impact upon copies of a unique card that is in play. I feel reasonably confident about this interpretation, like 90%.

Second Assertion : A copy of a unique character in a player's dead pile prevents that player from putting a duplicate of that unique character into play.

I think this is true because of the same rule noted above, but it depends a little on the interpretation of the rule regarding duplicates. There, it is noted that "Marshaling a duplicate is not considered marshaling a card of the duplicate's printed type. It is only considered 'marshaling a duplicate card.'" (7).

For me, the question is the interpretation of the word "type", which in my mind indicates the category of card (character, location, attachment, etc.) and not the specific card itself, which results in my interpretation.

If "type" means a general category, then the rule is meant to prevent someone from triggering an effect that would normally occur based on the marshaling of a given kind of card--such as gaining an effect from marshaling a character; the duplicate does not count as a character or a location specifically.

If "type" means the specific card itself, then it might be possible to marshal a duplicate of a character that is in the dead pile, since the rules for the dead pile note that you cannot marshal a copy of a unique card, but the rules for duplicate perhaps note that the duplicate card would not really be the original unique card anymore.

Any clarification to this would be helpful--I suspect the odds of this occurring are pretty low, but setting up an Asha and then drawing two more in the draw back up phase, then getting hit with Heads on Spikes in the plot phase could result in the loss of one of the two additional Asha's, leaving the player with a question as to what can be done with that last copy.

Thanks!

You're entirely correct on both counts.

1) The dead pile prevents very specific things, and it does not prevent a card from being in play and the dead pile at the same time.

2) Yeah, rather than re-type the answer, let me point you to the unofficial community FAQ here , with a link specifically answering your question in the justification.

Thanks -Istaril!

The rules are far clearer than in 1.0 for a lot of things, and I appreciate being able to feel confident in my interpretations--I am going to devour the unofficial FAQ now.