Hi guys,

So, in a game yesterday I was playing zarathur, and I had a bloodthirster on the same planet as him. The enemy had a Steel legion chimera among 3 other units.

I use the bloodthirster's Area Effect attack 3.

So the first question is very basic, and that is when does Zarathur's ability trigger? Is it before my damage actually goes on to the enemy? Or are they hit for 3, and then 1 is added?

Then, when does the chimera die? I deal 4 damage, and he doesn't shield it, so it definitely dies. However does its ability trigger and every other card takes 1 less damage? It's a reaction, not an interrupt, so we assumed that the damage landed first, killed it, and then everyone else took the full 4 damage.

Of course, if Zarathur's ability is added after the initial hit, then it would have taken 3, protected every other card for 1 damage, and then died by the additional damage. (I assumed that the damage was added on the way over before it actually reaches the enemy card, so this wasn't the main rules query)

Is this correct?

We started talking ourselves in circles and second guessed everything.

The situation is one of those things that is really simple when you know the trick, bu almost impossible if you forget the trick.

The trick is that dealing damage is a 3-step process - where each step can be interrupted and/or reacted to separately. The three steps are:

1. Assign damage.

2. Play/Apply shield cards.

3. Place (unshielded) damage on the unit.

With that in mind, your whole situation should kind of fall into place. Specifically, when the Vicious Bloodletter attacks and uses its AOE, you get the following:

1. Assign Damage.

A) Initiate assignment : 3 damage slated to be assigned (simultaneously) to each of the opponent's units

B) Interrupt assignment : Zarathur Interrupts and triggers (one time each) to the assignment of damage (as stated in his text) and increases the amount of damage assigned for each unit from 3 to 4

C) Resolve assignment : The damage is officially assigned to each unit (4 each here)

D) Reaction to assignment : The Chimera Reacts and triggers (one time for each non-Vehicle) to the assignment (as stated in the text) and prevents 1 of the assigned damage - lowering the amount assigned from 4 to 3

2. Shields: In player order, you can shield any damage assigned in #1.

3. Place Damage: THIS is where the damage (assigned in #1 and potentially shielded in #2) is put on each unit for the first time. So it is not until here that any unit could actually die.

Anyway, long story short, when keep in mind that dealing damage is a 3 step process, that Zarathur and the Chimera both work within the first step, and nothing actually dies until the the third step, the whole thing becomes much easier to wrap your head around.

BTW: One of the more important things is not to confuse the actual assignment of damage (#1C) with placing the damage on the unit (#3). This difference can be remembered by the fact that assigning damage comes before shields, and shielding prevents the damage from ever reaching the unit - as opposed to removing it once it is there.

Good answer ktom, thanks very much!

You answered my initial noobish question of whether the SLC dies before or after its ability triggers, and that clears a lot up.

However, someone has pointed out that actually an AE is not an attack, and is card text, and SLC's ability only defends from attacks (I'd have to check the actual wording, but that's the end result), and so doesn't trigger for an AE.

So it's purely academic at this point!

It's also worth mentioning that SLC would have no effect in this scenario. SLC only prevents damage by an ATTACK. Area Effect is a card effect not an ATTACK. It's also why you can't indomitable AE damage.

I'm going to assume it's a BloodLETTER, not a BloodTHIRSTER. To my knowledge we don't have a Bloodthirster card yet