Hello all! By the way, I should say that I find the community for this game very helpful compared to other games. Great job! These are all Core LCG related questions:

1) I read that a card like Not Listening or Queen of Thorns can stop a character from saving themselves from being killed (by discarding one of their attached duplicates), and that you could try again with a second duplicate to save it. The first duplicate would still be discarded though.

However, I also read somewhere else that if an Ambush keyword card is canceled the same way, it stays in hand. Why the apparent difference?

2) Also, the FAQ 4.14 states that Ambush cannot be canceled?

3) Does the Rains of Autumn plot card stop the +2 gold from the Master of Coins title?

4) I can kneel multiple cost-reducing locations before playing a character, right? To gain a cumulative decrease in cost?

5) Bronn can choose himself?

6) Grand Maester Pycelle. I don't understand what the first part of the text means by revealing cards and such.

7) Is Sir Jacelyn Bywater immune to deadly or intimidate? Are those abilities?

8) Knight of the Rainwood: cannot be discarded from play. What does that mean, that he cannot be killed? Stannis's Northern Cavalry says "cannot be killed or discarded", so I assume there is a difference.

9) Are responses mandatory? Specifically I am curious about Khal Drogo, Dany's Handmaiden, and The Titan's Bastard; must they enter and leave play as indicated, and would I have to destroy my own attachment if it was the only one in play?

Sorry for all the questions but I'm still learning....

1./2. Discarding is part of the cost which must be payed to try to save the duplicated card. The cost is always payed no matter if the save action is successful or not - e.g. get´s canceled by another card. Queen of thorns or Not listening can cancel the save action, because it´s a triggered effect. Triggered effects are indicated by the ":" , in the given case "Response: Discard this duplicate to save the atatched card from being killed, discarded or returned from play to your hand.

The information about Ambush you mention is overcome, you named the new ruling by yourself it´s clarified in the latest faq that ambush can´t be cancelled.

3. No, it doesn´t stop master of coins (the melee title) from adding gold to your gold pool. Rains of autumn only prevents the named resources (charachter, locations and attachments) from adding their bonusses. You can also use an event card like starve for your king to add aditional gold tokens to your gold pool when rains of autumn is revealed.

4. Yes, it´s possible. But try to prevent overpayment. E.g. if you kneel 3 western fiefdoms and than play a charachter with a gold cost of 2 the cost reduction of the third western fiefdom is gone. Becaue only the "next "Lannister card you play is reduced by X (in the described example 3).

5. Yes, that´s possible.

6. There are only few cards in the LCG format which reveal cards right now. Pycelle himself is one of the few cards in the LCG format which reveal one or more cards by it´s effect. So if you opponent or opponents use Pycelles effects you can choose to trigger his game text.

7. In a former faq version keywords like deadly were considered to be charachter abilities. Nowadays keywords on charachters aren´t charachter abilities.

8. Yes. There´s a difference. Knight of the rainwood is a reprinted card and in the ccg area there were more cards that discarded charachters. In the Core Set there´s maybe only one card - Westeros bleeds. Discarding a card means n general it leaves play and is played in the discard pile afterwards, if a card (charachter) is killed it leaves play and is placed in the dead pile.

9. Responses aren´t mandantory you can choose to trigger them if you like. But once you triggered a response you must fulfill eevry part of the response. Let´s say you choose to trigger Daeny´s handmaiden and than realize that you are the only player with attachments in play, you must choose your own attachment.

Note also that some passive abilities appear to be a reponse, but are in truth mandatory. The plot mad king´s legacy can backfire on you, because you have to fulfill the plot action if it´s possible. Another example is the upcoming Walder Frey.

1./2. As Old Ben indicates, the Ambush keyword created a great deal of confusion because while keywords in general act as passive effects (and thus could not be legally canceled by something like the Queen of Thorns), it acts like a triggered effect. So the FAQ entry ends that debate.

But the fact that costs are still paid when an effect is triggered, then canceled, does apply to other cards that come into play from your hand. For example, it would be permissible for the QoT to cancel Khal Drogo's "put into play Response." In that case, since leaving your hand is part of the resolution of his effect, not part of the cost, if he is canceled, he never leaves you hand - unlike saving with a duplicate where discarding the card is part of the cost. This can get confusing when compared to events, but keep in mind that part of triggering an event (i.e., paying its cost) is to play it from your hand. So a canceled event is discarded, but a cancel Khal Drogo stays in your hand.

5. In fact, it's the most common play I see. Kneel Bronn to defend a military challenge, pay the cost and choose himself, then stand him instead of killing him. Other than paying the 2 gold, your board hasn't changed at all while other than Renown, your opponent has only gets knelt attackers.

Thanks for the prompt responses!

Some clarification on question 9):

If responses are optional, why do some of them appear to be negative? Why would I choose The Titan's Bastards second response (about returning to my hand)?

Perhaps this is answering my own question but I suppose if he had a negative attachment put on him, or he was about to be stolen by Seductive Promise?

That's one possibility. For another, say you're going first and win a military challenge w/ the Titan's Bastard. You bounce him back to your hand. Then when your opponent wins a military challenge against you (assuming you haven't lost him to intrigue; there's always a risk), you put him back into play. Standing. Could be a good thing for dominance, or defending a power challenge. All sorts of things. You can certainly come up with a lot of possibilities for him being safer in your hand than in play.

Any effect can be positive or negative depending on how you use it; you just need to be creative. Granted, some need more creativity than others. You just need to consider the voluntary nature of Responses as part of using them with that kind of creativity.