Hello everyone,

I would just like some in depth clarity on if I play Nightmares on my opponent's Varys. My understanding is that Varys would still be able to use his interrupt effect (I think? If I am wrong, please let me know), but could I have an in depth explanation as to how this window occurs?

Thank you!

End of phase triggers occur in the following order:

"When" the phase ends,

"Until" the end of the phase,

"At" the end of the phase

So Nightmares falls off before Vary's trigger occurs, at which time he has his text back.

That outcome does not match up with Varys' actual text. That's why it is usually so important to include the text of the cards you're asking about.

Varys' text is: "Interrupt: When the dominance phase ends, remove Varys from the game to discard each character from play."

Nightmares' text is: "Action: Choose a character or location. Until the end of the phase, treat that card’s printed text box as if it were blank (except for Traits)."

So, the lasting effect from Nightmares (i.e., the blanking effect) continues to function until the phase is officially over - which happens when the "end phase" triggering condition resolves. Varys' ability interrupts the "end phase" triggering condition, which means that - like all interrupts - it is triggered before the triggering condition resolves.

Your in depth explanation of the timing is therefore that a Nightmares played in the Dominance phase will not expire until the "end of dominance phase" framework window (5.3 on the flow chart) closes. Until then, the target character/location is considered blank. Varys' ability is an interrupt to the end of the dominance phase - meaning that it would be used after window 5.3 opens, but before it closes. This means that the lasting effect from Nightmares is still active (since 5.3 hasn't closed yet) and STOPS you from being able to trigger Varys.

This is all outlined on p. 6 of the FAQ.

That's a long way of saying that your understanding that Varys could still use his interrupt if targeted by Nightmares in the dominance phase is incorrect. (And that Grimwalker's response is incorrect because he seems to be thinking of Varys' ability as an "after the phase ends" reaction instead of a "when the phase ends" interrupt.)

That's what I get for going from memory. I figured that someone must have given him a ruling and he just wanted to know why it worked that way. Ktom is correct.

Oh wow, so Nightmares does stop Varys. Thanks for the clarity guys!