This actually came up in a game of mine.

There were two dueling heroes each with one hit point remaining. Both heroes drew an orb. The defender's hero had no magic items. The attacker's had the spirit stealer (taker) which says to deal two damage with an orb and if it kills the enemy hero to heal the spirit stealer's hero fully. At the time, it was decided that combat is simultaneous and both orbs would resolve simultaneously and both heroes would die.

Now that Corey ruled that the attacking orb is resolved before the defending orb in battles, can this be extended to the hero duel that I had? Would this actually make the attacker's spirit stealer werapon go off first, killing the enemy hero and healing the attacker fully? I would assume that the defender's orb would be then resolved, dealing one damage to the now max life attacking hero (since unlike the berserker instance there are no invalidated criteria to the damage).

Asylur said:

Sounds reasonable to me.

TK

I'm not completely convinced Corey's ruling applies here. Although the rules do say "attacker resolves the icon printed on the circle first", it also says "All damage dealt during duels is resolved simultaneously".

This "simultaneously" wording is not used in the Concurrent Attack Rule on page 22, and the FAQ confirms that it's NOT simultaneous during battles (though drawn Fate cards will still be resolved, even if the drawing units die, unless a special ability requires "standing" units)

I think this would be a good question to ask Corey. But due to "simultaneous" damage, both sides would hit AND KILL each other simultaneously, and once hit and killed, I do not think the hero could be healed.

However, it's possible if the ATTACKER has the sword, maybe his "resolve first" allows him to heal as he hits; the defender in either case will most certainly not get the ability either way. But I'm not convinced that the attacker really has advantage in this case, specifically because the word "simultaneously" is explicitely mentioned.

tough call. Send to rule support.

I'll send one tonight, I want to have the wording on the card handy for the question.

Cool, thanks. If you're sending it, then I will not send it as well.

sigmazero13 said:

Maybe things happen simultaneously : both attacker and defender are dealt damages, so the defender is defeated and the special ability of the weapon trigger, which fully heal the attacker, saving him...

Brian said:

But that woudl imply that a defeated hero can be "undefeated", a concept which is not really supported by the rules.

I agree. Either they are simultaneously killed or the attacker resolves his orb first, getting healed then the defender's orb goes off doing his damage (whatever the case may be depending on his rewards in this case a simple 1 damage).

I dont think they could simultaneously deal damage and then the item effectively ressurrect the ehro.

What's the point of having a cool item when it doesn't do its job at the most crucial of times ?

So, yes, that hero should resurrect at full health.

That's the "spirit" of it IMO

Here's Corey's answer:

"If both heroes kill each other at the same time then Soulbiter would NOT be able to heal the hero."