So, can Display of Power be used in your Stronghold's Province before it breaks?

The exact text on the card says:

" Reaction: After you lose an unopposed conflict – cancel the ring effect of that conflict. Then, you resolve that ring effect as if you had won the conflict as the attacking player. Claim that ring."

I think the thing here is determining when do you lose a conflict. Now, in the RRD, Appendix I: Timing and Gameplay, the order seems to be:

• 3.2 Declare conflict.
• 3.2.1 Declare defenders.
• 3.2.2 CONFLICT ACTION WINDOW
• 3.2.3 Compare skill values.
• 3.2.4 Apply unopposed.
• 3.2.5 Break province.
• 3.2.6 Resolve ring effects.
• 3.2.7 Claim ring.

And in page 22, in the 3.2.3 step, it says:

" [...] The player whose side has the higher total skill wins the conflict . In order to win a conflict, a player must count a total skill of 1 or higher. In the case of a tie, the conflict is won by the attacking player. If both players count 0 skill, the conflict resolves with no winner, and the ring is returned to the pool of unclaimed rings ".

In point 3.2.4 says:

" If the attacking player won the conflict and the defending player controls no participating characters (in step 3.2.3), the conflict is considered “unopposed. ”

So, if I'm not mistaken, you win (or lose) the conflict at point 3.2.3, before the province breaks, and therefore you could use Display of Power and resolve the ring effect (potentially winning the game).

Thoughts?

This seems possible to me.

Nope. You play Display of Power after 3.2.3, but it then sets up a delayed effect to cancel the ring effect (can't cancel it until it tries to resolve at 3.2.6). When you get to 3.2.6, DoP's delayed effect cancels the ring effect and then you get to resolve the ring effect yourself. Unfortunately, in this case you're a step too late and your opponent already won the game at 3.2.5 when they broke your stronghold province.

This idea came up before, and sadly @dbmeboy has the right of it...your opponent breaks your province before the actual ring cancel/trigger part of the card's effect happens.

25 minutes ago, dbmeboy said:

You play Display of Power after 3.2.3, but it then sets up a delayed effect to cancel the ring effect

Citation? That seems contrary to what is written on the card. The trigger is losing (count) and the card, so that's when you do what it says.

If it worked the way you imply, it actually wouldn't work at all because there would be nothing to cancel, and then it would be unplayable as it couldn't cause a change of game state.

2 hours ago, InquisitorM said:

Citation? That seems contrary to what is written on the card. The trigger is losing (count) and the card, so that's when you do what it says.

If it worked the way you imply, it actually wouldn't work at all because there would be nothing to cancel, and then it would be unplayable as it couldn't cause a change of game state.

There's a developer ruling on FiveRingsDB. Because the triggering condition is at an earlier framework step than the resolution of the ring, Display of Power does create a delayed effect that automatically resolves when the ring effect attempts to initiate. Display of Power needs the 'potential' to change the game state to be played, so if Display of Power were played at 3.2.3, and something else cancelled the ring prior to it resolving at 3.2.6, then it would simply fail to resolve. The only other situation I can think of where the ring might be cancelled before Display of Power could get to it is if there was another mandatory cancel ability that would resolve at the same time and the first player chose to resolve the other one.

I have a question out to understand if a delayed effect goes in the 'mandatory' timing of card effects to determine the eligibility, or if it would retain a lower priority like the 'reaction'. The rules seem to grant delayed effects some bonus priority over the 'reaction' window, but how would it stack up against other cancels that would share the same resolution window?

31 minutes ago, LuceLineGames said:

There's a developer ruling on FiveRingsDB.

Right, so they failed to write it properly and now it needs a ruling for an unintuitive ability. I wish I was more surprised.

31 minutes ago, InquisitorM said:

Right, so they failed to write it properly and now it needs a ruling for an unintuitive ability. I wish I was more surprised.

Yes, it could have been written so there is no delayed effect.

it tells you when you must play it (after unopposed loss).

it says '...cancel the ring effect of that conflict. then,...'

cancelling usually refers to an action or event. and 'then' makes it clear the rest happens after that ring effect is cancelled. and resolving the ring effect happens after breaking.

i feel lost as to where the confusion is. maybe because there's some confusion as to if cancel means removing the effect or stopping the effect (resolution)?