Can you play cards when there are no targets just to get amber. Example, a card says “Destroy an enemy’s artifact” but your enemy has no artifacts can you still play this card to gain the amber that is printed on the card. How about this one “Lost in the woods” choose 2 friendly creatures and 2 enemy creatures. Shuffle each chosen creature into its owners deck” can I still play this card if I have no creatures in play?

Yes you can and you resolve as much of the acrion as possible

The only exception to this is Upgrades. They must be attached the a creature, controlled by either player, in order to be played.

Great, thanks for the help. ? ? ?

Thanks for your help. ? ? ?

Furthermore, for timing purposes, when a card gives you amber, it's pretty much the FIRST thing that happens before any other effects resolve. That's a common theme, in fact. Many of the cards resolve primary functions/states before the rest of the card's text.

For instance, if you fight with a creature, damage is traded BEFORE it's Fight: effect resolves, so it's gotta live through combat to use it.

Cards that break this sort of basic guideline specifically say " Before X happens ", etc. Though certain effects or abilities always trigger first (like Assault X ).