I've seen a lot of back-and-forth confusion over what constitutes doing "as much as you can." Part of that confusion stems from the difference between multi-part effects and single effects with numerical values. So here's a new stumper for you guys:

Can you play Truebaru with less than 3 aember in your pool? Theoretically you could have 0, lose "as much as you can," and play it free of consequence. I think the intent is pretty obvious, but what say you?

I think you're bending the rules for interpretation a bit far. I can't see how you could interpret "you must lose 3A" as "you must lose up to 3A" without trying to be difficult.

I don't have a dog in the fight, to be honest. I was just skimming the Dis card pool and the thought immediately sprang to mind, but only because I've seen people here try to argue that "do as much as you can" applies to numerical values.

Upon further thought, I've realized that the game is missing a "cost" mechanic, which is what this particular restriction would actually fall under.

i think you need to look at "must"

Customs Office: Your opponent must pay you 1[A] in order to play an artifact.

Tentacus: Your opponent must pay you 1[A] in order to use an artifact.

If the player does not have 1A in these cases, they cannot play/use the artifact.

BTW i suspect the reason Truebaru doesn't have a "play" effect "Play: Lose 3A" is that (I suspect) then you can specifically call out "do as much as possible".

edit : I'll give you this though, it's supremely annoying that they didn't use the same wording about this unique mechanic as Kelifi Dragon, so:

In order to play Truebaru you need to have 3 or more A.

Play: Lose 3A

Or maybe "do as much as you can" doesn't apply to numerical values? It could be all or nothing.

I can see the argument that "must" = "do exactly what it says" instead of "do as much as you can," but there's nothing in the BRB to support that interpretation.

32 minutes ago, WonderWAAAGH said:

I've seen a lot of back-and-forth confusion over what constitutes doing "as much as you can." Part of that confusion stems from the difference between multi-part effects and single effects with numerical values. So here's a new stumper for you guys:

Can you play Truebaru with less than 3 aember in your pool? Theoretically you could have 0, lose "as much as you can," and play it free of consequence. I think the intent is pretty obvious, but what say you?

11 minutes ago, WonderWAAAGH said:

I can see the argument that "must" = "do exactly what it says" instead of "do as much as you can," but there's nothing in the BRB to support that interpretation.

The key isn't the must or the numerical value. The key is that there is a "do as much as you can" component along with a conditional component. Conditional components require the full effect, and trubaru's lose 3 aember is a conditional.

From the rules glossary under "if you do":

"If an ability includes the phrase “if you do” or “ in order to ,” the player referenced by the ability must successfully and completely resolve the text that precedes that phrase before they can resolve or perform the text that follows that phrase. In other words, if the first part of the ability is not successfully and completely resolved, that which follows the phrase does not resolve or cannot be performed"

If you cannot lose the full 3 aember you cannot play trubaru, do as much as you can doesn't even enter in yet as you are not resolving an ability at all.

If you do/in order to is keyforge's cost mechanic.

2 minutes ago, saluk64007 said:

The key isn't the must or the numerical value. The key is that there is a "do as much as you can" component along with a conditional component. Conditional components require the full effect, and trubaru's lose 3 aember is a conditional.

From the rules glossary under "if you do":

"If an ability includes the phrase “if you do” or “ in order to ,” the player referenced by the ability must successfully and completely resolve the text that precedes that phrase before they can resolve or perform the text that follows that phrase. In other words, if the first part of the ability is not successfully and completely resolved, that which follows the phrase does not resolve or cannot be performed"

If you cannot lose the full 3 aember you cannot play trubaru, do as much as you can doesn't even enter in yet as you are not resolving an ability at all.

Good catch. I can appreciate that "in order to" functions as kind of a cost mechanic, though the templating isn't what I'd expect in terms of universal clarity.