Hi folks,

I see all the ruling about Gabos Longarms interact with elusive, but I couldn't find any official clarification about if it can deal damage to the same creature it fights, if it choose that creature as target (also when it has other choices, i.e. more than one creature in opponent's battle line). I do think it could, but since it says "Gabos Longarms deals damage to that creature rather than the one it is fighting. ", some in our community think it should target different creature, or target itself if no other choices.

Is there any official ruling I can refer to?

Chinese version CoTA just release in June, so many question pops up...

Based on the wording of the card, I would say it would never deal damage to the creature it is fighting, but could to itself, if it were the only creature possible. If your opponent has one creature then you would have to deal damage to yourself (any friendly creature could be the target)

25 minutes ago, dpuck1998 said:

Based on the wording of the card, I would say it would never deal damage to the creature it is fighting, but could to itself, if it were the only creature possible. If your opponent has one creature then you would have to deal damage to yourself (any friendly creature could be the target)

Base on your explanation, could it choose the creature it's fighting without dealing any damage to it? (Maybe in some occasion like Gabos Longarms has a upgrade with fight ability, it will be reasonable to do so.)

Before Fight: Choose a creature

There are no conditions on choosing a creature, other than what's in RAW. i.e. yes you can choose the creature you're fighting.

5 minutes ago, Poposhka said:

Before Fight: Choose a creature

There are no conditions on choosing a creature, other than what's in RAW. i.e. yes you can choose the creature you're fighting.

So would you agree with dpuck1998 that it does no damage to the chosen creature if it happens to be the one it's fighting? Or there's a official QA that I missed?

Thematically, I would rather believe it does do damage...

4 hours ago, Sofu.C said:

So would you agree with dpuck1998 that it does no damage to the chosen creature if it happens to be the one it's fighting? Or there's a official QA that I missed?

Thematically, I would rather believe it does do damage...

i'm simply saying that there is no condition on choosing the creature.

if you chose the same creature as you are fighting, then it would do damage to it (in apparent, but not spiritual, conflict with the text).

Based on the second sentence, "rather than" I don't see how you could deal damage to the creature you are fighting. However, no ruling surprises me.

1 hour ago, dpuck1998 said:

Based on the second sentence, "rather than" I don't see how you could deal damage to the creature you are fighting. However, no ruling surprises me.

i think your interpretation is not arguing in good faith. let me go a bit Tyler Durden on you...

you sit alone in a room.

1. choose one person in this room to fight

2. choose one person in this room to punch

fight the person in step 1, but punch the person in step 2.

I think it stands to reason that you could choose and deal damage to the creature you are fighting. That being said:

2 hours ago, dpuck1998 said:

However, no ruling surprises me.

I agree and could see this one either way.

1 hour ago, Poposhka said:

i think your interpretation is not arguing in good faith. let me go a bit Tyler Durden on you...

you sit alone in a room.

1. choose one person in this room to fight

2. choose one person in this room to punch

fight the person in step 1, but punch the person in step 2.

I think the part where is says 'rather than' the one I'm fighting, aka I have to choose one person to fight and then "rather than' that person I have to punch someone. How do I do both if I don't punch myself? Sorry you don't think it is good faith, but I can't see how you resolve the "rather than" and your example doesn't take that into account.

36 minutes ago, dpuck1998 said:

I think the part where is says 'rather than' the one I'm fighting, aka I have to choose one person to fight and then "rather than' that person I have to punch someone. How do I do both if I don't punch myself? Sorry you don't think it is good faith, but I can't see how you resolve the "rather than" and your example doesn't take that into account.

But its text "Choose a creature" ends with a period. Shouldn't it considered to be resolved along?

Just thinking out loud, would it be possible that this falls under resolve as much as you can?

That is to say if you chose the creature you are fighting, you can't resolve the rest of the ability so you don't and fight as normal.

Thoughts?

27 minutes ago, TheSpitfired said:

Just thinking out loud, would it be possible that this falls under resolve as much as you can?

That is to say if you chose the creature you are fighting, you can't resolve the rest of the ability so you don't and fight as normal.

Thoughts?

It's reasonable for me, but it surely depends on how "rather than" should be understand.

I tried to fill the question form to get answer, but keep having error 403...

all answers were given here

you also can check podcast reffered in this topic

3 hours ago, alexshep said:

all answers were given here

you also can check podcast reffered in this topic

Is this answer official? Not trying to argue, just want to be sure.

I've checked the broadcast, it seems like it only covered how it interact with Elusive, not the choosing part. Did I miss anything? (It should be in broadcast #6 not #7, checked both.) And I still want to know if Gabos Longarms is forced to choose another creature if there's more than one in opponent's battleline...

9 hours ago, TheSpitfired said:

Just thinking out loud, would it be possible that this falls under resolve as much as you can?

That is to say if you chose the creature you are fighting, you can't resolve the rest of the ability so you don't and fight as normal.

Thoughts?

This is what I think as well, sort of, you can choose that character, but you aren't able to damage it, thus do no damage? I don't presume to know for sure but that is how

I'd play it right now.

I always want to look at this like a computer program.

1. Choose target1. Choose target2.
2. Damage is not dealt to target1. Damage is dealt to target2.

If target1 == target2, then you just have an exploitable bug. The fight target isn't dealt damage by the rules of fight, but then is dealt damage by the game text. Whether the targets are identical is immaterial to the "program" (readas: gametext) working. Maybe not how the game is supposed to work, but that's always how I want to read it.

Though I just realized another question that I think came up: do you HAVE to choose a 2nd creature with Gabos? Sure you almost always want to, but if your opponent has out multiple targets, can you choose the same one twice just to ensure it gets hit? I would say you can.

(though it does also amuse me that Gabos is one of the few ways you can fight one of your own creatures if you need to damage/kill one of them for some reason)

9 hours ago, Simplegarak said:

I always want to look at this like a computer program.

1. Choose target1. Choose target2.
2. Damage is not dealt to target1. Damage is dealt to target2.

If target1 == target2, then you just have an exploitable bug. The fight target isn't dealt damage by the rules of fight, but then is dealt damage by the game text. Whether the targets are identical is immaterial to the "program" (readas: gametext) working. Maybe not how the game is supposed to work, but that's always how I want to read it.

Though I just realized another question that I think came up: do you HAVE to choose a 2nd creature with Gabos? Sure you almost always want to, but if your opponent has out multiple targets, can you choose the same one twice just to ensure it gets hit? I would say you can.

(though it does also amuse me that Gabos is one of the few ways you can fight one of your own creatures if you need to damage/kill one of them for some reason)

Agreed. Where can I get official answer beside the question form? (I just keep having 403 error...)

I think the "rather than" part is just to cancel the regular fight damage. Nothing more.