Yesterday my opponent wanted to play Boar Attack

Action: Choose an opponent. That opponent must either deal 3 damage to an undeveloped section of his capital, or sacrifice a unit or support card in any developed zone.

than decided to not play the card because he thought I would be able to deal the damage to my already burning zone.

Is it true that I'm allowed to deal damage to an already burning zone?

To ask differently:

Is "dealing" damage handled the same as "assigning" damage?

In the FAQ I found the following:

Q. Can I still use units abilities/draw cards/get resources if the relevant zone is burning?
A. Yes. A zone that is burning still functions normally except that it cannot be assigned damage.

Deal damage = assign and apply damage, so no dealing dmg to a burning zone.

Dam said:

Not to complicate the answer, since it is true you can't deal damage to a burning zone, but I'm not sure that "deal damage = assign and apply damage". In one of Nate's responses about Sadistic Mutation, he specifically says that damage is "dealt" once it is applied to the damage pool, so before it is even assigned.

What are the consequences?

If Boar Attack is played do I have to deal damage to another zone of mine (under the premise that I do not have any developments)?

Or am I allowed to let the damage "go up in smoke" by dealing it to the already burning zone?

I believe in the first alternative. What do you say?

Entropy42 said:

What about non-combat deal damage? Say Flames of Tzeentch, which is deal X dmg. So the target takes the X before it is even assigned (thus no Toughness reduction, since dmg isn't assigned and applied)? I would guess that ruling was specific to either combat dmg or just SM.

Philos said:

You have to deal the damage to another zone, since you can't deal it to the burning zone, and you don't have any developments.

Dam said:

After re-reading the FAQ, Nate's response seems to directly contradict it. The FAQ even addresses SM specifically saying " the attached unit must add at least 1damage to the combat damage pool, and at least 1 damage from the combat damage pool must be applied to an opponent’s unit or capital before this forced effect can trigger ". The FAQ is also more recent than this Nov 2009 email, so really I will just completely abandon my claim and ignore that old ruling.

The Rules Summary here on the board should probably be updated to reflect this as well, since it references the older ruling rather than the FAQ (thus my confusion). I'll update the fancy mouseover-link mirror of it that I maintain over at Deckbox .

From James:

1) You cannot deal damage to a burned zone. So, in this scenario you will have to deal 3 damage either of the other two undeveloped zones.

2) Yes. You can scout after attacking a burning zone.

Entropy, please add Jame's ruling to your wonderful FAQ over at Deckbox. I love that thread. It's the most helpful document about W:I I know about.

I forgot to post my questions:

1) Dealing damage to a burning zone

When Boar Attack is played by my opponent and I have one burning zone and no developments in any zone:

Do I have to deal damage to another zone of mine?
Or am I allowed to let the damage "go up in smoke" by dealing it to the already burning zone?

2) Using Scout after attacking a burning zone

After an attack against an already burning zone without the possibility to assign and apply damage am I allowed to use the Scout ability?

Throwing more wood to the fire, when we take the new Savage into account:

"The rules state that “Savage X” allows a unit, when it is dealt 1 or more damage, to deal X damage to one target unit in any corresponding zone. It is important to note that the unit with the Savage keyword must survive the damage it was dealt in order for the Savage keyword to trigger."

So if we go by the SM ruling, Savage would kick in before dmg is even assigned, but then Savage also states unit must survive the damage dealt. Except if dealt isn't assign + apply, then it will always survive , thus Savage will always work.

Rules mention non-combat dealing damage as follows:

"Outside of combat, some card effects also deal
damage to units or to a player’s capital. When these
effects resolve, this damage is first assigned and then
applied to the target in a manner similar to the way
damage is handled in combat." (p. 17)

Philos said:

Glad at least someone besides me is getting some use out of it I'll toss those in there if I can find a sensible place for them.

Dam said:

I think its pretty clear we should just ignore the old SM ruling, and go by what the FAQ says about SM, since the FAQ is both official and more recent. And also actually makes sense. I just saw it in the Rules Summary, so I read that and assumed it was a clarification of the FAQ regarding SM, when really I think its the other way around. So yeah, I was just wrong, the Rules Summary needs to be updated, and dealt = assign + apply.

Entropy42 said:

So yeah, I was just wrong, the Rules Summary needs to be updated, and dealt = assign + apply.

See, much simpler .

(okay, so really just posting to get the "new" tag off this thread)