I was playing locally this week and ran into an interesting problem. I had successfully defended a military challenge, and then my opponent sprung out Feigned Retreat as a response, using it to win the challenge that he had just lost.

Feigned Retreat Response: If an opponent would win a M challenge against you, kneel 2 influence to cancel the determination of the challenge winner. You automatically win the challenge.

This startled me, because I assumed it wasn't a legal response. In my mind the card was always used for (And limited to) defense. The example I thought of was Guard at Riverrun.

Guard at Riverrun (Second ability) At the end of the challenge phase, if no opponent has won a M challenge against you this round, draw a card.

My question is this: does the "won a challenge against you" have a direction implied? I always assumed it meant while you were on defense. This might be because it makes sense thematically (guards defend, and you feign a retreat when on defense) and I did the eternal sin of gaming and carried thematics over to direct mechanic lawyering. At the same time, why would it not have rule text similar to Riverrun? Riverrun will not fire off if you lose a challenge as the attacker, it states "if you have not lost a challenge this round" rather than "if no opponent has won a M challenge against you." I suspect the answer is somewhere in the diction of the rulebook or FAQ, but I was hoping the forums would have the answer, and this way similar problems might be avoided.

So is it the way I explained in our game (and previously thought) that you cannot use Feigned Retreat on a challenge where you are attacking? or can you make a military attack with 1 str on the board and instantly win?

Mathias Fricot said:

In my humble opinion ... (and I would appreciate ktom weighing in on this as well)

In a nutshell: Feigned Retreat can be used by either the attacker, or the defender.

Reasoning: it's a response, and I believe it occurs right after that "determine winner of challenge" step in the flowchart. I realize that it's not an obvious place to allow for cards to be played ... but that's the nature of "player actions" vs "responses".

Now ... before you start thinking "that's way too powerful ... it allows a 1-str military attack to win" ... consider that it is an event card. The costs of playing that are 2 influence, having the card in your deck ... having it come into your hand ... keeping it in your hand long enough to actually use it ... and unless you have multiple copies, that may be the only time you get to use it.

Mathias Fricot said:

There is no direction implied. When you win as the defender, you win against your opponent. When you win as the attacker, you also win against your opponent, it's all the same.

For the Guard of riverrun ability to trigger you must not loose a MIL as both attacker AND defender.

Well now I know. They should probably streamline card effects for clarity though.

In response to stormtower, when you are running Stark defense with Mandon Moore and Robb Stark (Core), you are guaranteed to kill three people (claim one). Plus they trigger separate from claim, so you dont need to worry about duplicates on Balon Greyjoy or an attachment heavy Rhaegar. Its a stark vengeance.

Stormtower said:

Correct, since it's cancel response. ~ ktom would yell at you, because you named framework event as step, which is incorrect.

Mathias Fricot said:

Moore works only while defending.

Rogue30 said: