Ooookay....so .... we have come up with several new questions, since the last time I put together one of these listings. Hopefully the helpful advice of the forum can clarify things as well as they did on the first Question List !

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1.) - Order of Play at Game Start : So...the way we have been doing things is ...shuffle our decks / cut decks if desired ...shuffle and cut Story Cards. Lay out our 3-Domain Cards (cards used to represent the domains). Then we each draw 8-cards...and assign three of them to our domains as resources. We now each have 5-cards in hand (we do this because if you want to Mulligan, you would do it there, before laying anything under your domains as resources - obviously). At this point, with each of us satisfied with our hands, and having laid 3-resources under the domains...we place out the three Story Cards, and then we then flip a coin // roll a die......and find out who "wins" the first turn. That person is able to decide to play first, or decline and go second (if they want).

We then proceed with play normally.

Our question, then, is are we doing it correctly ? Is there some set order to doing these pre-game steps ? I don't think the rulebook was particularly clear on that. Like...should we flip to see who goes first before doing ANYTHING else- even before drawing our cards and seeing if we want to keep the hands or Mulligan ? /// should the Story Cards be laid out so we can see what they will be before rolling for 1st Turn or drawing our hands ? - etc. etc. What is the "official /// Tournament" way that two players sit down across from one another and "get the game started" ?

2.) - Timing Issues : Magic: The Gathering had a fairly easy-to-understand mechanic called "the Stack" - which functioned off a Last-In-First-Out system where if you played a Fireball spell targeting an enemy....that enemy's player could play Counterspell, stopping your Fireball...but you could then play a Counterspell of your own....blocking the enemy Counterspell ! The result would be the two Counterspells would go into their owners discards, but the original Fireball would be left - un-countered...and would resolve on the targeted enemy. This made card interactions pretty easy to understand.

However...in Call of Cthulhu, I don't think there is a "Stack" concept. So many timing questions seem prevalent to me and my friend. As an example...consider a Predatory Byakhee creature (Hastur): Action: Sacrifice Predatory Byakhee to discard the top 3 cards from an opponent's deck.

Now, it's listed as an Action.....meaning it can be played in the Action/Event/Spell - "boxes" in the Order of Play - flowchart the rulebook helpfully provides. But the question is...how is it resolved when working with or against another card ?

Example: Enemy Player's Operations Phase....he pays 3 and throws out a Short Fuse card (give target 7-wounds), targeting the Byakhee. At this point...can the Byakhee's controller "activate" the Sacrifice ability, discarding the Byakhee (since he would die anyways from the Short Fuse) - and still getting the opponent to discard the top 3-cards from their deck ?

That is our confusion, so far. Since there is no "Stack" rule or mechanism...(Other than DISRUPT cards, which are rare)....then whose "Action" gets to take precedence and "resolve first" ?

Also...let's say the opponent doesn't play a Short Fuse...let's say it's the start of the Story Phase and the opponent sends in a character. The Detailed Turn Sequence // Flowchart - says after that "Actions may be taken". Okay, so at THAT point you (the Defending player) - should be able to Sacrifice your Byakhee, to get the discard effect to happen. BUT....what if the opponent, at that same point, wants to play a Shotgun Blast, targeting your Byakhee....again...what happens "First" - where in the rules does it clarify how "multiple Actions or interactions of cards are supposed to be resolved ?".

3.) - Bearer of the Yellow Sign // Victoria Glasser - If you overpaid for the Bearer, OR just put Victoria into play without having any other characters in play for yourself or the opponent....you would be forced to select YOUR - just put down character to be hit by the Insanity Effect, correct ??

4.) - Hound of Tindalos - can be attached to enemy characters.... but how and when can you actually "detach" him ? For example...let's say while he's attached, the opponent commits him to a story...and you block with enough Combat icons to win that struggle and wound / kill the enemy character that has the Hound attached to him. At THAT point...before the enemy character would be placed into his owners discard pile....are you able to pay the "detach Hound of Tindalos" cost - and put him back on "your side of the table", still alive ?

Also...let's say the enemy character (with Hound attached) ...uses an ability that he has to exhaust to activate (say it's an Agency Groundskeeper, for ease of example). So he exhausts him....and then you decide you want the Hound back on your side of the table to be able to defend against the oncoming enemy attack in the Story Phase. You pay the cost...and the Hound detaches and comes back to your side.....now....is the Hound "un-exhausted // Ready" when he returns to your side...or, because the character he was attached to was Exhausted before you brought him back....is HE also Exhausted upon rejoining "your side of the table" ?

Lastly - same question, but with Insanity.....if the Groundskeeper was driven Insane....could you (at that point) - detach the Hound and have him return to your side of the table ....and if you did that....would the Hound be Insane (on your side of the table) - because the Groundskeeper was Insane at the time you tried to detach him (the Hound) ??

5.) - Blind Submission: Action: Choose a character with skill 2 or lower. Until the end of the phase, take control of that character.

How does this actually work (or other similiar things like The Necronomicon) ... like....when should / can you activate it ? For it to be used to best effect, it would seem you'd use it "at the start of the Story Phase - where the "Actions may be taken" box appears in the Turn Sequence chart of the Rulebook. So then you would "gain control of the enemy character" until the end of "the Story Phase". At this point...do you pick up the card and set it on your side of the table.... if so....assuming you have full control of it...can you then (at that moment) use any of its special abilities on its card - exhausting it for an effect, etc - etc ?

Let's say it was something really useful like the Agency Groundskeeper - again - that can exhaust himself to Exhaust and destroy a target Location Support card. Say the enemy has Cavern of Flame and has been using it to good effect in your game against him. You draw this Blind Submission card though. It's his turn again...and he moves through his Phases, till he gets to the Story Phase... as he announces "okay, now for the Story Phase"....you play Blind Submission... and target his Agency Groundskeeper....and take control of him till the end of the Story Phase.

Now...at that very instant...can you Exhaust the Groundskeeper (who is now on your side and under your control) - and target the opponents Cavern of Flame for destruction ? - Let's say you try to do that.... at that moment (in response to your Exhausting the Groundskeeper) ....could the opponent try to stop you (again a Timing question) by tossing out a Shotgun Blast to try and kill off his own Groundskeeper before the "destroy location" ability is able to resolve ?

6.) - Power Drain - It says it can cancel an Action or Response just played.... it doesn't mention Forced Responses. I assume (pretty basic one here) - that these are excluded.....meaning you could not play Power Drain to try and stop the "Forced Response" wounding effect of a committed Ravager from the Deep. . . ?

7.) - Opening the Limbo Gate : - does the controller of this card (the one played it) - actually get to choose the revived Character to be put back into play for BOTH Players ? The way it is worded seems to suggest that you (the active player who laid down the card) gets to choose which characters are selected for revival. . .

8.) - Sacrificing Things - Can you use cards like Local Sheriff or Descendant of Eibon...to get around the "penalty" of having to Sacrifice a character to feed Cthulhu (or other similiar effects) ? What I mean is....you draw your 2-cards...at that point you must Sacrifice a character to Cthulhu....okay...you pick Local Sheriff. He is placed into your Discard Pile. BUT....you are still in the Draw Phase, and there is a clear box in the Turn Sequence section saying "Actions may be taken" - so can you (at that point) . . . just pay 1-to return the Local Sheriff to your hand, since he did in fact, "enter the discard pile this phase"... as a result of Cthulhu.

It seems like this would be fine / valid - but I thought I would ask for clarification.

9.) - Professor Herman Mulder - (Agency) - goes Insane any time there are 6-or more Characters in play. Seems simple....but does he ever come BACK from Insanity....if there are still 6 or more guys in play ....or does he constantly go from being flipped upside down (Insanity Effect) - to being Restored at the start of your Refresh Phase...(turned to Exhausted) ...and then (because there are still 6 or more characters in play) - IMMEDIATELY get flipped back over to fully Insane again ?

10.) - Small Price to Pay - The way the card is worded, it seems the only things you need for it to "be played" - are two characters in play - one on your side, and the other on the opponents side. You play this card... and "nominate" two cards/characters. Then you say "that one goes Insane, and this one is wounded".

Question: If you controlled an Invulnerable character, say Y'Golonac for examples' sake.....and your opponent had some character with no Terror Icons and lacking Willpower (so they actually COULD go Insane) ....could you nominate Y'Gol and that enemy guy.....have the enemy guy go Insane.....then "try to wound Y'Gol - but fail since he's Invulnerable and can't be wounded"..... in other words, is there any way to get around this effect by using an Invulnerable character (on your side) - or is the card not "allowed to be played" unless you have a guy who can either be wounded or go Insane ?

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That's all for now ! Thanks to any / all who can chime in with helpful clarifications and explanations of these questions !

1.) - Order of Play at Game Start :

The rule book is not explicit on these things. When I play, we determine first player before looking at the drawn cards. What you resources and whether to mulligan or not can be affected by whether you are first or second player. So in my games, we first randomly determine first player (or if not the first game of the match, the loser of the previous game chooses). Then draw. Then mulligan if desired. After both players are happy with their hands, then resource allocation. Face down resource allocation until both players have committed 3 cards. Then of course you must show your resource cards to your opponent - not slip them under domains quickly in the hopes that your opponent didn't see.

2.) - Timing Issues : in Call of Cthulhu, I don't think there is a "Stack" concept.

Correct. There is no Stack. An action is played and resolved. Then another action can be taken. Only "Disrupts" can stop an action from completely resolving. Timing is actually quite simple here.

As an example...consider a Predatory Byakhee creature (Hastur): Action: Sacrifice Predatory Byakhee to discard the top 3 cards from an opponent's deck .

Example: Enemy Player's Operations Phase....he pays 3 and throws out a Short Fuse card (give target 7-wounds), targeting the Byakhee. At this point...can the Byakhee's controller "activate" the Sacrifice ability, discarding the Byakhee (since he would die anyways from the Short Fuse) - and still getting the opponent to discard the top 3-cards from their deck ?

When Short Fuse is played, it gets resolved. Predatory Byakhee is destroyed. That simple.

That is our confusion, so far. Since there is no "Stack" rule or mechanism...(Other than DISRUPT cards, which are rare)....then whose "Action" gets to take precedence and "resolve first" ?

Whoever plays an action resolves it. The opportunity to take an Action alternate between the players starting with the Active Player.

Also...let's say the opponent doesn't play a Short Fuse...let's say it's the start of the Story Phase and the opponent sends in a character. The Detailed Turn Sequence // Flowchart - says after that "Actions may be taken". Okay, so at THAT point you (the Defending player) - should be able to Sacrifice your Byakhee, to get the discard effect to happen. BUT....what if the opponent, at that same point, wants to play a Shotgun Blast, targeting your Byakhee....again...what happens "First" - where in the rules does it clarify how "multiple Actions or interactions of cards are supposed to be resolved ?".

See above. There are no simultaneous Actions. During any Action window, the active player has an opportunity to play an Action if they wish. After that action is resolved, the second player has an opportunity to play and action if he/she wishes. And so on until both players pass.

3.) - Bearer of the Yellow Sign // Victoria Glasser - If you overpaid for the Bearer, OR just put Victoria into play without having any other characters in play for yourself or the opponent....you would be forced to YOUR - just put down character to be hit by the Insanity Effect, correct ??

Yes, but unless something affects the situation (Enchanted Woods, for example), characters with Terrify icons cannot go insane. So Victoria (if she is the only one out there) can't drive herself insane.

4.) - Hound of Tindalos - can be attached to enemy characters.... but how and when can you actually "detach" him ? For example...let's say while he's attached, the opponent commits him to a story...and you block with enough Combat icons to win that struggle and wound / kill the enemy character that has the Hound attached to him. At THAT point...before the enemy character would be placed into his owners discard pile....are you able to pay the "detach Hound of Tindalos" cost - and put him back on "your side of the table", still alive ?

You can't take actions during the Story Resolution phase. So there are two reasons the answer is "no." One, you just can't play an Action. Two, when the character with the attached Hounds is destroyed, all attachments are destroyed. So by the end of the resolution of the action which destroyed the character there is no more Hounds in play.

Also...let's say the enemy character (with Hound attached) ...uses an ability that he has to exhaust to activate (say it's an Agency Groundskeeper, for ease of example). So he exhausts him....and then you decide you want the Hound back on your side of the table to be able to defend against the oncoming enemy attack in the Story Phase. You pay the cost...and the Hound detaches and comes back to your side.....now....is the Hound "un-exhausted // Ready" when he returns to your side...or, because the character he was attached to was Exhausted before you brought him back....is HE also Exhausted upon rejoining "your side of the table" ?

When you exhaust a character for whatever reason, you don't exhaust the attachments. So if you unattached the Hounds it would come back to you in the same state, which is ready.

Lastly - same question, but with Insanity.....if the Groundskeeper was driven Insane....could you (at that point) - detach the Hound and have him return to your side of the table ....and if you did that....would the Hound be Insane (on your side of the table) - because the Groundskeeper was Insane at the time you tried to detach him (the Hound) ??

Same logic as wounding. When the character goes insane it loses attachments. By the time the effect is resolved the attachment would be in the discard pile. So you would not have a card upon which actions could be taken.

5.) - Blind Submission: Action: Choose a character with skill 2 or lower. Until the end of the phase, take control of that character.

How does this actually work (or other similiar things like The Necronomicon) ... like....when should / can you activate it ? For it to be used to best effect, it would seem you'd use it "at the start of the Story Phase - where the "Actions may be taken" box appears in the Turn Sequence chart of the Rulebook. So then you would "gain control of the enemy character" until the end of "the Story Phase". At this point...do you pick up the card and set it on your side of the table.... if so....assuming you have full control of it...can you then (at that moment) use any of its special abilities on its card - exhausting it for an effect, etc - etc ?

Let's say it was something really useful like the Agency Groundskeeper - again - that can exhaust himself to Exhaust and destroy a target Location Support card. Say the enemy has Cavern of Flame and has been using it to good effect in your game against him. You draw this Blind Submission card though. It's his turn again...and he moves through his Phases, till he gets to the Story Phase... as he announces "okay, now for the Story Phase"....you play Blind Submission... and target his Agency Groundskeeper....and take control of him till the end of the Story Phase.

Now...at that very instant...can you Exhaust the Groundskeeper (who is now on your side and under your control) - and target the opponents Cavern of Flame for destruction ? - Let's say you try to do that.... at that moment (in response to your Exhausting the Groundskeeper) ....could the opponent try to stop you (again a Timing question) by tossing out a Shotgun Blast to try and kill off his own Groundskeeper before the "destroy location" ability is able to resolve ?

When should you use it? When it helps you the most! Early in the Story phase can be useful if you want a character to help out. It could be another phase if you want to stop something from happening or need the character for some purpose... Once you control it you can do things like sacrifice to make a payment, or use its ability (like Groundskeeper) or commit to a story (if in the Story phase).

To timing (and hopefully you are getting the hang of timing by now). I use Blind Submission to take your Groundskeeper. Now it is your turn to take an Action. You could shotgun blast him. (Remember that you were getting him back after the phase though! But not if he's dead...). If you don't destroy or exhaust him, then I get an Action after you are done. I could exhaust him to destroy your location.

6.) - Power Drain - It says it can cancel an Action or Response just played.... it doesn't mention Forced Responses. I assume (pretty basic one here) - that these are excluded.....meaning you could not play Power Drain to try and stop the "Forced Response" wounding effect of a committed Ravager from the Deep. . . ?

The rule book says that a Forced Response is an action that a player must trigger when its circumstances apply . The confusing part is that the rulebook does not capitalize "action." I've never really thought this one through though... Hopefully someone else will give a good analysis of this.

7.) - Opening the Limbo Gate : - does the controller of this card (the one played it) - actually get to choose the revived Character to be put back into play for BOTH Players ? The way it is worded seems to suggest that you (the active player who laid down the card) gets to choose which characters are selected for revival. . .

Yes.

8.) - Sacrificing Things - Can you use cards like Local Sheriff or Descendant of Eibon...to get around the "penalty" of having to Sacrifice a character to feed Cthulhu (or other similiar effects) ? What I mean is....you draw your 2-cards...at that point you must Sacrifice a character to Cthulhu....okay...you pick Local Sheriff. He is placed into your Discard Pile. BUT....you are still in the Draw Phase, and there is a clear box in the Turn Sequence section saying "Actions may be taken" - so can you (at that point) . . . just pay 1-to return the Local Sheriff to your hand, since he did in fact, "enter the discard pile this phase"... as a result of Cthulhu.

Yes.

9.) - Professor Herman Mulder - (Agency) - goes Insane any time there are 6-or more Characters in play. Seems simple....but does he ever come BACK from Insanity....if there are still 6 or more guys in play ....or does he constantly go from being flipped upside down (Insanity Effect) - to being Restored at the start of your Refresh Phase...(turned to Exhausted) ...and then (because there are still 6 or more characters in play) - IMMEDIATELY get flipped back over to fully Insane again ?

Yes.

10.) - Small Price to Pay - The way the card is worded, it seems the only things you need for it to "be played" - are two characters in play - one on your side, and the other on the opponents side. You play this card... and "nominate" two cards/characters. Then you say "that one goes Insane, and this one is wounded".

Yes.

Question: If you controlled an Invulnerable character, say Y'Golonac for examples' sake.....and your opponent had some character with no Terror Icons and lacking Willpower (so they actually COULD go Insane) ....could you nominate Y'Gol and that enemy guy.....have the enemy guy go Insane.....then "try to wound Y'Gol - but fail since he's Invulnerable and can't be wounded"..... in other words, is there any way to get around this effect by using an Invulnerable character (on your side) - or is the card not "allowed to be played" unless you have a guy who can either be wounded or go Insane ?

Why not?

I have to say, Professor, that you are quite helpful with your advice and explanations. Your particular focus on my Timing Questions has been of great aid. Also, your suggestion on game-start is also interesting.

I have a few counter-questions to the things you mentioned though....

Resource Showing - is that in the rules (anywhere) that you must SHOW your opponent what cards you selected for your three initial Resources ? And are you saying you have to show your opponent future resourced cards ? Why - ie - where does it say you must show them or they can check whenever they want....it's not like your Discard Pile, where they can see the top card ...and even if it was.....are opponents allowed to randomly flip through an opponents Discard Pile any time they wish ?

Power Drain - interesting point...hopefully others will comment and let us know how this card is played in some of the major tournaments (Prodigee // Hellfury, etc ) ? If it CAN - be used to cancel even Forced Responses, then I should definitely be packing 3-of them in my Hastur deck !

A Small Price to Pay - so you are saying it's okay to nominate an Invulnerable character to take a Wound - which then immediately has "no effect" on said character ? This seems odd because I thought the rulebook specifies that Invulnerable characters "... can never be wounded or chosen to be wounded ."

So if they can't even be chosen to be wounded...how could you use A Small Price to pay, with our example of Y'Golonac on your side of the table, and your opponent with the hapless Agency Groundskeeper I am fond of using for my examples .... ? Trying to do the Terror/Insane flip-side....by saying you choose Y'Golonac to go Insane, and just wound the Groundskeeper....would also seem not to work since the Rulebook again mentions, "Characters that have a terror icon or the Willpower keyword can never (regardless of card effects) go insane for any reason, nor may such a character be chosen to go insane ." - pg. 9

These references would seem to suggest you just could not play A Small Price to Pay - AT ALL ....if the only two characters in play are the ones in our above example.....no ?

Rosh87 said:

For Resources, the FAQ states:

(v1.0) Resources and Discard Pile

These zones of play are considered to be public information and can be viewed freely by either player during the course of the game.

For Power Drain, regardless of the reaction to Forced Responses, you SHOULD be packing 3 of these in every Hastur deck!

For Small Price.. it is interesting. The first part tells us to choose two characters - one controlled by each player. No problem. you choose my Groundskeeper and your Y'Golnac. That action is satisfied. Next sentences tells us to drive one insane - you drive Groundskeeper insane. THEN, wound the other character. Wait - you can't. So you cannot complete the action. But you didn't do anything wrong, so the part before "THEN" is carried out.

It can't go the other way - if there were no characters that could go insane, since you can't complete the first part of the sentence you would not be allowed to complete the second part (because of "then").

Usually this card is used to drive my character insane and wound yours, so no big deal. Paying 1 to drive a character insane is not broken, I think. And it would only happen in a situations with an invulnerable character hanging out.

Ad. 5:

Forced Response is treated the same way as Response for playing Power Drain . The Forced part is there just to let people know if taking it is mandatory or optional.

Ad. 6:

I've got my own question regarding Blind Submission . What happens when you play it on enemy character already commited to the story? We resolve that with this character counting its icons, skills and abilities towards the player who played BS on it, but I'm not sure if that's the way to go...

Manit0u said:

"Any time a player gains control of a
committed character during a story, that
character is removed from the story." (FAQ, p. 8)

Manit0u said:

I think that conclusion makes sense, but the rules don't spell it out that way. I realize it makes sense that a Forced Response is a flavor of Response, but the rules don't say that. However the rules do say that Forced Response is a type of action (little "a") and I've played it that power drain can cancel because of the action connection.

So you guys play it (and is it played this way at big tourneys like GenCon - anyone know ???) - that you can send in three or four Hastur characters to a given story, for example, and your opponent can send in his single Ravager from the Deep - to try and kill them all off with the Ravager's wounding ability....

....at that moment....you can say "not so fast !" - and play a simple Power Drain - and the Ravager's damage-dealing ability is nullified - meaning you proceed normally with the Struggles...and nobody gets auto-wounded from the Ravager's committal ?

TheProfessor said:

I think I agree with Manit0u on this one. A Forced Response, to me, is a special case of the more general Response. This is important in that you could, essentially, disrupt your own units that have an undesirable Forced Response. I guess it is just based on interpretation until FAQ/Errata 1.3!

But now I'm interested: Do we differentiate between "Action" and "action" if there is context? If a Forced Response is a type of action, that seems tautological and has nothing to do with the game, whereas a Forced Response as a type of Action means that it isn't a Response, and my previous comment on it being a general Response is wrong.

Everything, Forced Response, Response, and Action, can be Disrupted, right? If so, then it doesn't really matter the classification.

action =/= Action

They're not interchangable, and note that in the Rulebook you have:

Response is an action

Forced Response is an action

Disrupt is a special action

Action keyword actually denotes a triggered effect, as opposed to the card trait which is text not preceded by any of the above keywords and which can't be disrupted/canceled (apart from blanking the card) etc.

Although I've just noticed that in the Rulebook in Triggered Effects there's a clear distinction of Action, Disrupt, Response and Forced Response . So perhaps it does matter for PD if it's regular R or FR...

Some clarification from FFG would be nice.

Does anyone who went or has gone to GenCon - or other big tourneys - have any insight on how they play Power Drain there ??? I'm curious now too... as the ability to disrupt Forced Responses would be hugely powerful . . .

And, though this isn't a Forced Response in this case (that I'm going to mention) - Azathoth's "Destroy everything" text is listed as a "Response" - only....so are we saying (not even considering Forced Resp) - that a Power Drain, played after an opponent plays Azathoth....will result in NOTHING being destroyed...and Aza's text not affecting any characters or support cards (on either side of the table) ? Seems pretty ....umm....overpowered if Power Drain is able to do that...

Going by a strict reading of Power Drain: "Disrupt: Cancel an Action or Response just played or used." it wouldn't work on Azathoth. You played Azathoth, you didn't play a Response. I can't really see you using Azzy's Response either, it happens automatically when Azzy enters play.

I wonder why they didn't label it a "Forced Response" then ....Dam.... ? (Azathoth, I mean)

So if you are saying you could not Power Drain Azathoth's "coming into play effect" - that are you also saying that you cannot Power Drain the Ravager from the Deep's "deal 1-wound to everyone else when committed effect" either ?

See - the idea that you can use it to negate card texts seems odd to me....like...spells or other events - sure...but how can you use Power Drain to cancel Thomas Malone's special ability:

Response : After resolving a story to which Thomas F. Malone is committed, choose and destroy an opponent's Villainous or Cultist character that was committed to that story.

So...in the last "Actions May be Played" - box before you begin to resolve the Icon Struggles....you think you can play a Power Drain...and target Thomas Malone's "Response" ability - written on his card - and make it so he cannot choose and destroy an opponent's Villainous or Cultist character ?

This seems...odd...to me.... is this truly how Power Drain is used in formal competitions ?

Power Drain CAN cancel the effects of both Azathoth and Malone, no questions there.

And if going by the rules, using of Azathoth's ability is optional (ie: you don't have to trigger it) since it's not Forced .

We really need some more comprehensive rules. Perhaps setting up a Cthulhu LCG wiki page with rules section would be a good idea (if anyone would be up to it). You know... Something like that: http://rules.l5r.com/CE_Timing

I find it interesting how many varied opinions (Dam and Manitou, just to point to a few !) - there are on something so fundamental and basic (from a card / rarity perspective I mean) - as Power Drain ! - a card that comes with the starting Box Set for the game !

On one hand, Dam is saying - no - it would not affect Azathoth.....and on the other Manitou is saying it not only affects Azathoth, but cards like Thomas Malone (and others with Action: ..... printed on them somewhere and an effect following) !

This seems like a massive difference in opinion - way to play - on even one of the basic cards you get when first buying the game ? This is strange, no ?

Like...if it were a brand-new card that no one had encountered in much play before, it might make more sense for it to be widely interpreted....but here with Power Drain, we are talking about a starting-box card ? - which has been out for some years now, right ? - and yet there are such wide interpretations for it...

* - also - on Azathoth....I know it says "Response" - ....and not Forced Response - but are you saying you think Azathoth CAN be put into play WITHOUT triggering his "destroy everything" effect ? - if so ...is that how it's formally played when that card comes out ? - Also, even if you could do that...is there any reason / time / point that you would ever WANT to NOT trigger his effect, if you actually were paying the 6-cost to put out his card ? He has no Icons....no Toughness (a bit nutty that they didn't at least give him Invulnerability, for being an Outer God ! ....) ....nothing....other than his "blow everything away" effect ? So I don't think there would ever be a time that you would NOT want his kill-everything effect to activate...even if you did have that choice ...right ? *

I was merely stating that from the rules perspective Azathot's ability is optional (as normally you don't HAVE to trigger a Response , although the "must" that follows it is confusing).

When it comes to Power Drain canceling Malone or Azathoth there can be no questions, as the text is clear and simple: you can cancel any single action that starts with Action or Response . And it doesn't matter where does it come from.

So there's no reason EVERY single Hastur Deck shouldn't be running with the maximum of 3-Power Drains, no matter what the theme / concept / idea behind the deck is then, right ?

If other cards work better for you or let you win faster, there's no reason TO have PD in your deck. It's a matter of personal preference, PD is an awesome card but for it to really work you must at all times leave a domain with at least 2 resources ready for use, which is not optimal and you've got to ask yourself: is it really worth it?