We had a situation come up in our game last night where I had a Terrors in the Dark in play - a support card which turns it to Night, and has the additional effect of:

Response : After an opponent plays a card from his hand, he must discard the top card of his deck.

So, the way we were playing it, when my opponent would tap a domain for 3 and play a Unfathomable Elder Thing - that would require him to discard the top card of his deck. Simple so far... but my opponent wondered if this would trigger on something like putting a Dreamlands Fanatic into play - directly from hand - as a result of the "after an opponent's character leaves play" - special Response.

He argued (mildly) that "plays" = puts into play by paying the normal costs for the card - based on our incomplete remembering of the FAQ ...since he had left the pages at home, by mistake. So he thought (perhaps) that Terrors would not trigger if a card came into play due to such a special fashion.

Beyond that mild uncertainty...our bigger question came a few turns later when he tried to Deep One Assault it. We felt (by mutual) agreement - that the Deep One Assault's destruction effect would resolve * first * as soon as it came out of the opponent's hand....and so the Terrors in the Dark would be put into the discard pile - before - it's "discard the top card of your deck" effect would activate.

The only other way to play it would be: - He plays Deep One Assault, placing DOA in his discard pile, as it is used, then because he played a card, he discards the top card of his deck....then I pick up Terrors and put it into my discard pile...and that's it.

This way seemed awkward / strange to us - so we played it the first way I mentioned - DOA came out...targeted Terrors...both cards placed in their discards, nothing further...

Final question on this...timing related.... let's say I had a character like Aspiring Artist ( ) in my hand...while Terrors in the Dark was in play for my opponent. I pay 1-resource and put the Aspiring Artist down on the table top.

What happens now ? Do I follow the Artist's command to Draw 2-Cards.....first....or do I follow the Terrors command to discard the top card of my deck.....first ? One has to happen first...right ? In the end, 2-cards will be in my hand, and 1-will have been flipped over from top of deck to discard....but how to determine?

First of all TitD triggers every time you put into play anything from your hand, regardless if it requires you to pay costs or not (so yeah, for every character you put into play, including Dreamlands Fanatic you have to discard a card from your deck).

Second thing is, it triggers AFTER said card has entered play, thus indicating the effect goes off AFTER the effects from the card that entered play (that's why you don't have to discard a card if you DOA TitD and you have to draw 2 cards before discarding one after you put AA into play - just remember that AA is banned).

Manit0u said:

...from tournament sanctioned play. Otherwise, quite playable and perhaps less broken than other legal cards.

Thanks again for the good explanation, Manitou. You are always quite helpful to me with my questions.

I'll let my friend know about Terrors' and the way to play it for the future.

We played it right with DOA then, which seemed sensible.

@ Rosh - the way you played it was correct. I think Manitou's got confused about the wording of TitD.

It says "After an opponent plays a card from his hand ... " - ie specifically playing from hand, not putting into play etc. Per the FaQ there is a difference between them. Thus your opponent will only have to discard when he plays from hand, paying all costs, resource match etc, and not for putting into play, eg Dreamlands Fanatic.

As far as the second question goes, I agree with the answers already given.

In France we play the terror like says teologica. "Playing a card" is not "putting it into play". Even if I think the idea of the terror effect is to discard each time a card leaves your hand (but the wording of the Terror is not good in this case).

Response: After an opponent plays a card from his hand, he must discard the top card of his deck.

is not "Response: After a card leaves an opponent's hand, he must discard the top card of his deck." (or some similar wording)

teleologica said:

The FAQ goes into some detail on this topic - there is a whole section entitled "put into play" vs "play" vs "enters play". Here are some excerpts

“Put into Play” is a game mechanic that bypasses all costs (including resource matches) and play restrictions, with the exception of uniqueness.

To “Play” a card is to pay all costs and follow all play restrictions in order to bring the card into play from a player’s hand.

“Enters Play” is an all-encompassing term that covers both “Put into Play” and “Play.” All cards that are “Put into Play” or “Play” are considered to “Enter Play.”

So "Playing" a card from hand means that you paid all costs.

So my opponent was correct - then - in thinking Dreamlands Fanatic - when "put into play" as a result of its Response option - will NOT trigger the Terrors in the Dark ? This would be the same, then, with The Thing Behind You, Cats of Ulthar, or Terror of the Tides - when any of them are "put into play" by their special effects, I presume ?

My answer would be Dadajeff's one : Playing a card is different from "Putting into play a card".

Which means your late answers do answer the questions well, anytime it's a "put into play" sentence ...