So you declare the Descendant of Indraughnir action to deal indirect damage when you attack? Does this mean when you declare what units are attacking and what zone they are attacking (what I think it is)? Or can it be any time during the battlefield phase while Indraughnir is an attacker (what I hope but doubt it is)?

Here is why I ask. I've got Descendant of Indraughnir and a Swordmaster of Hodeth in my battlefield. My opponent has a quest zone with two damage and no units to defend. If I say I attack the quest zone with Indraughnir and the Swordmaster and then activate Indraughnir to deal indirect damage can my opponent just slam that indirect damage into the quest zone since he already know's its going to burn this turn?

Thanks,

Wraith428

The requirement for the action is that the Descendant of Indraughnir attacks. It does not say "at the start of the attack" or "if this unit is declared as an attacker" or something similar. Therefor you should be able to use the action when you want, as long as the Descendant attacks.

I've let my opponent just assign it the same time I assign my battle damage. Nothing has come up to make this an issue, but I would do it first thing as soon as he is declared as an attacker just to make sure it goes through. Not entirely sure if there is a specific window for this damage to be dealt.

Periculum said:

Well, it is an "Action:", so can only be done during one of the Action Windows within the battlefield phase (and even then not during the first one after Declare Target). Personally I'd also do it after Step 2, Declare Attackers, that way if he is killed by Counterattack, you still did his indirect damage. Of course, opponent could respond to it with Master Rune of Spite for example, but them's the breaks.

I actually think you have to do it in the window right after you Declare Attackers, because the "When this unit attacks" is referring to a time trigger, which is you declaring the attack. If you remember, one of the FAQ clarifications was that all instances of "after" on card texts should be referred to as "when". I believe the intent of this was to avoid situations where people felt "after" could mean a few steps after the phase began, so the designers clarified that "after" means "when" so it occurs as soon as the time trigger is met. Thus, the DoI action should occur in the window right after the Declare Attackers.

One other point, if some played Master Rune of Spite after you declared DoI as an attacker, he would not be able to stop you from doing your indirect damage first. The action order would be:

1) Declare DoI as attacker

2) Do the Action of DoI in the window right after Declare Attackers. You get to do this first since you are the active player. This Action has now occured and the damage is "out there" irrespective of what happens to DoI now.

3) Your opponent plays MRoS "in response"

4) You both pass any further "in response" actions

The resolution:

1) MROS kicks in and DoI dies

2) DoI's action occurs (since the damage was already on the stack so to speak), even though the card itself is dead

Yeah, you're right Hurdoc. If you see DoI in the BZ and your opponent declares attack against zone X, best play MRoS during that Action Window, before DoI is an attacker.

Well, you can not assign more damage than is needed to burn a zone for indirect damage, so I'm guessing your opponent can only assign as much indirect damage as needed to burn the quest zone. So in this case, since the DoI action kicks in during the declare attackers action window, he can assign 4 indirect to quest zone.

Official Rule Question:

Descendant of Indraughnir has an action ability "when this unit attacks". Does this mean the action window when you declare what units are attacking? Or can it be any time during the battlefield phase while Indraughnir is an attacker?

Answer by Lukas Litzsinger - Associate LCG Designer - via Mail:

You can trigger "when this unit attacks" actions during the "Declare Attackers" action window, and only once per window per action. So your former interpretation is correct.

Entropy42, please add the ruling to your threat at deckbox.org.