Hello there,

I have a quick question regarding those two cards in a game with Greyjoy against Stark. The situation is as follows:

I have both River Blockade ("Cancel the first location effect triggered by an opponent each round.") and Gylbert Farwynd ("The cost to play non-Noble cards cannot be reduced") out.

My opponent has Godswood ("Marshalling: Kneel Godswood to lower the cost of the next Stark character you play this phase by 2.") and the infamous Bear Island ("Dominance: Kneel Bear Island to choose and kill a non-Stark character without attachments. Use this ability only if every card you control has the Stark affiliation.")

My question is: Can my opponent even trigger his Godswood and thus make River Blockade cancel it? Or does Farwynd prevent that? I have no idea how to translate Farwynd's text into the game mechanics. If he actually does prevent the use of reducer cards, it would mean that Bear Island is the first triggered location effect and can thus be cancelled by River Blockade, am I right?

Schaulustiger said:

Gylbert's ability has no bearing on Godswood. Keep in mind that, unlike some other card games, reducers are not resource generators. They are triggered just as any other player action, with no relation to whatever happens later in the phase (other than the discount). You can even kneel the Godswood and not play a single Stark character that phase.

So the quick and easy answer is that Gylbert does not prevent your opponent from triggering his/her Godswood.

Specifically, the game mechanics of reducers:

You trigger the reducer. That reducer creates a lasting effect that will be factored into determining the cost of the next applicable card you play, modifying the cost.

Farwynd factors into that mechanic by adding an additional play restriction to the determination of cost required to play that card. If it does not have the Noble crest, no reducing modifiers can be factored in.

So, while you are correct that in this game, "cannot" essentially means "don't even try," Farwynd's "cannot" does not apply at the point the location is knelt and the lasting effect is created because the next card you play could be a Noble - making the reducer completely legal. Farwynd applies when the cost of the card is determined, which is a completely separate action from triggering the location. As such, there is no interaction between Farwynd and the triggering of the reducing location itself.

As the1andonlime describes, the Stark player is perfectly welcome to kneel a reducer in the Marshalling phase, no matter whether he can eventually take advantage of the resulting cost-reduction lasting effect, just to let River Blockade cancel it, taking it out of the Bear Island equation.

Thank you both for your precise answers. I simply couldn't figure out how reducers worked, but now I know