Sorcerer of Tzeentch/Eatine Harbour

By Schmutzer, in Warhammer Invasion Rules Questions

I need some help with the following situation:

Player A controls a Sorcerer of Tzeentch ( Action: When you play a development from your hand, put a resource token on this unit. Then, deal X damage to target unit. X is the number of resource tokens on this unit. ) in a zone with no developments.

Player B has an Eatine Harbour ( Units in a zone with no developments lose all Actions and Forced Effects. )

If Player A plays a development, is he allowed to play the action of Sorcerer of Tzeentch?

In my opinion, the trigger of the action ( When you play a development from your hand... ) would happen, when Player A chooses a card (as the development he wants to play) and starts with that development a new chain. Then he must announce the action, if he wants to play it, but at this moment, there is no development in the zone. This causes the Sorcerer to lose his action.

Or am i wrong, and the action triggers, after the development entered play, so that Player A could use the Sorcerer´s action?

Thanks.

The following passage of the FAQ (see below) let me believe, that i am right, and that the action can´t be played.

Cards are generally played from hand, but some effects also allow them to be played directly from the discard pile or deck. When a card is played, it is considered to be neither out of play nor in play. Playing a card triggers an action chain, and the only way to affect the card during this action chain is with a “just played” effect.

But i would appreciate another opinion about it.

Here are the steps :

1) You pout your development into play from your hand.

2) You trigger the effect. It is no longer "blanked" because you have a development.

But the trigger is " When you play a development from your hand " and not something like " When a development enters play from your hand ".

So this were my thoughts:

First of all Player A wants to play a development.

He chooses a card from his hand and play that card as a development.

This development is considered to be neither out of play nor in play and triggers an action chain. In my opinion the Sorcerer´s action would trigger now, because that is the next possible moment for the action to be used after Player A plays a development.

The development would enter play.

No. The development is considered to be "in play". There is no "between in play and out of play" status in this case.

Budmilka_fr said:

No. The development is considered to be "in play". There is no "between in play and out of play" status in this case.

Excuse me, but why is there no "between in play and out of play" status in this case? Maybe i missed the passage, where something is mentioned about playing developments, or i have an error in reasoning about triggered actions.

This is the complete passage (from the FAQ 1.5, page 9):

Entering Play (v1.4)
Cards are generally played from hand, but some effects also allow them to be played directly from the discard pile or deck. When a card is played, it is considered to be neither out of play nor in play . Playing a card triggers an action chain, and the only way to affect the card during this action chain is with a “just played” effect. Once the rest of the action chain is completed, the card will either resolve its effect (if it is a tactic) or enter play (if it is a unit or support card).

Is this also true for developments? If it is, then the action on the Sorcerer of Tzeentch should trigger if his controller plays a development. At this moment, the development wouldn´t be in play, but is considered to be played. And Page 13 from the FAQ let me think, that you play developments like it is explained in the passage above.

Phase 3. Capital Phase
Beginning of the Phase (See D under Detailed Timing Structure on page 14).
Active player may play character, support, and quest cards from his hand to his three zones. Active player may also play one card face down as a development . Actions may be taken by either player at any time.

So why should the player of the Sorcerer of Tzeentch should be allowed, to play the action when the development enters play. Didn´t he miss the first available opportunity?

Yes, SoT action would trigger and need to be added to the current action chain when the currently played development would not yet be quite in play. Since for all purposes SoT's text field is at this moment blank, that does not happen. At least that much appears from the faq. The card is powerful enough without being immune to morrslieb cycle's poster supports anyway.

I guess this is the same as Black Knight of Morr ("Action : when a unit enters this zone, target unit blablabla"). Can he trigger it to himself while he is neither in play nor out of play ? Then if he is neither in play nor out play, does he have a text box ? I say no...

I think the FAQ added the "enter play" section because of the "just played" counter effect.

Budmilka_fr said:

I guess this is the same as Black Knight of Morr ("Action : when a unit enters this zone, target unit blablabla"). Can he trigger it to himself while he is neither in play nor out of play ? Then if he is neither in play nor out play, does he have a text box ? I say no...

I think the FAQ added the "enter play" section because of the "just played" counter effect.

This is actually not the same as Black Knight of Morr. Black Knight of Morr triggers off "enters play", while Sorceror triggers off "play" The trigger for "play" occurs as soon as the action is put on the chain, while the card is neither in play nor out of play. So in this example, Sorceror is still blank when the trigger would occur.

If Sorceror triggered when a development "enters play", then it would work in this example, because that trigger doesn't occur until the development is already in play (similar to how Greatswords work).