Me again

Rereading the interesting discussion in the Binding Worm thread I got curious about the Flux Stabilizer 's passive ability:

Characters may not enter play through triggered effects.

I immediately wondered how this would interact with Guardian Pillar only to find on looking it up that it doesn't use a trigger to turn into a character

So, Flux Stabilizer apparently cannot prevent it from turning into a character.

But there's another support card that can be turned into a character:

Idol of the Abomination :

Action : Pay 2 to turn Idol of the Abomination into a character with (TTCC) and 3 skill until the end of the phase.

Does this count as a character entering play through a triggered effect?

The odd thing about this case is that the card was already in play - but as a support card.

Zoog cards offer another strange way to enter play: They use a Response triggered when the domain they're attached to as a resource to enter play. Furtive Zoog enters play as a character, so Flux Stabilizer would prevent it. But other Zoog cards enter play as a different type of card, e.g.

Inconspicious Zoog :

Response : After you drain a domain to which Inconspicuous Zoog is attached as a resource, unattach Inconspicuous Zoog from that domain and attach it to a story card. (Count as an Attachment Zoog support card with the text: "Count Inconspicuous Zoog´s skill and icons at attached story each time it resolves. If you win this story, return Inconspicuous Zoog to your hand.")

I'm a bit dubious about the timing but I think, Flux Stabilizer will not prevent Inconspicious Zoog from entering play in that way, since it doesn't come into play as a character. Do you agree?

Well, it depends on what "enter play" means. The FAQ gives us some insight:

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

OK, so not great - somewhat abridged. And what does "all-encompassing" mean? Does it encompass more than those two terms?

"Put into Play" is a game mechanic that bypasses all cost (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.

Well we know that "Play" comes from the player's hand, so the Idol does not meet this criteria. Is it "Put into Play"? I don't think so - I think because it is in play already and morphs it would not be blocked by Flux Stabilizer.

Conversely, Zoogs generally leave play and return to play, so I would think they enter play... ???

Idol is already in play so when it shifts into a character its beyond anything Flux Stabilizer can affect.

While inherently a character card, the zoog in question never actually enters play as a character card. So no interaction there either.

All is well.

Magnus Arcanis said:

So you figure the Zoog never leaves play - the unattach bit doesn't move it to a limbo zone? (Zoog is resource, then it goes to netherland, then it comes into play as a character) I guess that makes sense. Unattach doesn't remove it from play...

Hmm... I scratch my head. The FAQ says

Out of play is the Draw Deck, Hand, Domains (and resources), and Discard Pile.

So the Zoog would be Out of Play, and the become In Play. Wouldn't this constitute "Enters Play"?

Never mind. The Zoog is never a character. That simple.

I wish I could edit my posts to hide my slow processing of data!

And keep the forums tidy.

All is well.

TheProfessor said:

Actually you can (by investigating the url created when editing is still possible and/or comparing it with the url created by the report function), but I think that's fine - I think it's kinda cool to be able to follow your thought process this way

Thanks for the replies. I was pretty sure about the Zoog but completely befuddled by the idol. But looking at the definition of 'entering play' it doesn't make sense to treat card transformations as a kind of 'entering play'.

To make the discussion complete, there's also the inverse of the 'Zoog case':

Event cards with the ' Encounter ' subtype never enter play as Events, only as Characters, therefore they are effectively blocked by the Flux Stabilizer.