Good evening,

I am teaching a buddy of mine the game and need a quick answer. I know that when I use Narrow Escape it has been errata'd to say that it only returns cards that have been discarded 'from play'. I am trying to convince him that even if it didn't say 'from play', that it wouldn't matter because when cards reference discarding as an action, it is always 'from play' unless otherwise stated. I know this has been discussed here before but I cannot find the forum post or the section in the rules/faq that specifically states this (he wants an official ruling, won't take my word for it). Can anyone point to an official place where this is discussed?

(the situation came up because i used the city plot to discard eddard stark from the top of his deck prior to playing narrow escape and he said since eddard was 'discarded' that he should now come into to play).

If he wants official word, then show him FAQ page 4:

(v2.1) Narrow Escape F48
Should read: "... that were killed or discarded
from play this phase. (Limit one per phase.)"

dh098017 said:

You are extending the "only refers to cards in play unless otherwise specified" too far. The "in play" default reference means that things only interact with cards that are currently in play unless otherwise specified. You cannot extend it to play restrictions on effects that specify interaction with cards currently not in play (like Narrow Escape).

For example, an effect that said "choose a character and return it to your hand" only allows you to choose characters in play. But "choose a character in your discard pile" has nothing to do with an in-play default. Narrow Escape's impact on discarded characters cannot "naturally" be assumed to mean "discarded from play" in absence of the errata. Otherwise, why would it be an errata instead of a clarification? The errata quoted by Rogue30 is necessary, not a formality.

I could be getting this wrong myself but...

In your Eddard example surely he CANNOT be returned to play by Narrow Escape as he was never in play that round, and Narrow Escape affects cards that were IN PLAY that round. So your friend is wrong.

But you are wrong on the wording not making a difference. If Narrow Escape didn't specify cards that were IN PLAY then Eddard would be returned to play in your example, as he was a card that was discarded this turn (though not from play). Therefore you are wrong in the "errata doesn't matter" argument.

Marshal Lambert said:

I'm getting confused now. (Which is easily done as I'm quite a new player!)

Example given by original poster:

City of Spies plot discards Eddard from an opponents deck.

Narrow Escape is played that round.

Does this put Eddard into play?

Original poster says his friend argues this is indeed the case. I'm saying that it is not the case as Eddard was never in play, so his friend is wrong. However you are saying in your post that his friend is "correct in this situation" (ie Eddard does return to play). In which case what difference has the errata to Narrow Escape made?

Marshal Lambert said:

You said in the post above that "Eddard cannot be returned to play because he was never in play." But neither the original card text nor the errata card text says anything about "returning" cards to play. So saying that Eddard is not put into play by Narrow Escape because you have to be "in play" at some point in order to be "returned to play" later, while sound reasoning, is not applicable to Narrow Escape.

What I am saying is that under the original card text, Eddard could be put into play after being discarded from the deck because there was no indication in the text of Narrow Escape that where the card was discarded from had any bearing on it. The errata text does put in that restriction by saying "discarded from play," so Eddard is NOT put into play by Narrow Escape here. So the end result you had was correct and just fine. But reasoning it through the idea of "returning" to play was not the way to reach the conclusion. Otherwise, say I had Viserys in play. You do a military challenge and win; I kill Viserys, save him, and return him to my hand with his effect. Then you do an intrigue challenge, win, and discard Viserys for claim. Now I play Narrow Escape. Can I "return" Viserys to play this round, even though he was not discarded from play?

All clear now, thanks.