Question asked on european forums:

What Happens If I play GoC in a melee game having a queen' s guard in play. Only one point of initiation but still, may I kneel a character on each of my opponents side because of Queen's guard ability?

Thanks

I may be missing something here, because I don't see where this is unclear.

Queen's Knight reads:

After you trigger an effect that kneels an opponent's character, choose and kneel 1 character controlled by a different opponent.

GoC reads:

Each player must choose and kneel a character with an Intrigue icon he or she controls, if able.

So, when GoC is played, each player chooses and kneels a character with an Intrigue icon he or she controls, if able. If all players have knelt a character, there are no legal targets for Queen's Knight's ability, because no player is "a different opponent". If, however, one or more players did not kneel a character for Cyvasse, e.g. because they didn't have a character with an INT icon, then the characters controlled by those players would be eligible for the effect of Queen's Knight. Since none of their characters got knelt by Cyvasse, they are "a different opponent".

I view this as a way to keep an opponent from choosing to "kneel" an already knelt character as well. Considering if they do choose an already knelt character, that means they knelt no character. I think I'd rather choose my own character to kneel rather than let an opponent.

The best comparison for this situation is probably Starfall in a single challenge with multiple House Dayne characters:

"Response: After you win a challenge in which a House Dayne character participated, place 1 gold token from the treasury on that character."

The Response is to winning the challenge, not the participation of an individual House Dayne character. But there are multiple ways that one challenge meets the play restrictions for the Response (ie, which character's participation makes the challenge actionable by the Response), so you choose which "trigger" you Respond to, choosing which character ends up with the gold token. If you try to Respond to the next way the play restrictions for the Response are met, you are stopped by the "once per" rule.

The Queen's Guard/Game of Cyvasse situation is similar. The character's passive ability is activated by the effect, not the individual character being knelt. However, there are multiple ways that the one Game of Cyvasse effect meets the "opponent's character" play restrictions (in a Melee game), so the First Player chooses (because it's passive, not triggered like Starfall) which "trigger" sets off the passive (effectively choosing a player whose character cannot be knelt by the Guard). After that first resolution, the passive is stopped from activating again by the "once per" rule.