I am sure this has been asked before, but the search function is failing me at the moment, though it may be user error. If Jorah leaves play, all characters you control get -1 str until the end of the phase. My question is does this effect characters that jump into play later during that same phase? Such as an ambush character, or Meera or Catlyn?

Ser Jorah creates a general, global effect that applies to all of your characters until the end of the phase. It doesn't matter if they were in play when Jorah left play or not. So long as you control them in that phase, the -1 STR will apply.

If Ser Jorah told you to "choose" one or more characters in play, then his effect would be limited only to the chosen characters.

Does The Viper's Rage work the same way, meaning that characters (Meera Reed for example) that enter play later in the phase lose those icons too? Or does the distinction between Jorah's passive nature and TVR's triggered effect change it?

(Martell only.Response: After you lose a challenge by 4 or more total STR as the defender,all characters controlled by the attacker lose a M ,an I,and a P icon until the end of the phase.)

imrahil327 said:

That is is exactly. The passive ability works on everything until it expires. The triggered ability targets what is in play at the time and then "goes away," in that is stops checking and targeting after it takes effect.

KristoffStark said:

Remember, the triggered ability (or "effect" since we're talking about an event) in this cases does not "target" what is in play because it does not use the word "choose." So Viper's Rage doesn't target anything. It's a general, untargeted effect.

More to the point, Jorah creates a lasting effect that continues to work until the end of the phase. It is the fact that his ability creates an untargeted, lasting effect that makes it apply to characters that come into play before the end of the phase. That the untargeted, lasting effect is created by a passive ability instead of a triggered effect makes no difference. The only difference between "After Ser Jorah leaves play, characters you control get -1 STR until the end of the phase" and " Response: after Ser Jorah leaves play, characters you control get -1 STR until the end of the phase" is the initiation (the first happens whether you want it to or not, the second only happens if you choose for it to happen), not the effect or result.

Since Viper's Rage also creates an untargeted, lasting effect (until the end of the phase), it's results will apply to characters that enter play after the event is played, too.

Yeah, you're right. That's what I get for not paying more attention.

The card effects would be unreasonable if they were not lasting effects.

So, let's pretend that my character changes control after The Viper's Rage hits me from, say, Seductive Promise. It is no longer a character I control, so are the icons returned? Same scenario with Ser Jorah Mormont. Is the -1 STR lifted once I do not control that character?

The cards create lasting effects that apply to all characters that meet the criteria/restrictions over their duration. That is why cards that were not in play, but enter play over the duration (ie, did not meet the criteria at the beginning, but did before the end of the effect) are subject to them.

The "lose control" situation is just the same thing in reverse. The card starts out meeting the criteria (you control it), but stops meeting the criteria before the end of the effect (you lose control). Once it doesn't meet the criteria, the effect doesn't apply.

Imagine an effect that said "until the end of the phase, characters get +1 STR while standing." Kneeling the character before the end of the phase makes that effect inapplicable. Losing control of a character in the Jorah/Viper's Rage scenarios - so the character "regains" its STR/icons - follows the same logic.