Ahoy!

So my question involves the debate I keep having in my head about the merchant's widow card, specifically in a melee game.

In taxation, assuming everybody has at least one gold to give back, would the widow be able to respond for each player doing so because of her "an opponent" language or does the rule book's stipulation of everybody going through the taxation phase "simultaneously" mean the response can only happen once?

Thanks in advance!

galactus said:

I think you have to read her as saying each opponent's return of gold to the treasury is a separate trigger. Some cards (i.e., Corpse Lake) state that they trigger on "one or more" of something happening, concatenating all such simultaneous 'somethings' into a single trigger. Where the card doesn't do that, or otherwise make it clear that that's how it should work, it doesn't make sense to impute it into the wording. (See, eg., Magister Illyrio + Rhaenys' Hill)

I am on board with Amuk.

There are several card effects in this game that has effects on multiple characters or cards, or forces multiple opponents to do the same thing at the same time. That doesn't necessarily mean it only opens one Response opportunity for other card effects to trigger responses to them.

The Response itself will specify exactly what will open its opportunity for triggering.

To be clear on exactly what text is on this character for it's response:
"Response: After an opponent returns gold to the treasury during the taxation phase, add 1 gold from the treasury to Merchant's Widow."

Each opponent that returns 1 or more gold will this Response to be triggered. This is because each opponent is "an opponent" that returned gold during taxation and thus provides an opportunity to trigger a Response to what they have done.

Anguy the Archer has a similarly worded ability:
"Response: After an opponent's character is killed, Anguy the Archer claims 1 power (limit 3 per phase)."

If 2+ opponent's characters are killed by a card effect, by a 2 or 3 claim MIL challenge, by Valar, etc, the killing is done simultaneously. Each instance of a killed character will allow Anguy the Archer to claim 1 power(up to 3 per phase) because each killed opponents character opens a Response opportunity.