If a unique is in your discard pile and not in your dead pile, can you play another of the same unique? I think the answer to this is most assuredly yes, just want to make sure.

For cards that have an ability to be played during a specific phase, when during that phase can you use that ability? Only on your turn during the phase? At the beginning of your turn during the phase? Or any time during the phase (even an opponents turn) such as a response?

So I have a card from Defenders of the North that costs 2, allows you to bring out any creature from your hand during any phase, and then discard the creature at the end of the phase. I've been using this to bring out the Black Dragon that normally costs 10 points and kneels all non-dragon characters when brought into play. Even if not attacking, kneeling all opponents characters for 2 seems like a pretty powerful ability, then if I do this during challenge I've got a 10 strength military or power challenge with nobody to defend. Since the card goes to the discard, I will often later play another Black Dragon. Am I playing this right?

tyveil said:

1. Uniques: Yes, so long as there isn't a copy of a unique card in your dead pile, you can play further copies.

2. If by a specific phase, you mean "Challenges: Do X" or "Marshalling: Do Y", then you can use them at any time as a player action during that phase. Players alternate player actions. There isn't an opponent's "marshalling phase" or "challenges phase" - there's just a time where he is the active player (and can marshall cards by paying gold costs/declare challenges); so if your opponent kneels his street of silk, that was an action, and you can either pass or take a marshalling action of your own.

These are called player actions, and they differ from "Responses" and "Save/Cancel Responses" which are triggered in response to a player action (or framework event, or other response, etc). An example is in the above scenario, if your opponent kneels his Street of Silk, you can "Respond" with Hellholt Docks to kneel another of his locations. You then get your action (which he can cancel / respond to in turn) before he gets his next action.

3. Yes and no. Your timing etc is fine (as is playing a later Balerion), with one important caveat; Balerion's reponse is only triggerable when he is played (as a marshalling action by paying his gold cost), not when he is "put into play" (eg . Varamyr Sixskins). Varamyr is a is a complicated character though, because putting the creature into play is the *cost* (do X in order to do y) and not the result of that action. That means that if it's cancelled (by, say, an Iron Throne or a Bloodrider) the creature still jumps into play but Varamyr doesn't jump back into hand, *and* the creature put in play won't be discarded at end of phase. Some people have played with this by trying to cancel Varamyr's ability themselves, to milk it for all it's worth.

Ok, that makes sense.

Varamyrs text - "Put 1 Creature character into play from your hand"

Balerion - "Response: After you play Balerion the Black from your hand"

I was confused because of the use of "play" on both cards, but they mean 2 different things.

To play a card means to pay it's cost.

To put a card into play is not playing the card, you're just putting the card onto the board (the play area).

Thanks for the clarification.

You have to take "put into play" as a whole and think of it as different from plain "play". The latter means paid for (usually with gold, but reductions and, sometimes, substitutions can apply) as as marshalling action. The former includes all other ways a card can come into play.