So we had a Regional today and an issue came up with Old Ben's Spirit. Luckily it had no impact on the game in which it came up, but nonetheless, I'd like to know the official ruling for the future.

Han had an Old Ben's Spirit on him with 1 damage. The Devastator struck him for 2 unit damage. So the way I've been playing it, would be that Old Ben's Spirit is removed as the Devastator strikes as all unit damage is done at the same time leaving Han with zero damage after the Spirit goes to the discard. My opponent said that Devastator strikes and the first unit damage would kill Han, removing Old Ben's Spirit, and then there would be 1 unit damage left over that would be applied to Han after Spirit goes to the discard, leaving Han with no Spirit after it is used and 1 damage. Which is the right way to play this card?

Virtually everyone I know has been playing it the way I thought, which would mean that there is a strike and regardless of how much unit damage it is, Old Ben's Spirit can be used and no left over damage is applied after the card is removed. Or is my opponent right? That you count up the unit damage, remove the Old Ben's Spirit when it reaches damage capacity, and then add more damage from the same strike after the Spirit is removed. My friend seemed adamant that he saw this in an official ruling from Nate French on these boards or in the FAQ (which it isn't), so I am inclined to believe him, although I can't seem to find it. I'd like to know for future reference, and although it didn't affect my games this time, this ruling would have affected my last Regional in which I probably would have won a game that I lost at KublaCon.

Your interpretation is correct. Damage from a single source is applied simultaneously, not one by one.

The guy I was playing said that there is a ruling from Nate French on these boards, but I can't find it. Anyone have a link to it?

There won't be one, he wouldn't have said it. I'm guessing your opponent might be mixing it up somehow with the protect + shield stuff.

Anyway, I'd throw it back on your opponent (in ever such a nice way) to put up or shut up ;-)

Hey videinfra I was at the regional too, I was the one who had the bye in Round 3 and was discussing the issue with you both. I recently talked to your opponent to find out where the ruling was but when he looked it over again he informed me that he wrongly applied a diff. rulling of Old Ben's Spirit on that occasion. What he got confused with is how Old Ben's Spirit reacts with Protectors (i.e. Guardian of Peace ) so PBrennan is correct in that regard.

I had a look over the rules and FAQ again and from what I read you were correct. Unit damage is dealt all at once (Rulebook pg. 21 at the top of the page under Unit Damage) , then if a unit has taken damage equal too or over it's damage capacity it is destroyed - Old Ben's reaction kicks in when the the unit would be destroyed and the unit would come back to play with no damage.

What he confused it for is how the rulings for how protectors work with Old Ben's Spirit . Protectors can only take as much damage as their remaining damage capacity (Rulebook pg. 25, see also FAQ pg. 7). So let's say a Guardian of Peace was enhanced with Old Ben's Spirit and had 1 damage on it. If it would have protected Han in your situation it could only re-assign 1 of the 2 damage from the Devastator . It would then be destroyed since it has reached its damage capacity triggering Old Ben's Spirit. S ince it once again has 2 damage capacity it would be able to assign the other 1 damage on it. I'm no rules expert so don't quote me on that, but from what I read I believe that's how it works.

I hope i didn't add more to the confusion, but I hope I at least cleared a few concerns. I'm just glad that it didn't have an impact on the overall outcome.

That's still not quite how it works because the damage is dealt simultaneously, so the other 1 damage would already be on Han by the time Old Ben's Spirit went off and cleared the damage from the guardian.