Challenge Rules

By BloodRider, in 2. AGoT Rules Discussion

I am new to AGoT so i will most likely be having questions pop up on here every so often. If they seem stupid please forgive my ignorance and enlighten me.

First stupid question.

During challenges do you declare them one at a time and then resolve them or, do you chose how many you want to do and declare them all at once.

So basically, do i say "i am going to first do a millitary" resolve that challenge and then say "i am now going to do an power.

Or

Do i say "im doing a power and a millitary" and do them both at once.

I have found several cards that lead me to believe that the first option is correct but please, put my waring mind to rest.

second question.

When removing characters icons do you have to do it before they are commited or can you do it when they are commited and, if so, does that keep them knelt.

An example

Joe kneels Ned Stark to do a millitary but Garry says suck a duck! and discards orphan of the green blood to remove his millitary icon. Is Ned Knelt and out of the challenge? Does he simply just uncommit unknelt? or is that ILLEGAL!!

thank you for your help!!!

1) You declare one challenge at a time.

2) You can use actions at whatever opportunity fits their timing. For Orphan of the Greenblood, that's any time during the Challenges phase before a challenge, after a challenge, between attackers and stealth being declared or between defenders being declared and challenge resolution. Removing icons from a character doesn't remove it from a challenge. A character is removed from a challenge before its resolution only if a) an effect specifically says so, b) it leaves play or c) its controller changes. Icons are necessary to declare characters as attackers or defenders, not to count strength at resolution (only participating is necessary for that).

Edited by Khudzlin

thank you that makes sense. one more thing, do you declare characters stealth before the character is actually knelt at the challenge and could you remove their icon when they declare their stealth but before they kneel the character making it unable to participate.

thank you that makes sense. one more thing, do you declare characters stealth before the character is actually knelt at the challenge and could you remove their icon when they declare their stealth but before they kneel the character making it unable to participate.

1) Do you declare stealth before the character is knelt: You declare attackers (by kneeling them, in most cases), then there's an opportunity for player actions (eg "Challenges" or "Any phase"), THEN you declare stealth, then the opponent declares defenders.

2) An Icon is (in most cases) required to be declared as an attacker/defender in a challenge. It is not required in order to participate in that challenge. If you declare an attacker, and in the first player action window your opponent removes his icons with an Orphan of the Greenblood, it does not remove the character from the challenge. It may affect the outcome (if you have, for instance, a plot like "Hear Me Roar" or a character like Yezzan's Grotesquerie involved).

Now if what you mean is the other way; where the attacker is removing icons from the defender - that works a lot more like you'd probably expect. You attack with character by kneeling him, you use your Orphan of the Greenblood to strip a character of icons (making him ineligible to be declared as a defender), and you stealth someone else - effectively preventing two of his characters from being declared as defenders.

Order of a challenge:

1. Player actions.

2. Attacking player announces challenge type and kneels at least one attacking character for one type of challenge. (Both must be done or else the challenge never happens).

3. Player actions.

4. Attacking player assigns stealth targets among characters controlled by the defender.

5. Defensing player kneels defending characters (if able and if they want to).

6. Player actions.

7. Resolve challenge

7a. Determine winner of challenge

7b. Resolve claim effect of challenge

7c. Award power for unopposed (if any)

7d. Award power for renown (if any)

7e. Resolve passives for anything in 7a-7d

7f. Resolve Responses for anything in 7a-7e

A couple of things this means:

- Icons are only checked on characters in #2 and #5. Other than during these steps, the game doesn't care whether a card has the corresponding challenge icon or not. (For example, if a character with stealth is declared in #2, removing its icon in #3 does not stop it from assigning stealth in #4.)

- This means that removing the icon of a character can never be used as a "defense" or to retrospectively "undo" something that has always been done. It can only be used to prospectively limit which characters can be declared in #2 or #5.

- There is no chance for player actions between assigning stealth and declaring defenders (#4 & #5). So you can't wait to see who they are going to stealth before giving icons, etc. You will have a chance to do stuff to defenders (like raise their STR) in #6 after you declare them in, though.

- You do not Respond to each part of resolving a challenge as it is happening. For example, you do not play responses to winning/losing a challenge (#7a) before resolving the claim effect (#7b). You have to wait until all of those things in #7a-7e happen before playing any responses (#7f) when resolving a challenge. (I know you didn't ask anything related to this, but it's a common question that fit with the "anatomy of a challenge" stuff.)

In #2, the attacker also has to say which player they are attacking (in Joust, it's obvious, but in Melee, you usually have a choice).