Play — FAQ

Q: Do I get my Legion effect when I play a token or use an ability?

No, Legion will only be active if you've played a card this turn. Tokens are not cards, and abilities aren't either.

Q: If I hide a card, and then my opponent uses a spell to move a unit to that battlefield that same turn, can I play the card I hid?

No. You can't play cards the same turn you hide them.

Q: What happens when a card like The Harrowing instructs me to play another card during its resolution? Do I play it while the other spell or ability is still resolving? What if I can't play it?

To clarify the timing of these and other effects, we're introducing the idea of pending items on the chain. When you play a spell, or use an ability, they will be pending until you finish the steps of playing them before priority passes. When a spell or ability instructs you to play a card or play a token—or when a triggered ability has its trigger condition met—during the playing or resolution of another card or ability, you'll perform the very first step of playing that card or using that ability by putting it on the chain, then stop. This chain item is still pending for now. You'll then process the rest of whatever is currently happening, including putting any other pending items on the chain above it. Then, in the order the items were put on the chain, each pending item's controller goes through the other steps of putting it on the chain: Make choices, pay costs, and evaluate legality. Only then is the pending item considered to have entered the chain. If it's legal to play and it's a unit or gear, it resolves immediately as usual. Once all pending items are done being fully added to the chain, play continues, and any items that remain on the chain can be reacted to. The most recent items to be placed on the chain will resolve first as usual. If at any point during that process that player is unable to proceed with playing the pending chain item for any reason, the item is removed from the chain and, if it's a card, is put back where it came from. This won't happen very often—if you start the process of playing a card, you'll almost always be able to legally finish it—but it's a necessary failsafe to handle corner cases.

Q: What about cards like Blind Fury and Promising Future, which let players look at or reveal cards from the top of a deck, play one, and recycle the rest? If I can't play that card, where does it go? It sounds like it's too late for it to be recycled as part of “the rest."

Hey, you're pretty sharp! For most cards that let you play something, it's easy to put the card back where it came from if you can't play it. The Harrowing would put it back in your trash, Ava Achiever would put it back in your hand, and so on. But when the card came out of a deck, which is both secret and randomized, it's not so simple. To provide a clear and easy answer to this question, four cards in set 1 that let you play other cards from decks are receiving errata. They'll each banish the card before instructing a player to play it. If the card can't be played for any reason, it just stays banished. This is a small functional change, but it's one we feel is well worth it to avoid the fuss of getting these cards back into a deck somehow. (1)(C), (E) Kill a friendly unit. Look at the top 5 cards of your Main Deck. You may banish a unit from among them that has Might up to 1 more than the killed unit and play it, ignoring its cost. Then recycle the rest.

Question 1

Do I get my Legion effect when I play a token or use an ability?

Accepted Answer

No, Legion will only be active if you&#x27;ve played a card this turn. Tokens are not cards, and abilities aren&#x27;t either.

Question 2

If I hide a card, and then my opponent uses a spell to move a unit to that battlefield that same turn, can I play the card I hid?

Accepted Answer

No. You can&#x27;t play cards the same turn you hide them.

Question 3

If I hid a card last turn, can I play that card even if I&#x27;m not reacting to another spell or ability?

Accepted Answer

You can play them any time you can normally play a reaction, which includes when you&#x27;re not actually reacting to anything. You&#x27;re not restricted to playing them during showdowns at their own battlefield.

Question 4

Do I have to play a unit I hid to that battlefield? Or can I play it to my base?

Accepted Answer

A hidden unit must be played to that battlefield if able.

Question 5

If I play a spell with targets that I hid, do I have to choose those targets from the battlefield I hid it at?

Accepted Answer

Yes. If a hidden spell or a play effect of a hidden permanent chooses any targets, those targets must be chosen from among options at that battlefield, unless the ability explicitly restricts targeting in a way that makes this impossible. (We&#x27;ll talk more about this later for specific cards.)

Question 6

If I play a card I hid, and that card&#x27;s effects include playing additional units (for example, tokens), can I play them anywhere?

Accepted Answer

No. If a hidden spell or a play effect of a hidden permanent causes you to play a unit, you must choose to have that unit enter the board at that battlefield.

Question 7

I have a Reaction spell. Can I play it at the end of my opponent&#x27;s turn?

Accepted Answer

No. The only time you can do this is if another ability triggers at the end of your opponent&#x27;s turn, such as the Dark Child - Starter legend.

Question 8

In a free-for-all, can I play Actions and Reactions in a showdown that I don&#x27;t have units at?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Starting with the player who contested control/the attack, players each get a chance to play an Action or Reaction. Other players can then react with Reactions, but once everyone passes, the next player in turn order can play their own Action or Reaction. Continue like this until all players have passed on an empty chain, and then move to the end of the showdown.

Question 9

What happens when a card like The Harrowing instructs me to play another card during its resolution? Do I play it while the other spell or ability is still resolving? What if I can&#x27;t play it?

Accepted Answer

To clarify the timing of these and other effects, we&#x27;re introducing the idea of pending items on the chain. When you play a spell, or use an ability, they will be pending until you finish the steps of playing them before priority passes. When a spell or ability instructs you to play a card or play a token—or when a triggered ability has its trigger condition met—during the playing or resolution of another card or ability, you&#x27;ll perform the very first step of playing that card or using that ability by putting it on the chain, then stop. This chain item is still pending for now. You&#x27;ll then process the rest of whatever is currently happening, including putting any other pending items on the chain above it. Then, in the order the items were put on the chain, each pending item&#x27;s controller goes through the other steps of putting it on the chain: Make choices, pay costs, and evaluate legality. Only then is the pending item considered to have entered the chain. If it&#x27;s legal to play and it&#x27;s a unit or gear, it resolves immediately as usual. Once all pending items are done being fully added to the chain, play continues, and any items that remain on the chain can be reacted to. The most recent items to be placed on the chain will resolve first as usual. If at any point during that process that player is unable to proceed with playing the pending chain item for any reason, the item is removed from the chain and, if it&#x27;s a card, is put back where it came from. This won&#x27;t happen very often—if you start the process of playing a card, you&#x27;ll almost always be able to legally finish it—but it&#x27;s a necessary failsafe to handle corner cases.

Question 10

What about cards like Blind Fury and Promising Future, which let players look at or reveal cards from the top of a deck, play one, and recycle the rest? If I can&#x27;t play that card, where does it go? It sounds like it&#x27;s too late for it to be recycled as part of “the rest."

Accepted Answer

Hey, you&#x27;re pretty sharp! For most cards that let you play something, it&#x27;s easy to put the card back where it came from if you can&#x27;t play it. The Harrowing would put it back in your trash, Ava Achiever would put it back in your hand, and so on. But when the card came out of a deck, which is both secret and randomized, it&#x27;s not so simple. To provide a clear and easy answer to this question, four cards in set 1 that let you play other cards from decks are receiving errata. They&#x27;ll each banish the card before instructing a player to play it. If the card can&#x27;t be played for any reason, it just stays banished. This is a small functional change, but it&#x27;s one we feel is well worth it to avoid the fuss of getting these cards back into a deck somehow. (1)(C), (E) Kill a friendly unit. Look at the top 5 cards of your Main Deck. You may banish a unit from among them that has Might up to 1 more than the killed unit and play it, ignoring its cost. Then recycle the rest.

Question 11

What about Nocturne? Doesn&#x27;t he also let you play a card from the top of a deck?

Accepted Answer

Great question! Nocturne is his own thing. Speaking of which…

Question 12

If I reveal multiple Nocturnes, can I play more than one? What if all 3 of the cards I look at for Stacked Deck are Nocturnes and I play all of them?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you can play more than one Nocturne at a time this way. If there aren&#x27;t any eligible cards left for the original effect you were resolving, any further instructions will be ignored. So if you reveal Stacked Deck, see 3 Nocturnes, and opt to banish and play all of them, you won&#x27;t put any cards into your hand, nor will you recycle any cards. You will, however, have 3 Nocturnes.

Question 13

What about Dazzling Aurora? If I reveal Nocturne, do I get to play him and keep going?

Accepted Answer

No, Dazzling Aurora stops when it finds Nocturne. Nocturne is revealed, then you may choose to banish him or not. If you banish him, you can play him for (A) using his own ability. If you don&#x27;t, you can play him for free using Dazzling Aurora&#x27;s ability (probably better, but you do you). Either way, you revealed a unit, so you don&#x27;t keep going.

Question 14

Is Ravenborn Tome supposed to be able to grant bonus damage to spells I play on later turns?

Accepted Answer

No. This is another card that&#x27;s missing “this turn."

Question 15

So as I play Charm, I have to say not only what unit I&#x27;m moving it, but where I&#x27;m moving it to?

Accepted Answer

Yes. This is a change from prior rulings. This means that move effects that don&#x27;t mention a destination (like Charm) work the same way as those that do (like Showstopper).

Question 16

Dragon&#x27;s Rage also seems a little confusing under these targeting rules. What do I have to choose as I play it?

Accepted Answer

Dragon&#x27;s Rage works a little better now that move destinations are chosen at the same time as targets, but it&#x27;s still kind of strange. Accordingly, it will receive errata with a new template for “reflexive triggers"—triggered abilities within another spell or ability that create a new ability that goes on the chain separately from the original spell or ability. To show you what that looks like, here&#x27;s the updated text: That “do this" wording (or similar) tells you that what follows is a separate instruction from the original. As you start to play Dragon&#x27;s Rage, you only need to choose an enemy unit and a battlefield to move it to. Then, assuming Dragon&#x27;s Rage resolves, you&#x27;ll put a separate triggered ability on the chain, choosing another enemy unit at its destination (if one is available). That triggered ability can then be responded to separately. If there&#x27;s no enemy there, or if you didn&#x27;t actually move the unit you chose for any reason (and therefore there&#x27;s no “its destination" to reference), the trigger isn&#x27;t put on the chain at all. This isn&#x27;t a tool we expect to use often, but it lets us make sure that cards like Dragon&#x27;s Rage offer chances for interaction and decision at points that feel appropriate.

Question 17

When you play a card from hidden, it gains several additional restrictions. The rules were somewhat unclear on this.

Accepted Answer

That&#x27;s not a question. But alright, let&#x27;s spell out the restrictions more clearly: ● A hidden unit must be played to that battlefield if able. ● If a hidden spell or a play effect of a hidden permanent chooses any targets, those targets must be chosen from among options at that battlefield, unless the ability explicitly restricts targeting in a way that makes this impossible. If a hidden spell or a play effect of a hidden permanent causes you to play a unit, you must choose to have that unit enter the board at that battlefield.

Question 18

What restrictions does Ava place on the card I play? What does “here" mean?

Accepted Answer

Ava&#x27;s restriction of “here" is meant to apply only to units. She will receive minor errata to make this clearer: from your hand, ignoring its cost. If it&#x27;s a unit, play it here.

Question 19

If I play Cruel Patron and kill one of my units for its additional cost, but one of these cards replaces that unit&#x27;s death, does the cost still count as paid?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You made the decision to pay the cost and took the action to pay it. What happened after that doesn&#x27;t matter.

Question 20

If I play Darius, Trifarian as my second card in a turn, does he ready and gain 2 Might?

Accepted Answer

Yes, this works. Triggers like this are evaluated immediately after the event that takes place, at which point Darius is on the board.

Question 21

If I play Darius as my third card, does he ready and gain 2 Might?

Accepted Answer

What if I play another card after him? No. If Darius isn&#x27;t present immediately after you play your second card, he won&#x27;t trigger that turn.

Question 22

Can I use Sun Disc&#x27;s ability the turn I play it, counting itself for its Legion ability?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Although Legion normally requires “another" card for spells and play effects, Sun Disc&#x27;s activated ability is not Sun Disc. On subsequent turns, you&#x27;ll need to play another card to turn on Legion.

Question 23

What does this card do, and when can it do it? If I play him from Hidden during combat, does his ability trigger twice?

Accepted Answer

We&#x27;re issuing a rules update that changes how Teemo and other defend and attack triggers work, and we&#x27;re issuing a minor errata for Teemo in accordance with it. We&#x27;re also clarifying what his ability does and how many targets it has. This contradicts some previous guidance we&#x27;ve given on this card, as we&#x27;ve examined what it says, what it&#x27;s intended to do, and what our rules can support. Teemo has a “when I defend" trigger. Under previous rules, attack and defend triggers happened only at the beginning of combat. Teemo&#x27;s dual trigger condition was meant to cover this—he either triggered at the beginning of combat, or he triggered when you played him into combat. Under the updated rules, attack and defend triggers trigger any time a unit becomes an attacker or defender—whether that&#x27;s because combat began, because the unit was moved into combat using a spell or ability, or because the unit was played into combat somehow. (And yes, this means that a unit that starts in combat, moves out somehow, and then moves back can trigger these abilities twice. We think this is fine—moving a unit at Action speed isn&#x27;t easy to do, and doing it twice is even harder, so we don&#x27;t mind there being a substantial reward.) One thing to note about this change that doesn&#x27;t apply to Teemo directly: Assault and Shield are not attack or defend triggers, so they&#x27;ll work the same way they did before. They apply while a unit is an attacker or defender in combat as appropriate, stop applying once the unit is no longer in combat, and start applying if it joins or rejoins combat partway through. This rules change makes the “played from (Hidden)" part of Teemo&#x27;s text redundant. And since the ability only does anything if enemy units are present, we&#x27;re issuing errata to clarify that it only triggers once as intended, whether Teemo is played into combat or was there from the start. We&#x27;re also rephrasing the ability to make it clearer that it only has one target.

Question 24

Can Janna&#x27;s play effect be used to heal my units without an enemy unit present?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Errata adds "up to one" to her ability, matching expectations that Janna can heal their units without enemies present.

Question 25

Does Kato give keywords he&#x27;s gained during play? What about Might bonuses from various sources like Equipment?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Kato gives his current keywords and additional Might equal to his current total. Later changes to Kato don&#x27;t matter; what the unit gets is locked in as the ability resolves.

Question 26

If I play Turn to Dust on an attached Equipment, will the Equipment die in the Beginning Phase?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The granted Temporary keyword remains active. Only printed rules text becomes inactive when Equipment is attached per rules 718.2 and 135.4, so granted rules text like Temporary will still function and trigger.

Question 27

If I play Counter Strike in response to my opponent&#x27;s Elder Dragon&#x27;s play effect, will the chosen unit still die?

Accepted Answer

No. Elder Dragon changes lethal damage definition but not actual damage amount. Counter Strike&#x27;s prevent effect replaces the damage entirely. If damage is prevented completely, it is never dealt per rule 437.2.a., and thus there is no opportunity for Elder Dragon&#x27;s ability to apply.

Question 28

My opponent plays Elder Dragon and targets my two units at the two battlefields, as well as one of my units in base. If I play Flash in reaction, moving the two units at battlefields to base, will they be dealt damage?

Accepted Answer

No. Elder Dragon&#x27;s effect has targeting restrictions for each location separately. Moving units to different locations breaks those restrictions. Units that no longer fulfill targeting restrictions will be unaffected by the ability as it resolves.

Question 29

If I play Singularity and my opponent counters it, can I still play Jhin, Meticulous Killer for [C] this turn?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Jhin checks the energy spent to play a spell, not whether that spell resolved. Energy spent and finalized remains spent even if the spell is later countered, enabling Jhin&#x27;s discounted play.

Question 30

I play Alpha Strike targeting my Master Yi, Unstoppable and splitting 12 damage among three of the four enemy units at battlefields. If my opponent plays Flash in reaction, moving two of the targeted units to base, can they then play Repulse and counter my Alpha Strike?

Accepted Answer

No, unless units move to non-board zones. Targeting relationships persist even when targets no longer fulfill restrictions. Units at base still count toward Repulse&#x27;s requirement. Only movement to non-board zones severs the relationship entirely per rule 359.3.e.3.

Question 31

What happens if I play Atakhan from my deck with Rek&#x27;Sai, Breacher on the board? Can I pay the Accelerate cost and kill Rek&#x27;Sai for the Atakhan additional cost? Will it enter ready?

Accepted Answer

Yes, Atakhan enters ready. Accelerate creates a delayed replacement effect that causes Atakhan to enter ready. Although he lacks the Accelerate keyword when he resolves, he still has the delayed replacement effect that Accelerate generates.

Play — Riftbound Rules

Related FAQ (31)

Do I get my Legion effect when I play a token or use an ability?

If I hide a card, and then my opponent uses a spell to move a unit to that battlefield that same turn, can I play the card I hid?

If I hid a card last turn, can I play that card even if I'm not reacting to another spell or ability?

Do I have to play a unit I hid to that battlefield? Or can I play it to my base?

If I play a spell with targets that I hid, do I have to choose those targets from the battlefield I hid it at?

If I play a card I hid, and that card's effects include playing additional units (for example, tokens), can I play them anywhere?

I have a Reaction spell. Can I play it at the end of my opponent's turn?

In a free-for-all, can I play Actions and Reactions in a showdown that I don't have units at?

What happens when a card like The Harrowing instructs me to play another card during its resolution? Do I play it while the other spell or ability is still resolving? What if I can't play it?

What about cards like Blind Fury and Promising Future, which let players look at or reveal cards from the top of a deck, play one, and recycle the rest? If I can't play that card, where does it go? It sounds like it's too late for it to be recycled as part of “the rest."