Posted: 14 February 2008 at 8:20am | IP Logged

In an attempt to help Biegel... I'll attempt to explain a concept from Mtg called priority.

In magic, the player whose turn it is is called the active player and posseses a 'thing' called priority. Priority, determines who has the right to play cards. If you have priority you are allowed to play cards if you do not have priority then you are not allowed to play cards. During the course of a turn the priority changes between players several times.

The active player (the player whose turn it is) plays a card and then must pass the priority to the other player - thus allowing him the opportunity to 'react' to the card play. Once the player (whose turn it is NOT) either plays a card or chooses not to play a card then the priority returns to the player whose turn it is. He can then 'react' himself or choose not to. If he 'reacts' then the priority again passes to the other player and this process continues until both players pass the opportunity to react. If at any time both players pass the opportunity to 'react' then the current phase of the game ends and passes onto the next.

I think the right way to handle GE reaction cards is in this manner. If I am the active player and I choose to add a shuttlecraft to my S10 Indirigan Battleship the player who does NOT have priority cannot react until after my card play completes and I pass priority to him/her. Once my shuttle hits the S10 then it is a stack and they cannot then play a card to the S10 unless it is allowed to be played against a stack.

If they want to be certain to hit the S10 with a card that cannot target the basis of a stack then they need to react to my allocation or engagement. Even then, I could as a reaction play the shuttlecraft from my hand to the S10 thus making it the basis of a stack. (There may be some question as to whether I'm allowed to play equipment as a reaction prior to the first main phase but I think you can - correct me if I'm wrong). The rule about last in first out for reaction cards then takes affect and my shuttlecraft resolves thus making a stack and voiding the other card's play.

It seems simple enough to me...

In MTG terms, Wolfy wants to use the card in question like a counter-spell. In other words it targets the card as it is being played and before it resolves (Geko described this as an interrupt and said that the game never had them - as an ex-employee I tend to believe him). Geko describes the card more like an unsummon which attacks a card in play.

I think the game needs 'counter-spells' but I agree with Geko that it doesn't have any and that the card in question cannot 'interrupt' the card play. I can understand Wolfy's point but I dis-agree that it should be played that way.

...and now I'll go back to work!

J--