Just wondering: what happens if, say, Omnitron, the self-aware robotics factory, cannot play cards due to Nightmist's Mistbound. Does he still search his trash to put a drone or component into play? I'm guessing yes since Nightmist only prevents cards played from the deck.
Now take the same situation, except it's Legacy's Takedown instead of Nightmist's Mistbound. Would Omnitron still get to search the trash to put a drone or component into play? I'm guessing no in this case, but it depends on whether putting a card into play is the same as playing a card.
Omnitron can still get cards from his trash, even if Take Down or Mistbound were used. That's why it's best to play those cards when he is on his other side.
They're not the same thing. Take Down or Mistbound basically just cancel normal "play the top card" actions, including extra plays from things like the Pillars of Hercules or Dawn's flipside.
If they can put cards into play without "playing" them, they're unaffected. It's why Omnitron-X can get around Hostage Situation or Leaking Room via Timeshift.
The issue is not whether the card comes from the deck; the issue is that "play" is a specific game action, which means "take from somewhere else and put into play", but "put into play" can also happen without the "play" tag attached. Something that blocks "play" does not prevent other effects from doing what they say.
Let's say heroes are prevented from playing or drawing cards.
Omnitron-x uses Timeshift on Argent Adept, revealling and putting into play Arcane Cadence.
Both actions get to resolve fully, because Timeshift does not have you draw or play a card, it reveals a card then puts it into play.
Similarly Arcane Cadence does not have you draw cards or play them.
On the other hand Visionary's power Enlighten says draw 2 cards discard one, so that powr would have no effect if heroes cannot draw cards, and Expatriette's Load power (play a card) would have no effect if heroes cannot play cards.
Although it is still technically valid to use a power, even if it has no effect. This can matter in case something triggers when a power is used. You can always choose to not play a card after activating Load. (I believe you cannot choose to not draw a card after activating Bunker's Initialize, since it states "draw a card" as an instruction; the card draw during your draw phase is always optional, but instructions to draw a card based on card effects are not, unless they say "you may". However, I'm fairly sure that nothing can force you to "play a card" - which, by implication, always includes "from your hand" - if you choose not to.) Conversely, if something tells you that you must put a particular card into play, that is mandatory.
I once used Enlighten when heroes couldn't draw cards because an incapped Expat had used her "use a power do 1 projectile" ability, I shot Beebot, used Beebot to destroy the card and drew to end my turn. Much fun.
In a similar vein, when an effect puts a card directly into play from a deck--for example, Omnitron-X's Timeshift power--does this allow Unity to put a golem directly into play? A literal reading of the rules clearly says yes, but I'd like to be sure I'm not circumventing the spirit of her deck.
Yes. In fact, if someone gives Unity the ability to play a card not on her turn, you can play a bot. The restriction is only during Unity's play phase.
It will also allow Bunker to put cards into play while in Recharge or Turret Mode.
Precisely. This is the very reason I listed Brainstorm as my #2 favorite card in Sentinels (and it's only not #1 because the card's gameplay effect is fairly tepid). I'm totally with Devra on this one.
I looked up this thread to answer a question I had recently, and wanted to revive it for a bit of further clarification.
Basically I've learned that if an environment or villian says you cannot play cards, powers that look at the top of a deck and put them into play are still fair game.
Does this mean that "playing cards" is only forbidden as part of your turn phase, and not as a result of a power action? I'm a bit confused as to why one is acceptable and one is not, despite the small differences in wording.
I was playing a game with Kvothe Six String and Super Scientific Tachyon, and both were affected by Leaking Room. I basically had to shrug and assume they couldn't use their powers, and that I would promise to find out later. So here I am.
Having just checked at the spoiler sheet (for which I'm currently the principal maintainer), they both should be able to use their powers. Both say "put into play" rather than "play."
In contrast, if characters cannot play cards, then the Perform text of the Argent Adept's Alacritous Subdominant cannot benefit anybody.
Both put cards into play, so they both work when cards cannot be played.
the wording put into play is designed to go around playing cards restrictions, they also won't trigger reactions to cards being played, but will trigger reactions to cards entering play.
So "put into play" was DESIGNED to get around Leaking Room? If so, that's very interesting.
As I've alluded to in the past, I'm quite a literal reader when it comes to card text, so this stumped me quite a bit. Thanks for the explanations, guys.
Every card will enter play, but it can do that in a variety of ways: some enter play by being played, some by being reveled first, some by cheating when your teammate aren't looking.
Each method has it's own rules, with different interactions with other cards. For example, Ammo Drop says to draw a card, and not reveal and draw. Seemingly that would have the same effect, but there are some situations where it matters. If there aren't any more cards in the deck, since Ammo Drop says draw, you can reshuffle and keep going. If it said reveal, you would stop. Obviously, this is much worse for Bunker in games with a lot of minions.
Also, as said above, it is also used to force certain interactions. Afterall, you wouldn't want Darken the Sky to play every card in Matty's deck.