Hello all, I'm new to SOTM and this forum. I started playing solo yesterday and already ran into some complications/confusion.
The card Hostage Situation for the Megalopolist environment deck says "Hero cards cannot be played" and then "At the start of the environment turn, each player may discard 1 card each to destroy this card." Also, plummeting monorail says "At the start of the environment turn, this card deals the 2 targests with the highest HP 5 melee damage each".
1. Does "hero cards cannot be played" mean that power and non-power ongoing cards can't be used?
2. Can each player discard 1 card on the same turn that Hostage Situation comes into play?
3. For "Discard X cards" (where X = number of cards), do players discard from their hands or decks? What if there are no more cards in a player's hand?
4. For Plummeting monorail, is damage dealt the same turn it comes into play or the next environment turn?
1. Playing is the act of taking a card from your hand and placing it into your play area. Using a power on an Ongoing that is already in the play area is using a power.
2. No, the order of the environment turn is Start, Play, then End. Meaning at the time of Hostage Situation coming into play during the Environment's play phase, it is already after the Start of Turn Phase.
3. If it doesn't specify where the discard is coming from, then it would be from hand. It would say "discard the top X cards of the deck" if it were the deck.
4. The next environment turn, as it is already after the Start of Turn.
Thanks for the help. What about ongoing cards that affect gameplay without using a power during the power phase, such as Tempest's Otherwordly Resilience "reduce damage dealt to tempest by 1"…are such effects nullified by "hero cards cannot be played"?
Can't play cards = can't play cards from your hand. It's more simple than you think it is. Read the card as literally as possible will steer you in the right direction usually.
Thanks everyone. Now I feel like I can properly play and finish my first solo game.
One more question though, and I didn't want to create a new topic for this.
For Impending Casualty from the Megalopolis environment deck it says "at the end of the environment turn, 1 player may discard 1 card to destroy this card".
Does "at the end of the environment turn" mean the end of the environment turn that it came into play, or the next one. I'm assuming correctly, it's the end of the turn it comes into play? If i'm wrong, please correct me.
Yeah think of the phases sequentially. You play the card during the play phase right? Well after the play phase is the end of turn phase, so that effect triggers since the card is in play during the end of turn phase. Hope that helps clear things up!
actually… it prevents you from "playing" cards, which is different from "putting cards into play", it's a subtle difference but it's there.
Actions that direct you to "put a card into play" are still allowed during Hostage Situation, whereas actions that direct you to "play a card" are not.
If it helps to think of it this way, the flavor of Impending Casualty is "oh no, innocent people are in danger, we must take action to protect them or the guilt will drive us mad!" If you discard a card the same turn Impending Casualty came into play, it means you dropped everything and immediately responded to the threat, before any harm (psychic damage) could be done. It's just that if you have no cards in hand (perhaps due to being stuck in a long-lasting Traffic Jam, with Paparazzi On The Scene to keep Bunker from firing a Flak Cannon into the thicket of cars), it means your resources are completely spent and you can't take action to protect the victim, so Impending Casualty sticks around and does damage.
It really helps to think of the game in terms of a) Phases and b) the text from the cards.
Phases for Heroes goes:
1) Start of Turn Phase - this is when any "At the start of your turn..." text takes place. Do these actions before doing anything else 2) Play Phase - this is the act of playing a card from your hand (placing an ongoing/equip onto the field or playing a one-shot). Anything already on the field is already in play. 3) Power Phase - using a power available to you from any of your cards in play. 4) Draw Phase - drawing a card 5) End of Turn Phase - now you resolve any "At the end of your turn..." text that's on your play field.
Ongoing effects are just as the name suggests; ongoing. They do not "take place" at a certain time, but rather are always in effect. This is where being mindful of the card's text will help you determine its rightful use. Usually the card will specify when you can use that ongoing card's effects. For instance, a card that let's you redirect damage will say "The first time your hero would receive damage each turn, redirect that damage to another target". This card has no "phase" but rather its effects happen whenever you would receive damage, as the card states, for the first time in a single turn.
The Environment/Villain deck both follow similar structure: Start Phase, Play Phase, End Phase. And Ongoing cards are always in effect.
Also note that "discarding" cards is the act of putting cards from your hand into their trash. "Destroying" cards is removing a card that is in play (ongoing, equipment, etc.) and putting it in the trash.