Level One - Lesson 9
Comprehensive Rules: Section 7 - Abilities and Effects - Part 1
Also available are archives of live broadcasts, where the Program Director goes over the lesson, answers any questions that folks may have and sometimes goes on tangets about other elements of judging. You can find the playlist of broadcasts on youtube.
Click for Translation
While proper translation and localization are among our long-term goals, we are currently offering Google Translate on the page. Please keep in mind that the translation is automatic, which means that specific game terms, names of cards or mechanics, or technical language used to describe the game may not translate well. As with the documents for the game itself, the English page is the authoritative document in case of any confusion or discrepancy.Join the discussion in our Discord and talk with other judges about what you learned, and ask any questions you may have!
Hello there and welcome back to the Judge Program for Star Wars™: Unlimited - Level One certification track lessons.
As always, I’m your host Jonah, and today we’ll be covering the comprehensive rules, section seven - Abilities and Effects, or at least most of it. We’re going to skip 7.5, which covers Keyword abilities, as there are quite a lot of them, and we’ll cover those in the next lesson! That means we’re going to cover Action Abilities, Constant Abilities, Event Abilities, Triggered Abilities, Lasting Effects, Delayed Effects, and Replacement Effects - some of these we’ve touched on tangentially in previous lessons, but now we can see how these abilities and effects resolve and interact with each other.
General
An ability is game text that indicates how a card affects the game - pretty much everything in the textbox is part of an ability. Each type of ability has its own associated rules, like with card types or zones.
An effect is a non-cost part of an ability that has the potential to change the game state, which frequently resolves separately from the ability itself, has a duration, or modifies the resolution of an ability.
If an ability affects both players and can be resolved simultaneously, do so. The Chaos of War would deal damage simultaneously to both player’s bases. If both bases would be defeated by this damage, the game ends in a draw.
While resolving an ability, a player must resolve the effects of that ability in the order that they are written. If you have an Unrefusable Offer on your opponent’s Snowspeeder, and then play Spare the Target, you can’t choose to collect the Snowspeeder’s bounty, and then return it to its owner’s hand, you follow the instructions as written.
However, there’s always a bigger fish... I mean, there’s always an exception. In this case, it’s abilities that allow a player to select multiple options - in that case, the player may resolve those in any order. In fact, they don’t have to make the decisions of which ones they’re resolving until the previous effect has been resolved.
For example, you can play Aggression, draw a card, see what it is, and then decide which of the other three abilities you want.
With Poe Dameron, you must determine how many cards you want to discard and then discard the cards first, but then you can resolve the abilities in any order. If you discard two cards, you can have an opponent discard a card from their hand, see what card it is, and then make a decision about which other option you want to select.
Now, some abilities instruct a player to take an action, like the ones we covered in the previous lesson - most frequently Attack with a Unit or Play a Card. These actions are resolved as though the player took the appropriate action, with the relevant modifiers applied. The player must take the action if they’re able to, unless there is hidden information.
Modifications can include restrictions on what cards can be played or attacked with, cost adjustments, different zones, keywords, or how cards can attack.
Palpatine’s Return features both a cost modification and allows a player to play a card from a different zone. Headhunting restricts what objects the units can attack. Rebel Assault limits what trait units have to have in order to make the attack.
If an ability or an effect causes a player to play a card or use an action ability, any triggers that are a result of that action don’t resolve until the ability that caused the card to be played or the action to be used fully resolves.
The classic example is Sneak Attack and a unit with ambush, like Cloud Riders. We resolve Sneak Attack fully, playing the Cloud Riders and readying it. Only then does Ambush trigger, and allows the player to attack. A player is not able to sequence the trigger to resolve before any part of the Sneak Attack Event Ability - you can not play the Cloud Riders, resolve ambush, and then ready the Cloud Riders.
For abilities that generate attack actions, any triggers that are a result of an attack action will resolve at the appropriate point in time for that attack action. On Attack triggers trigger and resolve during step one, Combat Damage and When Defeated triggers trigger and resolve during step two, and Complete Attack triggers trigger and resolve in step three.
If a player is instructed to take multiple actions, they take each of those actions sequentially and fully resolve all triggers that result from one of those actions before beginning the next action. This is an exception to the rule that says
Action Abilities
We’ve talked about Action Abilities before - mostly in our last lesson, so this section is mostly reminders.
Action abilities have the bolded word Action, followed by a colon. Epic Actions are a type of action ability that can only be used once per game.
To use an action ability, the player must pay the full cost of the ability in order to resolve it and either paying the cost or resolving the ability must change the game state. If an ability is used, and it’s cost changes the game state, but the resolution does not, it still counts as the players action for their turn.
Constant Abilities
Constant Abilities live up to their name - they’re active for as long as they’re in play. They come into effect as soon as the card on it enters play, and remain in effect while the card is in play. This can be an effect like on General Veers or Relentless, which has an ongoing effect on the game.
Some Constant Abilities check for a particular game state, like Relentless Rocket Droid or Ardent Sympathizer. These usually use the word “while”, and are always checking for that state to be true. If the condition is true, the effect is applied, and while it isn’t true, the effect isn’t applied - but the ability is still active.
Event Abilities
Event abilities are the effect of any given event, and are resolved when the event is played.
Events do not enter play, but rather go directly from the hand to the discard pile. After they enter the discard pile, they resolve, which means that events that affect cards in a player’s discard pile can affect themselves (If you can name the one card in Spark of Rebellion or Shadows of the Galaxy that can do this, you get a bonus point. Not redeemable on any exams.)
An event is both played and resolved during the action in which it is played, even if it sets up lasting or delayed effects that continue to apply to the game, like the delayed effect on Change of Heart.
Triggered Abilities
And that brings us to section 7.6, Triggered Abilities, which have a bit more complexity to them than either Constant or Action abilities.
Like with Action Abilities, triggered abilities have a prefix in bold, starting with the word On or When - most frequently, you’ll see When Played, When Defeated, and On Attack. Some abilities will have multiple trigger conditions, separated by a slash, such as Avenger having both a When Played and an On Attack or Inferno Four’s When Played and When Defeated.
For a triggered ability to trigger, it must be in play when the triggering condition occurs, or the ability must specify that it can trigger from an out-of-play zone. However, the triggered ability can and must resolve even if the card that generated that ability leaves play after the triggering event occurs, but before it resolves. This rule is important, because otherwise “When Defeated” abilities wouldn’t do anything!
Triggered abilities will also trigger even if the card that had the ability was defeated by the action that caused the ability to trigger. For example, if a player plays Vanquish on Krayt Dragon, the triggering condition occurs first (playing the Vanquish), then the Vanquish resolves, defeating the Krayt Dragon, and then finally the trigger resolves.
Triggered abilities resolve during the same turn or step in which the triggering condition was met, and resolving a triggered ability (or multiple) is not the same as taking an action - even resolving a triggered ability that leads to a player taking an action, such as on Gideon’s Light Cruiser’s When Played, isn’t taking an action, doesn’t use a player’s turn, and can be resolved outside of their turn, even during steps or phases when a player normally wouldn’t be able to take that action.
If a triggered ability says “you may”, a player can decline, even if they have the resources or cards necessary to resolve that ability. However, all other triggers must be resolved as fully as possible (unless its resolution would be dependent on hidden information, such as playing a card from hand).
Resolving Multiple Triggers
If a player has multiple triggered abilities that they need to resolve at the same time, that player chooses the order in which they are resolved.
If both players have triggered abilities that they need to resolve at the same time, the active player chooses which player will resolve their triggered abilities first, and then that player, if they have multiple triggered abilities, chooses the order of resolution of the triggered abilities from the cards they control.
There can be multiple triggered abilities from the same triggering condition, such as multiple units with “When Defeated” triggers being defeated by an effect like Bombing Run, but they can also be triggers that occurred due to the same action, but from different triggering conditions.
For example, Alex controls a Bossk and plays a Takedown on their opponent’s K-2SO. As Takedown is played, Bossk’s triggering condition is met, then Takedown resolves, and K-2SO’s triggering condition is met. After Takedown resolves, both triggers try to resolve, and Alex, the active player chooses who resolves their triggers first - even though the abilities didn’t trigger simultaneously, they are trying to resolve simultaneously.
Nested Abilities
Sometimes, during the resolution of a triggered ability, a new ability will be triggered.
In this case, these newer abilities must be resolved before any abilities that triggered at the same time as the ability that caused these new abilities.
Let’s take our example from before. Alex controls a Bossk and plays a Takedown on their opponent’s K-2SO. Alex chooses for Nico to resolve their triggers first, and K-2SO’s ability resolves, with Nico choosing for Alex to discard a card. Alex does so, which triggers Nico’s Migs Mayfeld - this ability has to resolve before Bossk’s ability, and Nico chooses their own Vanguard Infantry, which is defeated by the damage from Migs Mayfeld’s trigger, and then the Vanguard’s When Defeated ability triggers, and puts an experience counter onto Migs. Finally, with no other triggers waiting to resolve, Bossk’s damage can finally occur, but can’t kill the Migs because it now has three remaining HP.
This is a bit of a convoluted scenario, but you can absolutely see this happening in a more streamlined fashion when a player plays Darth Vader - Commanding the 501st. When Vader is played, both his Ambush and When Played trigger, and the active player can choose the order in which to resolve them. If they resolve the Ambush first, any “When Defeated” triggers from the unit Vader attacks (if applicable) would trigger and resolve before Vader’s “When Played” and if they resolved the “When Played” first, any “When Played” from the card played off of Vader’s trigger would trigger and resolve before the Ambush.
When Played
Cards with “When Played” triggers only trigger when the card is played, not if it is put into play or returned to play (as with rescuing captured cards).
They also trigger after the card is completed being played, taking into account any modifiers for when the card is played.
Ambush and Shielded (which we’ll get into next lesson) are When Played keyworded triggered abilities, and so they’ll trigger at the same time as each other, and the player controlling the card with them, can choose the order in which they resolve. If a unit had both shielded and ambush, they could resolve the ambush first, then apply the shield to protect the damaged unit or resolve the shielded first, and then ambush and take no damage back.
Notably, as mentioned before, these triggers occur after the card has been played, so with Han Solo - Worth the Risk, the damage from his ability would be dealt to a unit before its When Played abilities are resolved, including shielded.
When Defeated
Cards with When Defeated trigger while the card is in play, but resolve after the card is removed from play and placed in its owner’s discard pile. This means that if they provided healing or experience, they wouldn’t be able to save themselves.
When Defeated abilities are also resolved by the player that controlled the card when it was defeated - not by the player who owned it. That means if your opponent uses Traitorous on your Yoda, they’re the one who decides who draws cards when he is defeated, not you!
On Attack
On Attack abilities trigger during step one of combat - before any combat damage is dealt. Furthermore, any damage dealt by an On Attack trigger (or any other trigger) is not Combat Damage.
For example, if you attack with Darth Vader - Dark Lord of the Sith, his 2 damage won’t be combat damage.
Effects
There are a lot of different effects in the game, many of which aren’t classified or have specific rules applied to them. There are three that have additional clarifications laid out - lasting effects, delayed effects, and replacement effects.
Lasting Effects
Lasting Effects have a set duration such as “for this phase” or “for this attack”. They last beyond the resolution of the ability that created it and are independent of the card that created them.
For example, if a player attacks with Wolffe, his On Attack trigger sets up a lasting effect that will apply for the rest of the phase, even if Wolffe is defeated as part of the combat.
Lasting effects end immediately when the specified period is reached, before any abilities that have that point in time as a triggering condition can resolve.
A card can be affected by multiple lasting effects, such as Rallying Cry and Surprise Strike, both affecting the same unit.
However, if there’s a conflict between two lasting effects, the more recent one takes precedence. For example, if the active player plays Gladiator Star Destroyer and targets a unit, and then their opponent plays a SpecForce Soldier, the chosen unit would not have Sentinel. If played in the opposite order, it would.
This doesn’t apply to Rallying Cry and Surprise Strike or even Rallying Cry and a Benthic “Two Tubes” targeting a unit, because the abilities don’t conflict - they can stack. Similarly, granting a unit Raid and Sentinel don’t conflict, even if they’re both granting the unit an additional keyword.
Any lasting effects that have the same timing window for their expiration expire simultaneously. For example, Alex controls a Warzone Lieutenant and plays a Tactical Advantage on it, giving it +2/+2 and making it a 4/4. Then, Nico plays Make an Opening choosing the Lieutenant, returning it to a 2/2. During the end of the phase step, both effects wear off simultaneously - at no point is the Lieutenant a 2/2 with -2/-2.
Delayed Effects
Delayed effects are abilities that indicate a future time when something will occur, such as “At the start of regroup...” or “the next...”. These effects occur after lasting effects wear off, but before any triggered abilities. Notably, Delayed effects are not triggered abilities. However, like triggered abilities, they’ll resolve even if the card that created the effect left play. Similarly, like triggered abilities, if a player has multiple delayed effects that they need to resolve at the same time, that player chooses the order in which they are resolved.
If both players have delayed effects that they need to resolve at the same time, the active player chooses which player will resolve their delayed effects first, and then that player, if they have multiple delayed effects, chooses the order of resolution of the delayed effects from the cards they control.
Replacement Effects
Finally, Replacement Effects use the phrases “instead” and “would” to indicate what isn’t happening and what it is replaced by. These can occur during the resolution of other abilities or effects.
Some abilities, like Mystic Reflection, replace a part of themselves, dependent on an external condition, while others replace effects or events of other cards.
When a replacement effect occurs, the event is replaced by the effect, and so the standard resolution of the effect or ability does not occur and may cause some triggers that would normally meet their trigger condition to not trigger.
For example, if a unit has been the target of Heroic Sacrifice and attacks a unit with a shield token, the shield replaces the damage event, and so the attacking unit deals no damage, and consequently, the ability granted to the unit by Heroic Sacrifice doesn’t trigger.
If multiple replacement effects are applied to the same event, the player who controls the cards with the replacement effects chooses which effects to resolve.
For example, let’s say a player has Maul - Shadow Collective Visionary with a Shield token on him, and resolves their On Attack trigger choosing their Cantina Braggart. When Maul takes damage, that player can choose which ability to apply - if they apply Maul’s effect all damage that would be dealt to Maul is dealt to the Braggart instead. Then, because Maul didn’t take any damage, the Shield is not defeated. On the other hand, if you apply the shield first, no damage will be dealt to the Braggart.
If multiple players control replacement effects that are applying to the same event, the player who controls the affected objected or the player who is affected by the event being replaced chooses the order in which the replacement effects apply. If we have the same example we just covered, but the shield token has been given to the active player’s Maul by their opponent’s Lom Pyke, each player controls the source of the replacement effect, but Maul is the affected object - the event is the damage, which is applying to Maul, therefore the active player gets to choose the order in which these abilities resolve, and it plays out as above.
That brings us to the end of this lesson! As predicted, I said trigger more times in this episode than I did “action” in the previous (I also said ability and effect a whole lot). And rather than using those words even more, next time we’ll be talking about keywords, that allow us to group a complex ability (or set of abilities) into just one word! As always, if you have any questions, comments, or insights, be sure to join the Judge Community Discord and make your voice heard. Until next time, good luck and have fun!