Quill & Tankard Regulars - Issue 14

Quill & Tankard Regulars – Issue 14

Leaving the Quill & Tankard Inn late at night after having several portions of its renowned strong cider, you find yourself in a dark place. A murky side alley with its own rules, where novices fear to walk and the sphinx acts friendly. You have entered... The Bad Side of the Oldtown.

The Bad Side of Oldtown: Moribund events

Note: This article is outdated as of FAQ 4.2, which clarified that moribund events are not actually in play. So go on everybody, there's nothing to see here.

There is a side to Oldtown, where only the suicidal and morbid dare to tread, where the streets form a labyrinth, and even fervent Archmaesters hold tightly to their Valyrian Steel Links. This is where the rules can twist into surprising shapes, or terrible specters. This is the Bad Side of Oldtown.

Hello and welcome to a new Q&TR portion called The Bad Side of the Oldtown. Here we look at small peculiar rules interactions. This time we are giving a special glance at moribund events.

What we know about the moribund state is that a card enters it before it goes into the appropriate out-of-play area. A Moribund card is considered to still be in play until the end of the action window where it entered the moribund state. Cards can still interact with cards that are moribund before the card goes to its designated area. We also know that a moribund card cannot be removed from the game for a second time. There is also a special situation that often happens, but rarely matters. It is when an event card goes into the moribund state. What normally happens when an event is played is that it immediately goes into it moribund:discard and then its effect resolves (NOTE: moribund:discard changes to moribund:dead for Deathbound events like Forever Burning (Core) after they are succesfully resolved) and it stays on the table until the end of the action window, only then moving into the discard/dead pile. For the FAQ entry on moribund events, see page 17.

Events in the moribund state act pretty similarly to characters in all respects. While they are in moribund:discard/dead state they are technically in play, and you can still interact with them. The time window is short and you need very specific cards to interact with events in the first place. Lets say for example that you have Samwell Tarly (TRS) and Oldtown Scholar (FtC) on the board. The scholar has after long studies earned a Copper Link (GotC). Now, you play Citadel Custom (CbtC) and pay the cost by kneeling the Scholar. The event goes into moribund:discard and then it's effect resolves. Using the response on the Copper Link (GotC) when your Maester kneels allows you to give the event a Raven trait. Now Samwell ”Slayer” Tarly can use his own Response: on Citadel Custom (CbtC) to draw 2 cards, since it is a played card with the Raven trait. The fact that this all happens in the same action window, while the event is in moribund:discard, makes this interaction work.

And now ends this first small issue of Bad side of the Oldtown. Can you come up with more moribund event interactions currently in the game? Take us down to the bad side of Oldtown with your ideas.

Questioned by the Conclave

Questioned by the Conclave is a series of quizzes for our readers, loosely based around the topics of the Issue in question. Correct answers will be posted in the comments, after enough readers have had their chance of testing their knowledge. The difficulty of the questions will vary from those directed at Apprentices, to those best suited for Archmaesters.

• You play Westeros Bleeds (Core). In what order do the characters and event go into the discard pile?
• What exactly happens when Benjen Stark (Core) is killed and his passive ability activates?
• When a Summer Reserves (SA) that has been in play as a character is killed will it go into moribund:dead or moribund:discard?

Antti Korventausta (WWDrakey) is a self-proclaimed Finnish AGoT philosopher and nitpicker, who also used to practice Quantum Mechanics, but found that it paled to AGoT in both interest and complexity. As a Stahleck regular and judge, he sometimes has oddly vivid dreams of understanding portions of the game. In AGoT, he'll play anything as long as it's suitably twisted... often ending up with something that has horns on it.

Helmut Hohberger (Ratatoskr) started playing AGoT in September 2010 and has never looked back (although his wife has, longingly). As a German, he loves rules - and I mean *loves* 'em. Try triggering a Response at the end of a phase on his watch, and he'll probably invade your country. He has actually read the FAQ, and was made a judge at Stahleck 2011 and at various other events. He sometimes answers rules questions on boardgamegeek and the FFG rules board. Some of his answers haven't even been contradicted, corrected or expanded upon by ktom - there is no higher accolade for a rules board morlock.

Every Maester needs a Raven on his shoulder. As a Finn, Iiro Jalonen (Ire) got pulled under the waves by Krakens years ago, and has never looked back. A self-inflicted Shagga and active member of the global AGoT community, he has always strived to know the rules of the game, in order to make them do ridiculous things.