Planets 'removed from the game' include: the three planets not chosen at setup, and any planets removed due to stalemate at first planet.

The player triggering Declare the Crusade can look at the planets while choosing. Other players can not look at the planets removed from the game.

Rules question reference:

http://www.cardgamed...w-does-it-work/

Jesus. One of the biggest game-breaking abilities we've seen surely? If you line your warlord up right a bonus trigger of an already-used Atrox, Iridial or Ferrin could be massive, or if you know our opponent is hoping to take advantage of something like Y'varn and you can strip that off the board. Aside from the battle abilities just having the option of lining up whatever third colour you need to win the game is good enough.

Worr card secretly disguised as a Black Templar/SM card?  Tri-cons are becoming very scary to lose.

And if that conveniently stops the opponent having the correct line it is also of great use. Undoubtedly a massive game changing effect.

Cost 2 and requires you to win a battle though. Having a couple in your hand and wishing 1 of them were the Drop Pod Assault you actually needed to win the fight may be a common occurrence.

Would undoubtedly run both! Once again SM's main 'weakness' is a glut of amazing events with too many to choose from. Obviously nothing will ever be as strong as Indomitable/DPA, etc, etc, in pure, tournament-winning card strength, but it's great to see different ideas coming from the game designers.

I'd definitely give this a test as a 2-of in casual play - there may be times where you don't trigger the effect to maximum effectiveness but I can really see this being huge when you do, especially two or three planets in. Plus I feel that Black Templars will have a slightly different play tempo to Cato or Ragnar - more focused on a few big, impossible to kill units than the cheaper curve.

I just realized, after turn 3, there are no more planets out of the game because they have all come into play, unless it includes the 3 cards removed from the game that are not part of the 7 planet draw?

can anybody clarify this?

It's only those 3 cards. Technically, on Turn 1, Planets 6 and 7 are not "removed from the game", they are face-down waiting to be flipped over. It's the other 3 planets that are "removed from the game". (Also if at any point a 1st planet is won by neither play, then it too becomes "removed from the game.") See Barabob's link in the first comment above for more details.

So does a planet in someones victory display qualify as a planet "in play" since it doesn't qualify as a planet out of play? Which would allow you to manipulate players displays?

No.

- planets 1-5 are "in play".

- Planets 6 and 7 (which are not yet visible) are (afaik) not in play

- Your victory displays are not in play

- The three removed planets you randomly pick at the beginning are "removed from the game".

- Planets which have been removed because no one won them when they were the first planet are "removed from the game".

See also the first comment which links to the ruling on this.

GKZhukov likes it. I've found it a bit too expensive to play in more "standard decks." You want it early, but that's when the asking price of 2R is the most painful.

So has this card been ruled a dud yet?

Not a total dud, but it is probably too situational to see anything other than a bit of casual deck inclusion. Had it in hand in two successive games - once there was no good opportunity to use it, and the second time it actually massively helped me extend the game by taking away my opponent's next possible winning planet.

For Black Templars I'd say a one-of.

seems like the cost is a bit too high for a somewhat situational effect and also an effect where you possibly don't know you might get.

seems like the cost is a bit too high for a somewhat situational effect and also an effect where you possibly don't know you might get.

It's quite easy to determine what you'll get once the 6th planet has been revealed, and trivial once the 7th is revealed, as long as you know all of the planets by heart beforehand.

The situation where this was good was:

Opponent has won first two planets, both have a green icon.

Current first planet blue, second planet has a green icon.

Opponent sends his warlord train to second planet prepping for a green icon win.

I win first planet, DTC to swap second planet for a non-green one.

I went on to lose that game but it at least meant that the bulk of my opponent's force was at a now-useless first planet, and I could re-assess with another turn to play with.

So yeah, it's very situational. At this stage in the game the planet coming in is never going to be a surprise to either player, but the ability to change your or your opponent's next possible win condition is strong. If it had two shields I'd possibly try and auto-include a 1-of in Templars, but as it stands it's just in for experimentation.