Quill & Tankard Regulars - Issue 34

The Raven’s Message
The Raven’s Message exclusively reveals and discusses an up-and-coming, either mechanically or rules-wise interesting, card. The cards are from future products, and have been obtained directly via raven from the Archmaesters at the (FFG) Citadel.


Dat card. Good fer killing Knobles, not gettin’ Outwitted n’ not gettin’ hit wif a Price of War n’ stuff. Arianne likesy, but Ghaston Grey kinda not. Shadows crest be da fun’ wif dat, especially wif Southron Mercsies. Meera n’ Shadowy-bouncy types like Preston no likey, since “no cresty no bouncy”.

Iconsies goes so dat 1+n*1=1, but 1+1-1=1. So, dere.


Beware the Sphinx - Coldhands
Beware the Sphinx is a series of articles concentrating on important cards with several peculiar, complex or unintuitive interactions. An emphasis is kept on both new and competitively relevant cards. Remember, the Sphinx is the riddle, not the riddler.

Since Coldhands came out, his ability has had many players scratch their heads. There are a number of non-trivial timing issues to be resolved here. We'll have a short look at the most important of them.


Q: Can I use a duplicate to save from Coldhand’s ability?

A: Yes. A duplicate can save a card from being removed from the game..

Q: What happens if only one character is saved from Coldhands ability?

A: Just like what would happen with Valar and saves. The saved character is not removed from the game by Coldhands and the one that was not saved, is.

Q: If the character has attachments on it will they be removed from the game together with the character? If not, what happens to them?

A: Attachments are not covered by Coldhand’s effect. The same thing happens to them that always happens to attachments when the character they’re attached to leaves play: They are discarded. Likewise, the character that is removed from the game loses all power and gold tokens and unused duplicates he may have on him.

Q: Can I trigger Coldhands response when my opponent doesn’t have characters? What happens then?

A: Since Coldhands ability has the important “if able” text you will be able to use the response on just your own character even if your opponent doesn’t have a character. This is also true if your opponents only characters are immune to character abilities.

Q: Will I be able to choose Coldhands as a target for it’s own Response? What happens then?

A: Coldhands and the other characters chosen will go into a moribund:removed_from_the_game state, but after that the second part of Coldhands’ own effect kicks in, they are instead put in the moribund:remain_in_play state. They are treated as if they physically left play even though they never actually do, i.e attachments and power/gold tokens on those characters are removed. Cf. FAQ 3.42.

Q: If Coldhands is blanked and then killed, will the characters return to play?

A: Since Coldhands creates a lasting ability when his ability is triggered, it does not matter if Coldhands is blanked later. The characters will return to play when Coldhands leaves play, even when blanked.

Q: What happens if my opponent uses Coldhands on my Coldhands?

A: Your Coldhands will be removed from the game and since it is leaving play all the characters it had removed from the game are returned if there was any.

Q: If Coldhands removes an unique character, like Stannis Baratheon, can I play another copy of that character while it is removed?

A: Yes. Removed from the game is not the same thing as having a character in your dead pile or having it stolen by an opponent, which are the only two things that would prevent you from playing a unique character.

Q: Ok, then what happens if the second copy of Stannis is still in play when Coldhands leaves play?

A: The Stannis removed from the game will come back and become a duplicate on the Stannis Baratheon that is currently in play.

Q: What if the second Stannis was killed before Coldhands leaves play? Do I still get the removed one back in play?

A: No. A character that is in dead pile cannot enter into play. As of yet it is unsure if the Stannis would go to discard pile or simply remain in removed from the game state.

Q: My opponents Ygritte has stolen my Alleras. If I remove Alleras from play with Coldhands, do I get the control back when Coldhands leaves play?

A: Yes. Much like attachments and tokens the character will lose any lasting effects that were placed on it.

NOTE: Coldhands also explicitly says to return them to their *owners* control, so the question is a bit moot. Thanks to Khudzlin for the catch.

Q: If Coldhands dies to Valar will the characters brought back to play also die to Valar?

A: No. The characters removed by Coldhands return during the passive effects step of the action window. By that time, Valar has already resolved, which means that characters brought into play at this point will not be affected by Valar.

Q: My opponent has a Summer Reserve in play and I remove them with Coldhands, will they come back as a character?

A: Fortunately for you the Summer Reserve will go directly into your opponent’s discard pile.This is because the Summer Reserve will stop being a character once it leaves play which means that it cannot return back into play as a character.


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.

James Waumsley (JCWamma) started playing Thrones in January 2012. Although he’s not got many links on his collar just yet, he’s a fiendishly competitive player who delights in making sure the rules are upheld, so that his opponents have no excuses (or in practice, so that he has no excuses himself).