Comprehensive Rules Changes Blog - Triggered/Activated effects and Void

[Tylar_Bandai]

Are you ready for the Reign of Pain? Okay, so maybe puns are out of fashion, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy using my favorite type of word play.

Throughout the development of this set, we already had in mind what we wanted to do with Pain, and where we wanted the set to go. With a smaller set, we have a bit more room to focus on other things: Card Layout, Q&A, and Rulings.

From what we could see, and from what many of us wanted to do with this set, an actual pay system for Ninja effects needed to integrated. As cool as it was to be able to feign a Ninja effect, it doesn’t make much sense realistically. Kakashi can’t form a Water Dragon for free, only to have it dissipate and use no chakra for doing so. The 3rd can’t summon the Death God, attempt to seal a certain someone’s arms, and not “pay the piper” per se.

It was because of the reasoning above, that the following rules fixes were implemented. Although it may seem a little soon, this idea had been in our heads since the development of Set 18.


Triggered Effects and You

Here is the boring, dry, and drab version, which I know is why people read this, right?

Triggered Effects
This type of effect waits for a specific trigger and activates at the time the trigger occurs.
Begins with

• When

Or

• At the

Some triggered effects can have a cost associated with it; in that case that cost must be paid when the effect would be added to the chain, otherwise the effect will not be added to the chain.

Ex. When a Ninja is put in play, you can Pay 1 Chakra. In that case, Draw 1 card.

This type of effect starts with WHEN so it is a triggered effect but has a cost associated with it because it features CAN and IN THAT CASE. So when this effect would be added to the chain, the player must Pay 1 Chakra to add it to the chain, otherwise it will not be added.



Ex. When a Ninja is put in play, you can Draw 1 card. Then, Discard a card.

This type of effect starts with WHEN so it is a triggered effect but does NOT have any cost associated with it, so it will be added to the next available chain and on resolution, you can draw 1 card, then discard a card.

For those who actually read that, I’m sure your still confused. I always find it easier to have real life examples, but lets lay the groundwork first, then we can all look at the pretty pictures in a bit.

Stated above, in order for a card to be considered a TRIGGERED effect, it must begin with:

When

Or

At the

After this, we will sometimes have a cost, and sometimes we won’t. The key to knowing whether a cost is a cost and must be paid is the existence of the phrase In that case, after the cost A few examples of triggered effects with cost:






In order to add the cards with a cost to the chain, the cost must be paid, then anything after In that case is added to the chain. You cannot “fail” an effect you have paid for.

Some examples of triggered effects WITHOUT cost:





For cards that do not have cost, all text after the timing are added to the chain. The “can” portion is your choice of adding the effect to the chain or not.

Can you guess if this card is triggered with or without cost?



Highlight the below text to see if your right!
If you guessed triggered WITH cost, you are correct. The cost to add this effect onto the chain is the “heal 1 of your Ninjas” part!

Bear in mind, that if you pass on adding the effect to the chain, you cannot add it later, so you have to choose wisely whether or not you want to add a triggered effect to the chain. Pick your play order carefully!!!

Activating your Ninja Powers

So now we get to the difficult part for most people: defining an Activated effect. We already understand triggered effects, so lets post the dry and boring first:

Activated Effects
This type of effect can be activated by the controller anytime but usually limited to a Phase or Phases, such as Mission Phase or Exchange of Jutsu.
Commonly this type of effect start by explaining which Phase(s) it can be activated in followed by YOU CAN.

Ex. During your Mission Phase, you can Pay 1 Chakra. In that case, Draw 1 card.

Some activated effects have a cost. The way to determine this is with the following format:
…you CAN[Cost]. IN THAT CASE, <Effect>…
Effects with this formatting define the COST between the word CAN and IN THAT CASE. What this means is that in order to add the EFFECT to the chain, you must declare you are using the effect and pay the COST first. If the effect gets negated, the COST is NOT returned.
Effects that do start with CAN but do NOT have IN THAT CASE, do not have a cost to add the effect to the chain.

Kudos if you read it, because I know I would rather simplify it in my own way.

Typically, an activated effect will begin with the word “During” . The generic form of an Activated effect is:

During your/the/your opponents [Timing (EOJ, Mission Phase, etc)], [Cost is put here if there is any]. In that case, [Effect]

Sometimes there will be a cost, sometimes there will not. The cost will always be found between can, and in that case, if there is a cost. If you see nothing in between a can and in that case, then the entire effect is added. Remember, adding the effect to the chain is your choice. Once added, you cannot take it back!

Lets go through an example, perhaps the most infamous one:



Lets make his effect all types of colorful:

During the Exchange of Jutsu, you can remove the top 7 cards of your Deck from the game. In that case, give 1 Damage to 1 Ninja Battling against this Ninja. You can activate this effect as many times as you like.

Hopefully this makes it much easier to understand. You RFG the top 7 cards of your deck, then add the “Give 1 Damage to 1 Ninja Battling against this Ninja” effect to the chain.

Lets try one a little more obscure.



And for his effect:

During the Mission Phase, you can move 1 Jutsu card you’re your Discard Pile to your hand. In that case, remove this Ninja from the game.

and how about an activated effect without a cost?

During the Exchange of Jutsu, if you have Ninjas with a combined Mental Power of 12 or more, you can move 1 Jutsu or Mission card from your Discard Pile to your hand. .

In the above case, because "in that case" is missing, simply activating the effect will add the Red portion to the chain, entirely skipping the cost (Orange) portion, so long as you have 12 or more combined Mental Power, of course.

And how about the new Clash effect for an example?

Click here for the new Clash!!

So what type of effect is this? Well, it begins with the word "During", and it also has the phrase "In that case"...

Here is another colorful breakdown!

During your Mission Phase, you can have both players reveal the top card of their Deck. In that case, if your revealed card has a higher Entrance cost than your opponent's card, move the card you revealed to your hand. Otherwise move your revealed card to the bottom of your Deck (a Jutsu card is considered to have an Entrance cost of 0).

Easy enough?

[Tylar_Bandai]

New Kid on the Block

So how about that new Void symbol? The simplest explanation is that Void is to Symbols as Generic costs are to Jutsus.

Even simpler, Void is de-void of element. What does this mean for you the player? It means that anything with Void and a handcost can be paid for with ANY symbol, even a Void card!

However, this does have a downside. a Void card cannot be used to pay the handcost for anything but a Void card.

Easiest way to demonstrate this?

A man is rushed into the hospital in need of a blood transfusion. They test the blood the man has (and find out his name is Void), and find out he is Type AB. This means that Void can take blood from any other person on the planet, but can only accept AB as a viable transfusion.

The best way to remember is to come up with your own example where you can easily understand that Void can take everything, but can only give/pay for itself.

Discuss these changes here!