The Dornish Wars

Rules FAQ

  • The constant ability prevents characters from gaining any instance of any challenge icon, even if the overall calculation for that character having (or not having) that icon would not change.

  • Any constant abilities or lasting effects (even pre-existing ones) causing characters to gain challenge icons cease to apply in that part while the constant ability of The Dornish Wars is active. For instance, a character with Ser Pounce attached will not gain an icon, but it will still not kneel when declared as an attacker in an challenge. Similarly, The Prince's Plan can still be played to give a character +STR and a challenge icon, but the character will not actually gain the challenge icon while The Dornish Wars is active. However, If The Dornish Wars later becomes blank or leaves play, the character will then gain the icon you chose when The Prince's Plan was played. (See previous ruling on a similar interaction.)

  • You cannot trigger any ability that would fail to change the game state due to the constant ability of The Dornish Wars (for instance, Edric Dayne (Core) or Selyse Baratheon (Core)). In other words, an ability has to do something other than just cause a character to gain a challenge icon (for instance, Syrio Forel, Varamyr Sixskins, Bran Stark (OR), Nymeria Sand (TRtW), etc.). (See previous ruling on a similar interaction.)

  • A character that cannot gain challenge icons is not a valid target for "Off To Gulltown". But you can still target a character controlled by the player who has The Dornish Wars revealed, and draw 1 card.

  • A character that is immune to the effects of The Dornish Wars can still gain challenge icons and cannot be targeted with the reaction (for instance, Arya Stark while Septa Mordane is in play).

  • A character "gains" a challenge icon whenever a card effect specifically uses that phrase. If a character stops losing a challenge icon (for instance, due to an effect like Confinement expiring), that character is not considered to have "gained" that icon.

  • A character is considered to have a challenge icon or to not have that icon. A single character that has and/or is gaining the same challenge icon from multiple sources functions as if it has one instance of that icon. (See Challenge Icons.)

  • You can choose any icon, even if the chosen character currently has no instances of that icon.

  • If you remove an icon that would cause the only remaining defender not to contribute its STR to the challenge in which The Red Viper (OR) is attacking, it will not retroactively make the challenge unopposed.

  • You can trigger reactions like Sandstone in the same reaction window, after you have triggered The Dornish Wars.

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Tyene Sand

Rules FAQ

  • You lose dominance if an opponent wins dominance. In a Melee game, multiple players can lose dominance, even if one of them has a lower total for dominance than the others. If there is a tie for dominance, no player wins or loses dominance (unless The Moon Door is in play).

  • Ser Andrey Dalt and Uneasy Truce do not prevent you from triggering the reaction, because an opponent can still win dominance even if they cannot get any power from it.

  • You can move power to a character that "cannot gain power", as gaining and moving power are two different things.

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A Lannister's Honor

Rules FAQ

  • If multiple characters are tied for the lowest STR, the losing opponent chooses which one to kill.

  • A character that cannot be killed (Balerion), cannot leave play (The Crone), or is immune to events (A Tourney for the King) cannot be chosen to be killed. If such a character is the only character with the lowest STR among characters the losing opponent controls, A Lannister's Honor cannot be played.

  • You check for the character with the lowest STR at the time the event is played, not at the time the winner of the challenge is determined. In other words, if the character with the lowest STR at the point of winning the challenge is removed from play (for instance, by Jaqen H'ghar), it is not relevant in any way when determining valid targets for A Lannister's Honor.

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Tywin's Whisperer

Rules FAQ

  • Tywin's Whisperer can react to any ability that specifically uses the phrase "return to hand". This includes abilities that would return a character to hand from an out-of-play area, such as "On a Misty Morn" or Summer (Core). It does not include characters returning to hand due to Red Priest leaving play.

  • If Tywin's Whisperer is in play when The First Snow of Winter is resolved, you can immediately put it into play again (assuming a character with printed cost 2 or lower was returned to an opponent's hand). Same thing with any card ability that returns Tywin's Whisperer and an opponent's character to hand at the same time (for instance, Tywin's Stratagem).

  • If an opponent returns a character you own to "their hand", you can trigger the reaction even though the character is physically returned to your hand instead. On the other hand, if you return a character an opponent owns to "your hand", you cannot trigger the reaction even though it is physically returned to an opponent's hand. (See Ownership and Control.)

  • You cannot trigger the reaction while Barring the Gates or The King in the North are revealed, but you can trigger it while Fortified Position is revealed.

  • Each reaction can only be initiated once when its triggering condition occurs. If Tywin's Whisperer is canceled, you cannot trigger it again for the same character being returned to hand. If you have multiple copies of Tywin's Whisperer in hand and one is canceled, you can trigger the other one, but you have to demonstrate that it is a different copy of the card. On the other hand, if multiple triggering conditions occur at the same time (for instance, multiple characters returning to hand for The First Snow of Winter), you can trigger the same copy of Tywin's Whisperer multiple times.

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Winterfell

Rules FAQ

  • You cannot take control of a unique character if you already control a copy of that character, or if a copy of that character is in your dead pile. (See Unique Cards.)

  • If you take control of a participating character, that character is immediately removed from the challenge. (See Ownership and Control.)

  • When you take control of an opponent's character, you do not gain control of any duplicates or attachments on that character. But you may spend tokens on that character as normal (for instance, the gold tokens on Begging Brother).

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