Quick-Reference “Cheat Sheet”
Game Rule Updates
-Demons cannot be redeemed. Demons that get captured are treated as “captured demons”, not
lost souls.
-At no time can your hand contain more than 16 cards. If a special ability (or drawing during the
draw phase) would make you draw past 16, you stop at 16.
Ability Clarifications
Restrict
Cards that say “restrict” or “no opponent may” are restrict abilities. Restrict abilities target
players (usually opponents) and disallow them from performing a specific action.
-Example: Jerusalem Tower says “No opponent may remove a card from holder’s draw pile.” JT
targets your opponents and restricts them from removing cards from your deck. If an ability is
activated by an opponent that would remove a card from your deck, it is not removed.
Protect
Cards that say “protect”, “<subject> may not be <verb>ed”, or “no <subject> may be <verb>ed”
are protect abilities. Protect abilities target the card(s) that gain protected status.
-Example: The first ability of Blue Tassels says “No character may be taken prisoner.” Since this
ability targets characters, it is a protect ability. It protects characters from being captured. If a
capture ability is activated, nothing will be captured. Characters cannot be protected from
themselves.
-Example: Thaddeus says “Protect all cards in play, set-aside area, Artifact piles, hands, and
decks from Evil Characters with toughness X or less.” (X is the # of good disciples Thaddeus’
controller has in play). Thaddeus with all 11 Disciples in play would protect all cards from evil
characters with */11 or less. This basically means that no card can be affected by any evil
character with printed toughness (plus any “EC gains X/X”, etc. abilities) or lower. If my
Enchanter blocks your Thad with 11 Disciples in play, anything I play on Enchanter cannot
target/affect any cards except Enchanter (since he cannot be protected from himself). If I were to
play Death of Unrighteous on Enchanter, I would be able to discard Enchanter, but my Lost
Souls would be protected by Thaddeus so I could not, in turn, protect them from rescue myself.
Also, Thad’s protect means that even if I were to get Enchanter’s strength (*/ ) to 8 or higher, he
would be unable to harm Thaddeus.
-Example: Judas Iscariot says “Protect this evil character from convert and discard abilities on
opponent’s cards while he remains in play.” This means that you could not target Judas with a
card that discards or converts him (including dominants), however he can still be discarded if he
loses a battle by numbers. A counter example is Enoch who says “Enoch may be removed from
v1.2
Edited by: Scott Bowen/browarod
Last updated: 6/29/11
the game, but is prevented from being discarded.” Enoch not only protects himself from cards
with discard abilities, he is also protected from being discarded by game rule. If Enoch loses a
battle by numbers, he is returned to territory.
Prevent
Cards that say “prevent” are prevent abilities. Prevent abilities target the abilities that they
prevent. A prevented ability does not activate and is not carried out.
-Example: King Cushan-Rishathaim says “Prevent the special ability of the next enhancement
opponent plays this battle.” This means that whatever enhancement your opponent plays next is
prevented and the ability does not work. The enhancement can still be played, and any abilities
(*/*) are still counted towards the hero, but the special ability doesn’t activate.
Exceptions to the above: Some older cards used outdated definitions of “prevent” and
“protect” when printed and have one or more of the above words but are not considered to be
those abilities. When in doubt, refer to who/what the ability is targeting (player, card, or ability)
to determine whether an ability is a prevent, protect, or restrict.
-Example: Enoch says “Enoch may be removed from the game, but is prevented from being
discarded.” Despite saying “prevented” Enoch is actually a protect ability because he targets
himself to not be discarded, he is not targeting cards with discard abilities.
Interrupt
Interrupt abilities are used to temporarily stop a previously completed card’s special ability until
the special ability on the interrupt card is complete. “Interrupt the battle” abilities interrupt all
ongoing abilities on characters and enhancements (such as protection, immunity, etc.), the last
enhancement played by an opponent, opponent special abilities causing you to lose by removal
(such as a capture ability), and opponent special abilities causing a mutual destruction (such as
Deluge of Rain).
-Example: Reach of Desperation says “You may interrupt the battle, draw three cards, and play
the next enhancement.” If your opponent played Net to capture you, you could play Reach to
interrupt Net, draw 3 cards, and then play an enhancement such as Authority of Christ to discard
their evil character before Net has a chance to reactivate. Since part of Reach’s ability is that you
get the chance to play an enhancement, the completion of that enhancement’s special ability is
considered part of Reach’s ability, therefore Net continues to be interrupted when AoC activates
and discards the evil character.
Negate
Cards that say “negate” or “interrupt and prevent” are negate abilities. Negate targets a special
ability and stops that ability from happening. Negate does not have any other effect on the card.
-Example: Spirit of Doubt says “Negate the special ability of one Hero in battle.” The targeted
hero’s special ability is negated, but his abilities (*/*) and presence in battle do not change, nor
does the status of any enhancements that hero may have already played that battle.
-Example: Holy Ground says “Negate and discard the last evil enhancement played in current
battle.” HG first negates the ability on the enhancement, and then discards it. If it just said
“Negate the last evil enhancement” then any numbers (*/*) on the enhancement would continue
to count for the evil character it was played on.
Your
”Your <something>” in a special ability refers to card(s) that you both own and control. A Lydia
that you drew and put in territory is your Lydia. An evil character you now control because you
swapped Seven Wicked Spirits for it is not yours because you do not own it.
Owner
Owner refers to the player whose deck the card belongs to. Even if you are borrowing a card
from another player, you are considered the owner of that card during gameplay. It is possible to
control cards not owned by you (such as with exchange or band abilities).
Immune
Cards that say “immune to” are immune abilities. When a character is immune to something, that
something cannot affect the immune character. The immune character is still able to affect the
thing they are immune to. Immunity targets the card gaining immune status. Characters cannot
be immune to themselves. Immunity is not a battle winning ability on its own. The immune
character must still have strength (*/ ) equal to or greater than the toughness ( /*) of the character
they are immune to otherwise the battle ends in stalemate. “Regardless of immunity” abilities
(such as Plague of Frogs) let you affect a character even if it is immune to you.
-Example: Red Dragon is immune to human heroes, so an enhancement played on a human hero
cannot affect Red Dragon, but an enhancement played on Red Dragon could harm the human
hero.
Ignore
Cards that say “ignore”, “repel”, “cannot block”, “cannot be blocked by” or “<something> has
no effect” are ignore abilities. Ignore is similar to immune, however it creates a situation where
the ignoring character cannot be harmed by what it is ignoring but the ignored something also
cannot be harmed by what is ignoring it. The something being ignored is losing the battle by
special ability and therefore has initiative to play any and all enhancements they want to,
however they cannot affect the ignoring character unless they interrupt or negate the ignore, or
gain cannot be ignored status (see the “It Cannot Be!” section on page 4). If the ignored character
is unable to interrupt or negate the ignore (or gain cannot be ignored), the ignoring character
wins the battle and both characters return to territory. Also, if a character outside battle is being
ignored, they are not able to enter battle while ignored. Ignore targets the characters/things being
ignored. Characters cannot ignore themselves.
-Example: The Garden Tomb says “If opponent has a redeemed Lost Soul, then Salome, Mary
Magdalene, Joanna, Peter, John, and Mary the mother of James ignore all evil brigades that do
not have at least two Characters in play.” This means that if I attack an opponent with 1+
redeemed souls with my Peter, they cannot block with King of Tyrus (orange) from their
territory unless there is at least one other orange-brigade evil character in play (it can be
controlled by any player) since KoT is being ignored and cannot enter battle.
Turn/Round
When a card references “end of turn”, “this turn”, or “opponent’s turn”, it is referring to the sum
total of the referenced player conducting each phase in order from Draw to Discard. When a card
references “<number of> turns” or “round”, it is referring to the sum total of each player taking
their sequence of phases once each.
-Example: Golgotha says “Return that card to its previous location at end of turn.” This instance
of turn is referring to the sequence of phases. During the next Discard Phase, the card on
Golgotha is returned to the discard pile or its owner’s hand (wherever it was before).
-Example: Feast of Trumpets says “Set aside all of your human Heroes for one turn.” This
instance of turn means from the time you set them aside until your next Upkeep Phase.
First Strike
First strike allows a character to survive a mutual destruction scenario. If both characters in battle
have strength (*/ ) equal to or higher than each other’s toughness ( /*) but one of them has first
strike, the one without will be discarded as normal but the character with first strike would
survive. First strike has no effect if the character possessing it does not have sufficient strength to
be defeating their opponent’s toughness, and in that case the character is still discarded. First
strike is also considered when determining initiative.
-Example: If Ehud (7/4 hero with first strike) is blocked by any character with less than 8
toughness, the blocker would have initiative to play the first enhancement since Ehud’s first
strike is making him survive and win the battle.
It Cannot Be!
Protects hiding as “Cannot be”s
Some older cards say “cannot be” but are really protects. If a card says “cannot be <something>”
and that something is not one of the abilities listed below (“cannot be taken prisoner”, “cannot be
converted”, etc.) it is really a protect ability and you should refer to the Protect section on page 1.
Cannot be ignored
Cannot be ignored is an ability that grants a status to the character(s) it targets. It basically
creates a situation where any ignore ability played is treated as saying “Ignore <something>
(unless it cannot be ignored).”
-Example: If you ignore my crimson evil characters with No Need for Spices, I can put a crimson
evil enhancement on my Golgotha to grant my NT crimson characters cannot be ignored status.
This effectively undoes NNfS’s ability and returns the battle to whatever status it is based on
numbers or other abilities.
Cannot be prevented
Cards with “cannot be prevented” are not affected by negates or prevents in effect before they
are played. They can, however, be interrupted or negated after being played.
-Example: If the Jeremiah 11:8 Lost Soul is in your land of bondage, and there are no Covenants
in play, the first evil enhancement you play each battle is granted “cannot be prevented by a good
card” status. Even if your opponent attempts a rescue with Captain of the Host (who negates all
non-weapon class special abilities except banding and his own ability), your first enhancement
would still activate since it has cannot be prevented status.
Cannot be interrupted
Cards with “cannot be interrupted” are not affected by negates or interrupts that come into effect
after they are played. They can, however, be prevented before being played.
-Example: If I block with Damsel with Spirit of Divination and you later play Abraham's Servant
to Ur to negate all abilities except banding, I get to keep the cards I drew with Damsel’s special
ability because her ability cannot be interrupted. However, if you put Jacob into battle and
played Abe’s Servant to Ur before Damsel entered battle, if I block with her I would not be able
to draw since you are preventing her ability.
Cannot be negated
Cards with “cannot be negated”, “cannot be interrupted or prevented”, or “cannot be interrupted,
prevented, or negated” are not affected by prevents or negates played before them, nor by
interrupts or negated played after them. It is basically the same as having both “cannot be
interrupted” and “cannot be prevented”.
-Example: Authority of Christ (promo) cannot be negated, so I could play it even if you blocked
with King of Tyrus (because AoCP cannot be prevented) and you couldn’t play Deafening Spirit
to counter it (because AoCP cannot be interrupted).
In summary:
-“Cannot be prevented” can only be negated or interrupted after it is played.
-“Cannot be interrupted” can only be negated or prevented before it is played.
-“Cannot be negated” cannot be negated or prevented before it is played nor negated or
interrupted after it is played.
Battle Outcomes
Abilities Present
Immunity vs. Immunity
Outcome of Battle
Since neither character can affect the other, the battle is a stalemate.
Ignore vs. Immunity
If the immunity was active first, ignoring the immune character
results in a stalemate (as neither can affect the other). If the ignore
was active first, the outcome follows normal ignore rules.
Ignore vs. Ignore
Whichever ignore was active first takes precedence and normal
ignore rules apply.
First Strike vs. First Strike If both sides of the battle have first strike, whichever side gained it
first takes precedence. For example, if Ehud is blocked by King So,
Ehud’s first strike would take effect and King So’s would not. King
So would have initiative.