3 questions on The Wall (neutral)

[Testacleas 0]

The Wall says "Challenges: Put one Night's Watch character into play from your hand, Knelt as a defender, during any challenge declared against you. (Limit once per challenge.) Return that character to your hand at the end of the phase if it is still in play."

Question 1: Can you use this ability if you have no other characters who can defend in a challenge.

Question 2: Can you put a Night's Watch character into play as a defender, using the wall, during a challenge in which the character does not have the appropriate icon for that challenge type.

Question 3: Can you use the wall to put a character into play as a defender if you can't "declare" defenders. (or does putting the character into play as a defender count as "declaring" a defender.)

[Testacleas 0]

Sorry a friend of mine want "specifics," even though there are other examples of this type of situation.  Thanks for the help.

[ktom 598]

Testacleas said:

Question 1: Can you use this ability if you have no other characters who can defend in a challenge.

Of course. The card doesn't say anything about there having to be other defenders in the challenge before you can use The Wall. It just says to drop the character in. Compare the text to something like Catelyn Stark - which also doesn't require another defender - and contrast to something like Guardian Wolf - which requires there to be a Lord or a Lady in the challenge before it can jump in.

Testacleas said:

Question 2: Can you put a Night's Watch character into play as a defender, using the wall, during a challenge in which the character does not have the appropriate icon for that challenge type.

Of course. The card doesn't say anything about an icon requirement. And the rules only check the icons when you declare a character as an attacker or defender - which you are certainly not doing here. In general, a character does not need to have the appropriate icon in order to participate or count its STR in a particular challenge type. There is even an entry in the FAQ that says a character stays in a challenge after it is participating, even if it loses its icon mid-challenge. The character only needs to have the icon to be declared as an attacker or defender - which has nothing to do with The Wall.

Plus, how pointless would The Wall be if it only worked on NW characters that already had icons, given that most of them don't have much in the way of icons to begin with?

Testacleas said:

Question 3: Can you use the wall to put a character into play as a defender if you can't "declare" defenders. (or does putting the character into play as a defender count as "declaring" a defender.)

If putting the character into the challenge with The Wall counted as "declaring" it as a defender, the card would say so. Without anything specifically equating the two anywhere on the card or in the rules, you really can't say they are the same thing. It's like the difference between "playing" a card and "putting it into play." They are two completely different mechanics that have similar results.

 

Please don't take this the wrong way, but what was it that made you think the card did something or was subject to more restrictions than are specified anywhere in the rules or the card's text?

[Testacleas 0]

I don't take it offence. Thank you very much for answering my questions. Unfortunatly we have a friend in our play group that wont belive a card works the way we explaine unless hat exact card and exact situation has been asked about on the forums. I showed every scrap of rules and other examples I could find but this is what he wanted. I even asked "what prevents this card from working in this way."  He is under the understanding also you have to have the corrasponding icon to even be part of the challenge.  Tried explaining that icons are for declaring attackers and defenders but couldn't find that exact of a reading in the rules or FAQ.

Again thanks for you patience in answering my questions.

[radiskull 39]

 Your friend didn't look very hard.  This is the FIRST frequently asked question in the current FAQ:

"If my character loses a military icon in
the middle of a military challenge, is that
character removed from the challenge?

No. Once a character is in a challenge, it can
only be removed from that challenge by an
effect that specifically removes the character
from a challenge, an effect that removes
the character from play, or by an effect that
changes control of that character. Gaining or
losing icons mid-challenge does not affect the
attacking or defending status of that character."