Official Rules Question Thread

Actually I think it’s the opposite. The effect that keeps currents in play is a constant effect. The EStrike is removed by scoring a Chronos Project and because the 3c in this case is not a “when scored” ability (like PE, which does not have a chance to trigger with EStrike up) it doesn’t need to be active at the time of scoring but rather at the time the ability on Hostile Takeover is resolved.

Yes, I believe this is true, as I see that the definition of constant abilities has been updated recently (p. 6 of FAQ 4.1 and p.4 of RR), but it doesn’t seem like it applies to card written long ago. We know that Kit’s ability is still a constant (even if it meets the definition of a triggered ability). The question about Kit is still in the latest FAQ (4.1 from 10/23/2017) even though that FAQ has the new definition of constant abilities:

How does Rielle “Kit” Peddler’s ability interact with bypassing a piece of ice? Is there any way to bypass a piece of ice and make the next piece of ice a code gate?
There is no way to bypass a piece of ice and then make the next piece of ice a code gate. Rielle “Kit” Peddler makes the first piece of ice encountered a code gate, and this is a constant ability. The Runner encounters any ice bypassed, and cannot choose to resolve the bypass ability before Kit’s constant ability, because the constant ability is always active.
(p. 16, emphasis mine)

This ruling spurred the categorization of ordinal abilities as constant in this ANCUR post sometime in 2015: Abilities Explanation Ruling | Android Netrunner Comprehensive Unofficial Rules Wiki | Fandom

So, the larger question is how do we treat old cards like Kit and Order of Sol that were released long ago (before that semi-official ruling in 2015), given the new definition? I’ve seen rules expert say in the past that we still play old cards how they used to be ruled. Clearly, old ordinal abilities like Kit’s are still documented be ruled as constant. Or does FFG and/or NISEI need to update and clarify in the FAQ to eliminate old vs. new card design and their rulings?

The primary distinction is Kit just says “the first ice” as a qualifier of which ice the constant ability applies to. Order of Sol on the other hand says “the first time” a thing happens, which defines a trigger.

Best place to look now is actually in the official Rules Reference which has very clearly laid out definitions for all the ability types.

2 Likes

Thanks, that distinction clears this up quite a bit.

Rules questions:

Can you play Media Blitz if the runner hasn’t scored any agendas*?
Can you play Media Blitz if the runner hasn’t scored any agendas with text?
Can you play Media Blitz if the runner hasn’t scored any agendas with text with a functional effect?

Are the answers different if a current is active?

*I’m using “hasn’t scored any agendas” to mean “doesn’t have any agendas in their score area”. I kinda didn’t feel like fixing it after noticing that I probably should, even though this footnote probably took longer to write than fixing it would have.

2 Likes

No.

Can you play Media Blitz if the runner hasn’t scored any agendas with text?

No.

Can you play Media Blitz if the runner hasn’t scored any agendas with text with a functional effect?

Yes, gaining any text is a change to game state.

Are the answers different if a current is active?

No, the game state change is an chain reaction off of having any current, but Media Blitz itself doesn’t have potential to change the game (unless it did).

1 Like

Is it possible to re-trigger Viral Weaponization with 24/7 News Cycle?
I assume not since it is not explicitly a “when scored” ability. Could anyone confirm this for me?

Correct, that is not allowed.

1 Like

Does the tagging effect of Acme Consulting last for the whole encounter, even when the encountered ice isn’t the outermost ice for the whole encounter?

Example: Acme has a 2-ice server, with Enigma (or whatever) as the inner ice and Pachinko as the outer(most) ice. Runner has Surfer installed and no tags. Runner runs that 2-ice server, hits Pachinko, and is considered tagged (by Acme). Runner pays for Surfer to swap Pachinko with Enigma. Is the runner still tagged? My understanding is that the encounter continues after using Surfer, but Pachinko is no longer the outermost ice (Enigma is). What happens if the Runner lets the subroutines on Pachinko fire now - ETR or nothing?

When the Pachinko is swapped down, it is still the same encounter but it is no longer an encounter with the outermost piece of ice. Acme will no longer apply an additional tag to the runner.

3 Likes

“If the Runner plays By Any Means, then accesses a Corp card that has a “When accessed…” ability (such as Snare! or Archangel), By Any Means resolves first, trashing the accessed card and preventing it from resolving.”

Is this true also on the An Offer You Can’t Refuse runs when corp effects are before the runner?

Nope. Simultaneous conditional abilities are always resolved Active Player first then Inactive Player.

1 Like

That’s what I expected. I think An Offer You Can’t Refuse deserves a good FAQ entry which explains things that happen differently because the run happens on corp’s turn.

1 Like

When I carefully read the text on Glut Cypher, I imagined it to be a nice card for my Friday Chip+Consume Khumalo. Five tokens on each for a card? I call that a deal!

But now I read UFAQ 22, where Boggs says “Effects that care about the Runner trashing cards will not meet their trigger conditions from Glut Cipher’s effect.” Can someone explain to me why this is not eligible?

There are times when the Runner trashes corp cards and there are times when the corp trashes corp cards.

Glut is forcing the corp to trash corp cards, so anything that triggers from the runner trashing cards (Hostile in the given example) doesn’t trigger as the runner is not trashing anything, the corp is, even though it’s from an effect played by the runner.

Ah that’s a sentence you can read in two ways. Since I am not a native speaker, I missed those fine lines:
If successful, instead of accessing cards, force the Corp to choose 5 cards from Archives and add them to HQ, if able, then trash that many cards from HQ at random.

So it says “force the corp to choose and trash” and not “force the corp to choose and (you) trash”, right?
(edited)

1 Like

It’s all one sentence, so yes the Corp choses and trashes.

FWIW, it’s really natural to read it your way, even for native speakers. They could have avoided the ambiguity just by not switching to the bare infinitive (“force the corp to choose 5 cards…then to trash that many cards,” but that would have opened a can of worms (do we need to make the sentence even clumsier to make it clear that the corp is also the one adding them to HQ?))

3 Likes

“That many” is also quite unclear. The only amount mentioned is five, so the obvious reading would be that they always trash five cards. It’s plain from the ruling that it means “the number of cards they added from archives,” but grammatically there’s no clear antecedent for that.

It’s hard to think of wording fixes that don’t make the card text a fair bit longer, though.

2 Likes

Good point…I guess the “if able” means it could be 5 or 0 (so the corp can trash 0 cards by Cricking down to 4 in Archives or whatever), which, as you say, there are more precise but wordier ways of formulating.

Weird card.