RulingHall of Heroes (rules 1.5)2023-10-12

100 – We received a ruling prior to the 1.5 rules reference regarding LastStand, that effectively says if…

Question

100 – We received a ruling prior to the 1.5 rules reference regarding LastStand, that effectively says if you use LastStand on an ordinary ally while it’s attacking with 1 hp left, it is defeated by consequential damage before LastStand can discard it. The ruling says that consequential damage triggers first because consequential damage is considered part of the attack – but according to the new rules reference, under the section for consequential damage, it states that consequential damage comes after the attack.
Which suggests to me that LastStand should actually come first. It is also part of the rules that responses to basic attacks from allies come after the attack is finished but before consequential damage.
This is how I read it: Step 1: An ally uses its ATK to initiate a basic attack. Step 2: The attack is resolved. Step 3: You may use responses to the attack. Step 4: The ally takes consequential damage. Could you please clarify at what step LastStand discards the ally and how it interacts with Med Lab? Also, how does this interact with Rapid Response?

Answer

In essence, Last Stand will discard an ally before consequential damage would be dealt to that ally. The delayed effect on Last Stand makes sense to us as resolving at a similar timing point as a Response to the attack, like the ability on Tigra, which occurs before consequential damage. We wouldn’t claim this is the case for every delayed effect, but this seems like the right call for Last Stand.

This new ruling would mean that playing Last Stand on an ally wouldn’t cause it to be defeated by consequential damage, so the ally could not be targeted by the response on Med Lab.

And, since the ally would be discarded but not defeated, Rapid Response couldn’t target it either.

— Alex