RulingHall of Heroes (rules 1.6)2024-09-26

16 – I have a question relating to how we now place a card on the table when trying to initiate playing it,…

Question

16 – I have a question relating to how we now place a card on the table when trying to initiate playing it, and how this allows us to immediately turn over the top of Magik’s deck when she is in hero form if playing a card from the top of her deck. What happens when I, playing Magik, attempt to play Mutant Protectors from the top of my deck but try to overpay with the only X-Men ally in my hand, spending said ally as a resource? I believe that, following the steps in Initiating Abilities, we can reach Step 5 before choosing what to pay with.
Which means Mutant Protectors has been moved from the top of my deck and onto the table, and I can see the next card on top of my deck now. If I play Mutant Protectors from the top of my deck, it’s discounted by 1. But you can choose to overpay for cards, so I could still effectively “spend” the ally from my hand on it before we get around to resolving it, is that correct? And if so, Mutant Protectors can no longer be paid for as its effect does not have a target as per the cost rules. Is this correct? Where does Mutant Protectors end up? Where does the ally I was trying to overpay for it end up? Has Magik’s ability to play a card from the top of her deck been consumed?

Answer

Say you’re playing Magik and have Mutant Protectors on the top of your deck and an X-Men ally in your hand. You can declare you’re playing MP using your ability (at which point you have a valid target for MP), then place MP on the table, overpaying its cost and discarding the X-men ally to do so. In this case, MP will attempt to resolve, but since it has no valid target anymore, its ability “fizzles” (nothing happens, but it’s still considered played), and it is placed in your discard pile. Magik’s ability will be considered resolved for that phase.

— Alex