RulingHall of Heroes (rules 1.7)2026-04-30

I have come across some conflicting rulings from the past regarding attack events like Return the Favor and…

Question

I have come across some conflicting rulings from the past regarding attack events like Return the Favor and Thor’s Defender of the Nine Realms, as well as thwart events like Looking for Trouble. These cards follow a cost → effect structure.
1. If resolving the cost results in a minion with Guard/Patrol engaging me – the way I understand it, steps 6 and 7 under “Initiating Abilities” in the rulebook would prevent the ability from being initiated, since the minion engages during the cost part. Is that correct?
2. What happens if, as part of the effect, my hero becomes stunned or confused? In the 1.6 rulebook and the new 1.7, both statuses are worded as applying to the hero’s next action. How is this timing handled here? Is the status considered to apply the current action during the cost step, or does it only apply after the ability has been initiated? In other words, would the status cause the attack or thwart to “fizzle”, or does the action still fully resolve?

Answer

Under “Initiating Abilities”, the cost of the card/ability is paid in step 5, and the ability’s effect is initiated during step 6. If, through paying that cost, a status card is placed on the player’s identity or a minion with guard/patrol engages the player, this can prevent the ability’s effect from initiating during step 6. If a hero is stunned when they play Return the Favor, then they’d proceed through the sequence of Initiating Abilities, and when they reach step 6, they discard the stunned status card instead of initiating the effects of Return the Favor.

Similarly, if a hero is not stunned when they play Return the Favor, but during step 5 they reveal a treachery that stuns them, then during step 6 they’d still discard the stunned status card instead of dealing damage. It shouldn’t matter when before step 6 the hero is stunned; so long as the hero is stunned when they reach step 6, the status card takes effect. In a similar vein, if paying the cost of Defender of the Nine Realms causes a minion with patrol to engage Thor at step 5 of the Initiating Abilities sequence, then Thor cannot initiate the effect of Defender’s ability to remove threat.

— Alex