RulingHall of Heroes (rules 1.0–1.4)

Colossus: So, we are hyped for Colossus! Looks like an elegant and instantly classic design. But the community doesn’t…

Question

So, we are hyped for Colossus! Looks like an elegant and instantly classic design. But the community doesn’t quite know how the card “Armor Up” (Mutant Genesis 10) works. We think the intent is that it changes the activation of the villain to an attack, but there doesn’t seem to be anything that says this can happen in the activation entry or the rules that supports this. What happens if I play “Armor Up” when the villain activates against me? In contrast what happens when I play it for an activation (scheme) on another player ? Additionally can I use it when the villain is confused? If the activation changes to an attack, would a stunned status effect still replace the activation, or would the ruling on “Widow’s Bite” (Black Widow 10) apply?

Answer

During Step 2 of the Villain Phase, the villain activates against each player, and determines whether it attacks or schemes against each player. Armor Up can interrupt this determination; if Colossus is in Alter-Ego Form when the villain activates against him, he can choose to play Armor Up to switch to Hero form as an interrupt and change the villain’s activation from a scheme activation to an attack activation. Armor Up can also be played when the villain activates against another player, though it would not affect how the villain activates against that player.

If the villain was Confused, and tried to activate while Colossus was in Alter-Ego form, the villain would not activate and instead discard Confused. Colossus could not play Armor Up as an interrupt to that. However, if the villain was Stunned, and Colossus was in Alter-Ego form, the villain would attempt to activate (scheme). Colossus could play Armor Up as an Interrupt to that activation, forcing the villain to attempt an attack activation instead, during which it would discard Stunned.

-Alex