RulingHall of Heroes (rules 1.0–1.4)

Expansion card questions: I’ve seen a ruling that you plan to update the rules to where if a defending ally is defeated before the…

Question

I’ve seen a ruling that you plan to update the rules to where if a defending ally is defeated before the attack resolves like through a boost effect, that you can then use shield block to have your identity become the new defender because it has the (defense) label and it’s triggering condition would become true. A few questions on this.
1. Do you plan to have the rules expand “defeated” to include other ways of leaving play” like if the ally was “discarded”(corvus glaive minion boost ability) or leaves play some other way before the attack resolves? (New X-Men nightcrawler ally)
2.Is a new defender going to be limited to being the identity of the controlling player of the defeated ally and specifically through (defense) abilities? OR do you plan to allow a new defender to be any character thats able to exhaust (basic DEF power or if an ally just exhaust) or is that step going to remain as passed at that point and be limited to (defense) abilities?
3.If the Corvus Glaive villain attacks a hero with 1 hp left. The hero defends. That hero is defeated by a boost effect (say, Concussive Blast). What happens? Is that attack considered to be defended (because the hero defended originally, even though they were defeated), and thus the Avengers Tower isn’t damaged? Or is the attack undefended (because the “defender” was defeated) and thus the Avengers Tower damaged? Or does the attack simply cease to exist (because the “defender” was defeated before the attack could resolve)?
4. Does the answer to #3, above, change if the hero did NOT defend originally?

Answer

1. The planned change to the Defend rules is that if the defending ally were to leave play due to a boost ability, a Defense ability card can be played to make an identity the defender of the attack. Since this occurs AFTER a player could normally declare a character as a defender, a basic defense cannot be used.

2. Since only one player can defend against an attack, only the player that was controlling the discarded ally can play a Defense event.

3. If a boost ability defeats a defending character, that attack would be considered undefended; this will also apply if the defending character was your identity. If you are defeated by a boost ability, Corvus Glaive’s attack would be considered undefended, and he would damage Avengers Tower.

4. No, nothing would be different.

-Alex