RulingHall of Heroes (rules 1.0–1.4)

Wolverine: I sent a message last week hoping to confirm my understanding of multi-sentence abilities. The bulk of the…

Question

I sent a message last week hoping to confirm my understanding of multi-sentence abilities. The bulk of the questions in that message concerned abilities in the form “Effect 1. Cost->Effect 2.”, based on the latest rulings at that time, that seemed to reverse earlier rulings that stated ‘Effect 1’ was part of the Cost. I have since seen a more recent ruling, on Steel Fist and Defender of the Nine Realms (https://hallofheroeslcg.com/latest-ffg-rulings/#126), that implies that my understanding of abilities of this type was incorrect, that we should use the earlier rulings to understand these abilities, and that the form for these abilities is more accurately “Cost 1. Cost 2->Effect.” 1: Is that correct? 2: Also, if so, could you offer some clarity on the coming event from Wolverine’s pack, Berserker Barrage (Wolverine #8)? This event reads “Hero Action (attack): Deal 4 damage to an enemy. If this attack defeats an enemy, you may take 2 damage -> repeat this ability.”
So, applying the form “Cost 1. Cost 2->Effect.”, to this ability, the effect here is “repeat this ability”. 3: Meaning that the ability itself, ignoring costs, does not change the game state. How then can this ability be initiated? 4: Or does repeating the ability allow the costs of the second resolution of the ability to be taken into account when assessing whether the ability is capable of changing the game state? 5: And if this is the case, does that mean that one must always repeat the ability at least once to make playing it legal? 6: Also, how does the ability stop repeating (outside of either running out of enemies to damage to HP on Wolverine), if each repeat is then dependent on the next repeat to make the resolution of the ability legal? 7: Finally, wouldn’t the entire chain of repeats collapse as soon as you either choose to stop repeating, or are forced to, because repeat N cannot resolve if repeat N+1 doesn’t?

Answer

Expanding on recent clarifications of cost arrows, note that everything before a cost arrow is considered the “cost” to resolve the “effect” that comes after the cost arrow. So, with Berserker Barrage, the “cost” to resolve its “effect” (repeating the ability) means that everything before the cost arrow is considered part of the “cost”: Dealing 4 damage + defeating an enemy + taking 2 damage.
It is possible to repeat Berserker Barrage’s ability multiple times, as long as all costs are paid.
“Repeat this ability” does satisfy “changing the game state”, because “repeating this ability” indicates that you will be at the very least dealing 4 damage to an enemy.
You are not required to repeat Berserker Barrage’s ability if you cannot or do not want to. The ability gives you a choice of dealing 2 damage to Wolverine after having defeated an enemy–if you do, you repeat the ability; if you don’t, you stop repeating the ability and end the attack.

-Alex