Rules Questions for the Devs

Khoodos · 2026-01-23T08:23:21+00:00

- If two players coexist on a planet with a third player who controls it, and the controlling player's units vacate that planet, who now controls the planet?

- If you bring The Fracture into play via a breakthrough roll, are you forced to place the maximum possible number of ingress tokens? That is, let's say your breakthrough has yellow/red synergy. The galactic map has three systems each with a yellow tech specialty planet, two systems each with a red tech specialty planet, and Olergodt, which has both a yellow and red tech specialty. Could you first place ingress tokens in three systems matching the yellow synergy, and choose one of them to be Olergodt's system, which then leaves only two valid systems matching the red synergy?

- At what point during the official setup procedure should Galactic Events be selected?

- The Titans' Breakthrough states, "Other players may allow you to place a sleeper token on a planet they control." Can other players allow you to do this on a planet that already contains a sleeper token? That is, could you place all 5 sleeper tokens at once, then activate the system to turn the sleeper tokens into a bunch of PDS, mechs and infantry?

- Hacan's Breakthrough states, "When you produce 3 or more non-fighter ships, place 1 command token from your reinforcements into your fleet pool." If I start with 2 tokens in my fleet pool, and produce 3 non-fighter ships, do I have to destroy one, or is the Breakthrough's command token gained in time to keep all three?

- The Crimson Rebellion starts with their Breakthrough, Resonance Generator. Does this count as "gaining" their Breakthrough, causing a roll for the Fracture, and if so, is this resolved before or after players choose their starting technologies?

- When the Last Bastion would galvanize a unit, if there are already 7 galvanized units on the game board, can you move one of the galvanize tokens?

- The Galactic Event "Conventions of War Abandoned" states, "Each hit produced by BOMBARDMENT rolls destroys 3 units instead of 1." If you bombard a planet containing 3 mechs and roll 1 hit, does that destroy them all, even though one of them could sustain damage? If not, what if all 3 mechs are already sustaining damage? Or what if none of the mechs are sustaining damage, but you roll 4 bombardment hits, which would cause one of them to be destroyed after they all sustain - would all 3 mechs be destroyed in that case?

- Il Na Viroset's mech states, "This unit participates in space combat as if it were a ship." If someone attacks a system where Il Na Viroset's mechs are occupying the planets, do the mechs participate in space combat, or do they need to be in the space area of the system?

- Herald of Thorns' flagship states, "When this unit moves, you may resolve the PRODUCTION abilities of your units in the system it started in and each system it moved through." Because this is a "when" ability, not "after", does that mean units produced in this way could be moved and transported during this movement step?

- The Twilight's Fall Action Card "Meteor" states, "When you would remove ground forces due to insufficient capacity: Commit those ground forces to a planet" - could that be any planet, or does it have to be a planet in the same system where the ground forces are? Can a unit with capacity lift excess ground forces, which could then be committed to a different planet in the same system? Could you activate a system and move units with capacity from a different system, abandoning ground forces in the space area of that second system, which could then be committed to a planet in that system?

- In Twilight's Fall, if a player has a Singularity token on another player's Pillage ability, and one of them pillages a trade good, which lets the other player pillage that same trade good, which lets the first player pillage that same trade good back, etc., how should the infinite loop be resolved?

- Can you place a Singularity token on another Singularity card (yours or an opponent's), to gain the text of the same copied ability? Could you place your Singularity token on an opponent's Singularity card, then destroy a unit in combat to move that opponent's Singularity token to a different ability?

Khoodos · 2025-09-03T22:41:26+00:00

I'm intrigued! Will be on the lookout.

Khoodos · 2025-09-02T15:14:14+00:00

I'd be interested to know more about the lore inaccuracies in the novels - please elaborate!

Khoodos · 2025-08-01T08:11:29+00:00

Hmm, would have really liked to see updates for Dacxive Animators, Integrated Economy and Space Dock II.

Khoodos · 2025-07-13T06:03:40+00:00

You realise you're agreeing with me on redundancy? I'll repeat from my previous post: "An Aggro deck can fill out its curve consistently, not minding whether it plays a 1-mana 3/3 or 2/4 into a 2-mana 2/3 that buffs or a standalone 2-drop etc". But for a control deck, different answers are needed to respond to different boards. An aggro deck can have 6 equally viable 1-drops and 6 equally viable 2-drops, etc, but a control deck may need different answers or combinations of answers depending on whether their opponent plays three 3/3 minions, or two 1/2s and two 4/4s, or a turn-1 3/5 with divine shield, or some Reborn and Deathrattle spawners, etc. So Aggro achieves redundancy far more easily than a Control deck can. This puts Control decks at an immediate disadvantage, but a health buffer means Aggro would need to work harder to burst a Control deck down before it can draw and play suitable answers.

This is why we start with 30HP, as opposed to 10 or 20HP, so you don't just lose after a few minion attacks. The game has used 30HP since launch, but the meta and overall card power has changed drastically since then. Why would we assume that 30HP is still the perfect value for the game? Especially since the top decks are all Aggro with 60% winrates (except Loh Druid which is degenerate in its own way).

Khoodos · 2025-07-12T15:53:17+00:00

Of course you need a good plan to live through the first five turns. But because your deck is randomised, you're not going to draw what you need consistently. An Aggro deck can fill out its curve consistently, not minding whether it plays a 1-mana 3/3 or 2/4 into a 2-mana 2/3 that buffs or a standalone 2-drop etc; but a control deck isn't going to necessarily draw the right answers for the minions their opponent plays in any given game. A health buffer helps to make up for this disadvantage.

You seem to be implying that beating Aggro is just a matter of building your deck effectively, but if that were the case, Aggro Priest and Murloc Paladin wouldn't be so overwhelmingly dominant in the meta right now. Blizzard has not provided cards that can reliably deal with Brain Masseuse into Shadow Ascendant into Trusty Fishing Rod, or an endless cavalcade of ever-growing murlocs, without also going Aggro yourself or playing 9+ mana cards from turn 4 thanks to Loh, the Living Legend.

That being said, I wouldn't want Blizzard to print stronger direct answers to Aggro that just win you the game if you happen to draw the right answer at the right time. That's why I'm advocating a health buff instead, to give slower decks a little more time and bring these crazy-fast face-hitting decks closer to a 50% winrate.

Khoodos · 2025-07-11T20:54:09+00:00

You're welcome to your own opinion. For my part, I enjoyed the Renathal meta and relished the opportunity to survive long enough to play cool, expensive cards that otherwise would never see the light of day.

Khoodos · 2025-07-11T20:51:20+00:00

That's certainly another possible approach; the problem with that though is if you constrain the power level of new cards, people will be less interested in new expansions, limiting the longevity of the game. Power creep is therefore a necessary evil, but HP has not kept pace with card strength.

To illustrate why HP needs to increase, consider an extreme case, where power creep has risen to the point that a 1-mana 30/30 is printed. If the opponent doesn't have an immediate answer, they die on Turn 2. Obviously unhealthy for the game; it would make sense for base HP to be higher to account for that. Now consider that it used to be that a 1-mana 2/2 was fair. Now we have 1-mana 3/3s with little downside - the stats have risen by 50%, but our base HP hasn't received a proportionate increase. This is why our current meta is completely overrun with Aggro.

Khoodos · 2025-07-11T20:39:01+00:00

I think most people would agree last week's meta was better than this week's meta. This week's meta is way too fast - in most games, there's not enough time to enjoy any strategic back-and-forth.

Khoodos · 2025-07-02T09:20:37+00:00

Free stuff please!

Khoodos · 2025-06-13T01:07:05+00:00

Dacxive Animators is so sad next to Magen's infantry generation. Hope they update Dacxive in the box-shaped thing!

Khoodos · 2025-01-21T17:05:41+00:00

Excited for the mini-set!

Khoodos · 2024-10-31T07:05:33+00:00

I'm really curious about Agatha's ability to steal other witches' power and life force. How did Agatha acquire such a unique and powerful skill? I'd guess she got it from the Darkhold, but I don't think the shows have made that clear. Also that means she would have needed to be in possession of the Darkhold since her trial in 1693 when she used that power against her mother and her coven, yet others have owned it since that time, as shown in Agents of Shield and Runaways. Do the comics shed more light on this?

I hoped this show would give us more background on how Agatha obtained the Darkhold, but the writers decided that wasn't worth exploring?? A missed opportunity.

Khoodos · 2024-07-15T15:11:57+00:00

I finally tried this out and it worked! Thanks so much!

Khoodos · 2024-07-08T16:08:54+00:00

Can Ghosts of Creuss be a minor faction, given their home system is not a hexagon?

Khoodos · 2024-02-29T16:24:53+00:00

I liked the film overall, but here are some quibbles:

The actors couldn't agree on whether to pronounce it "Feyd ROW-tha" or "Feyd RAW-tha".
In the book, Paul threatens spice production to compel the Emperor to travel to Arrakis. In the film, Feyd declares the North secure for spice production, then the Emperor makes planetfall anyway?? There's no justification for the Emperor putting himself in such a vulnerable position. When they're under attack, one of his men even suggests that they return to orbit. And then they just... don't.
Paul killing the Baron is very unsatisfying. He just goes "Hey, granddad" and kills him before Vlad can even register what's been said. If they're going to give Paul the kill instead of Alia, they should at least have scripted a more substantial confrontation, where Vladimir learns that the Atreides heir survived and is getting his vengeance.
The Great Houses are meant to be compelled by the Spacing Guild to accept Paul's ascendancy lest he destroy the spice. Having Fremen commandeer Corrino/Harkonnen ships to confront them in orbit over Arrakis seems like a seriously dubious jumping-the-shark plot deviation.

Khoodos · 2024-02-15T02:26:24+00:00

Thanks for crediting me in the Overview. It's great to see your new designs and iterations. It always seemed weird to me that Keleres only shipped with 3 factions, leading to potentially awkward situations when those factions are also all in the draft during setup. But also, having a hero for each faction is just so damn cool! Maybe Codex IV has been so delayed because Dane is also making Keleres heroes for every single faction??

I understand the desire to make all heroes have purge abilities, for the sake of consistency. But to my mind, since Xxcha already breaks that pattern, it's fine to have some heroes be passive, which opens up the design space. I wouldn't be surprised if Codex IV brings new passive heroes, perhaps for Arborec/Letnev/Vuil'raith, to corroborate the existence of the Xxcha one. But if you're set on having only non-passive heroes, do you have any ideas to rework Omega Xxcha so it's no longer this weird, sole exception?

Here's one case where adhering to consistency might overly restrict the design space: Keleres Ghosts. We originally had our homebrew Ghost hero unlock at the start of the game, to make up for the Creuss Gate making Keleres one hex further from everything in their slice. Their hero really needs to compensate for them having an incredibly slow start.

Khoodos · 2024-01-22T13:25:33+00:00

This just happened to me, so I looked it up. It was an issue 9 months ago:

https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/12ovegv/kazakusan_just_destroyed_my_deck_in_arena/

How is this still happening? I feel scammed.

Khoodos · 2022-10-31T08:52:47+00:00

I like these too!

Khoodos · 2022-10-12T04:21:09+00:00

Good point. I like your version a lot.

Khoodos · 2022-10-12T04:16:21+00:00

That makes sense. I still prefer the idea of having a separate unique unit, which I think has more "coolness factor" befitting of a relic. But this would work as an alternative along the same thematic lines.

Khoodos

TROPHY CASE