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I think people are overcomplicating it, mostly on trying to perceive the benefit of a certain ability.Maybe I have some wacky combo to play Zeal, and I want to band to Woman at the Well and fish out my opponent's Prince of This World. In that instance, grabbing the EC is the "benefit" because of what I gain from having that character in your territory. Using this method to determine cost/benefit is subjective and riddled with potential problems.Differentiating between cost/benefit abilities and others boils down simply to the word "to" in like 95% of cases. Do ability X "to" do ability Y. Discard this "to" capture that.If an ability says "Draw a card. Band a Hero into battle. Discard the top card of your deck", those are separate abilities, and each one is completed independently of the other. If there are no cards left in deck, obviously you cannot do the last one, and probably not the first one. You can still band a Hero into battle because it's not tied to anything.If an ability says "draw three cards" and you only have two cards, do you draw nothing? No, you just draw what's left, and that's all you get. If an ability says "discard four Evil Characters" and there are only two in play, do you discard nothing? No, you discard what's there, and that's all you get. If there are four ECs, and two are yours, too bad for you, four Evil Characters get canned.Notice the card Mayhem: shuffle hand into deck TO draw six. Why "to"? Cost/benefit was actually employed as a safeguard here. If the card said "discard hand and draw six", and your hand was protected from discard, you got six free cards. Instead, discard TO draw dictates that if you do not discard, you cannot draw. However, even if you have no cards in deck, the discard is required no matter which way the ability is written.If there is not a cost/benefit involved, and there is not a "may" that makes an ability/abilities optional, then you always must carry out the full ability of the card as much as you are able.
mmmmmm...then I disagree...but really i don't think a correct answer can be reached.
Quote from: ejberkenpas22 on August 16, 2009, 08:00:03 PMmmmmmm...then I disagree...but really i don't think a correct answer can be reached.There is a correct answer that can be reached because cost/benefit is laid out in the syntax of a card. WatW does not say "search for an EC TO search for a Lost Soul." It does not say "Search for an EC and place in opponent's territory. If you place an EC, you may search for a Lost Soul." It says to search for two cards of these specific types.Cost/benefit types are clearly laid out as having one ability that MUST take place and one that takes place IF the condition of the first is met. Something might be included as a balancing factor, but that unto itself does not constitute a cost. Only syntax denotes cost.
