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I would argue that the first one cannot be put in play regardless of the special ability of a card, and should instead be placed in hand.
Quote from: Chronic Apathy on December 19, 2011, 04:33:56 PMI would argue that the first one cannot be put in play regardless of the special ability of a card, and should instead be placed in hand.I'm OK with having a set default, but either way it needs to be consistent and clear in the REG.
postcount.add(1);
So what exactly are we saying?
1. That a SA can force you to control duplicates, except in battle. If the dulicates are unique, you must discard one of them.
agreed, but sam is not forcing anything. It's a may condition. As such you can only complete the task of putting something into play IF it is legal..but another copy is already in play so you cannot use the SA to force another out...that's my issue...If may wasn't in the ability I would concur that SA overrides gamerule...but not in this case...
Quote from: TechnoEthicist on December 21, 2011, 09:40:18 AMagreed, but sam is not forcing anything. It's a may condition. As such you can only complete the task of putting something into play IF it is legal..but another copy is already in play so you cannot use the SA to force another out...that's my issue...If may wasn't in the ability I would concur that SA overrides gamerule...but not in this case...Since when does gamerule only override "may?"
Ok, so my question is more this: why do some cards get to override and others don't?
As much as I would like to see Sam's wings clipped, allowing control of multiples and forcing discard (except in the case of banding or playing from hand) isn't complicated at all. Bringing a character under your control directly (by putting him into your territory or adding him to your side of the battle) is obviously different than having a character brought under your control indirectly (a search-and-play ability, capture, exchange, etc.).
I'd argue that it is a lot more complicated. Saying "this can't happen, and if something tries to make it happen, it just goes to hand" is much easier than, "well it can, but only under this circumstance, and then you have to discard it or something else." This claim of mine is evidenced by the fact that intelligent people that have been playing the game for years, such as Brad, don't fully understand why it works the way it does. In the meantime, while I agree that oversimplification of the rules at the expense of gameplay is bad, this is a pretty logical way to rule it, and if Sam gets a minor hit in the meantime, then all the more reason to consider it.