Cactus Game Design Message Boards

1. What exactly is Potiphar's Wife's ability? I'm under the impression that it is not an Instead, based on the REG entry "Cards that use the word 'instead' replace an effect with a different effect" seeming to require the actual word "Instead" in the ability. My argument is that Potiphar's Wife's ability checks after the "defeat" has been resolved, rather than insteading it. (So if I play a discard enhancement on Potiphar's Wife and my opponent cannot stop it, she won't Instead the discard, the discard will happen and then her capture ability kicks in. I believe that Assyrian Survivor, which has similar wording (If defeated, capture to opponent’s Land of Bondage), would also be affected by this. I'm currently under the impression neither is an Instead ability, but at least one other person (who's an Elder) disagrees.

2. My opponent makes a rescue attempt with a Hero and I block with Potiphar's Wife. I'm given initiative, and play an interrupt the battle and play next card, followed by a card that captures the opposing Hero. Does Potiphar's Wife's ability trigger? Part of this question is inherently linked to the answer to the first question. If she is an Instead ability, then she's interrupted and there's no problem. However, if she isn't, the issue gets slightly more complicated. I believe that, provided she isn't an Instead, her ability would trigger after the capture ability has completed, which means that her ability is no longer negated, which means she can then target the Hero she just defeated. Is this correct?

3. This scenario relies on the second scenario working the way I described. My opponent makes a rescue attempt with a Hero and I block with Potiphar's Wife. I'm given initiative, and play Moses Kills Egyptian. Provided the second scenario works, I believe this one would as well. Despite the fact that the Hero is no longer in play, I believe that abilities that target the "last enhancement played in battle" being able to work on enhancements in the discard pile set a precedence that would allow for Potiphar's Wife to target a Hero that's been set-aside, because she's specifically targeting the Heroshe just defeated. I also believe that how this would be ruled would also apply to discard, remove from the game, and abilities that might add the opposing Hero to their hand or draw pile.

4. Errata Split Altar!

Potiphar's Wife (2/2 Gold EC) - When Character defeats a male Hero in the Field of Battle, the Hero is taken prisoner and placed in your opponent's Land of Bondage and treated as a Lost Soul. Errata/Play As: All male characters defeated (by a win or stalemate) by Potiphar's Wife in battle are taken prisoner and placed in your opponent's Land of Bondage and treated as a Lost Soul.

Moses Kills Egyptian (0/4 Gold EE) - Interrupt the battle and set aside an opponent's male Hero in play for 5 turns. Then return the Hero to owner's territory.

I am not an elder so someone could easily correct me, but according to the printed ability, it could easily be ruled as an instead (remember "instead" wasn't created until much later and some cards were retroactively made insteads) however the errata/play as implies otherwise.

Are there any examples of cards retroactively given Instead abilities that didn't already use the specific word? Assyrian Survivor was printed after Instead abilities were created, yet lacks the language, which means there's precedent for Potiphar's Wife to avoid being grandfathered in, based on very similar wording on at least one post-instead card.

The Play As/Errata says "All male characters defeated (by a win or stalemate) by Potiphar's Wife in battle..." that to me implies it checks during battle resolution not when a character gets removed by a special ability, so PW would only capture characters defeated by numbers.

That Play As isn't in the forum's errata list, so either an errata slipped through the cracks, or that Play As isn't canon. The REG definition of "Defeat" also suggests there's no waiting until battle resolution to check (aside from in the case of stalemate or mutual destruction).

Finally in the case of Moses Kill Egyptian or any other interrupt the battle card, PW's ability would be interrupted and not be able to capture the character, since it would follow the same rules as the Archer's, in that it's a delayed trigger that is interrupted and won't have a chance to reactivate until after the ability on the interrupt is complete.

Assuming for a minute that Potiphar's Wife isn't an Instead (which the other questions really hinge on), I don't think PW's ability being interrupted would matter, because by the time the card checks to see if it's been triggered, the interrupt itself has completed.