CE Challenges and duels
Challenges and Duels
Challenges
A challenge is an effect that can create a duel: an individual confrontation between two personalities controlled by different players.
An effect creating a challenge will specify a Personality to issue the challenge, known as the challenger. That Personality’s controller is also issuing the challenge, and is also known as the challenger.
An effect creating a challenge will specify a personality to receive the challenge, known as the challenged Personality. That personality’s controller is said to be the challenged player.
A challenge does not happen if its two Personalities are controlled by the same player, or if either card in the duel is not a Personality.
If a Personality involved in a challenge or duel leaves play during it, the challenge or duel ends immediately without resolution. In particular, Focus Effects that have not yet resolved at that point do not resolve at all.
Effects may substitute one Personality for another in a challenge or duel. This does not change the original targeting of the challenge. The new Personality carries out the remaining steps instead of the original one, goes through resolution and takes the consequences of winning or losing.
For rules on effects that change which duel stat is used, see Duel Stat in the Glossary.
Once the two Personalities are selected, the challenge begins. At this point, if the effect that created the challenge allows it, the controller of the challenged Personality may choose to refuse the challenge. Challenges are otherwise unrefusable by default.
If the challenged player chooses to refuse, the challenged Personality refuses the duel. The consequences of refusing, according to the challenge effect and any additional effects, are applied.
If the challenge is not refused, the challenged Personality accepts the duel, and the challenge ends. The two Personalities in the challenge become the Personalities involved in the duel. At this point, if the two Personalities are somehow controlled by the same player, the duel does not happen.
Duels
In a duel, headings A through L occur in sequence.
While duels, and consequences of a duel (e.g., destruction), are effects of the cards or actions that create them, effects that occur during duel (e.g., discarding or revealing cards) are rulebook effects. See Sources of effects.
A: The duel begins: This is the same point that both Personalities enter the duel. The two Personalities are now facing each other in the duel.
B: Focus Pool: The challenger, then the challenged, each form a focus pool. They simultaneously put the top three cards of their own Fate deck face-down into a focus pool area.
At this point each player also creates a focusing area where cards will go as they are focused.
If there are not enough cards to form a full focus pool, it will contain fewer than three cards.
Cards in the focus pool may not be played.
C: Focusing round: The challenged player has the first opportunity to focus or strike. (EXCEPTION: See Duelist.) If he or she focuses, or does something “instead of” focusing, the other player then has an opportunity to focus or strike. Players continue alternating in this way until one of them strikes.
- If the choice is to focus, the player takes a face-down card from his or her focus pool and puts it into his or her own focusing area, face-down. Focusing a card is not considered playing it, and the card’s costs, effects and traits that do not concern its use as a focused card are irrelevant. The order in which cards were focused is sometimes relevant, and should be tracked.
- If the choice is to strike, the duel goes to the next step (D). A player who cannot focus, or who cannot do something “instead of” focusing, must strike; there is no “Pass” option in a duel.
Once per duel, each player may focus a card from his or her hand instead of focus pool.
Effects used “instead of” focusing take up the player’s opportunity to focus or strike. If an effect used “instead of” focusing is prevented or fails, the player loses that opportunity.
Effects used “instead of” focusing satisfy any requirement to focus imposed on the player.
Any mention of a Personality focusing refers to his controller focusing in a duel involving the Personality.
D: Reveal cards: Both players reveal (turn face up) all cards in their focusing area. This is considered an effect of the duel (that is, from the duel).
After this point, any cards that enter focusing areas in the duel do so face-up, also as effects of the duel.
E: Focus Effects resolve: All Focus Effect traits on focused cards resolve, triggered by the game occurrence “Focus Effects resolve.” Multiple Focus Effects resolve in an order chosen by the active player. Focus Effects only resolve if the card is in the focusing area at the time it is chosen to resolve. If a new card enters the focusing area, its Focus Effect must resolve before proceeding to step F.
F: Duel resolution begins: If something ends the duel “without resolution,” skip steps G through I below.
G: Total scores: Each Personality adds his or her duel stat to the total modified Focus Value of all cards in his or her focusing area. This does not add to the Personality's stat itself.
The duel stat is Chi by default. Effects may specify a different stat to be used by one or both Personalities in the duel. A "duel of Force," for example, is a duel in which both Personalities use Force instead of Chi.
H: Determine outcome: If one Personality has a higher score than the other, he or she is the winner of the duel and the other is the loser. If their scores are the same, they tie, there is no winner, and both lose the duel.
If two Personalities tie, each of whom has an effect that makes him win tied duels, then both Personalities win the duel.
If an effect directly makes one Personality win the duel, this makes the other Personality lose, unless another effect alters that Personality’s outcome. Likewise, if an effect directly makes one Personality lose the duel, this makes the other Personality win, unless another effect alters that Personality’s outcome.
This is the point at which a Personality “wins” or “loses” a duel.
I: Consequences of duel: Carry out steps 1 through 3 in order:
- Apply any consequences of losing or winning that alter who loses or who wins.
- Apply any consequences of losing or winning the duel from the action or trait that created the duel, in the order written.
- Apply any consequences of losing or winning the duel from other actions or traits, following the rules on timing.
There is no default consequence of winning or losing a duel.
Some effects may use the phrases "for winning a duel" or "for losing a duel." These phrases refer to another effect that was triggered by, or conditional on, winning or losing a duel -- such as, an honor gain "for winning a duel" refers to effects such as "If he wins the duel, gain 2 Honor" or "Reaction: After one of your Personality wins a duel: Gain 2 Honor." See Glossary, For.
J: Duel resolution ends.
K: Duel cleanup: Follow these final steps in order:
- Discard all cards in focusing areas.
- End any changes to their Focus Value.
- Each player in the duel simultaneously puts any cards remaining in his or her focus pool at the bottom of his or her Fate deck in any order.
- Focus pools and focusing areas cease to exist.
L: The duel ends.
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