Rules Roundup 2019-06-07

Questions

• If I Attack with Alpha Trion or Optimus Prime - Battlefield Legend and flip a Heroic Team-Up, can I use it to tap an untapped character of mine and have the Attack total added to Alpha Trion or Optimus? I would think so as the defense has yet to kick in and it is a playable action.
  Heroic Team-Up can only increase the attack of an untapped Autobot. If Alpha Trion or OPBL attacked, it would be tapped by this point.
• I attack into my opponents Acid Storm which has 0 defense. Before attacking I play Press the Advantage. My opponent flips defense cards and gets 3 defense. Does Press the Advantage bring him down to 1 defense or because it was played when he had 0 defense does he stay at 0 because the card says he can't go below 0?
  In this scenario, Press the Advantage would bring your opponent’s character down to 1 defense. Any attack or defense modifiers apply for their stated duration. Only when the result is less than 0 do you use 0 instead.
• If I equipped Insecticon Skrapnel - Insecticon Leader with a card that is worth 1 star, would he then be considered a leader with 8 stars? Could I then use Callous Leadership on him?
  No and no. Stars on upgrade cards do not count towards the star counts of characters.
• Do Dismantling Claw and Reactive Armor trigger when a character dies, since upgrades are scrapped upon KO?
  When a character is KO’d, all upgrades attached to it are scrapped at the same time. This means they can see each other leave the battlefield, so both Dismantling Claw and Reactive Armor would trigger.
• For your consideration, Cog. During your opponent's turn, they swing at and KO him. He attaches to one of your characters, leaving you with two. You draw your cards and find that you can attach a Multi-Mission Gear on a Specialist character, which of course you do thanks to his effect. With that Multi-Mission Gear, you decide to be rather aggressive and play a Peace Through Tyranny, KO’ing one of your characters to, and I quote, "take an extra turn after this one".
  Now, in the context that it's currently your opponent's turn, and that you're taking an extra turn after "this one", would that mean that your "extra turn" would actually just be your next regular turn since the "next turn" is just your regular turn or am I mistaken?
  If you find a way to play Peace Through Tyranny on your opponent’s turn, you will take the next turn (the “extra turn”), then you’ll take your normal turn, then your opponent will take their turn, and so on.
• When your opponent triggers a Secret Action, does it go into the Scrap Pile or does it still scrap at the end of your opponent's turn?
  It stays in the played area and scraps at the end of your opponent’s turn.
• If I have a Laser Cutlass on an Aerialbot and combine, do I keep the Laser Cutlass because it was put on a 7-star or less bot in the first instance?
  Yes. You can keep it if you want as Superion’s only weapon.
• Same for Predaking? So he could be combined with up to 3 Laser Cutlasses?
  Yes.
• I have a question about Sonic Scramble. If your opponent has 2 cards in their hand, can you still activate 3 Sonic Scrambles to draw 3?
  Yes.
• Say I have Major Shockwave with 2 LV Gamma-Disruptor Launchers, and I try to play a third copy onto him. Would the two already on him both scrap, or would only one?
  You would have to scrap only one of the two LV Gamma-Disruptos Launchers already on Major Shockwave.
• When I play Brainstorm, Heat of Battle, then the Combiner Enigma, do all of my combiners get the BOLD 3 so therefore my Combined Combiner gets all of the BOLD stacked?
  “Sadly, yes.” - Rules Master Matt Tabak.
• Can you set more than one Secret Action in a turn?
  As long as another card is allowing you to play more than one action, that action can be a Secret Action.
• Would Micro Capacitor work for Thrust even though Thrust doesn’t have the tap symbol on his card?
  No, the tap symbol must be present on a card for Micro Capacitor to apply to it.
• I have Major Shockwave in bot mode. The top card of my deck is the deception card, Swindled. If I play Multi-Mission gear onto a specialist, since the Swindled on top of my deck is able to be played as though it was in my hand, can I play it from the activation of Multi-Mission Gear?
  You may!
• Why is it you cannot increase a character’s attack with a reattached Battle Master during an attack, but you can increase Optimus Prime - Battlefield Legend’s attack if you flip an action like Leap into Battle? How is this any different to using OPBL’s skill to play Quartermaster and attaching a battle masters upgrade form before defense flips?
  You can use Quartermaster to attach a KO’d Battle Master to OPBL. If OPBL’s ability results in a weapon being attached to him (for example via Quartermaster), the attack bonus of that weapon will apply because you haven’t counted attack yet. However, if the weapon gives the character bold, bold will have no affect because you’ve already flipped battle cards.
• I need a rule clarification about the interaction between Erratic Energy Grenade and Scavenge the Battlefield. I'm assuming that when the character with the grenade is KO'd, and I use Scavenge the Battlefield, I deal 2 damage to each enemy AND I put the grenade onto another character. Am I correct? I'm trying to convert my Constructicons into a football team.
  Touchdown!
• If a character’s pierce is reduced to zero pierce would it still be considered pierce? More specifically, since the opposing character is attacking with pierce, but it’s reduced to zero, would Jazz’s ability trigger, allowing only two damage to hit?
  A character with Pierce, whose Pierce score is reduced to 0 or less still has Pierce.
• What happens when the Sentinel Prowl attacks with Combat Commands and I want to use it on Mirage, into a character equipped to with Security Console? Does turn player flip flop Mirage first to look for an action to scrap before they draw?
  The attack causes two abilities to trigger. One is yours (Combat Commands) and the other is your opponent’s (Security Console). You do yours first, but this causes another of your abilities to trigger (Mirage). You continue to use your abilities until you have none, then your opponent can use any of their pending abilities in any order. In this scenario, you would first use Combat Commands’ ability, then use Mirage’s ability, then your opponent would use Security Console’s ability.
• Let's say I'm playing Sentinels and I have Ironhide - Steadfast Brawler in my KO area in Alt mode. I flip him to Bot mode, giving my characters Pierce 2 until the end of the turn. If I then put a Combat Commands onto one of my Bots in play, let's say Prowl - Strategic Mastermind, attack with him, and use Combat Commands to Trigger Ironhide's KO ability, do my characters get pierce 4 until the end of turn, or does it stay at pierce 2?
  Each character’s ability is separate and stacks, so in this scenario you would end up with Pierce 4.