V'tar orbs and Dancing Scimitar

[BigL16]

Hi Everyone,

It's come up a couple times now in our Domination games where someone tries to "punch" an orb using Dancing Scimitar.  Is this allowed?  We ruled that it was since the rule book doesn't state that the melee attack needs to come from a creature, but I wanted to see if we ruled this correctly.

Thanks!

-BigL16

[Zuberi]

Page 7 of the domination rules. The orb changes control when it is touched by your made or a creature you control. By touch, they mean attacked with a melee attack.

The scimitar is not a creature and so can't take over orbs. Neither can conjuration attacks.

[iNano78]

Page 7 of the domination rules. The orb changes control when it is touched by your made or a creature you control. By touch, they mean attacked with a melee attack.

The scimitar is not a creature and so can't take over orbs. Neither can conjuration attacks.

Ah, I missed that. When referencing the rules, I found this text in the upper-right box in the same page and arrived at the opposite ruling:

"The Orbs are represented by two-sided markers. One side of the marker shows the Orb powered “off.” All V’Tar Orbs start the game in this state, just as they have rested for hundreds of years! The first time they are hit by a melee attack, they are powered “on;” flip the marker to its “on” side!"

In the event that a Mage didn't have a basic melee attack, would it be unable to "touch" an orb? E.g. would an attack with a melee weapon equipped - like [mwcard=MW1Q18]Mage Staff[/mwcard] - not count because it originated from the equipment and not the Mage or a creature? Or is this unique to the Scimitar due to its Autonomous trait?

[Zuberi]

Weapons other than the scimitar provide the mage with additional attacks, but it is still the mage making the attack. Therefore they would work to activate an orb. The problem with the scimitar is that it's autonomous and performing the attack all by itself.

[BigL16]

This all makes sense.  Thanks for the clarifications everyone!

[wtcannonjr]

Note  - I've been thinking how useful Whirling Strike can be in some scenarios of Battlegrounds. For example, first strike kills the last guardian, second strike touches orb #1, third strike touches on #2.

[iNano78]

Note  - I've been thinking how useful Whirling Strike can be in some scenarios of Battlegrounds. For example, first strike kills the last guardian, second strike touches orb #1, third strike touches on #2.

Yep, Battle Fury is just as good as having an extra creature in the zone; Whirling Strike is like having 2 extra creatures in the zone.  Action economy is HUGE in Domination.

My "cheat" above was quick-casting Scimitar, then double-moving, then having the Scimitar hit the orb (to switch it back from neutral to my control after being Teleported out of the contested zone).  But I could have just as easily quick-cast Teleport or Force Push on myself, then walked into the zone and swung melee.  Or moved and cast Battle Fury on my creature that was still there, and had him take 2 swings.  I opted to plan the Scimitar because it might prove useful in a future round (both for its action economy as an extra swing, and as a defense in case the opposing mages turned murderous), and had Battle Fury as a back-up (to cast on a skeleton).  But had I known Scimitar didn't work like that, I would have planned Teleport instead.

Good to know going forward.  Scimitar has been dropped in favour of other options.

[Kaarin]

Note  - I've been thinking how useful Whirling Strike can be in some scenarios of Battlegrounds. For example, first strike kills the last guardian, second strike touches orb #1, third strike touches on #2.

With [mwcard=FWI10]Whirling Strike[/mwcard] You have to target 3 different objects, so You can't strike and touch an orb with same attack sequence.

[sIKE]

Note  - I've been thinking how useful Whirling Strike can be in some scenarios of Battlegrounds. For example, first strike kills the last guardian, second strike touches orb #1, third strike touches on #2.

With [mwcard=FWI10]Whirling Strike[/mwcard] You have to target 3 different objects, so You can't strike and touch an orb with same attack sequence.

I think they were referring to zones with an Usslak's and two Orbs. You would cast Whirling Strike to land the death blow on the Usslak and then continue on and hit the 1st orb and then finally the 2nd orb.

[Kaarin]

Note  - I've been thinking how useful Whirling Strike can be in some scenarios of Battlegrounds. For example, first strike kills the last guardian, second strike touches orb #1, third strike touches on #2.

With [mwcard=FWI10]Whirling Strike[/mwcard] You have to target 3 different objects, so You can't strike and touch an orb with same attack sequence.

I think they were referring to zones with an Usslak's and two Orbs. You would cast Whirling Strike to land the death blow on the Usslak and then continue on and hit the 1st orb and then finally the 2nd orb.

Right, somehow I've read that wrongly.