Hello, new to the website, Questions on rules

[elock49]

I'm new to the website and new to mage wars academy.  Been playing for about a month.  I had some questions regarding the game. 

1)  Can you attack creatures just brought into play, for example, if a mage just purchased with mana and brought a creature into play can the other mage attack it.  And if so, can the creature defend itself.

2)  Can you guard on the same creature multiple times within the same round; or do you only get to guard once per round?  I'm confused because in the rules it says that if the creature is active, it will remain active even after being attached and losing its guard marker.  This will allow it to still activate that round, and thus it could choose to attack or guard again!

I thought that you could only choose to either attack or guard but not both per round.  If you could help me clear this up I'd appreciate it.  The way I've been playing currently because I am not sure; is I pick a creature such as "the ridgeback skunk" and put a guard on him; and he guards the entire round until the next round.

3)  Can more than 1 creature guard per round; if so, who takes precedence in guarding.  Do both guard the mage, or can you choose one to guard a creature as well.

4)  When attacking a pest who is guarding, why would you want to ignore it.  Why would you guard with a pest anyway.  And if a pest is attacking you and you are guarding, why would you ignore the pest.

5)  If a creature is staggered.  Does the stagger token get removed at the "beginning " of the next round?  For example, if a mage who has the initiative attacks another mage's creature at the start of a new action phase and staggers that creature, when is it removed.  This is somewhat confusing.

Sorry for all the questions, just wanted to make sure I am playing the game correctly.  Thanks.

[Puddnhead]

1) Creatures just brought into play may certainly be attacked. They are in the arena and thus fair game for spells, abilities and actions.

2) The guard action gives the creature the counterstrike trait and restricts the available targets for enemy controlled melee attacks. A guard marker lasts until the creature's next activation or until it is attacked and chooses to counterstrike. It is definitely possible to re-guard with the creatures next activation even if it started the round with a guard marker.

3) Any creature may guard, even if it does not have a quick action melee attack. A guard restricts targets, it does not force actions. Your opponent may choose to attack any guarding creature with melee attacks. Once the guarding creature counterstrikes it is no longer guarding and cannot be the target of melee attacks if there is another guard.

4) Guarding with a pest is a way to give the pest a counterstrike should it be attacked, however, you are correct that most of the time it is a wasted action. Another reason to guard with a pest is that sometimes you do not want or cannot attack with the pest creature. The reason you would ignore a pest that attacks you is to retain your guard marker and prevent another, much more dangerous creature from hitting a critical target on your side.

5) The stagger token gets removed at the end of the affected creature's next activation.