Melt Earth Into Quicksand

Frequently Asked Questions

Adversaries

• For Habsburg Monarchy (Livestock Colony) Level 4, when "Destroy Town" effects turn to Damage, does that Damage have to respect restrictions on which Towns could have been destroyed?
  Yes. For instance, if you Push a Durable Town into a land affected by Melt Earth Into Quicksand that also has several other Towns, the resulting "2 Damage to Town only" may only be done to the Pushed Town, because that's the only one the Destroy could have affected.

  If you had "Destroy 2 Towns with (Strife)", the 4 Damage could only be done to 2 Towns with Strife. Etc. Basically, consider Habsburg Monarchy (Livestock Colony) Level 4's text to read "2 Damage to those Towns" instead of just "2 Damage to Towns". (This wording will be updated in a future printing.)

  This does include "number of Towns", which is relevant for cases like Drought, which can't spread out its "6 Damage to Towns" among 6 different Towns then wipe them all out with "1 Damage to Town/City".
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Durable, Damage, Habsburg Monarchy (Livestock Colony), Melt Earth Into Quicksand, 2 more...
• For Durable Invaders from Habsburg Monarchy (Livestock Colony) Level 4, what exactly counts as a ‘Destroy all’ effect?
  Only “Destroy everything” or “Destroy all (piece) (in a land or lands)”, like “Destroy all Explorer/Town.” Effects limiting the destruction by something the piece has or did (e.g., “is damaged”, “was just moved”, “has Strife”) are not considered “destroy all” and are converted to Damage like all other destroy effects.

  This is most relevant for Ocean's Hungry Grasp, which has “After Invaders/Dahan are moved into the Ocean, Destroy them”; since this limits what gets destroy to “pieces that moved”, it's not a “destroy all”.
  Tags: Durable, Destroy, Habsburg Monarchy (Livestock Colony), Ocean In Play (Ocean's Hungry Grasp), 4 more...

General Play

• What's the timing of ongoing effects expiring?
  All "this turn" effects wear off at the same time. For now, assume all normal Time Passes activity (discard, lose elements, clear damage, ongoing effects expire) is simultaneous. Cards like "Gift of Constancy" (which modify discarding Powers) or "Unquenchable Flames" work because they explicitly specify a timing.

  Rules for non-standard things that happen during Time Passes (like Shroud of Silent Mist's "Slow and Silent Death") can be done before or after effects wearing off unless otherwise specified.

  If it ever becomes clear that there really ought to be some sort of internal ordering to Time Passes, we'll call out that ordering in whatever expansion / FAQ it becomes relevant.
  Tags: Time Passes, Timing, Defend, Action Modifiers, 38 more...
• If you "move" a piece to where it was (Range 0), does it still trigger effects like Wildfire's Blazing Presence?
  Yes, the piece has still formally moved. It never leaves the land, however, so would not trigger, e.g., Shifting Memory's Observe the Ever-Changing World, because the pieces in the land have not changed.

  Thematically, the piece has moved within the land.

  Note that if you use "add Presence" to instead reposition Presence already on the island (usually because you have run out – sidebar p.14 core rules), that is still considered an "add" rather than a "move".

  The Glossary entry for "move" was written before considering these cases.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Repositioning Presence, Move, Blazing Presence (Heart of the Wildfire), Wrap in Wings of Sunlight, 6 more...

Spirits and Innate Powers

• If playing with Ocean's Hungry Grasp and you Weave Together a land with an Ocean, how does that work? What if Ocean's Hungry Grasp loses all their Presence from that board?
  The joined land and all adjacent lands will be Coastal for all purposes, including Invader Actions. Invaders/Dahan already in the joined land don't trigger Ocean In Play (which Drowns after they move in), but when Weave Together wears off you can "move" pieces to the Ocean and Drown them. The joined land is a land all the time, not just for Powers/Blight, so other actions (Fear/Event/Invader/etc) affect it normally. Note that adding a piece (from, eg, a Build) is not the same as moving it; moving triggers Drowning, while adding does not.

  If OHG loses all Presence from the board, the joined land remains in play (and retains the printed Ocean area as part of its topology, so makes adjacent lands Coastal), but Ocean In Play no longer applies to it, so Invaders/Dahan aren't Drowned after moving there and it's no longer a Wetland for purposes of Powers/Blight (unless it's a Wetland for other reasons).

  In the extremely weird event that two Oceans are Woven directly together (via Finder of Paths Unseen) and OHG loses their Presence from both of them, the joined land stops being a land, but remains topologically joined. (This is possibly relevant if playing with an Archipelago.)
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Land Types, Archipelago, Weave Together the Fabric of Place, Open the Ways (Finder of Paths Unseen), 3 more...
• When exactly do you have to pay for Finder's rule Responsibilities to the Dead when you move something?
  There are two cases where Finder of Paths Unseen must pay:

  • When it moves a piece in a way that decreases the Health of a damaged Dahan or Invader so it has now taken lethal Damage (one of many ways Finder's action can destroy the Dahan/Invaders with its own action);
  • When it moves an Invader/Dahan in a way that directly triggers their destruction by another action (Finder directly triggering their destruction by moving them).

  The first case can happen by causing a Health penalty (e.g., Pushing a damaged Town/City into a Sacred Site of Rising Heat of Stone and Sand) or removing a Health bonus (e.g., Pushing damaged Dahan out of a land with Infinite Vitality or Gathering a Blight into a land with a damaged Durable Town against Habsburg Monarchy Livestock Colony Level 4).

  The second case most commonly occurs in conjunction with Powers like Melt Earth Into Quicksand and Call to Guard and when teaming up with Ocean's Hungry Grasp to Push Invaders into the Ocean (but not when moving Heart of the Wildfire's Presence, since moving the Invaders/Dahan isn't what triggers Blazing Presence).

  If something prevents the destruction, then Finder does not need to pay. If one triggered action triggers another triggered action that causes destruction (like moving pieces into another Spirit's Bargain of Coursing Paths, which then moves those pieces into another Spirit's Melt Earth Into Quicksand), this does not count as "directly triggering" the destruction.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Triggered Actions, Durable, Health, Responsibilities to the Dead (Finder of Paths Unseen), 8 more...