Open the Ways (Finder of Paths Unseen)

Frequently Asked Questions

General Play

• Is revealing a Fear or Event card part of the Fear / Event action(s), or does it happen first? Eg: with Finder of Paths Unseen, do I have to guess about adjacencies, or can I see the card first?
  Revealing the card happens before the Fear/Event actions, not as part of it. (It's part of basic game structure.) So you can indeed look at the card prior to making adjacency decisions for Finder of Paths Unseen.

  Actions are everything the card does - turning it over to read it isn't something the card does. (Also, Event Cards always result in multiple actions, and Fear cards often will as well; including "turn over the card" as part of the first action on the card would make "what's involved in an action?" a little inconsistent.)
  Tags: Actions, Events, Fear Cards, Open the Ways (Finder of Paths Unseen), 0 more...

Spirits and Innate Powers

• If Finder of Paths Unseen gets Presence in the Ocean, can it make lands Coastal?
  Yes, if an Ocean with Finder's Presence is a land.

  Whether a land is Coastal is defined by whether the land is adjacent to the Ocean. Open the Ways can create an adjacency between two of Finder's lands, allowing it to make lands (temporarily) Coastal.

  Ocean's specification of "for Powers and Blight" makes this question really murky, but allowing it is much more thematic and fun, so that's the way the ruling is going. If it proves a problem later, it'll get changed then.
  Tags: Open the Ways (Finder of Paths Unseen), Coastal Lands invader card, Ocean In Play (Ocean's Hungry Grasp), Finder of Paths Unseen, 1 more...
• 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 them after they move into the Ocean, not for them existing there), but when "Weave Together the Fabric of Place" 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, e.g., a Build Action) is not the same as moving it; moving triggers Drowning, while adding does not.

  If Ocean's Hungry Grasp 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 Ocean's Hungry Grasp 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), 4 more...
• If Finder of Paths Unseen makes 2 of its lands adjacent, then uses the Moon+Air threshold of its "Lay Paths They Cannot Help But Walk" Innate Power to Push its Presence out of one of those lands, are those two lands still adjacent for the Sun+Air threshold?
  Yes. They're adjacent for the whole action (Power use), but then cease being adjacent once you're done resolving the Power because they're no longer both your lands.
  Tags: Actions, Open the Ways (Finder of Paths Unseen), Lay Paths They Cannot Help But Walk (Finder of Paths Unseen), Flow Like Water, Reach Like Air, 7 more...
• When Ocean’s Hungry Grasp is on a board, can Powers and Special Rules measure Range through that board’s Ocean?
  Yes, Powers and Special Rules can treat the Ocean as a land via Ocean in Play, so they can measure Range through it. Measuring Range through Land 2 is usually just as good, so this only matters if something has altered the board layout in some way:

  • The Thematic Map has some Oceans that are adjacent to more than three lands.
  • Land 2 is temporarily removed from play via Absolute Stasis.
  • Finder of Paths Unseen is using Open the Ways to connect a land to an Ocean.
    Tags: Range, Thematic map, Ocean In Play (Ocean's Hungry Grasp), Ocean's Hungry Grasp, 3 more...
• Can Finder of Paths Unseen make two lands adjacent for **all** purposes?
  Yes.

  In particular, any Spirit can target range 2 or range 3 Powers bridging over Finder's "adjacent" lands, even if neither land is the origin or destination of the Power.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Finder of Paths Unseen, Open the Ways (Finder of Paths Unseen)
• For Finder of Paths Unseen's special rule Open the Ways, what does "once between actions" mean? Can you only change the choice once per turn?
  Practically speaking, it nearly always means "During each action, one pair of your lands may be adjacent to each other." It can be a different pair of lands each time. For Fear/Event cards, you get to read them prior to the first Fear/Event action they cause, because revealing the card isn't part of the action.

  It's phrased oddly so that it can maintain the adjacency while no action is happening; this is relevant only in weird edge-cases like "Which lands match this Coastal Lands Invader Card?"
  Tags: Actions, Open the Ways (Finder of Paths Unseen), Finder of Paths Unseen
• If two distinct Oceans are made adjacent somehow (e.g., via Open the Ways), can Ocean’s Hungry Grasp Push/Gather Presence between them with its Growth Options?
  Sure! It’s a bit ambiguous whether or not this works (and why) based on the exact wording of Ocean in Play, but there isn’t any harm in being permissive in this case.
  Tags: Ocean's Hungry Grasp, Ocean In Play (Ocean's Hungry Grasp), Open the Ways (Finder of Paths Unseen), Deeps Aspect (Ocean's Hungry Grasp), 0 more...