Baited Hook
Unofficial Riftbound rulings for Baited Hook, with rules explanations, examples, and Core Rules citations.
Can my opponent react before Baited Hook kills my unit?
Yes. "Kill a friendly unit" comes after the ":" in Baited Hook's activated ability, so it is an effect instruction rather than part of the activation cost. That instruction targets a friendly unit, and you choose that target while the ability is being finalized.
After Baited Hook's ability is finalized, opponents have an opportunity to play Reactions before it resolves and kills the target. The later might limit refers to the unit affected by the kill, so these are linked instructions. After the unit enters the trash, Baited Hook uses its might from immediately before that zone change.
Example
You activate Baited Hook, targeting a friendly unit with 4 might. In response, your opponent plays Stupefy, reducing that unit's might by 1 down to 3. As the newer chain item, Stupefy resolves first, so the unit has 3 might when Baited Hook kills it. Baited Hook therefore lets you banish a unit with up to 4 might from among the top 5 cards of your main deck.
What happens if the targeted unit is removed before Baited Hook's ability resolves?
The unit is not killed, you still look at the top 5 cards, but you cannot banish or play a unit from among them and must recycle every card you looked at.
If the friendly unit is no longer a legal target when the ability resolves, it is unaffected and the kill instruction is ignored. Its might is then null, so the calculation used to choose a unit from the top 5 is ignored. The independent instruction to recycle the rest still happens, and no card was banished, so every card you looked at is recycled.
Does a unit's Deathknell resolve before or after the unit played by Baited Hook and its triggers?
The unit played by Baited Hook enters before the killed unit's Deathknell resolves. Abilities triggered by playing that unit also resolve before the Deathknell.
Finalizing first does not mean resolving first: pending items finalize in the order they were added to the chain, but the newest finalized item resolves first.
Baited Hook kills the unit and adds its Deathknell as a pending item, then starts playing the chosen unit and adds it after the Deathknell.
The Deathknell finalizes first and waits on the chain. The chosen unit finalizes next and enters immediately, adding any abilities triggered by playing it above the Deathknell.
The newer triggered abilities resolve first, followed by the older Deathknell.
If Baited Hook kills Glasc Mixologist and plays Karthus, Eternal, does Glasc Mixologist's Deathknell trigger twice?
No. Baited Hook kills Glasc Mixologist before it plays Karthus, Eternal. Glasc's Deathknell triggers before he enters the trash. Karthus's passive ability is active only while he is on the board. Karthus entering later does not reevaluate Glasc's earlier death or make the Deathknell trigger again. Glasc's Deathknell can play only one unit from the trash.
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Written by Christian “Near” Ivicevic.
Last updated on .