Equipment
What happens to attached equipment when a unit dies?
The equipment detaches and remains at the unit's last location, recalling if at a battlefield.
When a unit with attached equipment dies, the equipment detaches and remains at the location the unit occupied before dying (CR 719.5, CR 422.4.b).
If that location is a battlefield, the detached equipment will be recalled to its controller's base during the next Cleanup (CR 422.4.a). If that location is the controller's base, the equipment simply remains there.
What happens to attached equipment when you take control of an enemy unit?
Equipment stays attached but its controller does not change - only the top-most unit's controller changes.
When you take control of a unit, any equipment attached to it remains controlled by whoever originally controlled it. Changes in control of the top-most card do not affect control of attached cards, and vice versa (CR 718.8.a).
When the equipment detaches, it remains at the unit's last location (CR 719.5, CR 422.4.b). If that location is a battlefield, it is recalled to its controller's base during the next Cleanup (CR 422.4.a). If that location is your base, it cannot remain there since other players cannot have game objects they control in another player's base (CR 106.2.d), so it goes to its controller's base.
Since the equipment is still controlled by its original owner, they can also use a unit with Weaponmaster to pull it back, even while it remains attached - attached cards can still be chosen by game effects (CR 718.5.b, CR 747.1.c).
Which equipment effects choose units?
Equip and Quick-Draw choose units; Weaponmaster does not.
Some abilities trigger or care about when you choose friendly units. Here's how equipment-related effects interact with such abilities:
- When you activate a gear's Equip ability, you choose a unit you control to attach the equipment to (CR 744.1.b.1). This choice is a target, so activating Equip counts as choosing a unit.
- When you play a gear with Quick-Draw, its triggered ability instructs you to "attach it to a Unit you control" (CR 745.1.d). While attaching cards doesn't inherently choose or specify a target (CR 421.3), Quick-Draw's ability does require you to choose which unit to attach to. This counts as choosing a unit.
- When you play a unit with Weaponmaster, you choose an equipment you control, not the unit (CR 747.1.c). The rules explicitly state that "The Equip ability is not activated this way, and the unit with the Weaponmaster ability is not chosen" (CR 747.1.c.6). Therefore, Weaponmaster does not count as choosing a unit.
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Written by Near.
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