DC Final Crisis FAQ

DC Final Crisis: Frequently Asked Questions
by Captain Spud (from http://www.captainspud.com/dfc/faq.php)

GENERAL MECHANICS

1. Charge

Some cards in this set have the keyword Charge.

• A card with Charge has the text, "At the start of the combat phase, put a charge counter on this card."
• The word Charge will be followed by a number or variable in brackets.
  • A card with "Charge X: (charge text)" always has "(charge text)", and the text's effect with scale with the current value of X. 
    • For example, Two-Face, Protector of Gotham City has the text, "Charge X: At the start of your attack step, you may flip X coins. Each time you win a flip, choose an opposing character. Characters chosen this way can't attack this turn." This text is always active, and the value of X will increase as Two-Face accumulates charge counters.
  • A card with "Charge [number]: (charge text)" has "(charge text)" while it has [number] or more charge counters. 
    • For example, Battle for the Cowl has the text, "Ongoing: Charge 2: Exhaust a Gotham Knights character you control -> Negate target payment effect. Use only once per turn." While there are one or zero charge counters on Battle for the Cowl, the card's power is inactive. While it has two or more charge counters, its power becomes active.
• A card without charge can still have charge counters. 
  • For example, you play Mind and Body Training from your resource row. Mind and Body Training reads “Play only if you control a ready Batman. Put a charge counter on each face-up resource you control.” Since Mind and Body Training is in your resource row, you can put a charge counter on itself even though it does not have the charge keyword.
• A charged card is a card with one or more charge counters.

Notes:

• If a card's Charge effect would trigger at the same time as its gaining of a charge counter, its controller chooses the order that the effects are put on the chain, and so decides whether the Charge effect triggers before or after the gaining of a new counter.
• A card can have more charge counters than it needs to have its charge text be active.

2. Flaw

Some cards in this set have the Flaw keyword followed by a payment power.

• A Flaw payment power can be used by all opponents, and cannot be used by its controller.
• A Flaw payment power with a usage restriction (ie, "Use only once per turn.") can be used up to its restriction by each opponent.
• No effect or modifier you control can restrict an opponent from using the flaw powers of cards you control. 
  • For example, if you control Lex Luthor, Metropolis Mogul and a character with a flaw power, your opponents may still use that flaw power even though Lex Luthor would ordinarily restrict them from using the payment powers of characters and equipment.
• No effect or modifier you control can explicitly negate an effect created by a flaw power on a card you control. (Effects you control can still indirectly negate Flaw powers on cards you control by invalidating their targets). 
  • For example, you control Adam Orion <> Hunter, Tooth and Nail. Adam Orion <> Hunter reads “Whenever Adam Orion attacks, you may ready him. This triggers only once per turn. Flaw: Discard a card -> Adam Orion loses all powers and keywords this turn.” If an opponent uses the flaw payment power of Adam Orion <> Hunter, Tooth and Nail to remove Adam Orion's powers, and you control a character equipped with a Utility Belt, you may exhaust that character to attempt to negate the effect created by Adam Orion's power. However, since the effect cannot be negated by any effect you control, the Utility Belt's effect will do nothing on resolution.

3. Immutable

Some plot twists and locations in this set have the version Immutable.

• An Immutable card can't be targeted while in play.
• An Immutable resource can't be replaced.
• If a player must select a resource to replace, he cannot choose to replace an Immutable resource.

4. Anti-Life

Some cards in this set refer to the Anti-Life affiliation. Some cards grant this affiliation temporarily, while others grant it permanently. If an effect states that the affiliation is gained, and does not specify a duration for the gain, it is permanent until that character loses the affiliation or leaves play.

• For example, Oliver Queen <> Green Arrow, Justifier reads, "At the start of the combat phase, stun target character with cost 2 or less. Flaw:Pay 1 endurance -> Oliver Queen loses all powers this turn and target character you control without the Anti-Life affiliation gains that affiliation." If an opponent uses this power and one of his characters gains the Anti-Life affiliation, it is gained permanently.

5. Bizarro Text

In any format where DC Final Crisis is legal and the most recently-released set, the Bizarro-Text is:

Activate -> Target Revenge Squad character gets +4/+4 while attacking and gains "Flaw: Pay 6 endurance -> Exhaust this character." this turn. Use only during the build phase.

SINGLE CARDS

A Bleeding Multiverse
Plot Twist, cost 3
To play, remove a card in your hand from the game. Each player reveals his deck and removes all revealed copies of the removed card from the game.

When a player's deck is revealed, each opponent has the opportunity to look through it. The removal of cards is always done by the deck's owner, not the other players. Other players may look through the deck again after this is done to ensure all copies have been removed.

Ambush Bug, Neither Here Nor There
Character, cost 2
Free --> Target opponent puts target shifted character card he owns with X shift counters into play hidden in his front row. Propose Ambush Bug as an attacker and that character as a defender. If you do, Ambush Bug can attack that character as though it were visible, and that character has "Whenever an attack concludes, remove this character from the game shifted with X shift counters." this turn. Use only if Ambush Bug can be declared as an attacker.

Ambush Bug can use this power at any time when he can be declared as an attacker; he must be ready, it must be his controller's attack step, and the chain must be empty. You can't declare a team attack with Ambush Bug's payment power, though characters can join the attack while it is in progress (for example, DCL-063 Bart Allen <> Kid Flash, Generation Fourth). The power granted to the defending character triggers after characters have become stunned in the attack, so the power will not trigger if the defender is stunned during attack conclusion. If Ambush Bug stops being a legal attacker between initiating his power and its resolution, an attack substep will still occur; no attacker or defender will successfully be proposed, but the attack will still happen and conclude, so the targeted character card will still re-Shift at the end of the attack.

Anti-Life Equation, Plague of the Mind
Plot Twist, cost 2
Gain 1 endurance for each opposing Anti-Life character. Ongoing: Whenever a character becomes stunned, it gains the Anti-Life affiliation unless its controller pays 4 endurance.

If there are multiple face-up copies of Anti-Life Equation, Plague of the Mind in play, each one will trigger whenever a character becomes stunned. To avoid gaining the Anti-Life affiliation, a character's controller must pay for each copy of the effect.

Apparition, Out of Sight
Character, cost 5
Reservist, Cosmic. Discard Apparition -> Characters can't be the target of effects during your next attack this turn. Use only if you control a Legionnaires character and three or more cosmic counters.

If Apparition's discard power is used during an attack, its effects will not apply until the following eligible attack. "Your next attack this turn" is the next attack this turn during which a character you control is successfully proposed as an attacker or a defender.

Atrocitus, Founder of the Red Lanterns
Character, cost 7
Willpower 7. Pay 7 willpower this turn -> Each player loses 5 endurance. Then, each player with 0 or less endurance loses the game. If all players have 0 or less endurance, instead, each player without the highest endurance total loses the game.

If multiple players share the highest endurance total, those players do not lose the game.

Back-Up Personality
Plot Twist, cost 3
Ongoing: Charge 3: Whenever a Batman you control becomes stunned, you may recover it. This triggers only once per turn.

An active Back-Up Personality will trigger the first time each turn a Batman becomes stunned, whether you choose to recover him at that point or not. Declining to use the recovery does not dodge the "triggers only once per turn" restriction.

Batarang, Weapon of Choice
Equipment, cost 1
KO Batarang -> Exhaust equipped character. If you do, exhaust target character. Then, at the start of the recovery phase, if you control Batman, you may return Batarang from your KO'd pile to your hand.

You may use this power if the equipped character is already exhausted.

Belial, Archfiend
Character, cost 4
Pay 2 endurance, discard a card -> Put target printed Shadowpact character card with cost 2 or less from your KO’d pile into your front row. Use only once per turn and only during the build phase.

You cannot target the card you are discarding to pay the cost of Belial's payment power, as targets are chosen before costs are paid, so the card will still be in your hand at the time when you must choose a target.

Bouncing Boy, Boing-Boing-Boing
Character, cost 1
Reservist, Cosmic
Discard Bouncing Boy -> Return target stunned Legionnaires character you control to your hand. At the start of the recovery phase this turn, return Bouncing Boy to your hand if you control a cosmic counter.

The power checks to see if you control a cosmic counter at the start of the recovery phase, not when Bouncing Boy is discarded.

Brain Damage
Plot Twist, cost 2
Choose an opposing character. Ongoing: The chosen character loses all printed names. Flaw: Exhaust the chosen character -> Choose a name. If that character has no names, it gains that name. Use only once per turn.

A character with no names still functions normally in most respects; it can attack, be attacked, and be targeted. It may use its powers which refer to its printed name even when that printed name is lost, as that printed name is understood to stand for "this character". The only major effects of losing all names are that the card's name(s) can't be chosen for any effect, and it cannot be affected by effects that require it to have a certain name.

Children of Darkseid
Plot Twist, cost 3
Play only if you control a Darkseid's Elite character that doesn't have the Anti-Life affiliation. Target opposing character gains the Anti-Life affiliation this turn and loses all other affiliations this turn.

If the targeted character can't gain the Anti-Life affiliation, it still loses all non-Anti-Life affiliations when Children of Darkness resolves.

City Grids
Plot Twist, cost 1
Ongoing: Charge X: Each Gotham Knights character you control can attack hidden and protected characters with cost less than or equal to X.

If a character attacks a defender, and is only able to do so because of City Grids (due to the defender being hidden or protected), the attack is not negated if City Grids leaves play or loses charge counters. Once the attack is legal, legality is not checked again.

Composite Man, Durlan Assassin
Character, cost 4
Reservist. At the start of the combat phase, choose a version Composite Man doesn't have. He gains that version.

Note that the version "Epic" does not have any effect on characters.

Darkseid, The Great Darkness
Character, cost 8Loyalty. Stunned characters not named Darkseid can't recover. Activate -> Move each Anti-Life character to your front row. Use only during your attack step.

This will also affect your own Anti-Life characters, which must be moved from the support row to the front row when this effect resolves.

Decay
Plot Twist, cost 2
Remove any number of different counters from target character or resource.

You may remove any number of counters from the card as long as no two removed counters are of the same type.

Desaad, Dr. Dezard
Character, cost 3Substitute. Charge X: Activate, Reveal a Darkseid's Elite character card from your hand -> Target stunned character with cost less than or equal to 5 minus X can't be recovered or KO'd this turn and gains the Anti-Life affiliation.

This effect can target a character with a maximum cost of 5 minus X. (For example, while Desaad has 2 charge counters, he can target a character with a cost of 3 or less). If Desaad gains a charge counter between declaration of the target and the resolution of the effect, and the character's cost is now greater than 5 minus X, the target becomes illegal and the effect will be negated when it attempts to resolve.

Dick Grayson <> Nightwing, Posed as Successor
Character, cost 7Leader: Whenever an adjacent Gotham Knights character with cost X would become stunned, you may remove X charge counters from amongst face-up resources you control. If you do, instead, exhaust that character.

If there aren't enough charge counters on your resources, you can't replace the stun.

God-Killing Bullet, Radion Bullet
Equipment, cost 1
Exhaust God-Killing Bullet -> KO target character if its cost is less than or equal to the cost of equipped character. If you do, KO equipped character.

If God-Killing Bullet is removed from play before its payment power resolves, it will do nothing on resolution. If God-Killing Bullet is transferred before its payment power resolves, it will resolve with all references referring to its new equipped character, and thus, will fail to KO the opposing character if transferred to a character with too small a cost.

Honor Jackson, Good Samaritan
Character, cost 1
You draw cards from the bottom of your deck.

This doesn't affect any other card positions; for example, you still reveal the top four cards for Twist of Fate or Ace Reporter, not the bottom four; and you still rally from the top. This only affects where you draw from.

Investigation of a Deicide
Plot Twist, cost 3
Play only during the draw phase. To play, KO a character you control. Ongoing: A unique character can't enter play under a player's control if that player has controlled a copy of that character this game.

If a card attempts to enter play from another zone and is stopped by Investigation of a Deicide, it remains in the zone it came from. If a character is stopped while attempting to Shift into play, it remains removed from play shifted with any counters it had.

Invisible Kid, Lyle Norg
Character, cost 1
Reservist, Cosmic. Reveal Invisible Kid from your resource row -> Legionnaires characters you control can't be the target of effects this turn. Use only during the build phase and only if you control three or more cosmic counters.

This power prevents both you and your opponents from targeting your characters.

Simyan, Evil Factory Proprietor
Character, cost 2
Activate, Put a charge counter on a charge character you control with the printed Darkseid's Elite affiliation of an opponent's choice -> Target character gains the Anti-Life affiliation.

When you pay the cost of Simyan's payment power, you must choose an opponent. This opponent chooses a charge character you control, and then you must put a charge counter on it. If you control no charge characters or are otherwise incapable of fulfilling this cost, you may not use this power.

Soldiers of Purgatory, Army
Character, cost 1
Whenever you play a Magic plot twist or equipment card, you may put the top card of your deck into your KO'd pile. If you do, gain 1 endurance.

Soldiers of Purgatory's triggered power triggers when its controller plays a Magic plot twist or a Magic equipment. Equipment is "played" by recruiting it onto a character.

The Lump, Life Without Form
Character, cost 4
Whenever The Lump becomes stunned, you may pay 4 endurance. If you do, equip The Lump to an Anti-Life character and the equipped character has "At the start of the combat phase, KO this character." The Lump is treated as equipment until it leaves play.

After this power resolves, The Lump's card type is treated as Equipment, and it is equipped to an opposing character. The Lump grants the power "At the start of the combat phase, KO this character" to the character it is equipped to. That character is considered to be equipped, and the power will be inactive while the equipped character is stunned, as normal. While The Lump is equipped to a character, it can be targeted by cards as if it had the Equipment card type, so it may be KO'd, transferred, and otherwise affected as an equipment card while it remains equipped to a character. If The Lump attempts to become equipped to a character who cannot be further equipped (for example, a character who cannot be equipped at all, or who already has his maximum number of equipment equipped), it will fail to become equipped on resolution, and will be put into the KO'd pile instead. After The Lump leaves play, its card type once again becomes Character.

Triad, Three in One
Character, cost 1
Reservist, Cosmic. Reveal Triad from your resource row -> If you control two or less unique characters named Triad, put Triad in your front row and put a card from your hand in your resource row. If you do, Triad becomes a team attacker. Use only if you control a team attacker named Triad.

Note that a deck containing at least one copy of DLS-025 Triad, Non-Unique <> Luornu Durgo can still only have a total of three cards named Triad. You may mix and match the two versions, as long as the total does not exceed 3. If your deck contains only copies of DFC-118 Triad, Three in One, it may contain up to four copies of her as normal.