Hey! Can you believe it’s been nearly a year since my last article? What’s that? You can? Oh, right, well, let’s move on, I guess…
If you haven’t been living under a rock, you’re probably aware we’ve just had our first look at a new keyword: Warp.
While the article gave us a general overview of Warp, it still left some question unanswered, and is actually misleading regarding a specific part due to incorrect terminology used (we’ll get into that later).
Since the CotW article, the Comprehensive Rules have been updated, and alongside that we’ve also had some further clarifications from Twitter (of course), and as such, I thought it would be a good idea to bring it all together and go over Warp properly. Specifically: what Warp is, how it works (and doesn’t work), as well as going over some questions that are likely to come up (and the answers to them, naturally!), before breaking down as simply as possible. Let’s dive in!
What Is Warp?
Warp is a keyword introduced in Opus 18 (Resurgence of Power) that you will find on Characters. Warp is made up of three(!) abilities under one roof. These three abilities consist of:
- 1 field ability
- 2 auto abilities
On the Character itself, Warp is written as:
Warp X – [Cost]
We can see an example of exactly how this looks on a Character via Teodor (18-026L):
Now that you understand how Warp looks, and what it consists of, let’s move on to explaining how it actually works when you use it!
How It Works
Warp begins by being active in the hand. This is the field ability part. It allows you to pay the cost written any time you could normally cast the card (but it does NOT count as casting, for more information see the Questions and Answer section further down). As in, when you are the turn player, while it is your main phase (1 or 2), and while the stack is empty. When you pay the cost, the Warp Character is removed from the game (face up) and gains Warp counters equal to X (in Teodor (18-026L)’s case this would be 2). Note that performing this action does not use the stack.
Once the Character has been removed and has Warp counters, this is when the two auto abilities of Warp come into play. First, and foremost, at the beginning of the Character controller’s Main Phase 1, while there is at least one Warp counter on the Character, the auto ability with the effect “remove 1 Warp counter from this card” will trigger.
The second auto ability triggers when the last Warp counter is removed from the Character, and it has the effect “play this card onto the field.”
And, that’s how Warp works! Before I do a simple breakdown of Warp, let’s move now to answering some questions about Warp.
Questions & Answer
Question 0. This is like Suspend, isn’t it?!
Yes. If you’re familiar with Magic the Gathering (MTG), Warp is FFTCG’s version of that. However, like anything FFTCG copies/borrows from MTG, there are some differences, so be careful!
Question 1. Is Warp considering casting?
No (MTG people, I did tell you there are differences!). While Warp’s field ability can only be used at the same time as you would normally cast a Character, at no point is it ever “casting” the Character, nor in any way is it treated as a type of “cast.” The auto ability triggered when the last counter is removed merely “plays” the Character when it resolves.
Note: The original Teodor article did confusingly use the term “cast” when talking about the auto ability playing the Character to the field, but this has since been proven to be incorrect, so, we can ignore this, as someone clearly made a mistake at some point when the article was being put together.
Question 2. What happens if I have another Character on the field with the same name (and the Warp Character has no generic card icon), when Warp tries to play it to the field?
In this case, the Character with Warp will not be played to the field.
Question 3. Can the Warp auto abilities be cancelled by Amaterasu (12-002H)? What about Fina (16-058R) or Leviathan (18-096C) if it’s a Forward?
Yes to both questions. There is nothing special about Warp auto abilities, Amat can cancel them like any other, and both auto abilities are treated as triggering from the Character with Warp, so, if it’s a Forward, it’s fair game to your Finas. As a note, unless you feel like wasting your auto cancels, make sure to only use them on the auto that plays the Warp Character (a Forward specifically in Fina and Leviathan’s case) to the field, as cancelling the auto that removes a counter only delays the Character by a turn, since the counter remains on the Character that way. As long as it has Warp counters, the auto will keep triggering to remove them!
Question 4. What happens if the Warp Character misses the opportunity to be played to the field?
Questions 2 and 3 present situations where the auto ability can fail to bring out the Character, for different reasons. However, the result is the same. Regardless of if it’s because the auto was cancelled, or because the Character could not be played, the auto that plays the Character only triggers when the last Warp counter is removed, so, unless you have a way to add a Warp counter back (which we do not have at the time of writing!), there is no way to re-trigger the auto ability to play the Warp Character to the field. It will be stuck forever removed.
Question 5. For Teodor (18-026L), and cards like it, with autos that trigger when they enter the field and when they enter the field by Warp, which autos trigger when they enter via Warp?
In Teodor (18-026L)’s case, you get both auto abilties if he enters via Warp. He is both entering the field AND entering the field via Warp. Unless there is a specific clause that says otherwise (as in, unless Teodor’s discard 2 auto said it did not trigger when he enters via Warp), autos will always trigger when the appropriate trigger condition is met. Which means your opponent will, if both autos resolves, overall have to discard 3 cards when Teodor enters via Warp. The same will go for any future cards that have both an “enter the field” auto(s) and an “enter the field due to Warp” auto(s), they will both(/all) trigger unless there is text that says otherwise (be it on the card, or something preventing it on the field!).
Simple Breakdown
As always, it’s time to break down Warp as simply as I can:
Warp
1. Warp is written as: Warp X – [Cost].
2. Warp can be used when the Character can normally be cast (but using Warp does not count as casting): when the stack is empty, during the main phase of the Warp Character controller’s turn.
3. When Warp is used, the controller pays the cost written, and removes the Character from play. This does not use the stack.
4. Add Warp counters to the Character equal to X.
5. While the Character is removed and has at least 1 Warp counter on it, at the start of the controller’s Main Phase 1, the auto ability with the effect “remove 1 Warp counter from this card” triggers from the Character.
6. While the Character is removed and has at least 1 Warp counter on it, when the last Warp counter is removed, the auto ability with the effect “play this Character onto the field” will trigger from the Character. (This does not count as casting the Character.)
a. If the Character does not have the generic card icon, while another Character with the same name is on the controller’s field, it cannot be played to the field via the above Warp auto ability (6.).
b. If the Character was not played to the field via the above Warp auto ability (6.), this auto ability will not trigger again unless the Character gains another Warp counter.
Goodbye
And thus concludes this Warp article! I have another article I’d ideally like to get out this month, it’s actually almost entirely written. Will I actually get it out this month, let alone this year? Heh, not going by my track record. Aside from that article, I have some other big things I’m working on which should hopefully see the light of day some time next year. So, please look forward to this content you will get at some point, maybe, probably not.
Thank you for reading, bye now.
