Falling Star

Falling Star

[NEW TEXT] Deal 3 to a unit.

Deal 3 to a unit.

[OLD TEXT] Do this twice:

Deal 3 to a unit. (You can choose different units.)

Falling Star & Icathian Rain

Q: That "do this" wording is a lot like the one on Falling Star and Icathian Rain. Are those reflexive triggers too?

Yes! This means that these two spells no longer actually have any targets of their own-you play them with no choices. If they resolve, you then put each instance of their reflexive trigger on the chain separately, choosing the same or different units as you like. You'll pay Deflect costs for each one as you put each trigger on the chain, and then the triggered abilities will resolve one at a time in the opposite order they were put on the chain. This is a big change to how those two cards work, but we think it actually matches how many people expected them to work when they first saw them.

Falling Star, Icathian Rain, and Deflect The Origins FAQ impacted these two Origins cards in ways that ultimately went beyond our original intentions for them, and we haven't been happy with the result. We'll turn over the mic to Riftbound Game Director Dave Guskin to talk about two prominent Origins cards that are receiving errata:

We used a straightforward template (or formal wording) to identify reflexive triggers, the "then do this:" template. And because Icathian Rain and Falling Star were already using a similar template, I ended up pushing forward with changing those cards to reflexive triggers even though they didn't have a first effect - information - second effect kind of flow.

Falling Star (revised text)

Deal 3 to a unit.

Deal 3 to a unit.

(You can choose different units.)

In addition to these card changes, we have a small rules change to make. We've realized that our design team and rules team weren't in agreement about how Deflect was supposed to work. In the rules, a target's Deflect cost was paid once for each spell or ability. In the design team's playtesting, it was paid once for each time that target was chosen. That misalignment didn't actually matter-Icathian Rain and Falling Star had reflexive triggers, so they worked as intended, and there were no other cards (that we could find) that can choose the same unit multiple times. Now that difference does matter, both because of the above errata and the existence of the Repeat ability, and we want the cards to play as the design team intended. To that end, we're taking the unusual step of issuing errata for the rules themselves:

758.2. If the spell or ability changes for any reason such that it will no longer fall under the category of spells or abilities for which a Game Object is untargetable, the Game Object will become a legal target for that spell or ability. Example: A 1 [M] unit reads "I can't be chosen by enemy spells or abilities with Energy cost less than my Might." That unit is targeted by an enemy Falling Star; in reaction to the Falling Star, the unit's controller plays Discipline targeting that unit, bringing its Might to 3 [M]. If Falling Star resolved at that point, the unit would be unaffected by it as it resolves. Falling Star's controller plays Eclipse before Falling Star resolves, bringing the unit's Might to -1 [M]. When Falling Star resolves now, the unit is affected by the spell and has 6 damage marked. It dies in the following cleanup.