Icathian Rain

Icathian Rain

[NEW TEXT] Deal 2 to a unit.

Deal 2 to a unit.

Deal 2 to a unit.

Deal 2 to a unit.

Deal 2 to a unit.

Deal 2 to a unit.

[OLD TEXT] Do this 6 times:

Deal 2 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.

Icathian Rain (revised text)

Deal 2 to a unit.

Deal 2 to a unit.

Deal 2 to a unit.

Deal 2 to a unit.

Deal 2 to a unit.

Deal 2 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:

Icathian Rain

Rule 735.1.c (revised text)

It is functionally short for "Spells and abilities an opponent controls that choose me cost an amount of Power equal to [Deflect Value] more to play as an additional cost for each time they choose me."

What happens when I play Icathian Rain choosing a Recruit at Heisho, Shell of the World once and Irelia, Fervent in base five times? How many times do I pay for deflect?

You will not pay for deflect.

While your spell or ability chooses a unit at Heisho, Shell of the World, you ignore deflect while paying for the spell. Ignore, in this context, means you treat deflect on the specified units as being inactive, like it's turned off temporarily. In the case of Heisho, it doesn't specify any units whose deflect to ignore, so you ignore all instances of deflect on units.

This only applies to the specified spell or ability. You can't play a spell or ability choosing a unit at Heisho, and then play another one choosing a unit at another location and not at Heisho and still ignore deflect. Only while at least one target of the spell or ability is a unit located at Heisho do you ignore deflect while paying costs for that spell or ability.

Relevant Rules: 766., 767.