Decoy Trap vs. Death Trap

[Storknest]

Built a Hunter deck to try some thing out and encountered this against the AI Gwen. (Why on the Test server do Human Heroes play against Human AIs while the AI is Shadow on the Live one?) I played a Decoy Trap then dropped an Ally.
AI Gwen had a Death Trap out, it tried to kill my ally but Decoy Trap activated and neutralized Death Trap letting the Ally get played.
Is this intentional? Death Trap doesn't say it does damage, it just kills. Decoy Trap says it reduces damage to 0.

[Scout]

I think it's intentional, killing means dealing damage.

[tman507]

Basically, any effect that kills an ally is considered to deal lethal damage to that ally. So like when a Tidal Wave is played, it essentially does enough damage to each ally to kill them.

So in your case, Death Trap tries to do lethal damage to your ally in order to kill it, but Decoy Trap reduces this damage to 0, letting the ally survive.

It's a bit of an unclear ruling I know, but this is the way it works apparently.

[Scout]

Basically, any effect that kills an ally is considered to deal lethal damage to that ally. So like when a Tidal Wave is played, it essentially does enough damage to each ally to kill them.

So in your case, Death Trap tries to do lethal damage to your ally in order to kill it, but Decoy Trap reduces this damage to 0, letting the ally survive.

It's a bit of an unclear ruling I know, but this is the way it works apparently.

Yes. It's the same case as in an ally survives a Tidal Wave when it has a Holy Shield attached to it.

[tman507]

Yes. It's the same case as in an ally survives a Tidal Wave when it has a Holy Shield attached to it.

Holy Shield is actually much more clear in wording though, as it actually directly says "can't be killed". Celestial Armor is an example of another more confusing one, as it says the ally doesn't take damage, which winds up also preventing it from being killed. If I remember correctly, Celestial Armor did actually say "can't be killed" instead of "damage is reduced to 0" at one point, then they changed it. It effectively actually makes Celestial Armor a bit stronger by making the ally take no damage at all (as opposed to original wording where it could take damage up to being killed), but also makes it confusing for those who don't know the ruling on what constitutes "kill" in this game.

[Storknest]

Interesting, would that also affect Exiled, say Snare Trap vs Decoy Trap? Or is Exiled not related to damage.

[tman507]

Interesting, would that also affect Exiled, say Snare Trap vs Decoy Trap? Or is Exiled not related to damage.

Hmmm, not 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure exiled doesn't involve damage. For example when an ally is killed with something that insta-kills it, the little red damage number floats up next to it, this doesn't happen with an exiled card.

[Demnchi]

There is no damage involved with Exiling, so Decoy Trap wouldn't be involved in any way.

[Storknest]

OK then, so ANYTHING that says Killed can be stopped by Decoy Trap? If so, this can be a VERY good card against Boris, Logan, Tidal Wave, etc.

What if you apply the kill effect yourself? Say, use Sacrificial Lamb, Decoy Trap protects the target ally and you get the card draw? The effects are 2 different sentences indicating you don't need to do the first to get the second, unlike the effect of Magma Jackal for comparison where it is one sentence separated by a comma so the first is needed for the second to go off.

[painful_smile]

#Funny is Decoy trap with Twilight. :-)
Use ability from Twilight orppunaist with decoy trap.
It will not die at the end and the 3 damage will stay.
Next time you use the ability it has 6 attack :-)