Payment Power Question

[Pat Brown]

OK I have two cards that fall under this situation:

PDC031 "Incoming" -Strike 2G 5/2

"Green --> A player of your choice turns the top card of his or her deck face up."


PDC 061 "Bar Room Brawl" -Strike 1Y 4/4

"Green --> Reveal the top card of your deck."



Let's say I reveal a nicer card, or discover that my opponent has something that will easily defend this strike.

If I choose to purchase the payment power, do I have to play the strike?

Or does the payment power only take effect once the card is played?

[BigBen]

You can pay for the power without paying for the strike. You can always do this. Most payment powers trigger when you counterattack, so if you paid for those and then focused the strike, they wouldn't happen. But you could still pay for the power if you wanted. :)

[Pat Brown]

Great. Thanks again Ben.

[Yerkamig]

Wow, that's huge. I'm embarassed to say I didn't think of that. I assumed if you used a Payment Power you had to use the strike.

So let me get this straight. If I used Incoming's Payment Power to look at my opponent's top card and didn't like what I saw, I could focus the strike and move down a zone?

Please excuse me, I ffeel lightheaded.

*two hours later*

OK. Down to brass tax. If I flipped Lesson of the Lash (Eliminate one of your allies= +1 int +1 force) I could use the payment power, focus the strike, and flip in the next zone while retaining the bonus of Lessons of the Lash? After all, it doesn't designate itself as the sole benificiary of it's power (unlike most strikes).

[BigBen]

Yerkamig,

With Incoming you can use the power and get the effect without playing the strike because the effect is not related to the strike. It just resolves and you flip a card. You CAN use Lash's power as well, but it only applies to itself. Once you focus it, all its text disappears. So no, you cannot apply Lash's power to another strike. (Unless you ahve a card that says otherwise of course) :)