This Blog Can't Be Interrupted, Prevented, or Negated by: Matt Aebersold 4/29/06 back to list of blogs
Okay, so just by reading that, you know why I am writing this article. Each term; interrupt, prevent, and negate, are not confusing by themselves, it's when you have to figure out which one takes place over the other, kind of like rock, paper, scissors. I will talk about that later. Let's start by looking at a card. Here is the Warriors Michael... 
This specific version of Michael is by far the most powerful, as it says Michael and enhancements cannot be prevented. Just think if someone were to try and block with a battle by the numbers card. That would be absolutely useless against Michael because Michael himself (i.e. his special ability) cannot be negated, which means then that enhancements played on him cannot be negated either. And say you play an enhancement on Michael. Your opponent then tries to interrupt and negate that enhancement. Can't work. Period. Michael's only vulnerability would be his high numbers, meaning he would rarely get initiative to play enhancements. That's where Flaming Sword comes in handy just incase he gains initiative by removal, capture, etc. What I am trying to stress here is the power behind the term "Cannot be interrupted, prevented, or negated" That seems to override most everything your opponent can throw at you. I guess the best way to get rid of this guy is Christian Martyr. Now think about this; say you're defending with a capture strategy and Michael is in your opponents territory. You block and gain initiative, then you would play a capture card and capture Michael out of your opponents territory and put him either in your Raider's Camp or your land of bondage. Your opponent cannot prevent that capture card, because he is not being removed from battle. This is a sacrifice, but a great way to remove a powerful hero your opponent did not put in battle. 
Here's another example, the infamous Authority Of Christ national promo. This card is dominant in so many ways. I don't have to tell you what it does, the whole discarding evil characters thing...here's the trick, it says "may not be interrupted, prevented, or negated." That phrase, combined with the previous "discard all evil characters in play," make this the most powerful card in the game, in my humble opinion. Now when you play the original Authority of Christ, your opponent would be able to negate it because he is loosing by removal. With this card, however, he would not. It would have to happen, and there wouldn't be anything they could do about it. Think of the devastation in multi player! There are a couple of weak spots in this card I feel compelled to point out. One, Kingdoms of the World is a must in your deck if you are going to play this card, or be very careful about the evil characters you put on the table, and who you keep in your hand. Kingdoms of the World and your hand are the only safe place for your evil characters when you play this card. If your not careful, you can wipe out your own defense and leave yourself vulnerable to future rescue attempts against you. 
The other weakness of this card is immunity. Say your opponent blocks with Emperor Nero. You then play this card. The effects of this card discard every evil character except Emperor Nero, because he is immune to your lone hero. However, if he is in your opponent's territory, he is discarded because his special text is not active unless he is in the field of battle. Aside from these weaknesses, I believe the Authority of Christ Promo is a must for anyone's deck...period. So there are these 3 separate rules...interrupt...prevent....and negate, that we seem to see printed together on many cards. The term interrupt is critical, mostly because it interrupts ongoing abilities, like immunity. Here's an example. You play King's Daughter and your opponent blocks with Prince of This World. Normally, Prince would be immune to the lone hero, but the holder is allowed to play Reach of Desperation and subsequently play Authority of Christ. That would work because Prince's immunity is interrupted until Reach is completed, which is after Authority takes effect. My main point to this article is play smart, especially if your in a tournament scene. Find these combos that devastate your opponent, and then build your deck around making sure they work. If your going to use a combo like the above paragraph, keep in mind that your opponent will gain initiative by removal and will try to negate the discard effect, so be sure to have Five Smooth Stones or some other form of Negating your opponent. Remember, find combos that will help you win, and make sure your opponent can't do anything about it. Until next time! ~Matt Aebersold |
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