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Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Rock Cleaving Axe 贯石斧 (guàn shí fǔ)

Posted by Ricky Chua On 3:31 PM 26 comments
Description:
A battle axe of questionable origin. The ROCK CLEAVING AXE may undoubtedly be a fantastic weapon in the card game, but it is raising a lot of questions about how its original owner is in the Romance of Three Kingdoms story. So far, the two most likely heroes that may have used this axe are Xu Huang 徐晃 and Xu Chu 许褚. As this weapon does not seem to bring any special advantage to any particular character, I'm tempted to say that this weapon did not actually exist in the story at all. Game maker says "Hey we need an axe as a weapon card. Don't all RPGs have an axe? Let's just give it some ancient sounding name like 贯石斧."

Attacking Range: 3

Special ability:
When your ATTACK 杀 has been evaded, you can choose to discard any 2 cards (on-hand or equipped) and force the relevant damage back on to the targeted player. You should realize that by doing so, you are effectively using up 3 cards (1 ATTACK and 2 discarded) just to force that damage, so it better be worth it!

Disambiguation:
Let me be honest and say that I did not translate the chinese instructions for the special ability literally. That is because the literal translation is "when your ATTACK has been neutralized (抵消)..." Now everyones inference of ATTACK getting neutralized varies. Some say it has to be DODGED, others say a deflection such as Da Qiao 大乔's "Displacement 流离" counts, while others say to "neutralize" requires the ATTACK to be rendered ineffective. I have chosen to replace "neutralized" with "evaded", which should disambiguate things a little. As long as the ATTACK was meant for a player, but he or she did not receive damage as a result of the ATTACK, that would be considered as being evaded.

Therefore,
- DODGE is considered evaded
- Da Qiao's "Displacement" ability is considered evaded

But Xiao Qiao 小乔's "Heavenly Scent 天香" ability is NOT considered evaded since that only deflects the damage already received, and not the ATTACK itself.

Characters that match this weapon best:
Xu Chu is a relatively good match since his "Bare-Chested 裸衣" ability allows him to deal 2 units of damage. To allow your opponent to evade that ATTACK is going too easy on him. However I still feel the ROCK CLEAVING AXE is useful to any character. Perhaps you have an opinion that I would love to hear. Drop me a comment!

26 comments:

  1. Suppose I am equipped with ROCK CLEAVING AXE and use an attack card on Da Qiao, and she choose to use displacement and pass the attack onto player A.

    1) If player A dodge, then I throw 2 more cards. So, player A gets the damage or Da Qiao?

    2) If player A gets the damage, can I throw 2 more cards to make sure Da Qiao gets hit? If so, can Da Qiao use displacement on my second "attack"?

    ReplyDelete
  2. 1) If player A dodge, then I throw 2 more cards. So, player A gets the damage or Da Qiao?
    >>ANS: player A gets the damage. The attack has already been displaced to player A and all effects thereafter do not concern Da Qiao.

    2) If player A gets the damage, can I throw 2 more cards to make sure Da Qiao gets hit? If so, can Da Qiao use displacement on my second "attack"?
    >>ANS: As mentioned, once displaced, all consequences no longer affect Da Qiao. So even activating the weapon ability only applies to player A.

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  3. You stated that any 2 cards can be displaced to force the damage, can I discard this weapon as 1?

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  4. Unfortunately, NO.

    You can use any other card except this card, because it is where the ability comes from.

    This is similar in analogy to Da Qiao and Dian Wei unable to use her weapon to discard if the target is at a far distance.

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  5. With reference to 1st post, after player A takes the displaced damage from Da Qiao's ability (-1 health), does this mean the attacker(origin of ATTACK/owner of this weapon) can/cannot use Rock Cleaving Axe's ability?

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  6. My guess is you are implying player A does not use Dodge and just suffers the damage. It that case the Axe's ability can no longer be used since no dodge was used.

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  7. Yes i understood my question right. However if Da Qiao's displacement ability is considered evade, this would contradict with Rock Cleaving Axe's ability (since one cannot use Axe's ability even though there was a evade of damage). My guess is perhaps u should play around with words/explanations to make this whole issue follow more sensibly.

    Anyway thanks for answering all my questions... and great job with this blog :) Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  8. Da Qiao's displacement ability is considered evade

    >>ANS: Ah!! I've been wondering why nobody has brought this up. I did my best to translate the cards word for word, but the original chinese description for this axe is ambiguous as well.

    It states "被抵消时" which does NOT use the word 闪 (Dodge) but instead 抵消 which means to be neutralized/removed. This has been a source of ambiguity and confusion.

    The answers to the questions here are through experience as well as popular accepted opinions, as well as the official FAQ where applicable.

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  9. If elder zhu ge liang discards his last card, dodge, and this effect is used, will it still count since elder zhu ge liang no longer has any cards in hands and cannot be targeted after that?

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  10. Yes, it will still count. You are not targeting elder Zhuge Liang afresh, just forcing the previously targeted damage through.

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  11. This vs. Rattan Armour. Which one wins?

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  12. This. Rock is tougher than Rattan. Rattan Armour states that ATTACKS have no effect against you, and this states that you can use it if your ATTACK gets neutralised.

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  13. Arguable. The definition of "neutralized" is under question, and there does not yet seem to be a definite answer to this.

    Ref: http://ask.yokagames.com/question.php?qid=6993

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  14. You're right, Ricky. The discription on the card is ambiguous. However, the official site clearly states that 抵消 means Dodge: http://www.yokagames.com/?action-viewnews-itemid-83

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  15. Hmm... though that is the official site, my worry is that it may have been updated since. I noticed the post was made in 2008.

    Personal opinion: I'm leaning towards neutralized = dodge though.

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  16. btw... Bob could you drop me an Email please? I'd like to get in contact with you. :)

    Please mail to sg.rockstar@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hi Ricky,

    Your description says "force the relevant damage back on to the targeted player."

    So does this include if you've augmented the damage via Wine or Xǔ Chǔ's Bare-Chested, or does it always just force 1 damage through?

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  18. ...nvm, I just saw the character match text, sorry!

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  19. It includes whatever augmentation you do the ATTACK, such as additional damage or elementals.

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  20. Can I assume that discarding 2 cards will make a black 杀 damage go through 仁王盾? (because anyone can STILL use black 杀 on someone who is equipped with 仁王盾, just that there is no damage)

    Not very sure =S

    ReplyDelete
  21. No it does not work against Ren Wang Shield. The reason is because Ren Wang Shield says black ATTACK is ineffective. The attack totally does not work against it.

    Ineffective does not mean "evaded", 'cause the attack does not even work.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Responding to your solicitation in your “Characters who match this weapon best” section, I think that Sūn Shàng Xiāng is best with this weapon. Because the ability allows her to discard any two cards to force the attack to hit when dodged, she can discard two equipment cards. This activates her ability. This is one of the few cases in which it is not in the best interest of the victim to play a dodge card. They will be hit either way, but Sūn Shàng Xiāng will draw four cards if they choose to dodge!

    ReplyDelete
  23. I think I should make it clear. According to new official FAQ(errata), the effect of ROCK CLEAVING AXE has changed to 'When your target has neutralized your ATTACK by EVADE,...',so the answer is clear now. This ability cannot be acivated due to armor like RATTAN ARMOR and displacement ability.

    ReplyDelete
  24. In the online game the axe doesn't deal damage to Da Qiao when the ATTACK is displaced by her.

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  25. Just some info for you on this weapon's background, I believe that this weapon actually belonged to Xing Daorong (邢道荣). He had some giant axe called something like the "mountain splitting cleaver".

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    Replies
    1. One other thing I'd like to note. I do believe that you cannot force damage on ineffective attacks. For example, a black attack on the Ren Wang Shield, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

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