You can see by the way we use our walk we’re Smashing Bases and got no time to talk! - AEG
Nothing defined the 1970s like Disco. Love it or hate it, this music shaped our image of that decade. And the people who loved it are here to turn the beat around all over their opponents! Don’t assume that the leisure suits and roller skates make them pushovers, or you just might not make it to the last dance... Disco Dancers have learned the power of dancing together. Watch out as they copy each others’ moves!
- - That ’70s Expansion rulebook
The Disco Dancers are one of the 4 factions from the That ’70s Expansion set.
Disco Dancers are based on duplicating the effects of standard actions (i.e. actions that don't remain play after being played), therefore increasing the number of minions the action can normally affect.
Other factions from the same set: Kung Fu Fighters, Truckers, Vigilantes.
Cards[]
The Disco Dancers have the usual 10 minions and 10 actions. The total minion base power (not counting any abilities) is the usual 30 or an average of 3 per minion. There are several abilities that can boost the power of minions beyond their base value and several that can copy that boost and more. Each of the ten actions is unique.
Among their actions, there are:
- 1 play-on-minion action: We are Family,
- 0 play-on-base actions,
- 9 standard actions (6 that affect one or more minions, in bold): Celebration, Disco Inferno, Get Down Tonight, I’m So Excited, I Will Survive, It’s Raining Men, Last Dance, Stayin’ Alive, Turn the Beat Around,
- 3 actions that directly increase a minion's power: Disco Inferno, Get Down Tonight, Turn the Beat Around.
Minions[]
1x Dancing King - power 5 - Ongoing: When a standard action directly affects one or more minions here, you may choose another minion here to be affected the same way. FAQ
2x Disco Lou - power 4 - Play an extra action OR place an action from your discard pile on top of your deck. FAQ
3x Diva - power 3 - Ongoing: Once each turn, when a standard action directly affects one or more of your other minions here, you may choose this minion to be affected the same way. FAQ
4x Roller - power 2 - Ongoing: After this minion is directly affected by a standard action, place a +1 power counter on it if it had no such counters when the action was played. FAQ
Actions[]
1x Celebration - Play two extra actions. FAQ
1x Disco Inferno - Each player may place a +1 power counter on one of their minions. For each minion affected by this, draw a card. FAQ
1x Get Down Tonight - Give a minion +2 power until the end of the turn. Draw a card.FAQ
1x I’m So Excited - Move one of your minions. Draw a card. FAQ
1x I Will Survive - Special: After a base scores, return one of your minions there to its owner's hand instead of the discard pile. FAQ
1x It’s Raining Men - Play an extra minion. FAQ
1x Last Dance - Each player may destroy a minion they control. For each minion actually destroyed, its controller gains 1VP. FAQ
1x Stayin’ Alive - Choose one of your minions in play. Place a copy of it from your discard pile into your hand.FAQ
1x Turn the Beat Around - Choose a minion to gain +1 power until the end of the turn. For each minion affected by this, a minion there of your choice gains -1 power until the end of the turn. Special: You may play this before a base scores. FAQ
1x We are Family - Play on a minion. Ongoing: Once each turn, when a standard action directly affects one or more other minions here, you may choose this minion to be affected the same way. FAQ
Bases[]
Clarifications[]
Here are the official clarifications as they appear in the That ’70s Expansion rulebook:
Dancing King: Here, “another minion” means different from the ones already affected, not different from Dancing King.
Diva, Dancing King, We Are Family: It cannot copy effects of actions played on minions or bases, nor of actions previously played. It cannot copy an effect already copied from a third minion by another Diva etc. It can copy once per action causing the effect, not once per minion being affected. “The same way” means e.g. moving it to the same base, or giving control of it to the same player. It can copy an effect even if it does not fit the original prerequisites (e.g. “power 3 or higher”). You must choose whether to copy an effect when the action is played, not when the effect happens. If an effect has multiple parts, choose only one part to copy. The copied effect is considered to come from the original standard action causing the effect, not from the Diva etc. allowing additional affected targets.
Last Dance: Credit for destroying the minion goes to the player who chooses to have it destroyed.
Turn the Beat Around: “Each minion affected by this” means the minions that gain the +1 power described earlier, not those that get the -1 power described later. Multiple -1 power losses may be assigned to the same minion.
Examples of play[]
Given how complex the Disco Dancers mechanics is, the rulebook also gave examples of plays showing how they work:
At Base X, Anne has two Divas and a Disco Lou.
- If Anne plays Get Down Tonight, giving Disco Lou +2 power:
- Each Diva also gets +2, copying Disco Lou’s +2.
- One Diva cannot copy the +2 the other Diva gets, because that is not a direct effect.
- Drawing a card does not affect any minion, so Anne only draws one card.
- If Anne plays I’m So Excited to move Disco Lou:
- If either Diva copies the move, it has to be to the same base.
- If after scoring, Anne plays I Will Survive to return Disco Lou to the hand:
- The Divas may also be returned to the hand.
- Note: Divas can copy only one effect per turn.
At Base Y, Anne has a Diva and a Roller, Bob has Foxy Green, Carol has Dragon Warrior.
- If Anne plays Tough It Out on the Roller:
- Tough It Out is not a standard action, so Roller does not get a power counter, and the Divas cannot copy it.
- Bob places a power counter on Foxy Green since Anne played a card affecting minions there.
- If Anne plays Disco Inferno and places a power counter on Roller, and Bob places one on Foxy Green and Carol places one on Dragon Warrior:
- The Roller gets a second counter since it had none when Disco Inferno was played.
- The Diva copies the effect on the Roller and gets a power counter.
- Four minions were affected, so Anne draws four cards; but Bob still places just one additional power counter on Foxy Green.
- If Anne plays Last Dance:
- Anne can destroy the Roller and have the Diva copy it, earning 2 VPs.
- Bob can destroy Foxy Green and earn 1 VP.
- Carol cannot destroy Dragon Warrior and cannot earn any VPs.
At Funky Town, Anne has Dancing King and a Diva with We are Family on it, and Dave has Jacky Bill.
- If Dave plays A Whole Lot Meaner to add +3 power to Jacky Bill:
- We Are Family may copy it and add +3 power to the Diva.
- Dancing King may also copy it and add +3 power to itself (or to the Diva, but not to both). Dancing King can still copy more effects later this turn.
- If Dave plays Make My Day to destroy the Diva:
- Dancing King may copy its effect and destroy Jacky Bill, even though Jacky Bill’s power is higher than 3.
- If Anne plays Fast as Lightning and targets Dancing King, giving it +2 power:
- This effect can be copied by the Diva and by We Are Family and by Funky Town and by Dancing King, so the Diva can gain +8 power.
- Or, any one of those cards could copy the effect of going to the hand instead, leaving the Diva with +6 power — but the choice must be made when Fast as Lightning is played.
Mechanics[]
Disco Dancers focus on standard actions (i.e. actions that don't remain in play after being played, either by being played on another card, or buried on a base) and more specifically on those that affect minions (so you better brush up on your understanding of affection!) Their defining mechanic is copying the effects applied to minions by standard actions, which you can see as a way to expand the number of minions affected by that action. For example, Gimme the Prize is limited to a maximum of three minions, but if you have Divas in play, you can affect those Divas in addition to the three minions.
A few clarifications about copying the effects though:
- Each of the effect-copying cards (Dancing King, Diva, We are Family and Funky Town) can only copy one effect per action (even Dancing King!) Diva, We are Family and Funky Town have a further restriction in that they can only copy one effect per action per turn.
- They can only copy effects that count as affecting. More particularly, merely "choosing" and "playing" a minion don't count as affecting.
- You can only copy an effect on a minion if that minion isn't already one of the minions that are directly affected by the action. However, that minion doesn't have to match the action's requirements and can get multiple copies of that effect from different effect-copying cards.
- Cards are still resolved in order, so if the card did something before the actual affecting part, you don't go back and redo the previous part. In particular, with "Do X to affect a minion"-type of abilities, if you duplicate the affection, you don't redo X.
- After copying the effect, you resolve the rest of the ability exactly as written. If copying the effect influences the rest of the ability, it will be explicitly written. If it's not explicitly written, then there's no influence whatsoever.
- If the rest of the ability refers to the minion (or minions) that was directly affected, only apply it to the minion that was directly affected, not the minions that got a copy of the effect. For example, with Headlong, you move a minion and place +1 power counter "on that minion". If you copy the movement with Diva, the rest of the ability, which says "Place two +1 power counters on that minion", should only be resolved by treating "that minion" as meaning "the minion directly affected" (so not the Diva). The rules even give the example of Fast as Lightning where if you duplicate the part that says "it gains +2 power", the rest of the ability that says "if it would go to the discard pile it is returned to its owner’s hand instead" won't be duplicated and will therefore only apply to the minion that was directly affected.
- If the effect you want to duplicate only happens at a later time than when the action was played, you must declare that you duplicate it when the action is played, not when the effect happens. For example, Fast as Lightning's return-to-hand effect only happens if the minion is discarded, which can happen at any point of the turn, e.g. after its base is scored. The rulebook state that if you want to copy that return-to-hand effect, you must decide it when the action is played, not when the effect is happening. Other examples of effects happening at a later time: I Select You! places the minion under the deck at the end of the turn, I Will Survive and any after-scoring effects that state "instead of the discard pile" will only affect the minion when it is time to discard the minion, not when the action is played.
Synergy[]
- Dinosaurs: Augmentation is an awesome action to spread around with Disco King, Divas, and We Are Family. Even affecting two minions with it yields +8 power, often enough to break a base. Howl is decent as well, but nowhere near as explosive as Augmentation.
- Time Travelers: It's Astounding can replay Disco actions like Get Down Tonight and Last Dance. Doctor When and Do Over can replay Disco Lou's useful on-play.
- Mythic Greeks: Favor of Ares and Favor of Hera are great to spread.
- Kung Fu Fighters: Fast as Lightning can either give multiple minions +2 power until end of turn, or allow you to return them all to hand after their base breaks. Rollers function as pseudo-Drunken Masters due to their capped +1 power counter production abilities; Dragon Warrior, Cricket, Ancient Chinese Arts, and Expert Timing can transfer their counters to other minions.
- Astroknights: Use the Fours is identical to Augmentation and thus just as good for spreading, though there's only one copy here. Block the Probe and Yield to Rage are also good options.
- Mounties: Mounties have plenty of standard actions that move your minions and/or power them up, Move Aboot and Power Poutine in particular. Eh? isn't a terrible option either, though Power Poutine will generally be preferable for spreading.
- Musketeers: Musketeers and Disco Dancers compliment each other quite well, as both care about actions that affect your minions and have plenty to spare. Due to all the +1s you'll have to add up, this combo can be quite mathy.
- Big Hero 6: The Rollers really come in handy here, as their counters allow Version 2.0 to affect them, and that in turn allows other Disco Dancers to be affected the same way. Of course, BH6's characters also work for that combo.
External Strategy Guides[]
- Ep 1 - Disco Dancers and Todd Rowland
- Action Awareness #6: Turn The Beat Around
- Cull the Weak: Wizards
- Smash Up KOTH #75: Dancing King
FAQ[]
Questions on Dancing King[]
Q: What is a standard action exactly? I suppose it's the official name for an on-play action. Or does it simply mean non-Special actions?
A: It's an action that doesn't remain in play after being played. Actions remain in play by being played on a base, played on a minion, or buried on a base, so if none of those normally occur when an action is played, then it's a standard action. On-play actions (ones that don't have any Ongoing/Talent/Special labels) are indeed standard actions, but standard actions are not exclusively on-play actions. "Pure" Special actions (ones that immediately start with "Special:...") are standard as well, because they aren't played on any card. Hybrids between on-play and Special actions (e.g. Full Sail or Dogpile) that aren't played on any card are mostly standard actions as well, but counter-examples are actions that can bury themselves (e.g. Tomb Trap or Blessing of Anubis) as those aren't standard when played from the hand/deck/discard pile, and become standard when uncovered.
Q: So hmmm... how does Dancing King work exactly?
A: Basically, each time a standard action is played (by any player) and if that standard action affects one or more minions (controlled by any players) on the same base as Dancing King, the player who controls Dancing King can designate an additional target minion on that same base. For example, if a player plays Augmentation (which is a standard action) and gives +4 power to a minion on Dancing King's base (directly changing a minion's power counts as affecting it), Dancing King's controller can choose another minion on that same base that will also get +4 power! In more details, here's how to resolve Dancing King:
1- A player plays an action (it can be you): is that a standard action, i.e. one that doesn't remain in play after being played? Yes? Then proceed to 2. Otherwise, Dancing King is useless.
2- Allow the player to resolve their action. Immediately after they do something to one or more of the minions on Dancing King's base (even Dancing King itself!): does that count as affecting that minion? (Remember that affecting has a very precise definition! See Affect.) Yes? Then go to 3.
3- You may now use Dancing King's ability if you want to. If you choose to use it:
3a- Designate a minion on that same base. That minion can't be one of the minions that were originally targeted by the player who played the action, other than that, it can be any minion on that base (even Dancing King itself if it wasn't one of the original targets!) and the minion doesn't even have to fit the action's prerequisites. (for example, if the action only affects minions of power 2 or less, you can definitely designate a minion of power 3 or more!)
3b- The chosen minion gets the exact same effect as the originally targeted minions. (If those minions received different effects, for example, a different amount of power boost or if they were moved to different bases, choose one of them to copy.) And by "exact same" effect, it means moving to the exact same base, receiving the exact same amount of power, being given control to the exact same player, etc.
Notable exception: If the effect is causing the minion to leave play, it will still go back to its owner if that's how the action normally works with minions the player doesn't own.
4- Allow the player to continue resolving the rest of their action's abilities. If they once again do something to one or more of the minions on Dancing King's base, if that "something" counts as affecting and if you haven't used Dancing King's ability for this action yet (Dancing King can only copy one effect per action, though it may copy from several actions in a turn), you may now use it as described above, so go to 3. Otherwise, just sit back and enjoy.
Rule: Check Diva, Dancing King, We Are Family's clarification and examples!
Q: Are there any functional differences between Dancing King, Diva, We are Family and Funky Town?
A: Yes, none of them work the same way:
- Dancing King can copy an effect caused by a standard action played by any player that affects any minions on its base and copy it on any other minion on its base and it can copy one effect per action,
- Diva can copy an effect caused by a standard action played by any player that affects any of your minions on its base and copy it on itself and it can copy one effect per action per turn,
- We are Family can copy an effect caused by a standard action played by any player that affects any minions on its base and copy it on the minion it is on and it can copy one effect per action per turn,
- Funky Town can copy an effect caused by a standard action played by you that affects any of your minions on Funky Town and copy it on any of your other minion on Funky Town and it can copy one effect per action per turn.
Q: Dancing King can't copy an effect on itself, right? It says "another minion".
A: Actually, "another minion" here means "a minion other than those directly affected by the standard action", not "other than Dancing King", so Dancing King can copy an effect on itself if it wasn't one of the originally targeted minions.
Q: So Dancing King creates a "virtual" identical copy of the standard action, is my interpretation correct?
A: No. It only duplicates the specific effect that affected the minion (or minions), not the entire action itself. For example, if a player plays I’m So Excited and uses Dancing King to move an additional minion, no matter how many times the move effect is duplicated, I'm So Excited will only allow its player to draw one card, and one card only. Both because drawing a card doesn't affect any minions, so it can't be duplicated, and because that part of the action isn't dependent on the number of affected minions (unlike Disco Inferno for example). Also, if the action player was to get a benefit out of playing the action (e.g. with Odysseus) or a penalty (e.g. with Secret Agent), they would only get it once, since they really only played one action, even with a duplicated effect.
Rule: Check Diva, Dancing King, We Are Family's clarification and examples!
Q: What does "the same way" mean?
A: It means that the minion you target with Dancing King will get the same affection as the one the standard action directly affected. So:
- If the standard action moves a minion, the minion you choose with Dancing King will move toward the same base. With Teleport Error, even though the minion directly affected by the action is moved to a random base, the minion you choose with Dancing King will move to the same base, not a random one again.
- If the standard action directly changes a minion's power, the minion you choose with Dancing King will have its power changed by the same amount. With We Will Rock You, a minion with two +1 power counters will get +2 power, and so you can use Dancing King to choose a minion on the same base with no +1 power counters and it will get +2 power even though it has no such counters.
- If the standard action allows you to give control of a minion to another player, the minion you choose with Dancing King will be given to the exact same player.
- If the standard action allows you to take control of a minion, the minion you choose with Dancing King will be given to you. With Inevitable Betrayal, you can take control of a minion you own that's under the control of another player, and so with Dancing King, you can choose any minion on the same base and take control of it; it can be one controlled by any player, not necessarily the same opponent, and more importantly, it doesn't have to be a minion you own since Dancing King allows you to ignore the action's prerequisites.
- If the standard action transfers +1 power counters to a minion, the minion you choose with Dancing King will receive the same amount of +1 power counters from the same source card. If there aren't enough, then transfer as many as you can, but don't supplement +1 power counters from the pool as that would be placing +1 power counter, not transferring, which isn't what the standard action does.
- If the standard action transfers +1 power counters away from a minion, the minion you choose with Dancing King will have the same amount of +1 power counters transferred to the same destination card. If there aren't enough, then transfer as many as you can, but don't supplement +1 power counters from the pool as that would be placing +1 power counter, not transferring, which isn't what the standard action does.
- If the standard action removes +1 power counters from a minion, the minion you choose with Dancing King will have the same amount of +1 power counters removed. If there aren't enough, then remove as many as you can. Although with Purge the Demon, you must remove all +1 power counters from a minion, if the minion chosen by Dancing King has more counters than the number of removed counters, you probably remove all counters from the additional minion as well since Purge the Demon doesn't allow you to remove any amount, it must be all of it.[probably]
Q: An opponent plays I Will Survive to return one of their minions to their hand and tried to use Dancing King to return another minion. I argued that the action isn't standard because it's a Special, so Dancing King can't work. Who's correct?
A: Your opponent. It doesn't matter if the card says Special or not, the important thing is: does the action remain in play after being played? If not, then it's a standard action. Nothing else.
Q: I play a standard action to destroy Dancing King. Is Dancing King still able to duplicate the destroy effect and destroy another minion?
A: Yes. It triggers when the effect happens and can therefore duplicate it at the same time and its controller can then designate any other additional minion to destroy.
Q: I play a standard action to return one of my minions on Dancing King's base to my hand. Can Dancing King be used to return any other minion (including those of other players) to my hand as well? It says "the same way" after all.
A: No, well, it depends. Remember there's the rule that when a card leaves play, it goes to its owner, which is a rule that usually trumps card text. This also applies here. Basically you should consider how the action would treat it if you used it on a minion you controlled but didn't own. If it would have gone to its owner rather than you, then the duplicated effect should also make the minion go to its rightful owner rather than make it blindly follow the originally targeted card. Currently, since all existing return effects make the minions go to their owner, you should also apply that rule to the duplicated effect. In the special case of monsters and minion treasures, they would go to their respective discard pile.
Rule: Monsters and treasures go to their own discard pile when they leave play.
Q: An opponent plays a standard action, for example Augmentation, and gives +4 power to one of their minions. I have a Dancing King and a Diva on the same base. Diva can't copy Augmentation because the affected minion isn't one of mine, but Dancing King can. If I use Dancing King to copy it on Dancing King itself, since Dancing King is one of my minions, can Diva now copy it?
A: No. Diva cannot copy it from Dancing King because the effect that Dancing King is affected with is a duplicate and not a direct effect. Since Dancing King is not directly affected, Diva can't copy its effect.
Rule: Check Diva, Dancing King, We Are Family's clarification.
Q: I play a standard action, for example Augmentation, and gives +4 power to one of my minions. I also have a Dancing King and a Diva on the same base. I use Diva to copy its effect and give it +4 power. I can also use Dancing King to copy the +4 power, which minion can I copy it on?
A: Assuming there are only your three minions on that base, you can copy it on Dancing King itself or on Diva. You can't copy it on the minion that was originally targeted by Augmentation, because Dancing King requires you to choose a minion other than those that were directly affected. Diva, while it got a duplicate of the effect, is not a minion that was directly affected by Augmentation, so there's no problem using Dancing King to give it +4 power once again.
Rule: Check Diva, Dancing King, We Are Family's clarification.
Q: I play a standard action that does two or more things, e.g. affect a minion and draw a card (e.g. I'm So Excited, Sacrifice, Skillet, Corruption) or affect a minion and play an extra card (e.g. Abduction, Transmogrify, Favor of Dionysus, Nine Lives). If I copy the effect onto an additional minion with Dancing King, do I respectively get an extra card draw or a second extra card play?
A: It depends, but for all the given examples, the answer is no. So it depends on what? Well, it depends on whether the number of cards drawn, the number of extra card plays, or more generally the rest of the ability is dependent on the number of affected minions, which may seem a little tricky to determine and could definitely be a cause for argument during a game. The rules doesn't go much into details, but the rule of thumb seems to just keep the rest of the action's ability as written and, just like every card in Smash Up, to just follow what it says word for word and never try to interpret it outside of what is explicitly written. If you follow that, the action's wording should automatically integrate the fact that you affected more minions than what was originally intended (if that influences its outcome at all). For most of the cases, it has no influence whatsoever anyway. Here are several examples to help you out:
- I'm So Excited, Skillet, Torn Apart and similar cards that go "Affect a minion and draw a card", the rest of the ability just reads "draw a card", so just do that, draw one card, no matter how many minions were affected (in fact, under normal circumstances, if you affected zero minions, either because they are immune or because there are no eligible targets, you'd still draw one card, further showing that the number of affected minions doesn't influence the number of cards drawn). The rules even clarify that by giving an example with Get Down Tonight.
- Abduction, Bacta the Future, Nine Lives, Yield to Rage and similar cards that go "Affect a minion and play an extra minion/action", the rest of the ability just reads "play an extra minion/action", so just do that, you may only play one, no matter how many minions were affected (in fact, under normal circumstances, if you affected zero minions, either because they are immune or because there are no eligible targets, you'd still gain one extra card play, further showing that the number of affected minions doesn't influence the number of extra card plays),
- Stayin’ Alive, Budding, Mitosis, Everybody Knew Their Part and similar cards that go "Choose a minion (in play) and do some stuff", don't try and say that you want to use Dancing King to duplicate choosing a minion -- "choosing" a minion doesn't count as affecting!
- Sacrifice, Corruption, Commission and similar cards that go "Do some stuff and affect a minion", since abilities are resolved in their written order and since you only affect the minion at the end of it, duplicating the affection doesn't retroactively change what happened before, which was already resolved anyway,
- Zzzzzap!, Potion Bandolier and similar cards that go "Do some stuff to affect a minion", as with the previous case, the card is resolved in order, so if you affect an additional minion, you don't go back to pay an extra cost; the cost has already been resolved -- that's what allowed you to affect the minion in the first place,
- Who Wants to Live Forever?, oh that card is an interesting example! Suppose you play it and remove +1 power counters from your minions and use Dancing King to remove +1 power counters from another player's minion. When you move on to resolving the rest of the ability, you have to "draw a card for each counter removed." Just do exactly as written and draw a card for each counter removed. Since you removed some from your opponent's minion as well and since the action doesn't make any distinction in its wording, you will definitely draw for the extra +1 power counters! Note that it also works with Blitzed, if you remove +1 power counters from another player's minion, they are also counted toward the number of +1 power counters removed!
- Dinner Date, Pumping Iron and similar cards that go "Affect a minion and affect a minion", Dancing King can copy either one of the affections, but only one of them, not both! That's clarified in the rules with the sentence "If an effect has multiple parts, choose only one part to copy" and the example with Fast as Lightning, and no, that's not specific to Diva, We are Family and Funky Town; the example is pretty clear that it also goes for Dancing King as it says "any of those cards". If you choose to duplicate the first affection, just resolve the second one as written. In most cases, it shouldn't be influenced by the first affection, although a particular example is Turn the Beat Around ("Choose a minion to gain +1 power until the end of the turn. For each minion affected by this, a minion there of your choice gains -1 power until the end of the turn."); clearly, if you duplicate the first affection (the gain of +1 power), the wording automatically causes the second affection to be duplicated as well, and that's not Dancing King's doing, the action is worded as such.
Rule: Check Diva, Dancing King, We Are Family's clarification and examples!
Questions on Disco Lou[]
Q:
A:
Rule:
Questions on Diva[]
Q: What is a standard action exactly? I suppose it's the official name for an on-play action. Or does it simply mean non-Special actions?
A: It's an action that doesn't remain in play after being played. Actions remain in play by being played on a base, played on a minion, or buried on a base, so if none of those normally occur when an action is played, then it's a standard action. On-play actions (ones that don't have any Ongoing/Talent/Special labels) are indeed standard actions, but standard actions are not exclusively on-play actions. "Pure" Special actions (ones that immediately start with "Special:...") are standard as well, because they aren't played on any card. Hybrids between on-play and Special actions (e.g. Full Sail or Dogpile) that aren't played on any card are mostly standard actions as well, but counter-examples are actions that can bury themselves (e.g. Tomb Trap or Blessing of Anubis) as those aren't standard when played from the hand/deck/discard pile, and become standard when uncovered.
Q: So hmmm... how does Diva work exactly?
A: Basically, once per turn, when a standard action is played (by any player) and if that standard action affects one or more of your minions on the same base as Diva and if Diva isn't one of those minions, you can choose for Diva to also be affected by that action. For example, if a player plays Augmentation (which is a standard action) and gives +4 power to one of your other minions on Diva's base (directly changing a minion's power counts as affecting it), you can decide that Diva also gets +4 power! In more details, here's how to resolve Diva:
1- A player plays an action (it can be you): is that a standard action, i.e. one that doesn't remain in play after being played? Yes? Then proceed to 2. Otherwise, Diva is useless.
2- Allow the player to resolve their action. Immediately after they do something to one or more of your other minions on Diva's base (Diva can't be one of the targeted minions!): does that count as affecting that minion? (Remember that affecting has a very precise definition! See Affect.) Yes? Then go to 3.
3- If you haven't used Diva's ability this turn, you may now use Diva's ability if you want to (Diva doesn't have to match the action's prerequisites, so if the action only targets minions of power 2 or less, you can still use Diva's ability even though Diva is of power 3). If you choose to use it, Diva gets the exact same effect as those minions. (If your minions received different effects, for example, a different amount of power boost or if they were moved to different bases, choose one of them to copy.) And by "exact same" effect, it means moving to the exact same base, receiving the exact same amount of power, being given control to the exact same player, etc.
Notable exception: If the effect is causing the Diva to leave play, it will still go back to its owner if that's how the action normally works with minions the player doesn't own.
4- Allow the player to continue resolving the rest of their action's abilities. If they once again do something to one or more of your other minions on Diva's base, if that "something" counts as affecting and if you haven't used Diva's ability for this turn and for this action yet (Diva can only copy one effect per action and only one action per turn), you may now use it as described above, so go to 3. Otherwise, just sit back and enjoy.
Rule: Check Diva, Dancing King, We Are Family's clarification and examples!
Q: Are there any functional differences between Dancing King, Diva, We are Family and Funky Town?
A: Yes, none of them work the same way:
- Dancing King can copy an effect caused by a standard action played by any player that affects any minions on its base and copy it on any other minion on its base and it can copy one effect per action,
- Diva can copy an effect caused by a standard action played by any player that affects any of your minions on its base and copy it on itself and it can copy one effect per action per turn,
- We are Family can copy an effect caused by a standard action played by any player that affects any minions on its base and copy it on the minion it is on and it can copy one effect per action per turn,
- Funky Town can copy an effect caused by a standard action played by you that affects any of your minions on Funky Town and copy it on any of your other minion on Funky Town and it can copy one effect per action per turn.
Q: So Diva creates a "virtual" identical copy of the standard action, is my interpretation correct?
A: No. It only duplicates the specific effect that affected your minion (or minions), not the entire action itself. For example, if a player plays I’m So Excited and you use Diva to move it as an additional affected minion, no matter how many times the move effect is duplicated, I'm So Excited will only allow its player to draw one card, and one card only. Both because drawing a card doesn't affect any minions, so it can't be duplicated, and because that part of the action isn't dependent on the number of affected minions (unlike Disco Inferno for example). Also, if the action player was to get a benefit out of playing the action (e.g. with Odysseus) or a penalty (e.g. with Secret Agent), they would only get it once, since they really only played one action, even with a duplicated effect.
Rule: Check Diva, Dancing King, We Are Family's clarification and examples!
Q: What does "the same way" mean?
A: It means that Diva will get the same affection as the minion the standard action directly affected. So:
- If the standard action moves a minion, Diva will move toward the same base. With Teleport Error, even though the minion directly affected by the action is moved to a random base, Diva will move to the same base, not a random one again.
- If the standard action directly changes a minion's power, Diva will have its power changed by the same amount. With We Will Rock You, a minion with two +1 power counters will get +2 power, and if you use Diva's ability while it has no +1 power counters, Diva will get +2 power even though it has no such counters.
- If the standard action allows you to give control of a minion to another player, Diva will be given to the exact same player.
- If the standard action transfers +1 power counters to a minion, Diva will receive the same amount of +1 power counters from the same source card. If there aren't enough, then transfer as many as you can, but don't supplement +1 power counters from the pool as that would be placing +1 power counter, not transferring, which isn't what the standard action does.
- If the standard action transfers +1 power counters away from a minion, Diva will have the same amount of +1 power counters transferred to the same destination card. If there aren't enough, then transfer as many as you can, but don't supplement +1 power counters from the pool as that would be placing +1 power counter, not transferring, which isn't what the standard action does.
- If the standard action removes +1 power counters from a minion, Diva will have the same amount of +1 power counters removed. If there aren't enough, then remove as many as you can. Although with Purge the Demon, you must remove all +1 power counters from a minion, if Diva has more counters than the number of removed counters, you probably remove all counters from the additional minion as well since Purge the Demon doesn't allow you to remove any amount, it must be all of it.[probably]
Q: It can copy an effect on "one of my other minions". Can it copy an effect that affects a minion there that I own but don't control? I don't control it but I "own" it, so it's "my" minion, right?
A: No. "Your minions" are minions you control, whether or not you own them. A minion you own but don't control isn't yours.
Q: An opponent plays I Will Survive to return one of their minions to their hand and tried to use Diva to return itself as well. I argued that the action isn't standard because it's a Special, so Diva can't work. Who's correct?
A: Your opponent. It doesn't matter if the card says Special or not, the important thing is: does the action remain in play after being played? If not, then it's a standard action. Nothing else.
Q: I play a standard action to return one of my minions on Diva's base to my hand. If it's a Diva I control but don't own, I can use its ability to return it to my hand as well, right? It says "the same way" after all.
A: No. Remember there's the rule that when a card leaves play, it goes to its owner, which is a rule that usually trumps card text. This also applies here. Basically you should consider how the action would treat it if you used it on a minion you controlled but didn't own. If it would have gone to its owner rather than you, then the duplicated effect should also make the minion go to its rightful owner rather than make it blindly follow the originally targeted card. Currently, since all existing return effects make the minions go to their owner, you should also apply that rule to the duplicated effect and so Diva would go back to its owner's hand no matter who controlled it.
Q: An opponent plays a standard action, for example Augmentation, and gives +4 power to one of their minions. I have a Dancing King and a Diva on the same base. Diva can't copy Augmentation because the affected minion isn't one of mine, but Dancing King can. If I use Dancing King to copy it on Dancing King itself, since Dancing King is one of my minions, can Diva now copy it?
A: No. Diva cannot copy it from Dancing King because the effect that Dancing King is affected with is a duplicate and not a direct effect. Since Dancing King is not directly affected, Diva can't copy its effect.
Rule: Check Diva, Dancing King, We Are Family's clarification.
Q: I play a standard action, for example Augmentation, and give +4 power to one of my minions. I also have a Dancing King and a Diva on the same base. I use Dancing King to copy its effect and give +4 power to the Diva. I haven't used Diva's ability yet during this turn, can I use it and give it another +4 power?
A: Yes, while it got a duplicate of the effect from Dancing King, Diva is not a minion that was directly affected by Augmentation, so there's no problem using its ability to give it +4 power once again.
Rule: Check Diva, Dancing King, We Are Family's clarification.
Questions on Roller[]
Q: What is a standard action exactly? I suppose it's the official name for an on-play action. Or does it simply mean non-Special actions?
A: It's an action that doesn't remain in play after being played. Actions remain in play by being played on a base, played on a minion, or buried on a base, so if none of those normally occur when an action is played, then it's a standard action. On-play actions (ones that don't have any Ongoing/Talent/Special labels) are indeed standard actions, but standard actions are not exclusively on-play actions. "Pure" Special actions (ones that immediately start with "Special:...") are standard as well, because they aren't played on any card. Hybrids between on-play and Special actions (e.g. Full Sail or Dogpile) that aren't played on any card are mostly standard actions as well, but counter-examples are actions that can bury themselves (e.g. Tomb Trap or Blessing of Anubis) as those aren't standard when played from the hand/deck/discard pile, and become standard when uncovered.
Q: Roller starts with no +1 power counters. I play a standard action that places or transfers +1 power counters to it (e.g. Gimme the Prize or Under Pressure). Does it get an extra +1 power counter from its ability?
A: Yes, you affected it and it had no +1 power counters on it right before you played the action.
Q: I play Who Wants to Live Forever? and remove all +1 power counters from Roller. Since removing them counts as affecting and because Roller has no more +1 power counters, Roller gets another one. Can I remove it and draw one more card?
A: No. In fact, Roller can't get a counter in the first place because right before playing the action it already had one.
Q: If Roller's ability is cancelled, are the +1 power counters placed by its ability removed?
A: No. When you place a +1 power counter, it's a definitive effect (like drawing cards, if you play Enchantress, you're not going to discard the card you drew if Enchantress's ability is cancelled), so the +1 power counters remain even if the card that placed them has its ability cancelled. Besides, how are you going to keep track of which +1 power counters were added by Roller's ability and which ones were not (e.g. placed by Disco Inferno)? That would be very cumbersome.
Rule: Cancelling (or losing) an effect does not necessarily undo what it did.
Questions on Celebration[]
Q: With Celebration, can I play only one action instead of two?
A: Sure. Celebration just gives you the right to play two more actions this turn. You can play just one or none at all.
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: It doesn't interact with them at all, because it doesn't affect any minions in play and so its effect can't be copied.
Questions on Disco Inferno[]
Q: If Dancing King, Diva, We are Family or Funky Town are used to duplicate the placing of a +1 power counter on more minions, does Disco Inferno make you draw cards for those additional minions too?
A: Yes, just resolve the second part of the card's ability exactly as written. So when resolving "For each minion affected by this, draw a card", you count the number of affected minions (so including the minion that got the duplicated effect) and draw that many card.
Rule: Check Diva, Dancing King, We Are Family's clarification and examples!
Q: If Dancing King, Diva, We are Family and Funky Town are used to duplicate the placing of a +1 power counter but all on the same Diva, does Disco Inferno make you draw as many additional cards as the number of times it was duplicated or just one more card?
A: Just one more card. Just resolve the second part of the card's ability exactly as written. So when resolving "For each minion affected by this, draw a card", you count the number of affected minions (so including the Diva) and draw that many card. See? Even though Diva got multiple +1 power counters from the duplicated effect, it still counts as one affected minion.
Q: It tells me to place a +1 power counter on "one of my minions". Can I place a +1 power counter on a minion I own that I don't control? I don't control it but I "own" it, so it's "my" minion, right?
A: No. "Your minions" are minions you control, whether or not you own them. A minion you own but don't control isn't yours.
Q: After playing this card, I have more than 10 cards in hand, do I immediately discard down to 10?
A: You don't discard any card until your next Draw 2 Cards phase (so not any Draw 2 Cards phase!). At that point, you will indeed need to draw two cards and discard down to 10 if you have more than 10. That's the only moment where you must discard down to 10. At any other time, you keep your hand of cards.
Q: Can you place a +1 power counter on a minion in stasis?
A: No, cards in stasis cannot be affected by cards that do not explicitly state they work on cards in stasis.
Questions on Get Down Tonight[]
Q: If Dancing King, Diva, We are Family or Funky Town are used to duplicate the +2 power boost on more minions, does Get Down Tonight make you draw more cards?
A: No, just resolve the second part of the card's ability exactly as written. So when resolving "Draw a card", you do just that and draw one card, and one card only.
Rule: Check Diva, Dancing King, We Are Family's clarification and examples!
Q: After playing this card, I (somehow) have more than 10 cards in hand, do I immediately discard down to 10?
A: You don't discard any card until your next Draw 2 Cards phase (so not any Draw 2 Cards phase!). At that point, you will indeed need to draw two cards and discard down to 10 if you have more than 10. That's the only moment where you must discard down to 10. At any other time, you keep your hand of cards.
Q: Can you give +2 power to a minion in stasis?
A: No, cards in stasis cannot be affected by cards that do not explicitly state they work on cards in stasis.
Questions on I’m So Excited[]
Q: If Dancing King, Diva, We are Family or Funky Town are used to move more minions, does I’m So Excited make you draw more cards?
A: No, just resolve the second part of the card's ability exactly as written. So when resolving "Draw a card", you do just that and draw one card, and one card only.
Q: It tells me to move "one of my minions". Can I move a minion I own that I don't control? I don't control it but I "own" it, so it's "my" minion, right?
A: No. "Your minions" are minions you control, whether or not you own them. A minion you own but don't control isn't yours.
Q: After playing this card, I (somehow) have more than 10 cards in hand, do I immediately discard down to 10?
A: You don't discard any card until your next Draw 2 Cards phase (so not any Draw 2 Cards phase!). At that point, you will indeed need to draw two cards and discard down to 10 if you have more than 10. That's the only moment where you must discard down to 10. At any other time, you keep your hand of cards.
Q: Can you move a minion to or from stasis?
A: No, cards in stasis cannot be affected by cards that do not explicitly state they work on cards in stasis, and movement is defined as relocating from a base to another base.
Rule: Moving lets you relocate a minion or titan from one base to another.
Questions on I Will Survive[]
Q: It's a Special action, so I can't duplicate its effect on several minions, right?
A: Wrong. Whether it's a Special action or not, that has nothing to do it with it being standard or not. The most important thing is: is it an action that says "Play a minion/base" or something similar? If so, then it's not a standard action. If it doesn't say that, then it's a standard action. I Will Survive doesn't tell you to play it on a minion or base, so it's a standard action.
Q: It tells me to return "one of my minions". Can I return a minion I own that I don't control? I don't control it but I "own" it, so it's "my" minion, right?
A: No. "Your minions" are minions you control, whether or not you own them. A minion you own but don't control isn't yours.
Q: When playing this card, I duplicate its ability and return more than one minion to my hand. If I then have more than 10 cards in hand, do I immediately discard down to 10?
A: You don't discard any card until your next Draw 2 Cards phase (so not any Draw 2 Cards phase!). At that point, you will indeed need to draw two cards and discard down to 10 if you have more than 10. That's the only moment where you must discard down to 10. At any other time, you keep your hand of cards. In fact, if you played I Will Survive during the Score Bases phase of another player's turn, you keep your hand and can then start your next turn with more than 10 cards!
Q: Can I play it from stasis after a base scores?
A: No, while in stasis, the only abilities that can do anything are the ones that explicitly state that they do something there.
Rule: Abilities of cards in stasis do not work unless they refer to stasis.
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: - If Diva copies it, Diva is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is returned to its owner's hand, regardless of whoever owns the minion that was directly affected by the action.
- If Dancing King copies it onto a minion (it can be itself), that minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is returned to its owner's hand, regardless of whoever owns the minion that was directly affected by the action. Note that while the effect is limited to a minion controlled by the action player, the effect can be copied on any minion. Also, note that if the minion is a monster or a treasure, it remains in play because monsters and treasures can't be affected by cards that refer to a card's owner.
- If We are Family copies it, the minion it is on is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is returned to its owner's hand, regardless of whoever owns the minion that was directly affected by the action. Note that while the effect is limited to a minion controlled by the action player, the effect can be copied on any minion. Also, note that if the minion is a monster or a treasure, it remains in play because monsters and treasures can't be affected by cards that refer to a card's owner.
- With Funky Town, you can only copy it if you're the one who played the action and if it affects one of your minions, but if Funky Town does copy it, the minion is considered as indirectly affected by the action and is returned to its owner's hand, regardless of whoever owns the minion that was directly affected by the action. Note that if the minion is a monster or a treasure, it remains in play because monsters and treasures can't be affected by cards that refer to a card's owner.
Rule: Cards that refer to a card’s owner do not apply to monsters or treasures.
Questions on It’s Raining Men[]
Q: I play the extra minion on Dancing King's base. Can I duplicate the effect and play a second extra minion there? It's a standard action after all.
A: No. While It’s Raining Men is indeed a standard action, it isn't one that "affects" a minion because "playing" a minion doesn't count as affecting it, so that effect can't get duplicated.
Rule: Definition of "affect".
Q: How does this interact with the Disco Dancers' mechanic and Funky Town's ability?
A: It doesn't interact with them at all, because it doesn't affect any minions in play and so its effect can't be copied.
Questions on Last Dance[]
Q: If Dancing King, Diva, We are Family or Funky Town are used to duplicate the destruction and destroy more minions, does Last Dance give VPs for the destruction of those additional minions?
A: Yes, just resolve the second part of the card's ability exactly as written. So when resolving "For each minion actually destroyed, its controller gains 1VP", you consider all minions destroyed by Last Dance's ability (so including the minion that got the duplicated effect).
Rule: Check Diva, Dancing King, We Are Family's clarification and examples!
Q: If Dancing King, Diva, We are Family and Funky Town are used to duplicate the destruction and but if all target the same minion (in this case, the Diva), does Last Dance make give additional VPs equal to the number of times the Diva or just 1VP?
A: No. Once a minion is designated to be destroyed, destroy it immediately. If the destruction worked, the minion is removed from play and so can't be designated for destruction anymore.
Q: Last Dance is played. If I choose a minion I control that can't be destroyed or is immune to Last Dance, do I still gain 1VP for attempting the destruction?
A: No. Last Dance only grants VPs for minions that are "actually" destroyed. So if your minion survives, you didn't destroy it and so can't gain a VP for it.
Q: If a player chooses to destroy a Nukebot, it also destroys even more minions. I suppose those destroyed minions also grant their controllers' extra VPs, right?
A: No. According to the Card Resolution Order, since Nukebot is an "After X, do Y"-type of ability, you must wait until the ability that caused X is entirely resolved to trigger card reactions. So you must fully resolve Last Dance's ability before destroying more minions with Nukebot. At that point, Last Dance has already been fully resolved, so you can't go back to it and grant extra VPs.
Rule: When you play a card, resolve the played card's ability immediately and completely.
Q: Can you destroy a minion in stasis?
A: No, cards in stasis cannot be affected by cards that do not explicitly state they work on cards in stasis.
Questions on Stayin’ Alive[]
Q: I choose a minion on Dancing King's base to get a copy of it from my discard pile. Can I then use Dancing King's ability to choose a second minion and also get a copy of it from my discard pile? Likewise if the chosen minion is on Diva's base, can Diva copy the effect and allow me to get a Diva from the discard pile?
A: No. While Stayin’ Alive is indeed a standard action, it isn't one that "affects" a minion because "choosing" a minion doesn't count as affecting it, so that effect can't get duplicated.
Rule: Definition of "affect".
Q: It tells me to choose "one of my minions". Can I choose a minion I own that I don't control? I don't control it but I "own" it, so it's "my" minion, right?
A: No. "Your minions" are minions you control, whether or not you own them. A minion you own but don't control isn't yours.
Q: After playing this card, I (somehow) have more than 10 cards in hand, do I immediately discard down to 10?
A: You don't discard any card until your next Draw 2 Cards phase (so not any Draw 2 Cards phase!). At that point, you will indeed need to draw two cards and discard down to 10 if you have more than 10. That's the only moment where you must discard down to 10. At any other time, you keep your hand of cards.
Q: Can I choose a minion in stasis?
A: No, cards in stasis cannot be chosen by cards that do not explicitly state cards in stasis can be chosen.
Questions on Turn the Beat Around[]
Q: Does changing minions' power before a base scores change anything at all? Don't we only get VPs based on the power we had at the start of scoring?
A: Actually, the amount of VPs each player gets is determined by the power each player currently has when you are handing out VPs, so any before-scoring abilities (including this one) that affect how much power you have on the base will affect the amount of VPs you'll eventually get.
Rule: VPs are awarded according to the current power totals.
Q: Before a base scores, I play this card and duplicate the -1 power several times, reducing the total power below the breakpoint. This ends the scoring, right?
A: You're mistaken here. Once a base has been chosen to score, you keep scoring it even if the total power on it drops below its breakpoint because of before-scoring abilities. (Only a couple of things can really prevent a base from scoring, but this isn't one of them.)
Q: Is this still a standard action if I play it through its Special ability?
A: Yes. A standard action is an action that doesn't "Play on a minion/base" or any variation on it. Turn the Beat Around doesn't say that, whether it's played normally or as a Special, so it IS a standard action no matter what.
Q: If Dancing King, Diva, We are Family or Funky Town are used to duplicate the +1 power boost on more minions, does Turn the Beat Around allow you to grant even more -1 power?
A: Yes, just resolve the second part of the card's ability exactly as written. So when resolving "For each minion affected by this, a minion there of your choice gains -1 power until the end of the turn", you first count the number of affected minions (so including the minion that got the duplicated effect) and grant that many -1 power.
Rule: Check Diva, Dancing King, We Are Family's clarification and examples!
Q: If Dancing King, Diva, We are Family and Funky Town are used to duplicate the +1 power boost on the same Diva, does Turn the Beat Around allow you to grant as many additional -1 power as the number of times it was duplicated or just one more -1 power?
A: Just one more -1 power. Just resolve the second part of the card's ability exactly as written. So when resolving "For each minion affected by this, a minion there of your choice gains -1 power until the end of the turn", you count the number of affected minions (so including the Diva) and grant that many -1 power. See? Even though Diva got multiple +1 power from the duplicated effect, it still counts as one affected minion.
Q: I have Dancing King, a Diva, We are Family on a minion on the same base, in that case Funky Town. I play Turn the Beat Around. Since Turn the Beat Around affects minions twice (once by giving +1 power to a minion, and once by giving -1 power to a minion), if I choose to duplicate one effect, do I have to choose the same effect for all of my effect-duplicating cards? So if my Diva copies the +1 power, do I also have to copy the +1 power with Dancing King, We are Family and Funky Town?
A: No, for each card, you can decide whether you want to use it and which effect to copy, and each of your decisions can be different for each card.
Q: Can I choose a minion in stasis?
A: No, cards in stasis cannot be chosen by cards that do not explicitly state cards in stasis can be chosen.
Q: Can I play it from stasis before a base scores?
A: No, while in stasis, the only abilities that can do anything are the ones that explicitly state that they do something there.
Rule: Abilities of cards in stasis do not work unless they refer to stasis.
Questions on We are Family[]
Q: What is a standard action exactly? I suppose it's the official name for an on-play action. Or does it simply mean non-Special actions?
A: It's an action that doesn't remain in play after being played. Actions remain in play by being played on a base, played on a minion, or buried on a base, so if none of those normally occur when an action is played, then it's a standard action. On-play actions (ones that don't have any Ongoing/Talent/Special labels) are indeed standard actions, but standard actions are not exclusively on-play actions. "Pure" Special actions (ones that immediately start with "Special:...") are standard as well, because they aren't played on any card. Hybrids between on-play and Special actions (e.g. Full Sail or Dogpile) that aren't played on any card are mostly standard actions as well, but counter-examples are actions that can bury themselves (e.g. Tomb Trap or Blessing of Anubis) as those aren't standard when played from the hand/deck/discard pile, and become standard when uncovered.
Q: So hmmm... how does We are Family work exactly?
A: Basically, once per turn, when a standard action is played (by any player) and if that standard action affects one or more minions (controlled by any players) on the same base as the minion with We are Family and if that minion isn't one of the affected minions, you can choose for the minion with We are Family to also be affected by that action. For example, if a player plays Augmentation (which is a standard action) and gives +4 power to one of the other minions on the same base as the minion with We are Family (directly changing a minion's power counts as affecting it), you can decide that the minion with We are Family also gets +4 power! In more details, here's how to resolve We are Family:
1- A player plays an action (it can be you): is that a standard action, i.e. one that doesn't remain in play after being played? Yes? Then proceed to 2. Otherwise, We are Family is useless.
2- Allow the player to resolve their action. Immediately after they do something to one or more of the other minions on the same base as the minion with We are Family (the minion with We are Family can't be one of the targeted minions!): does that count as affecting that minion? (Remember that affecting has a very precise definition! See Affect.) Yes? Then go to 3.
3- If you haven't used We are Family's ability this turn, you may now use its ability if you want to (the minion with We are Family doesn't have to match the action's prerequisites, so if the action only targets minions of power 2 or less, you can still use We are Family's ability even if the minion is of power 3 or more). If you choose to use it, the minion with We are Family gets the exact same effect as those minions. (If the minions received different effects, for example, a different amount of power boost or if they were moved to different bases, choose one of them to copy.) And by "exact same" effect, it means moving to the exact same base, receiving the exact same amount of power, being given control to the exact same player, etc.
Notable exception: If the effect is causing the minion to leave play, it will still go back to its owner if that's how the action normally works with minions the player doesn't own.
4- Allow the player to continue resolving the rest of their action's abilities. If they once again do something to one or more of the other minions on the same base as the minion with We are Family, if that "something" counts as affecting and if you haven't used We are Family's ability for this turn and for this action yet (We are Family can only copy one effect per action and only one action per turn), you may now use it as described above, so go to 3. Otherwise, just sit back and enjoy.
Rule: [[#Clarifications|Check Diva, Dancing King, We Are Family's clarification and examples!]
Q: Are there any functional differences between Dancing King, Diva, We are Family and Funky Town?
A: Yes, none of them work the same way:
- Dancing King can copy an effect caused by a standard action played by any player that affects any minions on its base and copy it on any other minion on its base and it can copy one effect per action,
- Diva can copy an effect caused by a standard action played by any player that affects any of your minions on its base and copy it on itself and it can copy one effect per action per turn,
- We are Family can copy an effect caused by a standard action played by any player that affects any minions on its base and copy it on the minion it is on and it can copy one effect per action per turn,
- Funky Town can copy an effect caused by a standard action played by you that affects any of your minions on Funky Town and copy it on any of your other minion on Funky Town and it can copy one effect per action per turn.
Q: So We are Family creates a "virtual" identical copy of the standard action, is my interpretation correct?
A: No. It only duplicates the specific effect that affected the minion (or minions), not the entire action itself. For example, if a player plays I’m So Excited and you use We are Family to move its minion as an additional affected minion, no matter how many times the move effect is duplicated, I'm So Excited will only allow its player to draw one card, and one card only. Both because drawing a card doesn't affect any minions, so it can't be duplicated, and because that part of the action isn't dependent on the number of affected minions (unlike Disco Inferno for example). Also, if the action player was to get a benefit out of playing the action (e.g. with Odysseus) or a penalty (e.g. with Secret Agent), they would only get it once, since they really only played one action, even with a duplicated effect.
Rule: Check Diva, Dancing King, We Are Family's clarification and examples!
Q: What does "the same way" mean?
A: It means that the minion with We are Family will get the same affection as the one the standard action directly affected. So:
- If the standard action moves a minion, the minion with We are Family will move toward the same base. With Teleport Error, even though the minion directly affected by the action is moved to a random base, the minion with We are Family will move to the same base, not a random one again.
- If the standard action directly changes a minion's power, the minion with We are Family will have its power changed by the same amount. With We Will Rock You, a minion with two +1 power counters will get +2 power, and so you can use We are Family while its minion has no +1 power counters and it will get +2 power even though it has no such counters.
- If the standard action allows you to give control of a minion to another player, the minion with We are Family will be given to the exact same player.
- If the standard action allows you to take control of a minion, the minion with We are Family will be given to you. With Inevitable Betrayal, you can take control of a minion you own that's under the control of another player, and so with We are Family, you can take control of its minion, even if it's controlled by a different opponent, and more importantly, even if it's not a minion you own since We are Family allows you to ignore the action's prerequisites.
- If the standard action transfers +1 power counters to a minion, the minion with We are Family will receive the same amount of +1 power counters from the same source card. If there aren't enough, then transfer as many as you can, but don't supplement +1 power counters from the pool as that would be placing +1 power counter, not transferring, which isn't what the standard action does.
- If the standard action transfers +1 power counters away from a minion, the minion with We are Family will have the same amount of +1 power counters transferred to the same destination card. If there aren't enough, then transfer as many as you can, but don't supplement +1 power counters from the pool as that would be placing +1 power counter, not transferring, which isn't what the standard action does.
- If the standard action removes +1 power counters from a minion, the minion with We are Family will have the same amount of +1 power counters removed. If there aren't enough, then remove as many as you can. Although with Purge the Demon, you must remove all +1 power counters from a minion, if the minion with We are Family has more counters than the number of removed counters, you probably remove all counters from the additional minion as well since Purge the Demon doesn't allow you to remove any amount, it must be all of it.[probably]
Q: An opponent plays I Will Survive to return one of their minions to their hand and tried to use We are Family to return its minion as well. I argued that the action isn't standard because it's a Special, so We are Family can't work. Who's correct?
A: Your opponent. It doesn't matter if the card says Special or not, the important thing is: does the action remain in play after being played? If not, then it's a standard action. Nothing else.
Q: I play a standard action to return one of my minions on the same base as a minion with We are Family to my hand. Can We are Family be used to return its minion to my hand as well? It says "the same way" after all.
A: No, well, it depends. Remember there's the rule that when a card leaves play, it goes to its owner, which is a rule that usually trumps card text. This also applies here. Basically you should consider how the action would treat it if you used it on a minion you controlled but didn't own. If it would have gone to its owner rather than you, then the duplicated effect should also make the minion go to its rightful owner rather than make it blindly follow the originally targeted card. Currently, since all existing return effects make the minions go to their owner, you should also apply that rule to the duplicated effect. In the special case of monsters and minion treasures, they would go to their respective discard pile.
Rule: Monsters and treasures go to their own discard pile when they leave play.
Q: It just says "Play on a minion." Does it mean that I can play this on another player's minion? If so, who decides when the minion gets the duplicate of a standard action effect?
A: Yes, you can play it on another player's minion. Because you're the one who played it, you're the action's controller, so you're the one who decides when We are Family can copy the effect of a standard action.
Rule: If you play an action on another player's minion, you're still the action's controller.
Rule: "You" on a minion, action or titan means the controller of the card.
Q: I play a standard action, for example Augmentation, and give +4 power to one of my minions. I also have a Dancing King and there's a minion with We are family on the same base (I was the one who played We are Family). I use Dancing King to copy its effect and give +4 power to the minion with We are Family. I haven't used We are Family's ability yet during this turn, can I use it and give its minion another +4 power?
A: Yes, while it got a duplicate of the effect from Dancing King, the minion with We are Family is not a minion that was directly affected by Augmentation, so there's no problem using its ability to give it +4 power once again.
Rule: Check Diva, Dancing King, We Are Family's clarification.
Q: Can you play it on a minion in stasis?
A: No, cards in stasis cannot be affected by cards that do not explicitly state they work on cards in stasis.
Trivia[]
- The artist is Klaudia Bulantová.
- Their divider (updated in The Bigger Geekier Box) features Dancing King.
- The font used for the Disco Dancer cards is Street Cred Regular, in small caps.
- Most of the Disco Dancer actions are named after popular songs from the 70s:
- Disco Inferno by The Trammps,
- Get Down Tonight by KC and the Sunshine Band,
- I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor,
- It’s Raining Men by The Weather Girls,
- Last Dance by Donna Summer,
- Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees,
- Turn the Beat Aroung by Vicki Sue Robinson,
- We are Family by Sister Sledge.
- I’m So Excited is named after the popular 80s song by The Pointer Sisters.
- Celebration is named after the popular 80s song by Kool & the Gang song.
- Likewise, the bases are named after popular songs from the 70s, namely Boogie Wonderland by Earth, Wind & Fire, and Funkytown by Lipps Inc.
- Dancing King is a reference to Dancing Queen's song by Abba as well as John Travolta's character in Saturday Night Fever.
- Disco Lou is a reference to Disco Stu from The Simpsons.
- A Hammerhead is fleeing from the Diva in I Will Survive.
- An Archmage is dancing in Disco Inferno.
- A Nukebot is having its Last Dance in, well, Last Dance.
- Dancing King is battling against Vampires in Get Down Tonight, most noticeably a Fledgling Vampire and a Heavy Drinker.
- A Werewolf and a Hoverbot are dancing in It’s Raining Men.
In other languages[]
| Language | Name |
|---|---|
| Chinese | 迪斯科舞者 |
| French | Danseurs Disco |
| German | Discotänzer |
| ||||||