Unlicensed Armory

Rules Text

Discard 1, Exhaust: Choose a friendly unit. The next time it dies this turn, you may pay Fury Rune to recall it exhausted instead. (Send it to base. This isn't a move.)

Meta Statistics

Inclusion Rate: 0.2% | Win Rate: N/A

Related FAQ (4)

What happens if I use an effect like Unlicensed Armory to prevent the death of the friendly unit I chose to kill with Baited Hook?

Baited Hook kills a unit, then uses information about “the killed unit." If you prevent that unit's death, there's no killed unit, so Baited Hook can't evaluate its Might. As a result, the check for the Might of the “killed unit" returns a null value, and you're not able to play any unit. If the unit is killed before the ability of Baited Hook resolves, the outcome is the same.

When I replace a unit's death with a card like Unlicensed Armory, does damage on the unit stay? If the unit died to lethal damage, doesn't it just die again?

The intent behind these four cards is to save your unit from dying, whether it died due to direct kill like Hidden Blade or due to lethal damage. To better communicate this, these cards will receive updated wordings. Two of them, Highlander (from the Proving Grounds boxed set) and Unlicensed Armory, have straightforward fixes, adding “heal" and listing “exhaust" and “recall" as separate actions. Choose a friendly unit. The next time it dies this turn, heal it, exhaust it, and recall it instead. (Send it to base. This isn't a move.) Discard 1, (E) Choose a friendly unit. The next time it would die this turn, you may pay (C) to heal it, exhaust it, and recall it instead. (Send it to base. This isn't a move.) Zhonya's Hourglass also has a slightly updated wording making it clearer that its ability applies any time a friendly unit dies, not just on the turn you play it. If a friendly unit would die, kill this instead. Heal that unit, exhaust it, and recall it. (Send it to base. This isn't a move.) The Boss was mistakenly worded like a triggered ability. It's receiving updated wording to make it clear that its ability is a replacement effect.

Can I use these cards to save a unit that's already in its base? What about one that's already exhausted? If I can't recall it, do I still exhaust it?

Yes. You can save any unit that meets the description in the replacement ability's condition. For Highlander and Unlicensed Armory, that's any friendly unit. The actions you perform on that unit as a replacement are like the effects of a spell or ability; you'll do as much as you can: heal the unit (if it's damaged), exhaust it (if it's ready), and recall it (if it's somewhere other than its base). And yes, you exhaust the unit even if you don't recall it; as per the above wordings, we've changed the “recall it exhausted" language to make that clearer.

What does it mean to “kill a unit with a spell?" It seems like Hidden Blade counts, but what about a spell that deals damage? A spell that causes a unit to deal damage? A spell that causes a unit to die in some other way, like Stupefy on a unit that has 1 more Might than it has damage currently marked on it?

This is unclear under existing rules, so the updated rules will clarify. “When you kill a unit with a spell" triggers immediately after a spell you control resolves if either of the following is true: 1. That spell instructs you to kill a unit during its resolution, and that unit is put into the trash this way. 2. A spell instructs you to deal damage to a unit during its resolution, and that unit is put into the trash during the cleanup immediately following that spell's resolution. This includes “direct kill" spells you control like Hidden Blade. It also includes damage spells like Void Seeker, provided they mark lethal damage on the unit that immediately causes it to die. In all cases, the unit has to actually die—if that death is replaced by a card like Unlicensed Armory, then you didn't kill a unit with a spell. Notably, the following do not count as you killing a unit with a spell: ● You are instructed to kill a unit by a spell another player controls, even if the spell instructs you to kill the unit (e.g., another player's Cull the Weak). ● Another player is instructed to kill a unit by a spell you control (e.g., your Cull the Weak, if you don't kill any of your own units with it). ● You play a spell like Challenge that causes a unit to deal lethal damage to another unit. ● You use a spell to mark damage on a unit and the unit dies later in the turn, even if that damage later became lethal damage for any reason. ● You use a spell to directly or indirectly lower the Might of a unit, causing damage it's already taken to become lethal damage. For example: ○ You use a spell like Stupefy to lower the Might of a unit that has already taken damage, causing that damage to become lethal damage. ○ You use a spell like Charm to move a unit with damage on it away from Trifarian War Camp, indirectly lowering its Might and causing that damage to become lethal damage. ○ You use a spell like Rebuke to return Lee Sin, Centered to its owner's hand, indirectly lowering the Might of a buffed unit at the same battlefield that has damage on it, causing that damage to become lethal damage. ● You do anything else with a spell that causes a unit to die in any other way than the two methods listed above, or at any time other than during or immediately after the spell's resolution. ● You do any of the above, but the unit doesn't actually die.

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Tournament Decks

• Jinx — Luis Miguel Collado (1W-3L), Riftbound TCGArena $1000 Showdown