Suspended Palaces

[hrcho]

When I use the text of Suspended Palaces to stack the top card of my draw deck on a condition that already has a card stacked on it, can I choose on which condition I am going to stack the card on after I see what card that is?

So, do I see the top card and then stack it on a condition that has a card stacked on it of my choosing or do I choose a condition and then see the top card and stack that card on that condition?

I think I can see the top card and choose a condition on which to stack it, but wouldn't want to base my deck around card stacking on certain conditions and then find out I can't do it

[Sam, Great Elf Warrior]

I think you're right; that certainly seems to be the sequence implied by the card.

[Gwaihir]

If you had to pick the condition before you saw the card, I think it would say something like "...pick a condition with a card stacked on it and place the top card of your draw deck on that condition."

[Not a Zombie]

My advice is: Play it the way you want till someone has a problem with it

[Thranduil]

Every instinct of mine from MTG is saying that you have to choose the target before you use the ability. But in LotR I don't think there's a ruling for this. My question would be, say there was a Shadow card that said "Response: If the Free Peoples player uses a special ability, discard a Free Peoples condition." So you use Suspended Palaces and you have say Ever My Heart Rises and Hall of Our Fathers on the table, and the Shadow card discards Hall of Our Fathers when you were planning on putting your card there. Does that mean you lose the card, or can you stack it on Ever My Heart Rises?

I would guess the answer in that case is you can still stack it on EMHR. Therefore I would say the probable LotR ruling is that you don't need to choose the condition until you do it. If there case were otherwise, presumably there would be a clause "... spot a condition with a card stacked on it to..."

On the other hand, it could be that that last postulate is implied by the text of the card. I don't know.

Thranduil

[FM]

How does stacking works exactly? I mean, the rules clarify that you reveal the card, then stack, or just that stacked cards are visible? Otherwise, this seems to imply that stacking consists on moving the top card of your draw deck to a condition, and then, since it is stacked, flipping it up so it's revealed. How do the rules cover this?

[Thranduil]

How does stacking works exactly? I mean, the rules clarify that you reveal the card, then stack, or just that stacked cards are visible? Otherwise, this seems to imply that stacking consists on moving the top card of your draw deck to a condition, and then, since it is stacked, flipping it up so it's revealed. How do the rules cover this?

It doesn't. It clarifies what stacked cards are and how they interact with the game not what the act of stacking a card is.

[Elgar]

I would argue that you have to choose the condition before looking at the card.  The card shouldn't become "visable" until it is stacked, and in order to be stacked, you have to have a condition chosen for it to be stacked on.

As for Thanduil's example, the shadow player would be discarding the condition before you stack your card, so you must stack the card on Ever my heart Rises.

[Thranduil]

I would argue that you have to choose the condition before looking at the card.  The card shouldn't become "visable" until it is stacked, and in order to be stacked, you have to have a condition chosen for it to be stacked on.

As for Thanduil's example, the shadow player would be discarding the condition before you stack your card, so you must stack the card on Ever my heart Rises.

No I think you misunderstood. If you have to choose the condition before you stack, and then if the condition is no longer there, you can no longer perform the effect so the card is not stacked.

Thranduil

[Elgar]

I would argue that you have to choose the condition before looking at the card.  The card shouldn't become "visable" until it is stacked, and in order to be stacked, you have to have a condition chosen for it to be stacked on.

As for Thanduil's example, the shadow player would be discarding the condition before you stack your card, so you must stack the card on Ever my heart Rises.

No I think you misunderstood. If you have to choose the condition before you stack, and then if the condition is no longer there, you can no longer perform the effect so the card is not stacked.

Thranduil

Maybe I did, but I feel it isn't relavent to your example. ie if:
1) you use Suspended Palaces and you have say Ever My Heart Rises and Hall of Our Fathers on the table
and
2) there was a Shadow card that said "Response: If the Free Peoples player uses a special ability, discard a Free Peoples condition."

the shadow card would discard a condition before you had to choose which condition to stack your card, as the response would occur before the effects of Suspended palaces (and hence before you choose the condition to stack the card)

[Sam, Great Elf Warrior]

Simply in terms of the physical act of stacking, I'd say the motion of flipping over the card (the time at which the act of stacking physically causes you to see the card) comes before the motion of placing it on the condition (the time at which the act of stacking physically requires you to choose the condition), which would imply that you can see the card before you choose the condition. In absence of any evidence to the contrary, I'd say it works.

[FM]

But why would stacking work like that? For instance, if it says "reveal 4 cards from the top of your draw deck", you would set them aside and reveal them all at the same time, only THEN returning then to the top in the order they were in. Just because most people would play by revealing one after the other, it doesn't make it correct. In absence of an explanation to the act of stacking, but having the info that stacked cards are revealed, you should move the top card FACE DOWN, stack it and then flip it over so it's revealed. Of course, this is only my point of view, but I do read a lot about game rules in general.