FNF says to "discard a Shadow condition for each token here." So if there are 5 tokens there, you actually undertake 5 individual actions of discarding a single Shadow condition, each of which can be responded to when appropriate. If something prevents discarding one condition, you can still target that condition again, assuming you have more tokens you haven't "used up."
But the important bit, is that
FNF sets the number at 5, even if there are only 2 conditions on the table. X can be higher than the number of conditions out there, and from that point on it's simply a matter of:
If the effect of a card or special ability requires
you to perform an action and you cannot, you
must perform as much as you can and ignore the
rest.
Deceit does not protect a condition for the duration of the entire action, it only protects it from one discard. If there are still discards left to be performed, and no more twilight to be taken out by
Deceit, then it seems to me the rest of
FNF's action trumps
Deceit. The same should go for
Clever Hobbits.
Clever Hobbits asks you to choose a number of conditions to discard.
Clever Hobbits says to choose
any number.
Since you can't spot, discard or otherwise do anything to cards that are not in play, with some obvious exceptions, the context of Clever Hobbits clearly indicates that number is limited by the amount of conditions in play.
I disagree. The
FNF example already demonstrates that X can be greater than the number of conditions on the table, and once X is defined, the effects of the card must be carried out to the fullest extent possible. I see nothing that says you cannot pick a number higher than the number of conditions you can spot. The word "spot" is nowhere on the card.
Suppose, for example, the card
did set a specific number (as many condition-discarding cards do). It is entirely possible for that number to be higher than the number of conditions on the table, and the effects of the card must be carried out as completely as possible. The rules state that cards are discarded one at a time, just as wounds are applied one at a time. If you have a character with 2 vitality, it is possible to target that character with 8 wounds, and if 2 of them are prevented, the character still dies, because X = 8. The same should apply to discarding cards: if X=8, but there are only 2 cards out there, preventing 2 cards from being discarded means that 6 more must still be discarded.
Now once you have chosen the number, say 4, Clever Hobbits then becomes "Discard 4 conditions."
True, except I don't see where I couldn't choose 40 instead of 4.
And then it becomes no different than any other card that can discard multiple conditions. If you play Secret Sentinels, you would choose your two conditions first, then Deceit can respond to one or both of them. You can't pick the same condition twice.
Suppose, for the sake of argument, that
Secret Sentinels discards 10 conditions instead of 2. Wouldn't the effects of that card need to be carried out to the fullest extent possible? Even with
Secret Sentinels, it's possible for X to be greater than the number of conditions on the table.
Anytime you have a rules question, it can almost always be solved simply by reading the words that are printed on the card.
Most of the time.
To provide a counter-example, if always discarding of multiple cards was done one-by-one (choose one, discard, choose another, discard, etc.) then the card Siege Engine would not be usable, as it clearly refers to "If one or more machines are about to be discarded".
Well, CR states:
discard
The default meaning of the word "discard"
discard from play." Discarding from othe
ocations (such as from your hand or from
op of your draw deck) is always specified.
Cards are discarded one at a time so all players
can see which cards are being discarded.