Chain and priority
Who may act, and how a chain resolves. Written for rules effective 2026-10-16.
States of the turn
A chain on the board means a Closed State. Only Reaction cards and abilities can be played. No chain means an Open State.
Rule 309.1 · Rule 309.1.a · Rule 309.2
States of the turn
A Showdown or Combat in progress means a Showdown State. Only cards and abilities with Action or Reaction can be played.
States of the turn
By default, cards are played and abilities activated only by the player with priority, on their turn, in a Neutral Open State.
Who has priority
At most one player has priority. It is the exclusive right to take discretionary actions.
Who has priority
Limited actions and the choices they need never wait for priority.
Who has priority
A player receives priority: in their Main Phase in a Neutral Open State; when they gain Focus in a Showdown; when they control the next item on the chain after items are finalized; when they are next in turn order and the player with priority passes.
Rule 312.2.a · Rule 312.2.b · Rule 312.2.c · Rule 312.2.d
Who has priority
Gaining Focus also gives priority. Passing priority keeps Focus.
Resolving a chain (HOT, then FEPR)
After an action that creates tasks, handle outstanding tasks first (HOT). Then Finalize, Execute, Pass, Resolve (FEPR).
Resolving a chain (HOT, then FEPR)
Finalize: the controller of the oldest pending item completes playing it. Items finalize in the order they were added. Finalizing does not pass priority.
Rule 337.1 · Rule 337.1.a · Rule 337.1.b
Resolving a chain (HOT, then FEPR)
A Unit, a Gear or an ability that adds resources resolves as soon as it is finalized.
Resolving a chain (HOT, then FEPR)
Execute: with nothing left to finalize, the controller of the next item on the chain gets priority. They may play a legally timed card or ability, or pass.
Rule 337.4 · Rule 338.1.a · Rule 338.1.b
Resolving a chain (HOT, then FEPR)
Pass: if every player passes in a row without adding anything, go to Resolve. Otherwise priority goes to the next player in turn order.
Resolving a chain (HOT, then FEPR)
Resolve: the newest finalized item resolves completely. If the chain is empty, play continues in an Open State. If items are still pending, finalize them. Otherwise the controller of the newest item gets priority.
Rule 340.1 · Rule 340.2 · Rule 340.3 · Rule 340.4
Resolving a chain (HOT, then FEPR)
A task that appears during FEPR waits until the current step is done, then is completed before continuing.
Chain inside a Showdown
When the last item resolves and the turn returns to an Open State in a Showdown, Focus and priority pass to the next player. They do not pass if a triggered ability or an Add ability opened the chain.