Different Force Lift Question, Focusing on the "at any time" element

There is already a thread adequately addressing the issue of what is an attack as referenced on Yoda's Force Lift card, but I have a different question.

What, exactly, does "at any time" mean.

Specifically, how is this situation resolved:

Players A and B are playing against Players C and D.

Player A is playing Yoda.
Player B is playing Emperor Palpatine.
Player C is playing Darth Maul.
Player D is playing Jango Fett (irrelevant).

Player A uses Force Lift on Darth Maul.
Darth Maul is placed on his side.
On Player B's turn, Player B plays You Will Die, targeting Player C.
Player C is holding 5 cards.

Can Player C, in response to the playing of You Will Die, discard 3 cards to stand Darth Maul up?

This is a good question. It's almost identical to "what happens when someone plays a "fast effect" in response to another fast effect in M:tG"?

At least in M:tG, there are clearly defined resolution rules. In Epic Duels, we don't have any clearly defined rules. My answer to this question is to follow the literal meaning of words on Force Lift. So, in this case, "at any time" means exactly that. So, you could choose to discard those 3 cards literally at any time, which could be after the card is played, but before it is resolved. Most players would agree that if an attack is made against you, you have the option to discard 3 to stand up and then defend that attack before the attack card is revealed. And I would say the same thing applies here. If YOU WILL DIE is played against you, you could discard the 3 to stand up before you ditch your entire hand.

Some players will try to argue that a card needs to be resolved immediately upon being played, and that everything goes "on pause" while the card is resolved, etc, etc. But I don't buy it. Force Lift says "at any time"...and I interpret that to mean exactly that. That said, it's just my opinion, and there is no clear answer to this one. So make sure you decide upon the rule before playing to avoid a potential argument.

Yes, Magic has the "stack" and Yu-Gi-Oh has the "chain," but they are hardly intuitive systems of resolving things and I hesitate to apply them to Epic Duels. I mean there is no precedent for resolving effects backwards in ED like there is in those TCGs. It's just another unique problem presented by Force Lift.

I would totally stand back up if someone played YWD; same goes for needing to discard on Luke's IWNFY. And if I only had 3 cards, I probably would discard them if Force Drain or LGOYH was played on me, too. So essentially, my answer is "yes."

I could go either way; it's just another one of those things you have to agree on with whomever is playing.

My answer would be no. Once You Will Die is played, I see that the character that the card is played on - essentially has no cards, so he can't discard.

Specials like YWD are resolved immediately.

During a normal attack as Dark Trumpetus brought up, happens sequentially. Attacker chooses a card, Defender chooses a card. In the case of a lifted character, Attacker chooses a card, defender has to decide what to do. In that sequence, the lifted character still has the option to discard or take it.

If the lifted character's ally has 4 hit points, and Vader does Throw Debris - that character is dead. He shouldn't be able to move his hit point token 3 places and then say - I'm going to discard 3 to pick up Maul - and then die.

Throw Debris, like WYD should be resolved immediately.

This is the counterargument. The problem is, the rulebook says "Special cards are played faceup and resolved immediately. After playing a special card and resolving it..."

This could mean that the playing of the card and the resolution of the card are independent, or it could mean that the resolution of the card happens at the exact time the card is played. IMO, it's not clear. There is the act of "playing the card faceup on the table" and then there is the act of "immediate resolution". Some would argue as Fitz does that say that those two acts occur simultaneously, and then there are others that would argue that one happens and then the other happens. Because it's a game and things happen fluidly over time, I would think that the phrase "at any time" would allow you to discard 3 cards before YOU WILL DIE is resolved. Heck, let's say your opponent drops the card face-up on the table and is about to announce the card play...if you happen to notice it was YOU WILL DIE before your opponent uttered a word, could you then speak up and say "I am standing my guy up" before that player got a chance to say anything about the YOU WILL DIE card he just tried to play? When *exactly* is a card played? When it hits the table? When the player announced the name of his card and an intended target?

Because of all this ambiguity, I prefer to go with the interpretation that the two acts are separate, and that there would be an opportunity to discard 3 before YWD was resolved. While the rulebook does say "immediately", it does not use the words "simultaneously"...and besides, there isn't a clear definition of when a card is played to allow sufficient wiggle room for you to discard your 3 cards from FORCE LIFT "at any time."

That said, I would be ok playing either way, but if I had to choose 1 way to play, I'd go with the ruling that a LIFTED character could discard 3 prior to YWD being resolved. It's the way I interpret the rules, but I also think it's more fair, being that YWD is such a cheap card anyway.

But what says the Jedi Council? What ruling is used for official online play?

This question hasn't come up. If it does come up in a game you're playing in, come to an agreement with your opponent(s) or get a ruling from a council member. Once we're forced to make a ruling it'll become official.

I would say this post qualifies as it "coming up" and we should make a ruling, even though the only times this would come into question are 2v2 Tournaments that the council typically doesn't run.

I say "any time" means "any time". So if someone plays "You Will Die" on a lifted character, he can discard 3 cards to stand up before discarding his entire hand.