Thrill of the Hunt — rules guide & rulings | Runesight
Unleashed · UNL-184
Card text
[Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.)Banish a friendly unit, then its owner plays it to any battlefield, ignoring its cost.
is a 2‑Energy Reaction spell that banishes a chosen friendly unit and then causes that unit's owner to play it to any battlefield, ignoring its cost. The most common misplay is assuming the spell can always re-play the unit even if the chosen unit becomes a different object (e.g., moved to a non‑board zone) before resolution; targets that change to a non‑board zone break the relationship and can make the play impossible .
01When you cast , you choose a friendly unit as the spell's target. Choosing a specific game object in this way makes it a target and must be a valid choice when the spell is placed on the chain .
02The spell is placed on the chain like any other spell. Any Reactions or other items can be added above it before it resolves .
When resolves, it first attempts to banish the chosen friendly unit. If the chosen target is no longer a legal target (for example, it changed to a non‑board zone and thus is a different object), the banish instruction cannot be executed for that target and will be ignored per the general resolution rules .
04If the banish executes, the unit is moved off the board to the banished (non‑board) location. The spell then has its second instruction: the unit's owner plays that card to any battlefield, ignoring its cost. That play is a play effect created by the spell and creates a pending play for the unit on the chain; the actual finalization of that play (choosing the battlefield where it will enter) is made as part of finalizing the pending play item .
05The pending play is treated like a unit being played by a play effect: the unit will become a unit on the board when that pending play is finalized, and any 'When I am played' or similar play triggers and effects will then occur as normal. If the finalized play causes the unit to Conquer or Hold, Hunt triggers will function (Hunt = gain XP on Conquer/Hold) .
06After finishes resolving (regardless of whether its instructions were fully executable), the spell is placed into its owner's Trash as a normal spell resolution step .
Casting on your opponent's turn to re‑play the banished unit to a battlefield you control (you are currently standing on that battlefield).
You may cast as a Reaction on the opponent's turn, banish your chosen friendly unit, and have its owner play it to the battlefield you control. Because the play effect becomes pending on the chain while the spell resolves, you do not lose control of that battlefield during resolution and may finalize the unit to that battlefield; if the play causes Conquer, any Hunt triggers will occur .
You target a friendly unit with , an opponent responds by moving that unit to base, then other reactions try to interact before Thrill resolves.
Moving the unit to base does not remove the targeting relationship so long as the unit remains the same object on the board; Thrill still targets it and can banish it when it resolves. If the unit instead changes to a non‑board zone (for example, is banished or otherwise removed from the board), it becomes a different object and the targeting relationship is severed—Thrill's banish instruction will fail for that target and subsequent instructions that depend on that object may be unable to execute .
The chosen unit is sent to a non‑board zone (e.g., banished) by another effect before resolves.
If the chosen target leaves to a non‑board zone before Thrill resolves, that target is no longer the same game object and any checks about it return null. Thrill's banish step cannot be performed on that object and the later 'play it' instruction cannot resolve for that object; those instructions are ignored to the extent they cannot be completed .
The banished unit has Hidden printed on it. Can the owner be forced to play it somewhere other than the battlefield it was banished from?
Rule text that restricts play locations for hidden cards applies when the spell or play effect doing the playing is itself Hidden or is the play effect of a hidden permanent. is neither a hidden spell nor the play effect of a hidden permanent, so the clause that forces a play to the unit's battlefield if the play was caused by a hidden spell/effect (811.1.d.3) does not apply. Therefore the play effect created by can place the unit at any battlefield per the spell's instruction, subject to other usual constraints on valid locations .
Playing the re‑played unit causes it to Conquer a battlefield, and that unit has Hunt.
If the finalized play of the banished unit causes it to Conquer (or Hold), its Hunt trigger will function and grant XP equal to its Hunt value, since Hunt is a triggered ability that checks for Conquer/Hold events on the unit .
The card text says 'its owner plays it.' The provided Core Rules context does not include a definition or rules text for 'owner' vs 'controller' here, so the card's plain text must be followed: the owner (as written on the card) is the one that performs the play. The Core Rules excerpt does not supply further procedural detail about an owner who is not the unit's current controller; the rules context is insufficient to fully elaborate interactions that depend on owner vs controller distinctions.
If all of the spell's instruction's Targets become invalid before the spell resolves, those instructions that refer specifically to those targets will not execute, but other independent instructions still resolve. The Core Rules examples in 359 explain how partial execution is handled; use those rules to determine which parts of can still occur if the target becomes illegal mid‑chain .
The Core Rules do not include exhaustive procedural text for how the pending play created by a spell like is finalized in every timing corner; the FAQ examples for other 'banish then play' effects are illustrative and should be consulted, but the rules context is not comprehensive about every sequence that could arise.
Further notes
Do not assume can salvage every situation where a unit is chosen. The crucial distinction is whether the chosen object remains the same game object on the board through resolution. If it becomes a different object by moving to a non‑board zone, the banish/play sequence cannot act on it. When in doubt about whether an object is still the same target, apply the target continuity rules in 359 and the null‑information rule in 359.3.e.12. After resolution the spell is placed in its owner's Trash as usual .
Can I cast on my opponent's turn and have the unit played to a battlefield I control?
Yes. You can cast as a Reaction on an opponent's turn, banish a friendly unit, and have its owner play it to the battlefield you control. The play becomes pending on the chain while the spell resolves, preventing you from losing control of that battlefield until finalization, so you can finalize the play to that battlefield .
What happens if the chosen unit leaves to a non‑board zone (for example, is banished) before resolves?
If the chosen unit changes to a non‑board zone before resolution, it is no longer the same game object and the spell's relationship to that target is severed. Any checks about that target return null and instructions depending on that object can't be executed and are ignored to the extent they cannot be completed .
Does target the friendly unit when you play it?
Yes. Choosing a specific friendly unit when you play the spell is a choice that targets a game object per the targeting rules, so the unit must be a valid target when the spell is placed on the chain .
If the re‑played unit Conquers when it enters, will Hunt triggers fire?
Yes. Hunt is a triggered ability that triggers when the unit Conquers or Holds; if the play of the unit caused by results in a Conquer (or Hold), the unit's Hunt trigger(s) will occur and grant XP accordingly .
If the unit has Hidden, can force it to be played somewhere other than the battlefield it was banished from?
Yes. The special Hidden restriction that forces a play to the unit's battlefield applies only when the play effect is a Hidden spell or the play effect of a hidden permanent. is not a hidden spell or a hidden permanent's play effect, so that Hidden restriction does not apply; the spell's instruction to play the unit to any battlefield stands .
Fury
BodyEnergy 2Power 1
