Can I use Last Breath to ready an exhausted unit in base, then move it to the battlefield to trigger Mask of Foresight's +2 bonus before Last Breath deals its damage?

Question

Accepted Answer

No. You cannot ready a unit with Last Breath, then take a Standard Move to bring it to a battlefield in between Last Breath's two instructions, and in any case Mask of Foresight only triggers when a unit attacks or defends alone — Last Breath making a unit deal damage is not the unit "attacking" and so would not cause Mask of Foresight to grant its bonus.

You cannot insert a Standard Move between the two effects of Last Breath (the Ready and the 'it deals damage' step) as it resolves, so you cannot ready it and then move it to the battlefield before the damage is dealt. Even if you could, Mask of Foresight triggers when a unit attacks or defends alone; the damage dealt by Last Breath is an effect that causes the unit to deal damage, not the unit performing an Attack action, so Mask of Foresight would not trigger off that damage.

You play Last Breath and its effect begins resolving; its text performs two instructions in sequence: Ready a friendly unit, then that unit deals damage equal to its Might to an enemy unit at a battlefield. See the card text on Last Breath. The Ready instruction is resolved first, making the target unit Ready if it was Exhausted. See [415]. The next instruction of Last Breath ('It deals damage ...') is part of the same spell resolution and resolves immediately after the Ready instruction; there is no general rule in the provided context that allows you to take an unrelated Limited Action (such as performing a Standard Move) in between sequential instructions of a single spell's resolution. Standard Moves are Limited Actions that may be performed during a player's Main Phase [144.1.a], but performing one requires paying its cost (exhausting the unit) [144.2], and the Core Rules excerpt here does not provide a mechanism to interrupt a spell's sequential resolution to take that action. Separately, Mask of Foresight triggers 'When a friendly unit attacks or defends alone, give it +1 [M] this turn.' That trigger requires the unit to perform an Attack or Defend action alone; the damage dealt by Last Breath is a spell effect causing damage, not the unit performing an Attack, so the Mask trigger would not occur as a result of the damage from Last Breath. If the unit later actually performs an Attack or Defend action alone, then Mask of Foresight would apply and its Might bonus would be reflected in subsequent calculations per [710].

If some other effect explicitly creates a window or instruction during the resolution of Last Breath that permits performing a Standard Move (for example, a spell or ability that says 'During the resolution of a spell, you may move a unit'), that effect could allow the move to happen before Last Breath finishes resolving. That situation is not covered by the provided Core Rules context, so it is treated as an exception and would be evaluated based on the exact wording of that other effect. Also, if an effect specifically redefines 'attack' to include dealing damage via a spell effect, that could change whether Mask of Foresight triggers; no such redefinition exists in the provided text.

Two separate reasons prevent the line you want to achieve.

First, timing: Last Breath is an Action spell whose text executes in sequence: "Ready a friendly unit. It deals damage equal to its Might to an enemy unit at a battlefield." The Ready happens first and then the damage instruction happens immediately after as part of the same spell resolution. The Core Rules excerpts allow Readying when effects or spells instruct you to do so [415.3.b], and Standard Moves are Limited Actions that may be done during your Main Phase [144.1.a] with Exhausting the unit as the cost [144.2]. The provided rules do not give you a way to interrupt the resolution of a spell to perform an unrelated Limited Action (such as making a Standard Move) between two sequential instructions of that same spell. Therefore you cannot Ready the unit and then insert a separate Move before Last Breath's damage step completes (see [415] and [144]).

Second, even if you could move the unit to the battlefield before the damage resolves, Mask of Foresight reads "When a friendly unit attacks or defends alone, give it +1 [M] this turn." That triggers on the unit performing an Attack or Defend, not on the unit dealing damage because of a spell effect. The damage from Last Breath is the spell causing the unit to deal damage; it is not the unit taking the Attack action, so Mask of Foresight would not trigger off that damage. Were the unit later to perform a bona fide Attack or Defend action while alone, Mask of Foresight's bonus would apply and be included in Might calculations at that time [710].

Because of these two points (no opportunity to take a Standard Move during the spell's sequential resolution, and the Mask trigger requiring an Attack/Defend action), you cannot ready a unit with Last Breath, move it to a battlefield in between the ready and the damage, and thereby gain the Mask bonus before the damage is dealt.

If you have a specific additional effect in play that you think might create a legal window during resolution (for example, an ability that explicitly permits moving during another spell's resolution), provide its exact text and we can re-evaluate under that wording.