Can you ready your opponents' runes with Annie in a free-for-all or 2v2 game?

Question

Accepted Answer

Assuming Annie's ability says simply “Ready a rune” or otherwise instructs you to ready a game object without restricting it to "a friendly/your" rune, you may choose an opponent’s rune as the target in free-for-all or 2v2. The rules allow effects that instruct you to ready Game Objects on the board to ready any legal Game Object the effect permits; runes can be exhausted/ready and are Game Objects on the board. [415] [430] [FAQ:unleashed#2]

Yes — under the most defensible interpretation given the provided rules, if Annie's ability reads or functions as an instruction to “ready a rune” (with no restriction to only your runes), you may select and ready an opponent’s rune in free-for-all or 2v2. The effect instructs you to ready a Game Object on the board, and nothing in the Ready rules requires that the object be controlled by you unless the text says so. [415] [430] [FAQ:unleashed#2]

Determine the exact text of Annie's ability. If it is an instruction to "Ready a rune" with no restriction to "your" or "a friendly" rune, then an opponent's rune is a legal object to choose. [415] [430] When the ability triggers or is activated and placed on the chain, its controller finalizes choices (including selecting the specific rune to be readied) and pays costs during finalization; target choice and cost payment happen during finalization per the triggered-ability sequence described in [FAQ:unleashed#2]. [FAQ:unleashed#2] [357] When the ability resolves it will ready the chosen rune on the board. If the chosen rune is already Ready, nothing additional happens for that rune. [415.1.c] [415.1.b]

If Annie's ability explicitly says "Ready a friendly/your rune" or otherwise restricts the target to runes you control, you may not target an opponent's rune. The ruling above only applies when the effect does not impose that restriction. [415] [FAQ:unleashed#2] If the rune you choose is already Ready, the effect does nothing to it (a Ready object cannot be Readied again). [415.1.b] [415.1.c] If another effect changes control of a rune before finalization or resolution, the legal target set during finalization must still be a legal target when the ability is placed on the chain; replacement/legality checks during finalization apply. See the process described in [FAQ:unleashed#2] and the Pay Costs step rules text for finalization mechanics. [FAQ:unleashed#2] [357] The provided rules excerpt does not include any special multiplayer targeting restrictions; if a specific tournament or variant rule adds restrictions in multiplayer (not provided here), that could change the outcome. This ruling assumes no such external restrictions.

Ruling rationale

Ruling relies on the following points from the provided rules. Readying is defined as an action that marks a non-spell Game Object on the board as available for action, and players may Ready Game Objects on the board when effects or spells instruct them to do so. That wording does not itself restrict the object to those you control; it simply allows effects to ready objects on the board when instructed to do so. [415]

Runes exist as objects on the board, can enter the board exhausted, and therefore have a ready/exhausted state that can be changed by effects (e.g., channeling examples show runes entering exhausted instead of ready). Thus an instruction to "Ready a rune" is an instruction that targets a Game Object on the board with a ready/exhausted state. [430]

When a triggered ability or instruction that contains target-choice text is placed on the chain, choices (including the choice of which object to ready) and any costs within the instruction are made during the finalization portion of that triggered ability per the triggered-ability sequencing rules. That means the controller chooses a legal target (the specific rune) when they put the ability on the chain / finalize it. There is no rule in the provided text that limits "ready" instructions to only objects the controller controls unless the ability's wording explicitly says so. [FAQ:unleashed#2]

Therefore, if Annie's ability simply instructs you to "Ready a rune" (or similar) without the word "your/friendly," then an opponent's rune is a legal object to select and can be readied in free-for-all and 2v2. The only limitations are ordinary legality: you cannot ready an object that is already Ready (nothing further happens), and any textual restrictions on the ability (e.g., "ready a friendly rune") would prevent choosing an opponent's rune. [415.1.b] [415.1.c]

If you want a ruling for a specific wording of Annie's card, provide the exact text and I will re-evaluate with no assumptions.