Does Wielder of Water retain its +2 might bonus from being alone if a showdown is contested and Tideturner is revealed?

Question

Accepted Answer

If Tideturner is revealed and ends up on the same battlefield as Wielder of Water before the Showdown resolves (i.e., before Combat Damage is determined), Wielder of Water is no longer “alone” and immediately loses its +2 Might. If the reveal/move happens after Combat Damage uses current Might, the bonus still applied for that combat.

A unit’s Might is evaluated at the time Combat Damage is determined. Because Wielder of Water’s bonus is a continuous conditional effect that applies only while it is attacking or defending alone, any other unit moved onto that battlefield (for example when Tideturner is revealed and swapped in) removes that condition and the +2 is lost before Might is summed for combat, provided the move occurs before the Showdown closes and Combat Damage is calculated. If the swap occurs after Combat Damage has already been determined and dealt, it does not retroactively change that combat’s Might.

Determine whether Tideturner's reveal-and-move effect resolves before the Showdown closes and the Combat Damage Step begins. If the move resolves before Combat Damage, the battlefield's unit list is updated: Tideturner is now present at the same battlefield as Wielder of Water. Because Wielder of Water is no longer the only unit there, its continuous conditional ability "While I'm attacking or defending alone, I have +2 [M]" ceases to apply. The game then evaluates units' current Might for Combat Damage using those updated values and proceeds with assignment and dealing of damage [460.2] [710]. If the move happens after Combat Damage has already been determined/dealt, the change does not retroactively alter that combat's damage totals.

If Tideturner is revealed but its move puts a unit into a non-board zone (e.g., returns to hand or is banished) then it does not count as being on the battlefield and does not remove "alone" status; see [359.3.e.12]. If Tideturner was hidden on the same battlefield already (a hidden on-board unit), revealing it may have already meant Wielder of Water was not alone even before the reveal resolves; hidden on-board units still occupy the battlefield. If timing is ambiguous (both actions resolving simultaneously on the chain), the precise order of finalization matters — if the reveal/move finalizes before the Showdown closes, the +2 is lost; if finalization occurs after damage calculation, it does not affect that combat [460.2].

Wielder of Water has a continuous conditional ability that grants +2 Might while it is attacking or defending alone. The game always uses units' current Might when resolving combat: "When the Showdown closes, Attackers and Defenders resolve Combat Damage ... using their current Might" [460.2] and "Units on the board are evaluated according to their current Might" [710]. Therefore whether Wielder of Water gets its +2 depends on the board state at the moment combat Might is evaluated. If Tideturner is revealed and its play effect moves it onto the same battlefield as Wielder of Water before the Showdown closes and Combat Damage is calculated, that move causes Wielder of Water to no longer be alone and its +2 ability stops applying; the new Might totals (without the +2) are then used to assign and deal damage [460.2] [710]. If, however, the reveal and resulting move happen after Combat Damage has already been determined and dealt, then Wielder of Water's +2 applied for that combat and is unaffected retroactively. If the reveal/move results in the unit being placed in a non-board zone, that does not affect "alone" on-board checks because units not on the board are treated as having null characteristics for such checks [359.3.e.12].