I could recap the entire conversation, but I don't want to give more weight to my side of the argument than Quebbster's.

The basic concept is:
Can Emerald Empress carry a pog with her and do a Running Shot NovaBlast and then take advantage of the Suicide Squad TA to heal herself?


The orginal disagreement occurred here:
http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=177527

If we could get a final ruling from a Judge that would be fantastic!

Yes. It has been ruled in this way.

From the latest FAQ:

Q: Can a character with Lazarus Pit, Fantastic Four, or Suicide Squad still use the feat or team ability when KOd by an opposing character using Pulse Wave? Since Pulse Wave ignores all powers, abilities, & feats, would the character still go to the Lazarus Pit or gain the benefit of the team ability?
A: Yes, the character would still go into the Lazarus Pit or the team ability could still be used. The effects of the feat or team ability occur after the action and any push damage (if applicable) is resolved.

And:

Q: What is the correct sequence for applying game effects when a character with a team ability such as Suicide Squad or Fantastic Four pushes to attack and, in the process, KOs a character that triggers its team ability (by using Pulse Wave, from splash damage from Energy Explosion, etc)?
A: The attack would be made, damage would be dealt, pushing would be applied, and then the effects of the team ability would be applied. If pushing causes the attacking character to be KOd, then it cannot use the team ability to heal itself.

Even though I don't really care for it (makes Emerald Empress that much more abusable), you can use Suicide Squad to heal her after the pushing damage from Nova Blast has been applied.

It seems to go against the spirit of the recent change in Pulsewave. So you cannot activate Pulsewave anymore to activate your own pieces (unless there is an enemy piece in range also), but go ahead and carry one with and kill them in a Nova Blast?

I'm glad I didn't bet a beer on this, I was sure they wouldn't allow something like this to work.

At least now I don't need to waste Double-time on my Lian in order to get a quick Suicide Squad heal, I shall now have EE carry her with and decimate her in order to "regain her beauty." At least it is thematic in that regard.

Yes. Or are you advocating that PW shouldn't hurt any of your characters, even if they are in range?

Wow, this might put Emerald Empress into the top five most abusable figures...hmm....I think I will make a thread about that in General Discussion.

Or an article...

Just so you know, I am a judge. I just didn't point it out as I don't think saying "I'm a judge, so I must be right" is a very good way to conduct an argument...

Anyway, I also wanted to point out that this ruling is fairly new - previously, the official stance was that the Nova Blast feedback damage came after the Suicide Squad healing, but for some reason the ruling changed a few months ago. In fact the entry in the FAQ regarding Suicide Squad timing was added only recently.

I never saw it officially ruled that way. I saw arguments for why it should be ruled that way but I never saw any official statement that said it. In fact, I used LE Annihilus for this strategy well before Emerald Empress ever came out.

No, I am not advocating that Pulsewave should not hurt your own characters. I just don't think you should be able to use it or Nova Blast and be able to take advantage of the Suicide Squad TA.

The ruling below:

seems to hinge on the damage being done by an opposing character. When you Carry Pog/NB/ Use Suicide Squad TA you are doing the damage to the character yourself.


My interpretation of this lead me to believe that If Lian pog is KOd in the resolution of the same action as the adjacent Emerald Empress with Nova Blast, this team ability cannot be used.

The KO is what is important, not who did it. Since 99% of KO's come from your opponent, the FAQ is written to be easily read in terms players can easily understand. However, with Pulse Wave/Nova Blast, it is entirely possible that you can KO one of your own characters.



That is incorrect. What it means that if, say via splash damage from EE or excessive pushing, the Suicide Squad character (in this case Emerald Empress) is KO'd at the same time as an adjacent friendly character, the character (Emerald Empress) can't use Suicide Squad to heal back from KO.

Here, take a look at the part you quoted again:

When a friendly character adjacent to a Suicide Squad team member is KOd, roll one six-sided die and subtract 2 from the result. If the result is less than 1, the result is 1. The team member is healed of damage equal to the result. If the team member is KOd in the resolution of the same action as the adjacent friendly character, this team ability cannot be used.

See the team member is the one with the TA, which in this case is Emerald Empress. The adajcent friendly character is the one being KO'd and would normally activate the TA (in this case, Lian or another Bystander). However, when the team member is also KO'd in the same action as the adajcent friendly character, the team ability can't be used and the team member is not healed back from KO.

You're getting your characters confused:

The character being KO'd in this question is the one that is the Suicide Squad member, not the pog.

Again, this is talking about the TEAM MEMBER being KO'd. Emerald Empress would not be KO'd by the Nova Blast or Pulse Wave and therefore it doesn't really apply.

Hrm.
Weird.

Well, to be quite frank, that was the way I was told it was on this very forum. This was before I became a judge, but I had no reason to doubt it. I just assumed it was an official ruling, maybe I was wrong. I do know lots of judges were surprised by the ruling that the two could indeed be combined though.