Can you outwit a defense at the beginning of your turn and then use poison on a piece?

I say no, but the judge at the venue where I've been playing says you can because it's a free action. Anyone know for sure?

Thanks!

Since they are both Free actions, you can do them in any order you want at the beginning of turn.

The answer is yes, for the reasons MisterId pointed out.

Poison is a free action?

I thought it is a power with an effect that happens at the beginning of your turn. It doesn't need to be declared.

I thought poison happens at the beginning and you can't do any action - free action or not - before it's effect happens.

It was changed at some point, probably when they changed Perplex to last a round instead of a turn.

It use to be that Poison was automatic. This meant that you could never use it to outwit a defensive power and use Poison in a 2 player game. Then they changed them to be free actions as indicated above.

It makes Outwit even more powerful, but to be honest, it gives Poison some due respect.

It was an automatic "deals one damage at the beginning of your turn" as recently as Universe, but by Icons it was a free action so it's been this way for awhile. Even before it should have been possible to Outwit prior to Poison: Outwit can be done at any time during your turn including the beginning, and with several "at the beginning of your turn" things possible the active player would choose the order.

I think it was even before Icons, as it's been that way as long as I've been in the game (Legacy release) AFAIK.

Icons made it a free action.

What I meant was that you could Outwit before using Poison, before Icons. At least that's the way I remember it. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I've been playing since Mutant Mayhem. You could do it then.

Thanks for the help!

I just want to be clear that poison is definitely now a free action.

Because if it is, that has ramifications for using theme probs, which you can't use after you've taken an action, even a free action.

Is poison defined in the rules as a free action?

Poison is a free action, but Theme Team Probability Control can still be used since it was changed to Non-Free actions.

When did this happen? Is it in the current rules?

It's been that way for a while. From the 2011 rulebook:

• Must possess the keyword that establishes the theme of the force.
• Must not have already taken a non-free action this turn.
• Must not be able to use Probability Control through another game effect.
• Must not have used Probability Control in this way earlier in the turn.
• Must be given an action token (this does not affect your Action Total for the turn).

It used to say 'must not have taken an action this turn'. Since a free action is still an action (even if it doesn't count towards your available actions for the turn), it meant you couldn't use the theme PC after a free action. Now there is no such limitation.

Not to beat a dead horse....

I have been playing at local tournaments since the CT release. Back in the day, I know I played tourneys that the judge was called over and clarified that you could not outwit and then apply poison at the beginning of your turn because using outwit was making an action and therefore no longer the beginning of your turn. When asked if you could outwit the turn before and then apply poison on the start of your next turn, I was told, "No, because they happen at the same time." Maybe it was wrong back then, for all I know.

Now a days... absolutely, you can outwit and then apply poison.