Ok, as the title of this thread clearly indicates..... this is about Children of the Night.

First and foremost here is the text of the card.

"Ongoing: Hidden Underworld characters you control get +1 DEF.
Whenever a hidden attacker you control causes breakthrough to a player, that player loses 1 endurance. "


The question came up about that 1 endurance done to the opponent. My interpretation would be that this is in addition to the normal breakthough and damage the hidden character has caused. If you had 3 COTN in play, then you woudl do 3 extra dmage above and beyond normal stun/breakthough.

Now some are interpreting this as a replacement effect, and if you woudl cause 2 or 20 breakthough, then you do ONLY 1 endurance. They are citing it as a basic replacement effect, and often refer to Mystique for how it works.

Here is Mystique....

"If Mystique would cause breakthrough endurance loss to an opponent, that opponent loses 5 endurance instead."

Now in my mind the key difference is the word Instead. Mystique clearly is intended to replace the amount, but without the operative word INSTEAD in COTN, it seems clear to me that this is in addition to the normal amount of breakthrough done. If this is not the case then multipls of this card are pointless from that perspective.

But I have been wrong before, and i will be wrong again... I just need to know if I am right or wrong on this point for now!

:)

Also, please cite any rules that woudl clearly state how this would be resolved if possible so i can avoid any confusion locally. Thanks...

Discuss!

First up, Children of the Night effect is not a replacement modifier.

513.5a Modifiers that use "instead" are replacement modifiers. A replacement modifier replaces an event with another event. The replaced event never happens; any powers or modifiers that would have triggered off of the replaced event will not trigger. A replacement modifier may
replace an event any time, even during the resolution of an effect.

You are right, the keyword is INSTEAD.

It is however a triggered effect. If you have 3 Children of the Night in-play, then it will deal 3 extra damage to the player whenever a hidden character you control causes breakthrough to that player.

The single event of a hidden character causing breakthrough triggers each Children of the Night in-play and deals the appropriate amount of additional damage.

Take note they trigger simultaneously, the controller of the children of the night choose which order they go on the chain (usually irrelevant), and they resolve one at a time.

As in, with 3 in play, your opponent doesnt lose "3 life", they lose "1 life, 1 life, 1 life".

Ok, thanks for the reaffirmation.