ok, some playtesting of some jank last night led to this question. can a Robot Destroyer stun himself to his ability while equiped with a Decoy Program?
i ask because it says stun Robot Destoyer as the cost, but while equiped with the decoy program, he isnt Robot Destroyer any more, he is Dr. Doom.
i know that when a card says [cardname] in its text it is refering to that card specifically, but what happens when the effect says [cardname], but that is not the cards name anymore?
i hope i am clear.

must you go through every effort to destroy my poor jank?

it's not like the poor deck had any chance of winning anyway.

i am not trying to destroy your deck, i liked it acctually, i am just curious what the ruling on that is.

The reason you can't do it is not because his name isn't Robot Destroyer anymore, that doesn't stop the effect at all. It's because once stunend the Decoy Program is offline and you won't control Dr. Doom when the effect resolves.

-Mike

Ah no. That just aint right now maybe there is a reason you can't do that but....that aint it. The text on his card only states that to use the power you must control Dr. D, well with decoy program in play you did control DD when you activated to use the power, it does not go on to say if you still control doom at resolution stun the target character. In fact Robot detroyers text is now face down upon resolution and entirely ignorable.

thanks kariggi, but that didn't answer the initial question.

That wasn't being rude either, i'm just making sure that others still come by to try to answer the question at hand.

acctually Ranma's posts opens up a whole other can of worms. My question was weather or not the equiped Robot Destroyer could even stun himself. But Ranma brings up the question of if you dont have some other way of contoling Doom (2 Drop Kristoph, Doomstatd) will the effect even resolve and stun a 4 drop or smaller since it requires you to contol Dr. Doom?

Wait, doesn't it check the legality of the effect when you play AND when it resolves? If you play faces with Doomstadt in play and they chain with Have a Blast, when Faces resolves... It doesn't work.

And to the initial question, yes, when you put the Decoy Program on Robot Destroyer his text might as well change to...

"Activate, stun Dr. Doom -> Stun target character with a cost of 4 or less. Use this power only if you control Dr. Doom."

Just like if Rogue; Power Absorbtion copies his ability...

"Activate, stun Rogue -> Stun target character with a cost of 4 or less. Use this power only if you control Dr. Doom."

When a card says it's own name it doesn't mean "Robot Destroyer" it means "This Card". Period.

-Mike

ok, that was my main question. thanks Ranma.

Glad to help!

-Mike

Not taken rudely, and I do tend to stray, and I do like the question.

"Wait, doesn't it check the legality of the effect when you play AND when it resolves? If you play faces with Doomstadt in play and they chain with Have a Blast, when Faces resolves... "It doesn't work.

That doesn't sound right either as long as you met the requirement while playing faces. It does not say to search for doom only if you control him it say you can only play the card if you control him, as null time zone and other cards have shown us that you can not retroactively make a "play" play illegal, only a target or effect illegal.

But hey I been wrong plenty of times before.

Mm, bad example, Faces does say Play only in control Doom... Been a while since I used. That's right on that one.

Is it like Child? Hmm, nope... Bah, I don't know anymore. I was sure when I posted originaly. Maybe just posted a little too early in my day. LOL Use/Play probably are the same thing as far as the rules are concerned. I'm gonna have to change my opinion to, "Don't know."

-Mike

dammit,
JUDGE!!!
we need help

The restriction for Robot Destroyer is only checked when you 'play' the effect not when it resolves.

For example if you were to play Faces of Doom (play only if you control Dr. Doom) with a Doomstadt and no other Dr. Doom in play, and someone were to Kaboom! your Doomstadt after you've played it you wouldn't 'rewind' the Faces as it's already been played.

A similar example would be playing Cosmic Radiation while a FF character is already attacking. The attack isn't illegal and doesn't back up, it just can't attack again.

It's targets that are checked for legality twice (when you play an effect and when that effect resolves) not condition to play a card (or effect as the case may be).

As I understand it, anytime a card uses its own name in reference to activating a power or using an ability, its the same as saying 'this card.' This is what allows Rogue, Power Absorbtion to copy powers like Robot Destroyer's and still use them herself. "Stun Robot Destroyer" just becomes "Stun Rogue" in this instance.

Changing Destroyer's name should not keep it from using its ability.