Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!
For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Heist: Basic Action Card from the Dungeons and Dragons: Tomb of Annihilation set.
Ruling – Using Action Dice
Heist is a Basic Action Card and it’s dice are Basic Action Dice. If an ability or game text refers to an Action Card or an Action Die, then it could affect Heist. Basic Action Dice can be purchased by either player.
There are two main ways to use an action die. The first is when the die is in your Reserve Pool, you use the ability that’s on the card and then place the die Out of Play. The die will never enter the Field Zone. The second is to move the action die from the Reserve Pool to the Field Zone, but those dice can only be fielded if they have the Continuous keyword, they’re considered to be Gear, or the ability tells you to attach that die to another die that’s in the Field Zone.
Action dice can be used during two different steps, but only on our turn. You can use an action die at any time during your Main Step, or after blockers have been assigned during the Attack Step (referred to as the Actions and Globals portion of the Attack Step).
Action dice cannot be used for no effect. This means, if you can’t legally use the ability of the action die, then you can’t use the die and it remains in your Reserve Pool until the end of your turn. If you do not use an action die, it will go into your Used Pile at the end of your turn.
Ruling – Ability
“Target opponent draws 2 dice from their bag. Place one in that opponent’s Prep Area. Roll the other die and place it in your Reserve Pool. At the end of your turn, place the rolled die in your opponent’s Used Pile (regardless of where it is).“
You must be able to target an opponent in order to use Heist. If you can’t target an opponent, you will not be able to use Heist because it won’t have any effect. When you use Heist, you place the die Out of Play from your Reserve Pool. The die never enters the Field Zone.
When you use Heist, you target an opponent and they draw two dice from their dice bag. If they can’t draw two dice, they draw as many as they can and then refill their bag from their Used Pile, and finish drawing until they have drawn two dice. If they don’t have any dice in their Used Pile to refill their bag, then they draw as many as they can.
If your opponent can only draw one die and doesn’t have any dice to refill their bag with, they do not take damage. ‘Bag Burn’ is only something that applies during the Clear and Draw Step. Also, if your opponent can only draw one die you complete the remainder of the Heist ability in the order stated on the card. This means you would place that single die in your opponent’s Prep Area and not roll it.
When your opponent draws the two dice, you choose one and it is placed in their Prep Area. You then roll the second die and place it in your Reserve Pool. You now get to use that die on the face it landed on. If you rolled energy, you can use it normally. If you rolled an action face, you use it as intended. For example: A Continuous action die will stay in the Field Zone, but the Heist ability will place it in your opponent’s Used Pile at the end of your turn. You get to use it for that turn. The same would happen with a character die if you rolled a character face. You could field that character and activate any When Fielded abilities, but it would be placed in your opponent’s Used Pile at the end of your turn.
If you have an ability that would allow you to reroll or manipulate the dice in your Reserve Pool after the Roll and Reroll Step, those abilities can be used on the die that was stolen with Heist. For example: If you have Parallax: Source of Terror, you can spend one energy to reroll the die you stole with Heist. You could not use an ability that affects dice during the Roll and Reroll Step for the stolen die because Heist is used after the Roll and Reroll Step has passed.
Miscellaneous Card Information
~ Heist is a Basic Action Card with no energy type.
~ It does not have an affiliation.
~ Heist has a Neutral Alignment (leaf symbol near the purchase cost).
~ It says Use: 3 instead of Max: 3 because you are required to bring exactly three Basic Action Dice for Heist.
~ This card is a Common and is #7 of 136.
Official Sources
WizKids Official Rules Forum (WORF)
There are no rulings for this specific card.
You can find more info about specific Keywords on the WizKids Keywords page.
Turn Order Summary Reference
Opinion
This card is definitely about more than just potentially stealing some energy. This card can seriously disrupt the flow of your opponent’s bag and also turn an action or character against them for a brief moment. This could also deny them the opportunity to draw that big nasty they had coming next turn. They do get a prepped die from Heist, but I feel like the risk is worth it.
If you don’t get an action or character, you still come out with at least one energy that you can use to make purchases, field characters, activate Globals, etc. I don’t see a huge downside to this card, other than potentially pulling two really good dice and having to put one in your opponent’s Prep Area for next turn. Thinning their bag of Sidekicks is a downside, but it’s not a huge one. Again, the risk is worth the potential reward as long as you’re cautious when using this die. Don’t use it when they have four Sidekicks in their bag and a lot of characters and actions in their Used Pile. You need to keep track of your opponent’s purchases and where the dice are when you play with Heist.
I don’t see this card as a major competitive card, but it’s great for all levels of casual games, and even competitive-casual. Competitive-casual is a mix of competitive and casual play – like a casual setting were everyone is playing semi-competitive, but they don’t bring out the big nasty dudes (like Cube+Pureblood). You also might see someone with a Shriek or a DWiz, but not both. This type of atmosphere breeds creativity and is definitely more fun for folks that don’t dig the hyper competitive scenes, but they still want to play with some of the competitive cards.
I have not looked at this card since the set released, until it popped up as a question from someone. They asked if they could field a character if the die they stole rolled a character face. It’s a tactic that I didn’t think of when I first read the card, but I love the possibilities this card can bring – as well as the chaos that could ensue! I owe that reader a big thank you!
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