Does Imperial Decree make 1 damage count as lethal damage, allowing a unit to kill multiple defenders with less might than their combined total?

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FAQ #1917·asked by 559565920847003666·December 31, 2025·Rules v1.4·Asked before Vendetta
Answer

Ruling: Imperial Decree does not change how damage must be assigned during combat. You must still assign damage equal to or greater than a unit's current Might before assigning damage to another unit. The card creates a triggered ability that kills any unit when it takes damage, but this doesn't make small amounts of damage count as "lethal damage" for assignment purposes.

Sequence:

  • Imperial Decree resolves and creates a lasting effect for the turn
  • During combat, damage is assigned following normal rules (must assign full Might to each unit before moving to the next)
  • When a unit takes any amount of damage, Imperial Decree triggers
  • The trigger goes on the chain and kills the unit when it resolves

Nuances:

  • The effect applies to all units for the entire turn, including units played after Imperial Decree resolves (it modifies game rules, not individual units)
  • The intended use is to attack with multiple small units in separate combats/showdowns at the same battlefield
  • Units that take lethal damage from combat will already be dead before the Imperial Decree trigger resolves
  • The trigger can be reacted to, but cannot be stopped once on the chain

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Comments (2)

This one is definitely confusing. Per rule 142.4.a: "Lethal Damage is the amount of marked Damage that will cause a unit to die in a cleanup". Per rule 142.4.c: "Some effects may alter this amount. These effects will refer to the amount of damage needed to kill a unit. Example: Elder Dragon’s passive ability reads “Any amount of your damage is enough to kill enemy units.” This alters the Lethal Damage value for enemy units that have damage marked by you." Elder Dragon's effect makes the unit's effective lethal damage 1, so I don't see why the same wouldn't be for Imperial Decree. This suggests that Imperial Decree should, for example, let you assign 1 damage to an enemy Tank unit and assign the rest to an enemy non-tank unit during the same combat damage step.

But, I suppose the nuance here is that Imperial Decree is a triggered ability- Imperial Decree doesn't cause a unit to die in the next clean up, because the trigger has to first finalize and resolve after the combat special cleanup?

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