In Vendetta, what does 'played' mean now?

In Vendetta, "played" has three distinct meanings depending on context (per the 2026-07-17 Patch Notes):

1. Play as game action — "Play a unit" or "play a spell" means put the card on the chain and queue it to be finalized (Rule 419.1). This is what you do normally on your turn.

2. Play in triggered abilities — "When you play me" / "when you play a spell" means resolve. The trigger fires when the card has fully resolved (Rule 419.4.a). If the card is countered, it was not played — no triggers fire (Rule 419.4.b).

3. Play in any other context — Effects like "costs 1 less for each card you've played this turn" use finalize as the checkpoint. The card counts as played once it's been finalized on the chain, not when it resolves.

Also new in Vendetta: activated abilities now use "play" in their text instead of "use". So a card ability that previously said "you may use this ability" now says "you may play this ability" — this is just terminology, not a functional change.