How does Baited Hook work?

Question

Accepted Answer

Baited Hook is a Gear card that allows you to sacrifice a friendly unit to potentially play a stronger unit from your deck. Here is how it works:

### **Activation and Targeting**
*   **Speed:** Baited Hook is played at base speed because it does not have the "Reaction" keyword.
*   **Targeting:** When you activate the ability, you must pay the costs (1 energy, 1 power, and exhaust the gear) and declare a friendly unit as the target. This target must be declared to finalize the ability onto the chain.
*   **Opponent Interaction:** Once the ability is on the chain, your opponent has an opportunity to respond with reactions. If they remove your targeted unit (e.g., using a spell like *Gust*), the "kill" portion of the ability will fizzle because there is no valid target.

### **Resolution**
1.  **Kill the Unit:** If the target is still on the board, it is killed.
2.  **Look at Cards:** You look at the top 5 cards of your Main Deck.
3.  **Play a Unit:** You may choose one unit from those 5 cards to play for free, provided its Might is equal to or less than the killed unit's Might + 1.
4.  **Recycle:** All remaining cards from the 5 you looked at are recycled.

### **Important Nuances**
*   **Null vs. Zero:** If the targeted unit is removed from the board before the ability resolves (e.g., returned to hand or killed by another effect), the Might value becomes **null**, not zero. Because you cannot compare a value to "null," you will be unable to play any unit from the 5 cards you reveal, though you will still recycle them.
*   **Buffs:** Baited Hook checks the unit's current Might at the moment it is killed. If the unit was buffed, that higher Might value increases the upper limit of what you can search for.
*   **Replacement Effects:** If a card like *Sett* prevents the unit from being killed (a replacement effect), the unit is not considered "killed." Consequently, Baited Hook cannot determine a Might value to compare against, and you will not be able to play a unit from the revealed cards.
*   **Not a Spell:** Baited Hook is a Gear card. It does not trigger abilities that specifically require a "spell" to be played (such as *Dreaming Tree*).