Locking Book of Nod in response to stealing

Hi there,

I have question regarding Fragment of the Book of Nod. I cannot lock the Book of Nod in response to the successful steal action, is it correct?


Relevant Text

Name: Fragment of the Book of Nod
Cardtype: Master
Unique master.
Put this card in play. Lock to draw 2 cards from your library (discard afterward). Any vampire can take control of the Fragment for his or her controller as a action.

You can lock the Book of Nod at any time during the action, when you have the impulse. You cannot do it during the resolution of the action.

So there exists a window of opportunity to lock the Book. Say player A trys to steal the Book from Player B. After the action is announced and A has used all effects they want to use at that point, B gets the impulse and can decide to block, decline to block, or use the Book. If B declines to block right away, the opportunity to use the Book is lost. If B attempts to block, at any time they have the opportunity to play something, B can use the Book. If B cannot play something and hasn't used the Book yet, they can either use the Book or decline to block. Again, when the block is declined, the opportunity to use the book is lost.

So you cannot do it "in response" after the action has been succesful, but you can do it after the action is announced, before it is succesful.

Yomyael wrote:

Again, when the block is declined, the opportunity to use the book is lost.

Blocks being declined doesn't cause the action to immediately leap to resolution. The impulse goes back to the acting Methuselah, who is still able to use a variety of effects - and other players can use effects in response to this.

The most common example of this, which occurs all the time, is bleeding. I announce a bleed against you. You announce that you are declining to block (and so do other players). The impulse comes back to me, but the action is not yet resolving. I play Threats to increase the bleed, because the action is not yet resolving. You play Deflection to bounce the bleed, because the action is not yet resolving. Or after declining to block (and when you get the impulse back), you play some bleed reduction.

While bleed actions are - I would imagine - by far the commonest way in which this occurs, the same is true of every other action.

Floppy asked about, and LSJ confirmed, a couple of other examples in [LSJ 20091122]

LSJ wrote:

> However, can I play it after blocks are declined and before
> resolution? (my guess is yes)

Correct.

[...]

> Hag's Wrinkles
> Cardtype: Action Modifier
> Discipline: Thanatosis/Obfuscate
> Only usable on an equip action.
> [thn] Untap this acting vampire if the action is successful.
>
> The Guruhi Are the Land
> Cardtype: Action Modifier
> Clan: Guruhi
> Only usable during a bleed, hunt, or equip action.
> If this is a bleed action, this Guruhi gets +1 bleed, and you may not
> play another action modifier to further increase the bleed for this
> action. If this is a hunt action, this Guruhi gains an additional
> blood if successful. If this is an equip action, this Guruhi untaps if
> the action is successful.