New Shadow Isles Card - Crawling Viperwyrm

Ok wait, this is a tad bit random but if I'm reading this correctly, you can play this without an ally and not strike the Nexus right? It doesn't say "To play me" and is just a Play effect. So if you pick the strike an ally option without an ally, it should still be playable just as a 2 mana 3/2 Fury without doing 3 to your Nexus. Anyone can confirm? If my memory stands, you can play Blighted Caretaker without an ally, yes?

I think you can't decide to strike an ally if you don't have a target (just like how you can't cast a buff spell if you don't have an ally). My interpretation is that the entire point of the "or deal 3 to your Nexus" clause is to force you to take damage if you don't have a target. It's open for interpreation though, so we'll see when it comes out

Quote From CursedParrot

I think you can't decide to strike an ally if you don't have a target (just like how you can't cast a buff spell if you don't have an ally). My interpretation is that the entire point of the "or deal 3 to your Nexus" clause is to force you to take damage if you don't have a target. It's open for interpreation though, so we'll see when it comes out

This is kinda the main argument, I suppose. Though if they were trying to say that you have no choice, why not just make it To play me? I think Kindly Tavernkeeper is also a good example of this point. He's forced to heal Nexus/ally while being a fast play effect. I also think that since it says strike or deal, that also makes it a slightly different case. I'm either overthinking this or just really overthinking this lmao.

Quote From CursedParrot

I think you can't decide to strike an ally if you don't have a target (just like how you can't cast a buff spell if you don't have an ally). My interpretation is that the entire point of the "or deal 3 to your Nexus" clause is to force you to take damage if you don't have a target. It's open for interpreation though, so we'll see when it comes out

This is my conclusion too. If you don't have an ally to strike you can still play the card but you will be taking 3 damage to your nexus