Timing of gaining level and treasure

[DoomedDuck]

Just had possibly the craziest and coolest ending to a game ever and wanted to share it as well as ask a question on a ruling I made.

I'm somewhere around a combat strength of 45 (Level 9) and on the edge of winning. It's already getting late and people have expressed trying to end the game, but no one wants me to end without a fight. I'm denied the win on three straight turns (Tie Dye, Annihilation, and Spell of Slurping). On the next players turn, I reanimate a monster so that he is no longer winning and then offer my help (I'm an elf). He agrees cause he's tired and knows everyone has exhausted there means to stop me. He is Level 7 and would gain 2 Levels from the combat. Just for the heck of it, I play Vaults of Omigoshgolli because I'm dumb like that. We win, he goes to Level 9, I go to Level 10, game over right? As I always do after I win the winning combat, I begin to draw the treasures just to see what I got that doesn't matter anymore because the game is over. So I draw the 10 treasures for the guy and put them in front of him since I offered to help for no treasure. Here's where it gets weird. The ninth card I draw (that wouldn't have happened had I not jokingly played the Vaults) is Can of Worms.

So, are the Levels gained from the first combat granted before the treasure draw is resolved, thus giving me the sole victory, or is it simultaneous to the treasure being drawn, meaning that he could kill the Can of Worms (which he could, easily) and get to Level 10 and share in the victory?

I know the text for the errata on Can of Worms says you get the Levels for the first combat even if you don't kill the Worms, but it says unless you die, leading me to believe it's simultaneous, thus allowing a shared victory.

[Andrew Hackard]

The second combat never took place because you won the game after the first combat.

[DoomedDuck]

So the helper goes up levels before the treasure draw but the main combatant doesn't? I say that only because the main combatant can be denied the levels if he is killed in the combat with the Can of Worms. Assuming the Munchkin doesn't gain the levels from the first combat, and then retroactively lose them if he's killed in the second, shouldn't the main combatant and the helper level up at the same time, i.e. after the treasure draw is resolved?

That matters because, had the main combatant been level 8 (or 9) before the combat, he would have gotten to 10 as well. But the game can't end with him getting to 10 since he can die to the Can of Worms and get none of the levels.

[Andrew Hackard]

If someone wins a fight that gives them the level they need to win the game, there is no need to draw Treasure. That's my official answer.

[DoomedDuck]

If that's the case, then the errata for Can of Worms needs to be clarified to indicate that dying in the combat with it causes a retroactive level loss for the first combat, otherwise there is a glaring inconsistency with the timing of gaining levels and drawing treasures. With all of the weird card interactions I'm sure a clarification would prevent further confusion.

[Brf]

There is no conflict.
Andrew is just saying to skip drawing treasure if the battle would give you the 10th level.

[Andrew Hackard]

Brf is correct.

[DoomedDuck]

Originally Posted by Brf

There is no conflict.
Andrew is just saying to skip drawing treasure if the battle would give you the 10th level.

Which indicates that level gain and treasure drawing are two separate instances, which I'm completely fine with. However, the text for the errata on Can of Worms indicates the possibility of not gaining levels from the first combat, suggesting that level gain and treasure drawing are not exclusive of each other. Since there is no rule suggesting you can retroactively lose levels, it is assumed that you don't gain any of the levels for the first combat until Can of Worms is dealt with. In the same way that you can't ignore a level from a monster to get its treasure, you shouldn't be able to ignore the treasure and get only the level(s).

If this ruling is to be stuck with, the errata for Can of Worms needs to be changed to take away the ambiguity of when the levels are gained.

[Andrew Hackard]

No, it doesn't, and that's my final and official ruling.