Final clarification on Trader card

[acriku]

This came up in a game last night. A level 9 munchkin was fighting a really low monster and looked like he was going to win. However, a trader saw that the top discard was the Mind Control Gas card which would remove the monster and leave its treasure.

He opted to do so, however a player mentioned that a Trader cannot use his ability during the combat because the card says "You may not do this during combat." Arguments ensued concerning whether or not that meant during the combat of the Trader or during anyone's combat.

I searched the forums and it looks like MunchkinMan had one idea - http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.p...85&postcount=2

and Andrew had another (however "quick and dirty") - http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.p...7&postcount=11

Since Andrew's post is 3 years after, and I assume the final say, is this the official ruling?

[Enzzo]

Sounds like you can't use Trader's ability during combat. Next time maybe grab the Mind Control Gas in advance. :)

[Clipper]

Yeah, Andrew's ruling definitely trumps MunchkinMan's in that case. I'd actually forgotten that distinction, so I'm glad it was pointed out (for some reason, I thought the distinction was between the wording of "during combat" and "during a combat").

However, there is the conflict with the FAQ which was never addressed (see the posts after Andrew's posts in the thread). I do find it weird if you can mess with the deck during someone's combat, but not mess with the discards. Given another ruling Munchkinman made on Mutant the other day which also directly conflicted the FAQ, I think it might be the case that the FAQ needs to change.