Every ability keys off one moment — when a unit deploys. These timing words tell you when an ability fires and how long it lasts.
“Deployed” = the moment a unit becomes face-up in the Battle Zone (flipped from face-down, or placed face-up). A face-down unit has no active abilities — everything below switches on only once the unit deploys.
Upon Deployment
A one-time effect that fires once, the instant the unit deploys — then it’s done.
Throughout the Battle
An ongoing effect that turns on when the unit deploys and keeps working for the rest of the Battle (it ends at Clean Up). It isn’t active while the unit is face-down.
At the End of Battle
Fires at the end of the Rear Skirmish, just before Tally — perfect for last-second CQ swings.
When Destroyed / Depleted / Discarded
Fires when a unit reaches the discard pile by that specific effect — and it triggers from the discard pile itself. Destroyed = sent there from the Battle Zone · Depleted = from the deck · Discarded = from the hand. Normal Clean-Up does not set these off.
Special Triggers
Some cards have unusual timing spelled out in their own text. If a Special Trigger’s timing ever clashes with a normal trigger, the Special Trigger resolves first.
Attributes
Inherent traits (like a unit type, Apex, or Core) are part of the card’s identity and are active at all times, in every zone — hand, deck, discard, even face-down. (Implicit abilities only switch on once the unit deploys.)
Resolution order. When several abilities fire at once they resolve in Location order (1 → 7); Special Triggers go first; and responses resolve last-in, first-out (see Lightspeed Actions). If a unit is Destroyed or Muted before a pending ability fires, that ability no longer happens.
