Baited Hook: Rules & Tactical Implications

The kill is an effect, not a cost — Hook is the higher-ceiling but interactable outlet.

Resolution timeline

Choose the friendly target
Opponent may react
Hook attempts the kill
Determine actual Might
Look at five cards
Play an eligible unit
New unit and its play trigger resolve
The original Deathknell resolves

Baited Hook — the kill is an effect

The opponent receives a reaction window before the kill resolves.
A dodged kill plays no unit — but the five cards are still processed and recycled.
Actual Might at death sets the legal ceiling, after every modifier.
The new unit and its play trigger resolve before the original Deathknell.

Sacrifice — the kill is a cost

The body is in the trash before any normal reaction window opens.
If Sacrifice is countered, the killed unit stays dead.
The Deathknell resolves above the spell — before the draw-two and the rune.
Lower tempo than a successful Hook, far more resilient to interaction.

§9 Sacrifice: the secure outlet →

From the guide — §7 Baited Hook: Rules & Tactical Implications

The current Hook text kills a friendly target, looks at the top five cards, and allows you to play an eligible unit with Might up to one greater than the killed unit while ignoring its cost.^◆src

7.1 · The kill is an effect, not a cost

When you activate Hook: you choose the friendly unit; the opponent receives an opportunity to react; Hook resolves; it attempts to kill that unit; its actual Might at that time determines the maximum legal hit.

The opponent can therefore remove the target, move it, prevent its death, reduce its Might, or otherwise make it an invalid or less valuable conversion.

Rules noteIf Hook does not successfully kill the chosen unit, there is no killed unit with a usable Might value, so Hook cannot play a unit from the five cards. The cards are still processed and recycled.^◆src

This makes Hook the deck’s higher-ceiling but interactable outlet.

7.2 · Current Might determines the threshold

Hook uses the Might of the unit when Hook kills it, after relevant continuous and arithmetic modifications — not only printed Might.

Rules noteDragon Form sets base Might to five, but existing arithmetic modifiers continue to apply. A unit under a −1 Might modifier that receives Dragon Form is effectively at four Might, not five.^◆src

Pilot noteTwo practical rules: do not assume Dragon Form guarantees access to six-Might units; against open interaction, announce and verify the unit’s current Might before resolving Hook.

7.3 · The new unit resolves before the old Deathknell

When Hook kills a Deathknell unit and plays a new unit: the killed unit’s Deathknell is created; Hook continues resolving; the new unit is played; the new unit’s play trigger resolves; the original Deathknell resolves afterward. This matters with Harnessed Dragon, Watcher, Ruined Rex and Glasc.

Example — Hook kills Ruined Rex and finds Harnessed Dragon: Rex’s Deathknell is queued → Dragon is played → Dragon’s kill trigger resolves → Rex’s four damage resolves afterward. You can assign the two effects to different targets and avoid wasting removal.

Rules noteIf Hook kills a Deathknell unit and finds Karthus, the newly played Karthus does NOT retroactively double the Deathknell that already triggered.^◆src

7.4 · Hook is not a tutor

Even when Hook is virtually guaranteed to find a legal unit, it is not guaranteed to find the desired upgrade. The relevant distinction is legal hit rate versus premium tier hit rate — and it should drive whether you can afford to sacrifice a strategically important body.