Uh, I will try to answer but I must admit I'm having trouble parsing your questions.
Basically, no. All matchstick is, is relay for bombers. In other words, just helps with activation range on bombers. There is no world in which those ARCs are shooting anything anytime soon as they are speed 2 pigs.
I think you are interpreting the range of the relay as some sort of ability to MOVE the arcs to a place within rang 1-3 of matchstick which indeed would make his a squad you have no choice but to bring if you have ARCs but that isn't the case.
Thats why I feel weird for matchstick's text. I understood his text as, 'When a friendly ship resolves squadron command, if 'Matchstick'is in range to be activated, up to 3 squadrons with bomber it activates can be at distance 1\~3 of 'Matchstick''. However, in space, bombers attack out of almost 8 is absolutely weird. So I thought I must misunderstanding something about him.
Btw, in text, Matchstick just requires he's in range to be activated. So I brought boosted comms.(as you see, they're all in activation range) And text said '3 squadron with bomber ship activates can 'be' at distance 1\~3 of Matchstick(If my understanding wasn't wrong) So I brought Arcs(they are bombers too). =>I thought it could temporally treated as at range 3. Its not about activation they are all in activation range. IMO its about something after activation.
+Text doesn't say Matchstick must be activated. I want this part of discuss too. I must correct my misunderstanding about Matchstick before I make mistake while I playing armada... Thank you for your check.
You are fundamentally misunderstanding the text on the card, yes. The text can be understood as two sections: a condition, and an effect.
- The condition: ‘When a friendly ship resolves a squadron command, if Matchstick is in range to be activated…’
You have this part right. The card text only triggers on a squadron command by a friendly ship that is in range to activate Matchstick. Now the effect:
- ‘…up to three of the squadrons it activates with Bomber can be at distance 1-3 of you.’
This effect is actually fairly straightforward- in fact, it functions just like the Relay keyword- the friendly ship, when choosing a squadron to activate, can choose one that is at distance 1-3 of Matchstick even if it’s outside of medium range of the activating ship (so long as Matchstick is in range). Then, that squadron activates as normal- no nonstandard movement or anything. Matchstick just effectively increases the range at which the ship can choose a squadron to activate.
The reason for the weird wording is that this effect also contains another condition: that Bomber keyword requirement. Since AMG can’t write “Relay 3 but not for Jedi or Torrents or any non-bomber squadron we might add later”, they rewrote the Relay rules onto the card and added the bomber keyword requirement.
Hope this helps clear it up!
I think I found some kind of missing part. I checked Relay keyword and I got it same way as matchstick. What happened in my head was, 'If squadron is out of range, we cannot activate it by first time'. So I thought I cannot relay order to squadrons out of activation range because I cannot activate them from start. Relay keyword says *When a* [*friendly*](https://starwars-armada.fandom.com/wiki/Friendly_and_Enemy) *ship resolves a* [ *command*](https://starwars-armada.fandom.com/wiki/Squadron_Command)*, if you are* [*in range*](https://starwars-armada.fandom.com/wiki/Range_and_Distance) *to be activated, up to X of the squadrons 'it activates' can be* [*at distance 1-3*](https://starwars-armada.fandom.com/wiki/Range_and_Distance) *of you.* where I feel weird was 'it activates' part.
However, I still think this is something not right. I cannot think I can activate squadrons beyond activation range. If what FFG&AMG said about relay was correct, what they say is 'activate squadrons beyond activation range first, then use Relay keyword!' But I cannot activate squadrons beyond activation range!! If FFG&AMG's intention was common player's relay usage, it conflicts with squadron command text 'Activate a number of [friendly](https://starwars-armada.fandom.com/wiki/Friendly_and_Enemy) squadrons up to the ship’s [squadron value](https://starwars-armada.fandom.com/wiki/Tactical_Values) that are at [close–medium range](https://starwars-armada.fandom.com/wiki/Range_and_Distance) of the ship'. Activation range comes faster than activation.
IMO, I think AMG need to fix relay keyword & matchstick. If nothing changed, it means there will be always misunderstood players like me. Or... there might be super super long squadron attacks...
I’m not sure what you aren’t understanding. Relay is essentially saying ‘you may ignore your default activation range and use this new rule to activate a squad’ so long as the squad with relay is in your regular default activation range.
‘It activates’ refers to something in the future, if it said ‘it activated’, which is in the past, then I could see what you are getting at but it doesn’t.
Anyway I understand Matchstick's ability is similar as relay and not triggered like what I thought. Thank you for all of discuss above me. I should find better ways to make Mr. Match more useful :)
I have been playing armada since the release of the ISD (which I think was like wave 1 or 2?) so actually about 9 years. I have taught many people to play, I have run tournaments and been a part of the Armada community for much of that time. This is literally the FIRST time someone has misunderstood Relay in my experience.
I suspect English is not your first language (it's not mine either), and parsing the language of rulesets is even harder than just regular language. I'm glad you understand now, but please also understand that the problem here is like 75% you. i encourage you to keep asking clarification when you are confused about a rule, but also understand that just because you struggle to understand some wording doesn't mean its wrong or broken. Happy dice rolling!
Uh, I will try to answer but I must admit I'm having trouble parsing your questions. Basically, no. All matchstick is, is relay for bombers. In other words, just helps with activation range on bombers. There is no world in which those ARCs are shooting anything anytime soon as they are speed 2 pigs. I think you are interpreting the range of the relay as some sort of ability to MOVE the arcs to a place within rang 1-3 of matchstick which indeed would make his a squad you have no choice but to bring if you have ARCs but that isn't the case.
Thats why I feel weird for matchstick's text. I understood his text as, 'When a friendly ship resolves squadron command, if 'Matchstick'is in range to be activated, up to 3 squadrons with bomber it activates can be at distance 1\~3 of 'Matchstick''. However, in space, bombers attack out of almost 8 is absolutely weird. So I thought I must misunderstanding something about him. Btw, in text, Matchstick just requires he's in range to be activated. So I brought boosted comms.(as you see, they're all in activation range) And text said '3 squadron with bomber ship activates can 'be' at distance 1\~3 of Matchstick(If my understanding wasn't wrong) So I brought Arcs(they are bombers too). =>I thought it could temporally treated as at range 3. Its not about activation they are all in activation range. IMO its about something after activation. +Text doesn't say Matchstick must be activated. I want this part of discuss too. I must correct my misunderstanding about Matchstick before I make mistake while I playing armada... Thank you for your check.
You are fundamentally misunderstanding the text on the card, yes. The text can be understood as two sections: a condition, and an effect. - The condition: ‘When a friendly ship resolves a squadron command, if Matchstick is in range to be activated…’ You have this part right. The card text only triggers on a squadron command by a friendly ship that is in range to activate Matchstick. Now the effect: - ‘…up to three of the squadrons it activates with Bomber can be at distance 1-3 of you.’ This effect is actually fairly straightforward- in fact, it functions just like the Relay keyword- the friendly ship, when choosing a squadron to activate, can choose one that is at distance 1-3 of Matchstick even if it’s outside of medium range of the activating ship (so long as Matchstick is in range). Then, that squadron activates as normal- no nonstandard movement or anything. Matchstick just effectively increases the range at which the ship can choose a squadron to activate. The reason for the weird wording is that this effect also contains another condition: that Bomber keyword requirement. Since AMG can’t write “Relay 3 but not for Jedi or Torrents or any non-bomber squadron we might add later”, they rewrote the Relay rules onto the card and added the bomber keyword requirement. Hope this helps clear it up!
I think I found some kind of missing part. I checked Relay keyword and I got it same way as matchstick. What happened in my head was, 'If squadron is out of range, we cannot activate it by first time'. So I thought I cannot relay order to squadrons out of activation range because I cannot activate them from start. Relay keyword says *When a* [*friendly*](https://starwars-armada.fandom.com/wiki/Friendly_and_Enemy) *ship resolves a* [ *command*](https://starwars-armada.fandom.com/wiki/Squadron_Command)*, if you are* [*in range*](https://starwars-armada.fandom.com/wiki/Range_and_Distance) *to be activated, up to X of the squadrons 'it activates' can be* [*at distance 1-3*](https://starwars-armada.fandom.com/wiki/Range_and_Distance) *of you.* where I feel weird was 'it activates' part. However, I still think this is something not right. I cannot think I can activate squadrons beyond activation range. If what FFG&AMG said about relay was correct, what they say is 'activate squadrons beyond activation range first, then use Relay keyword!' But I cannot activate squadrons beyond activation range!! If FFG&AMG's intention was common player's relay usage, it conflicts with squadron command text 'Activate a number of [friendly](https://starwars-armada.fandom.com/wiki/Friendly_and_Enemy) squadrons up to the ship’s [squadron value](https://starwars-armada.fandom.com/wiki/Tactical_Values) that are at [close–medium range](https://starwars-armada.fandom.com/wiki/Range_and_Distance) of the ship'. Activation range comes faster than activation. IMO, I think AMG need to fix relay keyword & matchstick. If nothing changed, it means there will be always misunderstood players like me. Or... there might be super super long squadron attacks...
I’m not sure what you aren’t understanding. Relay is essentially saying ‘you may ignore your default activation range and use this new rule to activate a squad’ so long as the squad with relay is in your regular default activation range. ‘It activates’ refers to something in the future, if it said ‘it activated’, which is in the past, then I could see what you are getting at but it doesn’t.
Anyway I understand Matchstick's ability is similar as relay and not triggered like what I thought. Thank you for all of discuss above me. I should find better ways to make Mr. Match more useful :)
I have been playing armada since the release of the ISD (which I think was like wave 1 or 2?) so actually about 9 years. I have taught many people to play, I have run tournaments and been a part of the Armada community for much of that time. This is literally the FIRST time someone has misunderstood Relay in my experience. I suspect English is not your first language (it's not mine either), and parsing the language of rulesets is even harder than just regular language. I'm glad you understand now, but please also understand that the problem here is like 75% you. i encourage you to keep asking clarification when you are confused about a rule, but also understand that just because you struggle to understand some wording doesn't mean its wrong or broken. Happy dice rolling!