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I haven't had the chance to actually play the game yet, but after reading the rules, the most confusing part of the game to me is activation.

I understand that activation happens during the Action Phase of your turn.  The glossary specifies that "When that creature has completed all of the actions that its controller wishes to use while that creature is activated, the current activation ends."  Its my understanding that this would include any Immediate, Minor, Move, or Standard actions the creature could conceivably take.

From what I can tell, Minor actions are only limited by the number of Minor action cards in your hand, which would at most be three.  You can normally have only one Move and one Standard action per activation, and those must take place during your Action Phase.  Immediate actions, however, can be played at any time during a creature's activation.

Since the typical purpose for Immediate actions is for creatures to make actions during their controllers' opponents' turns, this would seem to indicate that a creature's activation does not necessarily end at the end of its controller's Action Phase, and thus activation for a creature could be indefinite.  There appears to be no clear rule as to precisely when activation ends, and what happens if activation does not end before your next Action Phase.

There is also nothing indicating exactly what qualifies as "activating" or what symbolic action can be made to indicate "activation," since that would clearly not be tapping, which is a separate mechanic that can be used during activation.  So what exactly is activation?  How do you use it, and how do you symbolize it in the game?  When does it end?

Sep 8, 2011 -- 11:35PM, WotC_Rodney wrote:

Immediate action cards can be played at any time--they are not tied to an activation at all.

As for what qualifies as activating, you simply say, "I'm activating this creature" and go through all of its actions. There's no formal way of indicating which creature you're activating, so you can do whatever feels most comfortable to you. For example, some other playtesters move a creature card forward on the table slightly to indicate it's being activated, while I've heard of others using coins or other small tokens to indicate that a creature has been activated that turn.

OK, thanks for the clarification on Immediate actions.  Also, I'd been considering something to the effect of keeping creature cards in the "close" portion of the "battlefield" (a la lands in Magic) and moving them forward during activation (so they move from being resources to active units in the battle).

I'm still unclear as to when, exactly, activation ends.  The "Standard/Immediate/Minor Actions" section specifies that "Standard action cards can only be played on your turn (during your Action Phase)," but "Minor action cards can be played at any point during a creature's activation."  Should activation always be assumed to end by your next Refresh Phase, sometime sooner, or whenever you decide its over regardless of when the creature was activated?

I'm confused on this point, too.  What is the point of the "Nimble" power if all creatures are untapped at the end of the turn anyway?