Echo Form + Streamline

[Zoidberg]

Seems that this should make Streamline immediately cost 0 as it has been played twice, and it shows a version of Streamline that gets to 0 cost during the animation, but a copy of Streamline with a 1 cost goes to the Discard Pile.

[matthewbaldwin]

Echo Form causes a lot of confusion because it does NOT cause the same card to play twice, despite the wording. What it actually does is cause the original card to play once, then create and play as duplicate of the original card. The duplicate disappears after play.

So, in your instance, you played a 2 cost Streamline, and it's cost was reduced to 1; echo form then created a copy of the 1 cost Streamline and played it, reducing the cost of the duplicate to 0; the duplicate then disappeared from the game, leaving a cost 1 Streamline in your discard file.

A similar thing happens with Genetic Algorithm ("When played, permanently increase this card's Block by 2. Exhaust."). If you play a block 1 Genetic Algorithm as the first card on your turn with Echo Form in play:

* The original Genetic Algorithm gives you 1 block
* The block of the original Genetic Algorithm is increased by 2 to 3;
* The original Genetic Algorithm is exhausted;
* A duplicate of the original Genetic Algorithm card is played, giving you 3 block;
* The duplicate Genetic Algorithm card disappears from the game.

The end result is that block of the Genetic Algorithm in your discard pile has been increased by 2, not 4.

This is true of Claw as well.

The correct wording for Echo Form ought to be: "A duplicate of the first card you play each turn is played."