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[Commodore Chuckles]

I Throne Room a Wish. The Wish enters the Play area. I get +1 Action. The Wish then leaves the Play area and returns to the Wish pile. Because it was returned, I gain a card costing up to $6. The Wish is then played again, but apparently does not enter the play area this time. The Wish cannot return to the Wish pile because it is already there, so I do not gain a card this time.

So, why did the Wish enter the play area the first time it was played but not the second? Was it because it was in the Wish pile instead of my hand? Do played cards only enter the Play area if they are played from your hand? This clearly isn't the case, because Princed cards go into and out of the Play area, and Necromancer specifically tells you to leave the played card in the Trash. So what's the explanation for this inconsistency?

[GendoIkari]

This is the Lose Track rule.

A card cannot be moved from one place to another if it is not in has been moved from the place where effect trying to move it expects it to be.

Throne Room cannot find the Wish the second time because it expects it to be in play but it has moved. So it doesn’t/can't move it. Then, Wish tries to return itself to the Wish pile, but it cannot because it expects itself to be in play but it isn’t.

The Wish cannot return to the Wish pile because it is already there, so I do not gain a card this time.

It is true that a card cannot be returned to a place it already is; just like a card in the trash cannot be trashed. However; even if this weren’t the case, it wouldn’t matter because the Lose Track rule also stops the Wish from being returned again.

Was it because it was in the Wish pile instead of my hand?

It’s because it was in the Wish pile instead of in play, where Throne Room expects it to be.

[sudgy]

Hasn't it been ruled that it should be "if it has been moved from the place" and not "if it is not in the place"?

[GendoIkari]

Hasn't it been ruled that it should be "if it has been moved from the place" and not "if it is not in the place"?

Good point... moving and moving back still counts as lost.

[Commodore Chuckles]

Throne Room cannot find the Wish the second time because it expects it to be in play but it has moved. So it doesn’t/can't move it.

So it tries to put Wish back into the Play area, but can't because it's lost track of it. Is that right?

It's sort of a catch-22. If you TR a Smithy, TR can put the Smithy back into the Play area, but it doesn't need to because it's already there. But if you TR a Wish, TR would actually have to move it, but it can't.

[math]

I'm still slightly confused about this, even though I thought I understood the Lose Track Rule.

Maybe we can clear this up with some hypotheticals.  If Throne Room told you to "play a card, trash it, then play it again", would that Throne Room move it from the trash to the play area the second time, or would it have lost track?

(If it would have lost track, then why doesn't Prince lose track of its set aside card?)

On the other hand, if Necromancer didn't have the "leaving it there" clause, would it move the card from the trash to the play area?

My understanding of the Lose Track rule is that a card can't be moved by an effect if it first leaves the place where the effect expects it to be.  I think the part that's tripping me up is determining where a card is "expected" to be; would the Throne Room variant above expect the card to be in your hand the first time and move it to play, and then expect it to be in the trash the second time and move it to play?  Would the hypothetical Necromancer expect the card to be in the trash and move it to play?  (Also, in both of those cases I assume you would put the card into your discard pile at the end of the turn as usual, effectively gaining it in the case of Necromancer.)

[Donald X.]

Maybe we can clear this up with some hypotheticals.  If Throne Room told you to "play a card, trash it, then play it again", would that Throne Room move it from the trash to the play area the second time, or would it have lost track?

Cards know what they've done with cards; that Throne Room would know the card should be in the trash.

Procession plays a card from your hand twice, then trashes it. It expects the card to be in play, where it put it, and trashes it from there (and from nowhere else).

On the other hand, if Necromancer didn't have the "leaving it there" clause, would it move the card from the trash to the play area?

That's the same hand, and yes.