Okay, I thought the lock-in happened just as you're playing the card, because at that time it's actually the card you picked (with BoM), it's not BoM anymore (per the previous ruling of "you never played a BoM"). So that's when TR sees what you're actually playing, and it would play that card again (for instance "Workshop" or "Feast"), even though the card is in trashed being named "BoM".
But you're saying TR looks at the card after you've already played it. That makes the TR-BoM-Feast special-case particularly crazy, but so be it.
Well I am open to suggestions/arguments. I don't want to mess up Throne-BoM or BoM-Feast to better handle the drastically rarer Throne-BoM-Feast. And there's a rulebook to agree with.
Okay, so there are these rulings:
- TR-BoM is the same card both times. This is in the rulebook.
- BoM-Feast trashes itself and is BoM in the trash. This is in the rulebook.
- Ruling: TR-BoM-Feast is a Feast both times. This is not directly in the rulebook, but is implicit in 1.
- Ruling: BoM is never played, rather the card you chose is played. This means you chose the card before-play. It means Conspirator counts one played Action.
- Ruling: BoM gives you the token bonus of both piles.
- Ruling: TR-BoM gives you the token of BoM once, but of the other pile twice.
- The token bonuses are "first", per the rulebook, although this could mean they are before the card's abilities, at the same time as other when-plays like Urchin. The cards just say "when you play". However, ruling: The token bonuses are before other when-play abilities.
What is intuitive for most players?
1 and
2 are stated directly. Ok.
3 seems to be stated in
1.
4: I think most people would think you only played one card with BoM. It doesn't tell you to play another card like TR or Golem. And there's just one physical card that hit the table.
5: I don't think it's obvious that you get the token bonus from BoM. Maybe some people would think so, but it seems to contradict
4 without having to think too much about it. If I played one card, how can I get bonuses from two piles?
6: Given
5, I would think most people would assume it would work the same way both times: You get bonuses from both piles twice. But as I said I think it's more natural to think you only ever get bonuses from the other pile.
7: Most people would not think that the tokens happen before other when-plays. The "first" sounds like it means "before you resolve the card", which is the same timing as when-play abilities. And the cards also say "when you play". However, it only matters for Urchin I think, so not very important in itself.
If the token bonuses triggered before-play, and BoM also did, it would explain nicely how you get the bonuses exactly as in
5 and
6. It would also fit with all the rulings from
1 to
7.
However, regarding the tokens the cards and rulebook say "when you play", not "when you would play" or similar. We would have to claim that the "first" (which is only in the rulebook) means before you actually play the card, not only before you resolve it.
Looking more on how people would likely think it works, I would rather suggest that you change the recent rulings
5 and
6. Too bad this wasn't in the rulebook of course. The tokens could still be before other when-plays (just not before-play), although I don't think the rulebook claims this and it doesn't seem to be the intuitive reading.