I believe this would sort itself out if the official rules stated:
- Each Way gives Action cards an additional option: you can play the Action for what it normally does, or play it to do what the Way says to do.
and
- If the card you are playing is a Duration card, it only stays in play if at least one of its plays was for what it normally does. If it does stay in play, you will have to remember for your next turn how many times you actually played the Duration for what it normally does.
or
- Each Way gives Action cards an additional option: you can play the Action for its own abilities, or play it to do what the Way says to do.
and
- If the card you are playing is a Duration card, it only stays in play if at least one of its plays was for its own abilities. If it does stay in play, you will have to remember for your next turn how many times you actually played the Duration card for its own abilities.
I don’t know if I understand this correctly, but to me, it seems like these two rule sets say exactly the same thing, just in different ways. If I’m correct, keeping to one of these wordings (or the other; it doesn’t really matter which one of them you use) will make it clear you won’t keep the duration card in play for multiple rounds, if you only played it for what the Way says to do, no matter the timing of the effect of the Way, whether it’s played as a Chameleon, Mouse, Squirrel or any other Way.
But the rule is that you do keep the Duration in play with Chameleon and Mouse. I doubt Donald is going to change that.
When it comes to Way of the Chameleon, you’re obviously right. Sorry, my bad. I haven’t seen such a ruling for Way of the Mouse, though. Maybe I just missed it. If I’ve read the rules correctly, the only thing that matters, when it comes to the Way of the Mouse, as far as I can tell, is if the set-aside card is a Duration, not if the card you play as a Mouse is a Duration. The set-aside card isn’t in play, so the ruling will only affect the played card. Are you saying that if I play a Merchant Ship using the Way of the Mouse, which has a Moat set-aside, the Merchant Ship stays in play? Maybe it is so, but I really don’t see the logic behind that ruling. Can someone please link to where this is stated? I really want to understand this.
The Way of the Squirrel is quite different, though, IMHO. I don’t think it should matter whether you play a Menagerie or a Lighthouse using the Way of the Squirrel. If it does, why? Or are we going to apply the Duration rule to any action card played as a Squirrel?