KNYFE - Flawless Exec/Gauntlet -- Bug or Rules Interpretation?

Was trying to do the KNYFE Rogue Agent unlock, and was playing with Legacy, TLT, Wraith and KNYFE against Baron Blade in The Block.  Blade had flipped, and had played Living Force Field (an ongoing).    There was an Imprisoned Rogue in play with 6 HP.   KNYFE had Flawless Execution in play...

"Whenever damage dealt by KNYFE reduces a card to 1 HP, destroy that target"

as well as the Prototype Servo-Gauntlet...

"POWER:  KNYFE deals 1 target 2 melee damage.  If that target is destroyed, you may destroy an Ongoing card."

As stated above, the Imprisoned Rogue had 6 HP.  KNYFE used the Gauntlet's power and, through various buffs, hit the Imprisoned Rogue for 5 HP and destroyed him thanks to Flawless Execution.   Since she had destroyed the target, I expected her then to be able to use the second part of the Gauntlet's power to destroy the Living Force Field, but the game just passed right on and finished her turn.   It was on my iPhone, so no way (as I understand it) to pass on a game log.  Is this a bug or a rules interpretation?

By what I understand The Gauntlet left the card at 1 HP, and Flawless Execution finished it off, correct? I don't think the effect applies if the Gauntlet wasn't the base cause of the target's destruction.

I guess it depends as I could see it working either way.   Does the damage from the Gauntlet specifically have to destroy a target or does a target damaged by the Gauntlet count?    I would lean more towards working as intended since the Gauntlet didn't directly directly destroy the target.  

I think I am siding with the Gauntlet needing to do the damage because if it's not directly tied to the Gauntlet's damage then it doesn't matter if K.N.Y.F.E. destroys the target or not, the condition has no timing on it, just "if that target is destroyed..." and it will be destroyed eventually, even if it's by someone else (and I don't think that's the idea here).

I'd err on the side of the app -- the wording just says "Do damage. If that target is destroyed..." It doesn't specify that the damage has to be what destroys it, it just establishes when (immediately after the damage).

It's a little like Stun Bolt, which doesn't need to do its damage to get the reduction applied.

Plus, it improves the KNYFE's synergy between cards and gives an added incentive to using Flawless Execution.

I'm agreeing with the app too, though it might seem weird at first.

The damage from the power is dealt. Then the additional clause on the power checks to see if the damage destroyed it. It didnt, so the clause doesn't trigger. A seperate effect from a different card destroys the target because damage was dealt and it was reduced to 1 hp triggering its effect. The clause on the gauntlet power shouldnt go back and recheck after the fact. If it did, you could argue that anytime a target was destroyed after it was affected by gauntlet it would trigger, regardless of whether it was that turn or even 4 turns from that point.

I guess that's where I'm leaning.  I mean, the whole basis of "Flawless Execution" is, presumably, that KNYFE is so good that she can take out people by causing less damage than would otherwise be required.  So if the Gauntlet only works to destroy ongoings with its own damage, that means that the Gauntlet can destroy Ongoings when KNYFE uses it sloppily, but not when she "executes flawlessly"?  

Can anyone think of any parallels with Fixer's Tire Iron?   Any cases where Fixer wouldn't have done enough damage to destroy something without Tire Iron, only destroyed them because of Tire Iron's power, and as a result a certain event/condition doesn't trigger?

I've done this with Wager Master a few times when he has "Who Are You Really Fighting?" out to destroy him with Tire Iron without bringing to zero and so I won because he was destroyed not brought to zero HP.  

I would agree with the app, since it's doing exactly what it's supposed to. However, I could see the other side of the argument. Flawless Execution triggers after the target is dealt a certain amount of damage, and interrupts the Gauntlet. The Gauntlet hasn't checked for the target's destruction because something else happened first. So even though when you finish reading the Gauntlet's line of text afterwards, the game doesn't see the target as being destroyed in response to the damage.

I get what Foote is saying about retroactively applying an effect after Gauntlet hits a target, but that depends on whether or not you interpret Flawless Execution as "interrupting" the line of text. Because that totally happens all the time when villain cards play the top card of their deck before finishing the rest of their card text, and a window of opportunity can be defined.

Slightly different case there, I think, because "Who…?" doesn't have a condition that triggers on destruction.   In fact, it would be interesting to see if cards like Tire Iron, Final Dive, and Wrathful Gaze weren't exactly what Christopher had in mind when writing "Who Are You Fighting?"  – it seems tailor-made for those cards that destroy targets without reducing their HP.

Killswitch has a real point, though – does Flawless Execution act as a 'cardus interruptus', and so the Gauntlet's power isn't "finished" yet when the target is destroyed?    I mean, Flawless Execution reads:  "Whenever damage dealt by KNYFE reduces a card to 1 HP, destroy that target."  Unlike cards that add damage, it in effect changes the conditions for destruction of a target.  Normally, it takes X points of damage (where X is the target's current HP) to destroy a target.  Flawless Execution essentially changes those conditions, stating that a target is destroyed when it takes X-1 points of damage from KNYFE.  

This also addresses, to a certain extent, Matchstickman's argument above that the Gauntlet has to be read as not including Flawless Execution because otherwise it would mean that the Gauntlet's effect occurs anytime a target is destroyed sometime after KNYFE damages it with the Gauntlet.  Flawless Execution only takes effect when KNYFE does the damage that takes the target out.  It wouldn't activate if (ex:) KNYFE destroyed the Explosives Wagon with the Gauntlet, which then did damage that killed other targets.     

Mechanically, I think it's "working as intended".  Thematically and sort of "cool combo"-wise, I wish Flawless worked with Gauntlets in that way.  I also agree with Killswitch and others that an argument could be made that Flawless interrupts the damage, but I'm not surprised that it isn't interpreted that way.

<pedantic>

Just a note, Final Dive doesn't work against character cards, so it wouldn't work against Wager Master.

</pedantic>

We will be asking Christopher about this case.

True. 

Fling Into Darkness can take it's place in the list, though… 

It doesn’t say “destroyed this way,” and cards can interrupt each other (see the earlier example of Fling Into Darkness) so I think the app should give you a choice; which effect should trigger first, the “check for 1 hp,” or the “check for destroyed?” Or just check for 1 hp automatically, since the ongoing destruction is optional anyway.