My opponent has a 1M recruit unit at battlefield A (no other units) with a facedown (hidden) hidden blade. I play Shuriken Flip targeting that recruit at Battlefield A and target one of my units to move to Battlefield A, is there a window in which the opponent can hidden blade my unit that moves into Battlefield A with shuriken flip, or is the hidden card discarded in a cleanup before there's a chance to do so?

July 21, 2026 · reviewed by 121679855233400832

Vendetta ruling not yet implemented at the time the question was posed.

If you target the single 1Might recruit unit at Battlefield A and then move your unit to the same Battlefield A, you will get a cleanup at the end of Shuriken Flip resolution. 316.8.b: A Showdown is marked as Staged at a Battlefield in the cleanup after the Contested status is applied to that Battlefield. So we have to check cleanup order of outstanding tasks. 323.6: 4. Players lose control of any controlled Battlefields without their Units occupying them if the turn is in an Open State and there is no Showdown or Combat ongoing there. 323.7: 5. Recall ... . Remove all Hidden cards from all Battlefields that are not controlled by the same player and place them in their owner's Trash. 323.8: 6. Mark a Showdown as Staged at each Battlefield that Contested was applied to. Step 4 control is lost; step 5 hidden go to trash; step 6 Showdown is staged. The order is which outstanding tasks are handled during a cleanup would invalidate 190.4.b as reason to keep hiddens in play. As a Combat or Showdown is staged after control is lost. 190.4.b: While a Combat or Showdown is ongoing at a Battlefield, Control of that Battlefield cannot change until instructed by steps of the Combat or Showdown. So while Shuriken Flip is resolving, the Hidden Blade can not be played at reaction speed since you can not interrupt the resolution of Shuriken Flip. And after Shuriken Flip has resolved we go through a cleanup which will remove the hidden card. So there is no window to react with a hidden Hidden Blade targeting the unit you move in with Shuriken Flip. But if there would be another trigger on the chain (for instance if your unit would have a 'When I move trigger') the game would be in a closed state and control would not be lost. 190.4.c: If a player has no Units at a Battlefield and the turn is in an Open state, they lose Control of that Battlefield in the following cleanup unless there is a Combat or Showdown ongoing there. 321: Similarly, while Chain Items are Resolving, a Cleanup cannot occur.