Sonja Blue question

Archived from groups: rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad (More info?)

Sonja Blue says (among other things) "If Sonja leaves play, remove her from
the game."

Is this the same as "remove her from the game instead"? Or does the lack of
"instead" mean that it's in the same timing window as other leave-play
effects, so the active player can order those effects as he or she chooses?

If the latter (as earlier rulings seem to indicate), then if an in-play
Sonja with Soul Gem of Etrius is burned, the Soul Gem will still trigger,
correct? (Unlike, say, a Soul Gem bearer who also has The Name Forgotten,
which does have "instead" in its text.)

It also seems like this lack of "instead" should allow the active player to
apply Chain of Command's "move to bottom of crypt" to a Chained Sonja before
her own "remove from game" text triggers, leaving Sonja's text to "fizzle"
when it doesn't find her in the ash heap. That would contradict this
ruling, though:

groups.google.com/group/rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad/msg/51bf1f1a43e6ad1f


thanks,

Josh

sonjambitious