Zapping Alien Powers

Occasionally, a game effect (such as the “Cosmic Zap” artifact ) is said to zap a power. This can only happen when the power is used as described on its alien sheet. The effect of that power’s use is then canceled and that power may not be used again until the end of the current encounter.

Some parts of some alien powers are passive (with the keyword "use") such as Warrior’s ability to add tokens to its alien sheet and Zombie’s ability to free ships as part of a deal; these do not require the power to be used in order to occur, and therefore cannot be zapped.

Details and Special Circumstances

 * If you Cosmic Zap a player that is using their Super flare, the flare remains in their hand, but he may use the Wild flare while their power is zapped.
 * You can wait to see the immediate effect of a power. However, the window of opportunity is relatively short while still in the same phase.
 * For example, if you choose not to Cosmic Zap Chosen when they draw divine intervention because the added attack card is not enough for Chosen to win (but then after playing reinforcements, Chosen has the higher total), you cannot then play a Cosmic Zap to undo the divine intervention. Once play has moved into the next phase (from Planning to Reveal, for instance), it is too late.
 * You cannot preemptively zap a power.