Overlord/BoM/trash

[werothegreat]

I imagine it like the cards all have walkie-talkies.  So when Throne Room plays Band of Misfits, Band of Misfits says "Okay, I'm an Embargo now", then it gets trashed, and Throne Room doesn't know where it is, but Band of Misfits radios in and says "I'm back to being a Band of Misfits now, but I'm going to turn into a Lurker for a split second" and Throne Room just nods and says "okay, sure".

[Ingix]

According to the letter of the rules, as discussed above, I would now conclude that that Overlord card is still emulating a Lurker in my hand, as the effect that made it a Lurker hasn't stopped yet.

No, the effect that made Overlord into Lurker stopped as soon as it started.

BoM and Overlord stop being whatever if they are ever not in play, even if this does not involve moving from play to elsewhere. This is an old ruling addressing BoM / Feast.

BoM and Overlord have 2 parts.

A) Play this as if it were an Action card ...
B) This is that card until it leaves play.

I'm trying to figure out what A) actually means, rules wise, and if B) is
X) just reminder text to explain what A) means, or
Y) continuing the effect of A) until the card leaves play, or
Z) something else entirely.

To get some questions:
1) If Overlord chooses BoM to copy, while BoM is executing its A) part and figuring out what its cost is, is that cost already 5 coins or still 8 debt?

I assume the intended answer is that the cost has already been changed to 5 coins, at the same time as all the other relevant characteristics have changed (including text) as part of the Overlord action executing.

2)If I Throne Room Overlord, pick a Feast the first time and BoM a second time, does the answer to the above question (does the BoM read its own cost as 5 coins or 8 debt) change?

According to http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/index.php/Overlord, the answer is that the Overlord/BoM in the trash sees its cost as 8 debt.

If this is a change to 1) depends of course on the correct answer to 1). But if the answers are indeed different, I'd like to understand why. The ds. page says that the cost does not change for the Overlord in the Trash. If its cost did not change, did its text change? If yes, why the difference, if no, why are we executing the text of BoM?

Earlier in this thread:

We never lose track of what a card's text is though. Almost always you can look at the randomizer if you need to know it. In rare cases e.g. the Madmen run out, you would have to check the rulebook or your phone. Probably though, if the Madmen run out, you know what the card does.

In my opinion, with Inheritance a Dominion event you cannot argue this way. The text of a card is of then no longer a constant (that was true already with BoM), but it is also no longer tied to a card name.

If you Throne Room an a card, you play it twice. The first time you play it, it starts in play, so you can actually follow its (maybe modified by Inheritance, self-modified by BoM/Overlord or affected by Enchantress) card text. The second time you play it, it may or may not be in play any longer. If it is no longer in play, how does the game decide on its text (and other characteristics, if necessary)?

Is it really a simple "What's printed on the physical cardboard of the card that was chosen to be played by Throne Room" as a rule or is it a more complicated "The characteristics of the played card, as modified by the game, but it turns out that if the card is not in play all currently existing modifying effects no longer apply to it in it's current place (because the only place it could be are the supply and the trash and Inheritance does not work there)"?

Generally, the current rulings on BoM/Overlord/Inheritance, especially your reversal on Throne Rooming a BoM that copies something that stays in play, afford a very easy 'mental model' (something that I think permeates a lot of Dominion design): These 'copy' effects change characteristics of a card for a while, so anything that looks for those characteristics will see the changed ones. BoM/Overlord change themselves, Inheritance changes Estates.

That 'for a while' got clarified in a sensible way for Overlord/BoM by you above. I think it has also been established that Inheritance can change those characteristics for some zones not in play. What I'm unsure about is if 'play a card' effects do access those characteristics or not.