Strictly reading the card does not allow for an agent character to be in your starting company.
BALLOT ITEM # 28:
Are you in favor of issuing the following erratum?
OPEN TO THE SUMMONS
Change This:
Open to the Summons wrote:Playable on a minion company. One agent minion may be played with target company at a Darkhaven [ ]-place this card with the agent. -1 to his mind to a minimum of 1. This card may be played with a starting company in lieu of a minor item. When played as such, reveal it when starting companies are determined as if it were a character. Cannot be duplicated on a given character.
To This (CRF erratum is also applied):CRF, Errata (Cards), Open to the Summons wrote:Card Erratum: Replace "minion company" with "company." Does not allow you to
start with a character that says he cannot be in the starting company.
Playable on a company. One agent character may be played with target company at a Darkhaven [ ] or in your starting company-place this card with the agent. -1 to his mind to a minimum of 1. This card may be played with a starting company in lieu of a minor item. When played as such, reveal it when starting companies are determined as if it were a character. Does not allow you to
start with a character that says he cannot be in the starting company. Cannot be duplicated on a given character.
CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR VOTE:
If you vote YES, then agent characters are allowed to be played in your starting company with Open to the Summons.
If you vote NO, then Open to the Summons will remain unchanged. It will be up to each playgroup and tournament judge to decide whether or not this card may be used with a character in the starting company.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:
Besides the consequences described above the proposed erratum applies the current CRF entry on Open to the Summons.
Because the card does not allow to have an agent character in your starting company, the following card ability seems to be quite weak: This card may be played with a starting company in lieu of a minor item. When played as such, reveal it when starting companies are determined as if it were a character. It may be an advantage, however, to have that card early in the game (i.e. in your starting company) in order to play an appropriate character as soon as possible.
Playing an agent in your starting company seems to be the purpose of the card, though, and most people probably play it that way, which is wrong according to a strict text interpretation. The CRF entry, however, clearly suggests the original intent of the card: Why would the CRF entry say "Does not allow you to start with a character that says he cannot be in the starting company", if Open to the Summons doesn't allow to start with such a character?
REFERENCE TOPICS: viewtopic.php?f=143&t=3336