A topic from AEG's L5R CCG Rules forum, copied for Oracle of the Void from a copy of the forum saved in October 2015, so pages it didn't save are missing. Players' names are left out; the rules officials are named. Rulings are as they stood on these dates; later rulings, the rulebooks and the Rules Archive may differ.
A player, 26 March 2013
Hi Rules Team,
I searched "Benten's Blessing" but no topic came up on this point.
Let's say that at the beginning of my turn I flip over my provinces to reveal Benten's Blessing, Utaku Jean and Utaku Jane. Does Benten's trait affect only those two cards in my provinces or does it affect any card with those names? I.e. if I had 3 copies of each Personality in my deck, is it affecting the two revealed copies of each or is it affecting all 6 cards with those two names in the deck?
On a related point, let's assume that on my first turn I flip my provinces to reveal Benten's Blessing and a bunch of gold. Does this situation effectively prevent me from using Benten's trait (I have no personalities in my discard pile and none in my provinces)? Or are cards in my deck viable targets? In this situation I think I'm out of luck, since cards in my deck are considered face-down for game state purposes (or so I understand it).
Thanks!
Relevant Card Text:
After this card enters play: Choose zero to two face-up Personalities in or out of play. They have +1PH while this card remains in play. Reaction: When another player's action would target one of your Personalities, choose your performing Personality and discard this card: The action targets him instead, if legal.
Jon Palmer (rules official), 26 March 2013
Hi Rules Team,
I searched "Benten's Blessing" but no topic came up on this point.
Let's say that at the beginning of my turn I flip over my provinces to reveal Benten's Blessing, Utaku Jean and Utaku Jane. Does Benten's trait affect only those two cards in my provinces or does it affect any card with those names? I.e. if I had 3 copies of each Personality in my deck, is it affecting the two revealed copies of each or is it affecting all 6 cards with those two names in the deck?
On a related point, let's assume that on my first turn I flip my provinces to reveal Benten's Blessing and a bunch of gold. Does this situation effectively prevent me from using Benten's trait (I have no personalities in my discard pile and none in my provinces)? Or are cards in my deck viable targets? In this situation I think I'm out of luck, since cards in my deck are considered face-down for game state purposes (or so I understand it).
Thanks!
Relevant Card Text:
Benten's Blessing only affects specific cards, not all cards with that title.
If you don't have any Personalities to target, unfortunately you're SOL.