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, 19 January 2014
I was researching this, and I didn't find anything on the current CR on naming a card. I did however find this post from Nicolas Bongiu from the CE era.
- The person naming the card must try to be as clear as possible about the card itself (naming it accurately isn't mandatory however)
And I was wondering, what would be acceptable and what not?
For example, if a player can't remember the card's name, but he absolutely know which card he means to name, can he say something like: "That duel that bows the loser and kills him if he is defending"(Weakness Exposed) or "That terrain that gives +1F to all your personalities" (Contentious Terrain)?
A player, 19 January 2014
It would obviously be better if the player could name the card closely to the actual title written on ink. In casual game players can agree to use card descriptions if they wish.
In the case of tournaments or competitive play, the Head Judge will determine upon request which is acceptable as a named card and what not, but I would recommend asking for actual card names and not just descriptions. If the player is unsure on the actual name of a card but can describe it accurately and unambiguously, he should probably ask the judges there what the actual title of the described card is.
I would recommend you taking this question to the Floor Rules Questions thread.