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, 22 January 2014
Daigotsu Endo Limited, *GC : If Endo is dead, Recruit him.
Colonial Dojo w: When paying for a non-Unique Samurai, he enters play for 0 Gold.
1. Does colonial dojo work with Daigotsu Endo's ability?
2. How does Endo's ability work? According to the rule change pdf, costs are paid before the action resolves. But Endo's ability says to recruit him, which would require him cost to be paid then. If so, what is the * in the cost for?
3. As followup, Would Scorpion SH shutdown Endo's ability? In such cases, can i opt not to pay cost the first time since it will be negated?
A player, 23 January 2014
1. Does colonial dojo work with Daigotsu Endo's ability?
2. How does Endo's ability work? According to the rule change pdf, costs are paid before the action resolves. But Endo's ability says to recruit him, which would require him cost to be paid then. If so, what is the * in the cost for?
You could possibly reduce (or your opponent increase) his Gold cost by some other means. If that's the case, the cost wouldn't be his printed Gold Cost stat, so for the sake of flexibility we put a (*). For example, the (*) is what allows you to use Colonial Dojo and pay 0 gold for his action.
3. As followup, Would Scorpion SH shutdown Endo's ability? In such cases, can i opt not to pay cost the first time since it will be negated?
Shadowed Estate of the Scorpion can indeed name Endo and stop his ability provided there's at least another copy of Endo in play. But if you use the ability then the costs have to be paid, and the ability is considered used. Even if you know the effects are going to be negated, rules say that costs are mandatory and force you to pay the full costs of every action you take, including those that fail or it is known beforehand they'll fail.
A player, 23 January 2014
Continued from here.
I don't think the stronghold would be able to stop Endo unless there was another one it play because the discard pile is an out of play area of the game. Is that Correct?
Brook Cunningham (rules official), 23 January 2014
Continued from here.
I don't think the stronghold would be able to stop Endo unless there was another one it play because the discard pile is an out of play area of the game. Is that Correct?
That is correct, but Abe did already say as much (emphasis mine, though perhaps he could've underscored it himself a bit better):