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, 14 March 2014
Following this topic, confirming that it is allowed by the Good Faith Rule to use an ability that searches your deck for a card that isn't there.
Is this ruling still true if you previously searched in the same deck without finding any legal card? For example if you brought into play a Jade Pearl Inn, searched in your deck without retrieving a suitable card and then brough into play a different Jade Pearl Inn, can the Interrupt still be triggred?
In others words, does "A player is not assumed to know the face-down contents of his or her decks, for purposes of the Good Faith Rule." (Good Faith Rule) means that the player is NEVER assumed to know, even if he actually knows because he looked into the deck?
According to the current wording of Search ("The player may choose to have a search fail; he or she need not retrieve a suitable card even if found.") it seems the answer should be "Yes", but I would like an official clarification because it could be perceived as "Bad Faith" even if it is legit when you look at the rules . Thank you !
******** [Jade Pearl Inn] Interrupt: After you Recruit this Holding from a Province, search your Dynasty deck for a non-Unique, Gold-producing Holding with a printed Gold Cost of 1 and refill the Province face-up with it.
A player, 14 March 2014
Is this ruling still true if you previously searched in the same deck without finding any legal card? For example if you brought into play a Jade Pearl Inn, searched in your deck without retrieving a suitable card and then brough into play a different Jade Pearl Inn, can the Interrupt still be triggred?
Yes, the rules don't impose any kind of punishment if you search for a card that doesn't exist, or choose to fail to find it. This means that you can legally use such an ability only to shuffle your deck.
In others words, does "A player is not assumed to know the face-down contents of his or her decks, for purposes of the Good Faith Rule." (Good Faith Rule) means that the player is NEVER assumed to know, even if he actually knows because he looked into the deck?
Rules allow people to have fish memory and forget they searched for a card and it wasn't there. Also, remember that just because a card wasn't in a deck at a point, it doesn't mean it won't be later - there are cards that allow to shuffle other cards in a deck. Deck contents aren't static, they change constantly, including gaining cards that weren't there at a previous point.