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 March 2015
Hi, a question about timing of focus traits: VTD: "As a Focus Effect, after you win this duel, remove one to three non-Ring cards in discard piles from the game."
I focus VTD, and I win the duel. My opponent focused a card that I wish to remove from the game. Can I remove that card?
My opponent claims that his focus card has not entered his discard pile until after the VTD trait resolves, but I disagree because the trait says "after you win this duel" which I assume means the focus cards have already been discarded.
Jon Palmer (rules official), 23 March 2015
Hi, a question about timing of focus traits: VTD: "As a Focus Effect, after you win this duel, remove one to three non-Ring cards in discard piles from the game."
I focus VTD, and I win the duel. My opponent focused a card that I wish to remove from the game. Can I remove that card?
My opponent claims that his focus card has not entered his discard pile until after the VTD trait resolves, but I disagree because the trait says "after you win this duel" which I assume means the focus cards have already been discarded.
If you follow the steps of the duel, you'll note that discarding focused cards is the very last step. Triggered effects on who "wins" or "loses" happen when those are determined, which means the cards are not in the discard pile at that time.