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.
Re: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=114004
At the risk of receiving a warning: could you explain what in the CR or the wording of the cards makes Chijin' restriction worth differently than Yajinden Sensei's? I realize the ruling has been made but I don't understand the reasoning.
Or if this is an issue of impending errata?
Re: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=114004
At the risk of receiving a warning: could you explain what in the CR or the wording of the cards makes Chijin' restriction worth differently than Yajinden Sensei's? I realize the ruling has been made but I don't understand the reasoning.
Or if this is an issue of impending errata?
No warning for asking for clarification - the reason I put the mod nudge on there is that there's no need to see people comb through the database for seventeen other cards with similar wording and ask "well what about THIS card". It's happened before and it's easier to stop before it progresses.
One specific difference between Chijin and Yajinden Sensei is that Chijin's wording restricts how a cost may be paid, whereas Yajinden Sensei restricts the use of a player ability. Is the wording indistinct enough that, say, a computer program might interpret both the same way? Absolutely. However, there are limits to how far we allow the rules to stretch in these cases. Hidden Defenses never got "even if you control no units at this battle" added to it.
Some other examples of restriction extremes we don't go to:
Expert Archers: "Can only attach to a Samurai." Can I bow it to produce its ranged 3? Nope, it can only attach to a Samurai. Can't do anything else with it.
Counting House: "You may only have one copy of Counting House in play." Well what happens to everything else I have in play when I Recruit it? Does it prevent me from Recruiting anything else going forward? After all, I'm not allowed to have anything but that one copy of Counting House in play.
As I mentioned in the other post, if anything changes that leads to clarification of Yajinden Sensei, we'll let you guys know.