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 June 2015
AS followup to this ruling: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=114071
As I understand, if a card such as Kenturo refers to "Your Ashigaru Conscripts"
If can refer to:
A card entitled Ashigaru Conscripts A card entitled Ashigaru Conscript A card with the keyword "Ashigaru Conscripts" A card with the keyword "Ashigaru Conscript" A card with both the keywords "Ashigaru" and "Conscripts" A card with both the keywords "Ashigaru" and "Conscript"
With this in mind, (the plurals may be pushing it a bit but...), how does something define whether it is referring to one keyword, multiple keywords, or parts of a keyword? By the ruling, we can see you can pluralise a keyword (Conscripts) when referring to a plural and still be referring solely to the keyword "Conscript".
What impact does this have, for example, on Kiyoteru Sensei?
Relevant part of text: When Recruiting Dragons, you may Proclaim them
Is a "Dragon Clan" Personality considered a "Dragon" based on this ruling? If a reference to "Unique Samurai" refers to a full keyword, 2 keywords, and a card title, why does "Dragons" not scale back up to mean anything with "Dragon" in it?
Jon Palmer (rules official), 20 June 2015
AS followup to this ruling: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=114071
As I understand, if a card such as Kenturo refers to "Your Ashigaru Conscripts"
If can refer to:
A card entitled Ashigaru Conscripts A card entitled Ashigaru Conscript A card with the keyword "Ashigaru Conscripts" A card with the keyword "Ashigaru Conscript" A card with both the keywords "Ashigaru" and "Conscripts" A card with both the keywords "Ashigaru" and "Conscript"
With this in mind, (the plurals may be pushing it a bit but...), how does something define whether it is referring to one keyword, multiple keywords, or parts of a keyword? By the ruling, we can see you can pluralise a keyword (Conscripts) when referring to a plural and still be referring solely to the keyword "Conscript".
What impact does this have, for example, on Kiyoteru Sensei?
Relevant part of text: When Recruiting Dragons, you may Proclaim them
Is a "Dragon Clan" Personality considered a "Dragon" based on this ruling? If a reference to "Unique Samurai" refers to a full keyword, 2 keywords, and a card title, why does "Dragons" not scale back up to mean anything with "Dragon" in it?
Some cards will specifically reference one part of card - for instance, they might say "named X" or "with the X keyword". Those would be limiting references. Anything else should access the three referenceable areas of the card - the title, the subtitle, and the keywords.
You do not split keywords. A multi-word keyword is still only referenced in its whole (such as Clan Champion). Dragon, for purposes of Kiyoteru Sensei, refers to cards with the title "Dragon" (there are none), the subtitle "Dragon" (there are none), or the keyword "Dragon" (there are 5 currently legal).
I do realize that an Oracle search for "Dragon" returns all the Dragon Clan Personalities, as well as Tonbo Jairu - this is because it doesn't differentiate between partial and full keywords.