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 May 2008
Blade of the Pure Soul +2/+1 4G Weapon. Unique. Battle: Bow this card: You may destroy a target Item in the enemy army. If there are no Items in the enemy army, give this Personality +2F.
Blade of the Pure Soul doesn't explicitly require to be opposed in order to use it's ability. The targetting is optional, so you may choose not to target anything. And Thus: If my opponent assigns no units against my army with this card, may I use the battle action on Blade of the Pure soul legally (and count towards playing Ring of Water by its own text)? If the answer is yes: Will the personality gain +2F without an enemy army to begin with? If there's no enemy army, there can't be any items in the enemy army!
Thank you!
Zen Faulkes (rules official), 22 May 2008
Blade of the Pure Soul: If my opponent assigns no units against my army with this card, may I use the battle action on Blade of the Pure soul legally (and count towards playing Ring of Water by its own text)?
Yes. That's what "may" means.
A player, 22 May 2008
In regards to http://www.alderac.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=68307:
The answer to the second part was:
No. "Army" implies units; see http://rules.l5r.com/Glossary_A#Army.
How does this work with the line in the same link that says
Likewise, comparing the number of units in an army to the number of units in another army does not imply that both sides must contain one or more units for the comparison to be valid. This is similar to the rules for absent stats; if anything in the game needs to know the Force, number of units, or other numerical aspect of an "army" with no units, it is always zero. ?
Zen Faulkes (rules official), 22 May 2008
In regards to http://www.alderac.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=68307:
The answer to the second part was:
No. "Army" implies units; see http://rules.l5r.com/Glossary_A#Army.
How does this work with the line in the same link that says
Likewise, comparing the number of units in an army to the number of units in another army does not imply that both sides must contain one or more units for the comparison to be valid. This is similar to the rules for absent stats; if anything in the game needs to know the Force, number of units, or other numerical aspect of an "army" with no units, it is always zero. ?
My first thought was that you're not really comparing the number of units of the two sides, so that bit really isn't applicable. But as I think about it, yes, it does look like that can be used for an unopposed force bonus.
Note to self to talk to Rules Junta about terminology for empty armies.
A player, 10 June 2008
In response to this: http://www.alderac.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=68307&p=881416&hilit=blade+of+pure+soul#p881416
I just wanted to confirm that if Blade of the Pure Soul's ability is used in the following situations:
- vs. an army that had no Items to begin with - vs. an empty army (you are unopposed)
...that in these situations, the Force bonus would still apply itself. Zen seemed like he needed to double check it in the other thread...I just want to make sure I am interpreting the card correctly.
Thanks.
Zen Faulkes (rules official), 10 June 2008
I just wanted to confirm that if Blade of the Pure Soul's ability is used in the following situations:
- vs. an army that had no Items to begin with - vs. an empty army (you are unopposed)
...that in these situations, the Force bonus would still apply itself.
Those are both correct. The former was never really in question. The Rules Junta decided that "enemy army" in this context for this card could include situations where it was unopposed.