Targeting: Final Sacrifice, Elite Guard

Final Sacrifice: Reaction: When an action would target a Personality you control, target your Yojimbo: The action targets him instead, if legal. Elite Guard: Reaction: After the resolution of an action that was performed by this Personality: Move him home.

Scenario: I have a Yojimbo A with an Elite Guard attached. Opponent targets another of my personalities in the current battlefield with an action. Let's say Steel on Steel. I react with Final Sacrifice to change the target to Yojimbo A. Then I react with Elite Guard on the Final Sacrifice (Yojimbo A performed the reaction) to send Yojimbo A home after FS resolves. What happens to the Steel on Steel?

CE Abilities and actions, Interference with required targeting: If any of an action's targeting becomes illegal at any point after the particular targeting has occurred, the action still proceeds. Steel on Steel: Battle: Target your unbowed Personality: He challenges a target enemy Personality. Destroy the duel's loser. CE Glossary, Enemy: In a phrase such as "an enemy card," "enemy" does not refer to cards outside of units, but can refer to units and cards in units outside the current battlefield.

Does the duel still continue?

How about Ruthless Advance instead of Steel on Steel (assuming I am the defender): Ruthless Advance: Battle: Pay Gold equal to the targeted unit's total Gold Cost minus 2: Destroy a target defending unit.

Does the destroy effect still continue but not kill my unit since it is at home and not 'defending' anymore?

Yarijutsu? Yarijutsu: Battle: Bow a target Weapon attached to your target Personality: Destroy a target enemy Personality with no Weapons, no Armor, and Force lower than the Focus Value plus Force bonus of your Weapon.

Yojimbo A killed at home?

Following up on this ruling, I'm not sure I understand how the Elite Guard reaction results in the failure of Final Sacrifice to interfere with targeting due to its "if legal" clause.

Elite Guard's reaction triggers following the resolution of an action performed by the unit's personality. The action in this example is Final Sacrifice, which targets and is performed by a yojimbo, and which interferes with Step B of the Abilities and Actions process in the CE Comprehensive Rules. When Final Sacrifice resolves, it changes the target of another action (here, Steel on Steel) to target the performing yojimbo. By the text of Final Sacrifice, the yojimbo must be a legal target for the action whose targeting is being interfered with, at the time Final Sacrifice resolves (otherwise, it has no effect). But in this example, the yojimbo is a legal target for Steel on Steel at the point in time where Final Sacrifice resolves.

Only after Final Sacrifice resolves can the Reaction on Elite Guard be declared. Its personality has performed an action (Final Sacrifice) and that action has resolved. The Elite Guard Reaction is declared, and resolves without any further complication. The yojimbo goes home.

This cannot retroactively invalidate Final Sacrifice, because Final Sacrifice had to have already resolved successfully for the Elite Guard reaction to be able to be used to begin with. Thus, the only impact can be on Steel on Steel. Steel on Steel's target (well, one of them) is no longer a legal target. This appears to be covered by the "Interference with mandatory targeting" section of the CE Comprehensive Rules: "From the point when an action is announced in good faith, to the point when a particular required targeting occurs (including reactions "when X would target"), if anything interferes so that a piece of required targeting can no longer be met, the action fails. Further targeting does not take place, its costs are ignored, and its effects do not happen. The action is still considered taken and ended, but not resolved, and the ability that created it is considered used. If the action was on a Strategy card, the card is discarded normally."

Have I misunderstood the scope of the "if legal" clause on Final Sacrifice? The only way that I can see Elite Guard undoing the interference with targeting would be if that clause is meant to be a continuous effect that would reverse the effects of Final Sacrifice if, at any point, the new target ceased to be legal. But a plain reading of the card doesn't seem to support that.

Referencing: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=82320 and viewtopic.php?f=59&t=82334

In my previous question, I had incorrectly thought that the targeting is over by the time Elite Guard has finished resolving.

Step by step: Steel on Steel targets Personality B. --(Reaction to StS) Final Sacrifice to Yojimbo A with Elite Guard --Final Sacrifice resolves, target is now Yojimbo A ----(Reaction to after Final Sacrifice resolution) Elite Guard sends home action ----Elite Guard resolves, Yojimbo A now at home Back to Steel on Steel; still on the targeting part

This means that the 'If any of an action's targeting becomes illegal at any point after the particular targeting has occurred, the action still proceeds' clause on the Rules does not apply in this case.

Steel on Steel fizzles?

Under the hypothetical situation that someone targets a yojimbo with an elite guard attached, and in response I play final sacrifice or any similar performed redirection to "redirect" it to the same Yojimbo, then taking the elite guard reaction to move home before the targeting step occurs, does the other player's action fizzle?

Referencing the recent ruling on the subject here: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=82320

Referencing this

OK, I want to break this down as much as possible to see if I understand this

Declaration of Steel on Steel --reactions to declaration Declare targets for Steel on Steel. Player declares that Bob issues the duel to Jim --Reactions to targeting. I Final Sacrifice from Jim to Dave -----Reactions to Final Sacrifice -----Final Sacrifice resolves, Dave is now the legal target, reactions now open to Final Sacrifice resolving ----------I use the Elite Guard attached to Dave to go home ----------Reactions to the Elite Guard ----------Elite Guard resolves, Dave is now home --All the way back to targeting, Dave is no longer a legal target, so my opponent can now re-choose the personality(ies) in the duel, because targeting hasn't happened yet. In theory, he could choose brand new personalities.

Under the hypothetical situation that someone targets a yojimbo with an elite guard attached, and in response I play final sacrifice or any similar performed redirection to "redirect" it to the same Yojimbo, then taking the elite guard reaction to move home before the targeting step occurs, does the other player's action fizzle?

Assuming the Yojimbo at home is no longer a legal target for the other player's action, then this action fails: the action's costs are ignored and its effects do not happen (see below), because the interference in targeting took place before this particular required targeting occured.

Interference with required targeting: "From the point when an action is announced in good faith, to the point when a particular required targeting occurs (including reactions "when X would target"), if anything interferes so that a piece of required targeting can no longer be met, the action fails. Further targeting does not take place, its costs are ignored, and its effects do not happen. The action is still considered taken and ended, but not resolved, and the ability that created it is considered used. If the action was on a Strategy card, the card is discarded normally."

There are some mistakes. Reactions that must be taken after an action resolves are taken... well, after an action resolves. Thus you cannot take Reactions to Final Sacrifice until after Final Sacrifice resolved, for example. Moreover Dave does not become the new target while Final Sacrifice resolves; as Zen explained there, Final Sacrifice creates a (slightly) delayed effect that will change targeting, if this is still legal when it should change. At last your opponent does not "re-choose" the first targeted Personality, he chose Jim once (before Final Sacrifice was played) and because Dave is no longer a legal target when Final Sacrifice's delayed effect would apply, it fails to change the targeting and Steel on Steel actually targets Jim.

When a target must be chosen, there are three steps: the relevant player announces his initial legal choice, then effects (usually from Reactions) may alter this choice, then the chosen entity (card, player, province, etc.) actually becomes the target, if it is still legal.