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, 20 October 2010
So in discussions elsewhere on the intranets a question about this card came up, that I wasn't 100% sure about. Basically, if a Blade of Perfection is stolen by an opponent (say with Shadow Plays), and later gets destroyed by one of the owners actions (say Rout). Who gets the opportunity to activate the reaction on Blade of Perfection? the owner? the controller? nobody?
Text and rules sections I thought might apply.
From Blade of Perfection, Ability Text: Reaction: After the resolution of another player's action that destroyed this card or its Personality: Attach this card to your target Personality.
From Comp Rules, Areas of the Game Page, Discard Piles Section: If a card you own is about to enter another player’s discard pile, it enters your corresponding discard pile instead.
From Comp Rules, Physically marked Card States Page, Control Section: A card’s text (such as, “Lose 3 Honor” or “You may not take Political actions”) is to be read from the perspective of its controller while the card is in play.
From Comp Rules, Physically Marked Card States Page, Card Ownership Section: A card’s text is to be read from the perspective of its owner while the card is out of play.
seems like the stealing player can't activate it because they are no longer controlling the card, but the owner can't activate it eaither since it was an action belonging to them that caused the destruction, though at the time he played the action that would not have been the case. Does the answer change if the effect destroys the personality instead of just the item?
Zen Faulkes (rules official), 20 October 2010
(I)f a Blade of Perfection is stolen by an opponent, and later gets destroyed by one of the owners actions (say Rout). Who gets the opportunity to activate the reaction on Blade of Perfection?
This one is tricky. I think I have it sussed, but I'm going to kick it up to the Rules Junta to make sure.
A player, 20 October 2010
viewtopic.php?f=59&t=86993
Regarding that topic, surely the easily relevent texts are: Reaction: After the resolution of another player's action that destroyed this card or its Personality: Attach this card to your target Personality.
(my emphases)
The bolded means that the Blade is back in the discard pile of it's owner before it's reaction could be used, meaning only it's owner could possibly take the reaction.
The underlined means that only if the person who ISN'T the owner of the Blade destroyed the blade/person destroyed it, could you reattach it, as when you react, it's looking for another player to its controller.
So if Player A controls the Blade that Player B owns, and Player B plays Rout, the sword would die and it's reaction would not be legal to announce.
If Player A controls the Blade that Player B owns, and Player A plays Rout, then Player B could use the reaction.
Forgive me if I'm wrong, I just thought it looked fairly cut and dry.
Zen Faulkes (rules official), 21 October 2010
viewtopic.php?f=59&t=86993
Regarding that topic, surely the easily relevent texts are: Reaction: After the resolution of another player's action that destroyed this card or its Personality: Attach this card to your target Personality.
(my emphases)
The bolded means that the Blade is back in the discard pile of it's owner before it's reaction could be used, meaning only it's owner could possibly take the reaction.
The underlined means that only if the person who ISN'T the owner of the Blade destroyed the blade/person destroyed it, could you reattach it, as when you react, it's looking for another player to its controller.
So if Player A controls the Blade that Player B owns, and Player B plays Rout, the sword would die and it's reaction would not be legal to announce.
If Player A controls the Blade that Player B owns, and Player A plays Rout, then Player B could use the reaction.
Forgive me if I'm wrong, I just thought it looked fairly cut and dry.
Whether it is "another player's action" checks who controlled the Blade and who played the action at the time it was in play, by the referencing rules (http://rules.l5r.com/CE_Special_wording ... References).
But because the Reaction itself is after the item has gone to the owner's discard pile, the owner would be the one who gets to activate the Reaction, as "you" means owner for out of play cards.
Thus, in a two player game, he would not be able to get the item back into play, because it was not "another player's action."