X Dragon's Guidance

L5R CCG Rules board, 18 May 2011

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, 18 May 2011

So this is bugging me. The way the Dragon's Guidance cards read is as follows

"After this card enters play: You may put the Ring of 'X' from your discard pile into your hand."

Okay. This CAN be read to mean that whenever the corresponding ring is in the discard pile, you can put it into your hand from whenever after the moment the guidance comes out, cycling the ring into and out of your hand endlessly. Other cards with similar effects usually say "After the first time this card enters play" or at least give us an "Open:" or "Limited:" prefix so we know when it supposed to happen. I know that Celestials are revealed and played in the Events Phase and so don't really occur in the action phases, but... yeah.

One might also get to the aforementioned reading of the card by the way that other cards with effects printed on them without actions or other preambles are continuous, and do not end until the card is destroyed or removed from the appropriate location for their activation, like in the case of Shiba Miiko.

My question is this, do the dragon's guidance cards cycle the ring from the discard only once during the events phase when it is revealed, or can this effect be used once a turn as in all other kinds of printed actions, OR (and this is probably wrong) is it truly continuous in that the card can be returned to the hand as many times as it is wished? Also, does the effect have to be taken immediately during that Events phase or can it be used in later turns, or in the same turn, as in both cases these instances are "After this card enters play".

Anyone who can clear this up will help me to sleep easier lol. Thanks!

A player, 18 May 2011

do the dragon's guidance cards cycle the ring from the discard only once during the events phase when it is revealed[?]

Yes. Note that it can be revealed and enter play during any phase, for instance if you use your Border Keep during the Action Phase and reveal the Air Dragon's Guidance, this Celestial enters play and you may put the Ring of Air from your discard pile into your hand (see Celestials).

Such a trait is a triggered trait. It triggers immediately after its card enters play, its player cannot wait until he discards the relevant Ring to activate the trait and get back the Ring.