Mantis player is attacking me. I defend with Shosuro Toson XP2 against his army of Naval guys. If I use Shosuro Toson's reaction while defending (to counteract his Naval), and I take the first battle action, can my oppponent use Reinforce the Gates to negate that first battle action?
Shosuro Toson XP2 and Reinforce the Gates
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.
No he cannot play Reinforce the Gates because the Battle action taken thanks to Toson is still the Defender’s first normal opportunity to act or pass.
With regard to this thread: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=93685
I guess the sticking point for me is the use of the word "normal" with respect to the phrase "the defender's first normal opportunity to act or pass".
It could be argued that Toson replaces the defender's "normal" opportunity with a new one which only Toson may perform. Am I off base here? I can't seem what to make of the phrase "normal" so I wasn't sure.
The first 'normal' opportunity for a player comes from the rules in the action round of the Combat Segment; see Combat Segment: "The Combat Segment is an action round. The Defender gets the first opportunity either to take a Battle action or pass."
Effects like Sneak Attack, Shosuro Toson Experienced 2 or the rulebook Naval ability can affect this action round but they do not 'replace' an opportunity with another one. For example the additional restriction "which must be performed by Toson" does not change the fact that the Defender is still taking an opportunity in the normal action round of the Combat Segment (contrary to an "additional action" for instance), which means it is his "first normal opportunity".
With regard to this topic viewtopic.php?f=59&t=93685
Surely if the defenders first action is as a resut of Toson's action it cannot be his "normal" first action as Toson's ability is limited to him and is quite specific about that on the card. Therefore it cannot be the "normal" first action as this could comprise any batte action in the defending army or the defendng player's hand.
Thanks for considering this interaction
Azrael
Here normal does not mean unchanged, for instance by a restriction like "XXX must perform it". Normal means: in the normal action round of the Combat Segment.