Trying to find it in the rules, but when did the rules change about abilities on cards no longer producing spell effects?
Spell Effects
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.
(W)hen did the rules change about abilities on cards no longer producing spell effects?
A real quick and dirty search doesn't reveal any cards using the phrase "spell effect" in Lotus Edition, Samurai Edition, or Celestial Edition. I guess that would qualify as, "a while."
But I'm not sure what you're referring to here. I don't recall any rules changes about "spell effects," just general changes in card texts were written.
Brook's comments here might prove helpful.
Alex