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, 11 January 2012
Does the 'may' in Sundering Strike apply to the attachment targeting and gold payment separately (like 'Shadowlands personality or follower' is read [Shadowlands personality] or [Shadowlands follower]) or are they a single optional clause? Can you target the attachment but not pay the gold and so not destroy the attachment?
Player A targets player B's personality with an attachment. He chooses to target the attachment and player B wishes to play Near Miss. The window for Near Miss appears to be before the gold is paid. If the targeting and gold payment are separate options player A could choose not to pay the gold (as they attachment isn't going to be destroyed) or be unable to pay the gold and just want to bait out a potential Near Miss. If the targeting and gold payment are the same single optional clause this cannot happen.
Incidentally if the latter is true:
Player A targets player B's personality with an attachment whose gold cost is 5. He chooses to target the attachment and player B wishes to play Near Miss but player A has no available gold. Before playing Near Miss can player B request that a judge confirm that player A can pay the required 1 gold from their hand (ie confirm the good faith)?
Card Text:
Sundering Strike:
Battle: Target an enemy Personality: You may target one of his attachments and pay Gold equal to its Gold Cost minus four. If you did, destroy it. Move the Personality home.
Near Miss:
Reaction: After another player's Battle action targets one of your attachments: Negate the attachment's destruction from the action's effects.
Alex Jones (rules official), 12 January 2012
Does the 'may' in Sundering Strike apply to the attachment targeting and gold payment separately (like 'Shadowlands personality or follower' is read [Shadowlands personality] or [Shadowlands follower]) or are they a single optional clause? Can you target the attachment but not pay the gold and so not destroy the attachment?
Player A targets player B's personality with an attachment. He chooses to target the attachment and player B wishes to play Near Miss. The window for Near Miss appears to be before the gold is paid. If the targeting and gold payment are separate options player A could choose not to pay the gold (as they attachment isn't going to be destroyed) or be unable to pay the gold and just want to bait out a potential Near Miss. If the targeting and gold payment are the same single optional clause this cannot happen.
Incidentally if the latter is true:
Player A targets player B's personality with an attachment whose gold cost is 5. He chooses to target the attachment and player B wishes to play Near Miss but player A has no available gold. Before playing Near Miss can player B request that a judge confirm that player A can pay the required 1 gold from their hand (ie confirm the good faith)?
Card Text:
Sundering Strike:
Battle: Target an enemy Personality: You may target one of his attachments and pay Gold equal to its Gold Cost minus four. If you did, destroy it. Move the Personality home.
Near Miss:
Reaction: After another player's Battle action targets one of your attachments: Negate the attachment's destruction from the action's effects.
The "may" applies to the targeting and the cost payment together, from the rules for Effects, Choices: A choice involving multiple effects following a "may" must be taken in an all-or-none fashion, unless they are phrased as alternatives to each other using "or." Example: "He may target one of his Shugenja and discard a card." If this choice is taken, the targeting and discard are both either carried out or not carried out; there is no option to target a Shugenja and not discard. Compare with "he may target one of his Shugenja and may discard a card," in which the two choices are separate; either, none, or both options may be taken. Also, in "he may target one of his Shugenja or discard a card," one choice or the other (but not both) may be taken.
The Good Faith Rule only applies to the announcement of actions, so you may target an attachment even though you cannot pay the subsequent cost. However, if you can pay the cost, you must: although the cost is an optional cost, once you have chosen to activate the "You may ..." clause, it ceases to be optional.
A player, 12 January 2012
follow up to this http://www.alderac.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=95662#p1267072
So I gather that because targeting is a conditional effect, it does not apply the rule of good faith. This also means that I can target it even if (on the table) I have no way to pay for it. and if I'm able to pay for part of it, such as the case would be if it cost like 12 gold but I only had 4 available, does it force me to attempt to pay with the 4 gold even though its not enough? (what prevents me from targeting it should I be unable to pay the costs, if anything?)
Using the example given by the previous post (5 gold cost attachment) If I have "one Koku" in my hand, must I spend it to pay for this cost if available (and there are no other gold production on the table)? Or since rule of good faith doesn't apply, is it blind to fact that I have that ability to pay it in my hand (my opponent doesn't know I have it after all)?
In the case of other costs that might be variable in nature, I post the same One Koku question. If I announce I am going to pay a cost of a target and good faith DOES apply, but somebody reacts and changes the gold cost (by redirecting a stain cleansed, for example, or finding a way to raise gold cost of the target) must I pay the new cost using "one koku" if able and no other options to pay the new cost? (I guess this is technically a 2nd question entirely)
For ref: Sundering Strike
Battle: Target an enemy Personality: You may target one of his attachments and pay Gold equal to its Gold Cost minus four. If you did, destroy it. Move the Personality home.