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, 2 February 2012
If I have an Economic Repercussions in play and my opponent uses the granted ability to discard it, can I play Confusion at Court to save the Economic Repercussions? I didn't find the definition of "base cost" in the comprehensive rules, so I can see four possibilities: 1) yes, whichever cost he chose to pay (favor or gold) 2) only if he chose the favor cost (even if he paid it with an alternate way such as a token from Kyuden Otomo exp) 3) only if he actually discarded the favor 4) no, because "discard the favor" is not a base cost of the granted ability (it is optional)
Is it different for Confusion at Court vs. Solid Defense's reaction, whose cost of discarding the favor can be ignored?
What about Burning Dreams instead of Confusion at Court? I think this one checks whether the favor was actually discarded, but I'm not sure.
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Confusion at Court Reaction: Before an action resolves, if discarding the Imperial Favor is one of its base costs: Negate the action's effects.
Economic Repercussions Other player's Personalities and Followers in play have -2GC and all players have the ability,: "Political Limited: Discard the Imperial Favor or pay 6 Gold: Discard a card titled Economic Repercussions from play." [...]
Solid Defense Political Reaction: Before the resolution of another player's action, discard the Imperial Favor unless you control a Personality with 5 or higher Force: Negate any Honor losses from the action's effects. [...]
Burning Dreams [...] Until your Events Phase two turns from now begins, actions that discard the Imperial Favor as a cost have their effects negated if they target a Nonhuman Personality. [...]
Brook Cunningham (rules official), 2 February 2012
If I have an Economic Repercussions in play and my opponent uses the granted ability to discard it, can I play Confusion at Court to save the Economic Repercussions? I didn't find the definition of "base cost" in the comprehensive rules, so I can see four possibilities: 1) yes, whichever cost he chose to pay (favor or gold) 2) only if he chose the favor cost (even if he paid it with an alternate way such as a token from Kyuden Otomo exp) 3) only if he actually discarded the favor 4) no, because "discard the favor" is not a base cost of the granted ability (it is optional)
Is it different for Confusion at Court vs. Solid Defense's reaction, whose cost of discarding the favor can be ignored?
What about Burning Dreams instead of Confusion at Court? I think this one checks whether the favor was actually discarded, but I'm not sure.
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Confusion at Court Reaction: Before an action resolves, if discarding the Imperial Favor is one of its base costs: Negate the action's effects.
Economic Repercussions Other player's Personalities and Followers in play have -2GC and all players have the ability,: "Political Limited: Discard the Imperial Favor or pay 6 Gold: Discard a card titled Economic Repercussions from play." [...]
Solid Defense Political Reaction: Before the resolution of another player's action, discard the Imperial Favor unless you control a Personality with 5 or higher Force: Negate any Honor losses from the action's effects. [...]
Burning Dreams [...] Until your Events Phase two turns from now begins, actions that discard the Imperial Favor as a cost have their effects negated if they target a Nonhuman Personality. [...]
The answer is 1) in all cases.
"Base" = "Printed on the card". So, if there was some effect in play giving an additional cost of discarding the Favor to an action that didn't have such a cost printed, Confusion wouldn't be able to negate it, but Burning Dreams still would.
However, in your two examples, both those actions having discarding the Favor as a base cost, and whether or not that cost is chosen or ignored, Confusion would negate them. The same would be true, too, for Burning Dreams if those actions targeted a Nonhuman; the optional-ness or ignoring of the cost wouldn't be a factor.