Rules for December 27th

Hi everybody! I hope that you all had a safe and happy holiday, and I hope that everyone has a great New Year.

First, two from private mail:

...that you can sneak into the daily list of 'em next time you get around to it.

Otomo Dsichi and Gift of Fealty. Tech?

Tech. Just like Pekkle, the penalty will hit Dsichi's controller when he gets kacked.

-and-

Previously, "opponent" has been used to refer to other players with units in the battle. (I can't find where I put the references to such use -- stupid memory-based filing system -- so I leave the singular honor of finding them to yourself. :-]) Given that, if I were to play Trusted Counsel while attacking a Province and no other units besides my units were in the battle, only I could draw cards. Is this correct?

Nope. From the SW rulebook, pg. 42 -

A reference to "an opponent" in relation to a battle means "a player with units in the opposing army". A reference to "your opponent" in relation to a battle means either "the Attacker" or "the Defender", as appropriate, regardless of whether the player has units present.

So, the opposing player gets to draw cards or give force bonuses all the time, even if he has no units there.

I'm sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned Yokuni sensei...that makes this unclear. What I meant was, if an event "stays in play" does it simply stay in play off to the side, or does it stay in the province (even if Yokuni Sensei is NOT in play). And I take it by these events "trumping" Yokuni Sensei, that means that IF they are normally "in play" off to one side, and someone is playing Yokuni sensei, they still move off to one side and then remain in play, right?

I'm leery about giving a general answer to this question, for fear that someone will try to apply a specific answer about the way that a few Events work to the way that all Events work.

So, in regards to Duty to the Empire, Sacrifices for Our Future, and Monsoon, the answer is that yes, they enter play, leaving the province and sitting on the playfield somewhere. Even when Yokuni Sensei is in effect.

This answer would also be applicable to any Events in the future that get printed with some reference to entering/staying in play, but *not* to all Events in general.

Also can I get a quick confirmation... Moto Ride to the Shadowlands will make House of Tao players discard their ring right (assuming it's their event)? (and unplayable by Kaiu Crab too...)

No. Moto Ride says nothing about entering/staying in play, so it just resolves, like any other Event. It doesn't count as bringing a Shadowlands card into play for either of the two Strongholds mentioned above.

Events entering play: perhaps once true but the Martyr reversal implies that cards that resolving are in play. Terrains also imply this. In fact Inheritance implies this as well.

I have to disagree. Honestly, more than anything, you've made me re-examine the Martyr wording and rulings. At this point, it's causing a fairly annoying problem with the definition of 'in play'. I don't think that playing an Action or resolving an Event should generally count as bringing a card into play (unless the Action or Event specifically says that it enters play), but that is what the Martyr rulings seem to imply.

For right now, though, the ruling stays the same. Events, in general, do not enter play, and a 'Shadowlands' event will not count as a Shadowlands card entering play for Kaiu Crab and House of Tao players. Gimme a little while to confer with my colleagues and I'll get back to you.

[Plains of Otosan-Uchi counts as] '...as only one province for the purposes of targeting Provinces'.

And yet, in this case, this immediately conflicts with the previous part about being two for purposes of holding cards (the text appears to assume they are discrete situations).

When cards conflict, rulesmeisters are put to the test!

Conflicting cards is, IMHO, the only real reason for rulesmeisters like myself to exist.

Since Aramoro cannot affect both cards (text), then there are two possible interpretations in my mind. (1) Aramoro has no effect on Plains, just as he has no effect on Shrined provinces (and does not target card); and (2) the wordings conflict and Aramoro's text can only make sense according to one working (treating OU as two provs, also does not target).

Or (3), going by the existing ruling on the card, that Aramoro's action targets a card in a province, and not the province itself. The wording isn't completely precise about that, but as it stands, I really don't see a significant reason to overturn that ruling, and given the fact that Aramoro's wording has unfortunately not been clarified with MRP, I'll take the really old ruling as clarification of design intent on the card.

Or, in less colorful terms, can a personality whose controller has Yodin sensei 'stapled' to their stronghold issue the challenge created by their opponent's card effect? Is a challenge to a non-specific personality creating a rulebook effect or a card effect?

It's still a card effect, and you still can't challenge someone elses personality with it if you're a Yodin Sensei player. Just because it's someone else's card effect that's forcing you to make the choice doesn't change the fact that you would still be targeting with a card effect.

If I use footsteps of madness to cancel one of the reactions of Asoko Towers, can they use it again against the same trigger?

Yes.

I would say not, because footsteps of madness says that the ability is considered used and back in October Jeff made a ruling saying that you cannot use printed reactions more than once to a given trigger. So, while cancelled, the ability is still considered used against that trigger.

Jeff's ruling left out the semi-significant fact that the one-per-trigger rule only applies to cards (SW Rulebook, pg. 50). I don't think that Jeff specifically intended to change that with his ruling, and barring a message directly from him, I won't be changing it either. Sorry.

Okay, here's another Odd Hakanin ruling question... Focusing in a duel is a Chi bonus, this is a fact. Now my question is this: At duel resolution, when all the foci are revealed, do they each count as a separate Chi bonus, or are they all considered to be one big Chi bonus? I'm guessing they're separate, simply since they're separate cards...

Each one counts as a seperate bonus.

The question becomes... How do the mechanics to this [Hoshi Wayan and focusing] work?

1) Wayan reacts as each card is focused, and you don't know what his bonus is until a strike is declared

Ding!

They are all separate because they are immediately added at the time they are focused. Which is why Hoshi Wayan can copy them.

Is that an official ruling, that they are *immediately* added?

Yup.

That seems a touch odd to me...especially for effects that would check Chi (granted, I don't know of any that apply in duels, but still).. Is it possible to have an immediate bonus of unknown (to everyone but you) quantity?

Yup.

I was under the impression none of these bonuses was considered added until the cards were revealed...is that wrong (I'd like an official word on this, and on the original question too, just to be sure)?

Yup.

Curiously enough, this is related to the very first rules question that ever crossed my mind. I was wondering what happened if Matsu Hiroru basic equipped a Tetsubo, then used his ability to challenge someone to a duel. Would the 1 Chi penalty kick in first, or would his focus card add to his Chi first? He plays the Focus card *before* the duel, but it still adds its value instantly, and so he survives.

Okay. Say I'm playing a Mujina horde deck. I have in play a Den of Mujina, Otomo Bake (just because it's my example) and a Porthungluin with a Greater Mujina and two Mujina token followers from the Den of Mujina.

Now, do the Mujina token followers count as Lesser Mujina for the purposes of the Greater Mujina giving them +1F?

The Mujina tokens don't count as Greater or Lesser Mujina, just Mujina. They won't get a force bonus from the Greater Mujina.

Two timing questions came up recently, involving events...

1) Suppose an event comes up in my leftmost province. My opponent plays Master of Destiny to place it in his/her rightmost province. Can I play Master of Destiny, reacting to the revealing of the event, to place it back into my own rightmost province, and thus have it resolve on the same turn?

You're still in the same Reaction window, and it's legal for an Event to be Mastered more than once. It would resolve again when you got to your rightmost province. It also seems like it's legal to react to one of your own Events with Master of Destiny, if just to get it into your rightmost province. This leads to interesting situations with Shinsei's Shrine, and in cases where the Event in question is already in your rightmost province!

BTW - In the latter case, the Event would momentarily leave your rightmost province so that it can be put there. In that instant, the province gets refilled, and then that new card is discarded to be replaced with the Event.

2) Supppose an event pops up. I play The Time Is Now, allowing me to play an open event before it resolves. My opponent wants to Master of Destiny my event. Does my open action occur before his/her reaction, or do I have to let my opponent take a reaction (I guess the question would be, is the open action part of the resolving of Time is Now, or is it it's own separate reaction)?

The Open action is part of The Time is Now's resolution. Your Open action is resolved before he gets a chance to MoD the Event.

Okay,

I've checked the FAQ, but maybe this isn't asked frequently. Is having no mention of an alignment the same as being unaligned? Common sense says yes...but then, when has that ever really helped...

Being Unaligned is distinctly different from not having an alignment. Unaligned is a trait, just like everything else, and you don't get it if you don't have it. Even if you don't have any Clan Traits, or just have a Minor Clan trait, you don't automatically get the Unaligned trait. In your example, the basic Earth Dragon as you typed him up would not be considered Unaligned for cards looking for that trait. However, the Dragon was MRP'd with the Unaligned trait, so you'd have to use a card like Wutho, the Goblin Scout from SW. He is completely lacking both Clan alignment *and* the Unaligned trait, so he's just...there.