replies to 12-13 June

Rules for 13 June 2001 / Kitsu Osen exp. Question

If I have a Fortress of the Dragon Fly in play and Osen exp. sitting in my province, can I bring him out to nuke a 4 Chi personality?

I guess so, because...

The fortress does not say, "While the personalities are in Play" so does this affect personalities in the deck?

Following the precedent for Bayushi Yojiro (Exp. 2), I have no choice but to say, "Yes, it does."

Don't use Yojiro Exp2 as a precedent. His current wording template is admitedly poor and doesn't match intent. (It will in Gold, thankfully.) Fortress of the Dragonfly, like most everything else, applies only to Personalities in play.

That being said, the ruling is nonetheless correct. Since it's ambiguous whether he gets the +1C before or after he uses his reaction, it's up to the active player to decide. Typically, she'll chose to apply the +1C first.

Uniqueness question.

I have a basic Gohei in play. My opponent has Shiryo no Gohei in play. My experienced Gohei shows up in one of my provinces. May I overlay it, or does that violate the uniqueness rules?

You may not overlay it. The rules on Experienced personalities state, "Honor requirements are waived, and no effects are triggered by the card "entering play" or "joining a player" (the card is neither entering play nor joining a player)." You're probably thinking of the second clause, but checking Uniqueness is a restriction, not an effect.

Furthermore, Gold Edition spells it out plainly: the Uniqueness rule applies to overlaying. May as well get used to it now.

replies to 9 June (and one from 8)

In a message dated 01-06-13 19:14:33 EDT, Jeff Alexander explained:

<< Daidoji Hachi wasn't MRPed. His "Soul of..." card is a new card. Text on it doesn't affect the original from which it was templated. This case isn't like Togashi Hoshi, who lost the Dragon Clan trait whether you played him in a Jade-legal deck or not.

The Gold Card list doesn't list Hachi as a "Soul of..." card. He's Yasuki Hachi - unless there's some other Hachi in the Crane clan who happens to be from the Yasuki family? - which more or less castrates the Stronghold, unless he picked up the Daidoji Trait from something on his card, instead of in his name. Can anyone offer any info here?

I've checked with Ray on this. You are correct: Yasuki Hachi is not the "Soul of Daidoji Hachi". He couldn't be made a "Soul of..." Personality because he is, in storyline, the same person. But he's not an MRP either. It's very much like Hisa/Bayushi Hisa. Yasuki Hachi says he counts as Daidoji Hachi for deck construction purposes. Outside Four Winds storyline games, you can still use Hachi with the Daidoji family name if you wish.

Shahai

Why not just rule Shahai to be an MRP of Exp Iuchi Shahai - just like the unaligned MRP on Kuni Yori Exp and Togashi Hoshi non-exp?

Because I wanted to avoid MRPing ANYTHING purely for storyline reasons.

Rules for 13 June 2001

One is the Dark Daughter of Fu Leng - who she is a Unique version off. I beleive she prevents you having any Dark Dughters in your deck (there was a ruling was there not?)

Non-unique cards do not affect either the deck construction or in-play limits of unique cards, and vice versa. This has always been the ruling (c.f. Obsidian Mirror vs. Lord Moon's Blood), and it's spelled out in the Gold rulebook.

Rules for 13 June 2001

Nope to both. You must bow the Personality before the action begins, meaning he or she is no longer a legal target for actions nor use abilities.

Bowing to perform an action is a cost.

The bowing for Storms of War is not a cost. For one, it happens "before the action is begun", but more imporantly, Storms of War imposes a consequence if the action is taken without any bowing done. If the bowing were truly a cost, such a consequence would be moot since the action wouldn't be performable in the first place.

Hiruma Sensei -- which was made, specifically, to trump Storms of War (among other things) -- treats such effects as "additional costs."

By specific ruling, to cover an ambiguous case of card interaction. Not because the bowing is a cost.

Zen is right on this one.

Poisoned Weapon (was RE: [L5RINFO] Northeast Kotei Tournament Rep ort)

Poisoned Weapon needs to be changed, specifically as follows.

1) Poisoned Weapon needs to negate any honor gain from the duel it is played in. As it is, almost any duel's honor gain offsets the penalty of playing this card, which means everyone can play it. 2) The Chi penalty from Poisoned Weapon should only last until the duel ends. Poisoned Weapon is meant to win duels, not kill personalities.

As an aside, I also firmly believe that Ambush should negate any honor gains made during the battle it creates.

There is already an honor loss associated with these cards. What I hear you saying is that since there is also usually a gain involved in the contexts of playing them, there isn't *really* a loss involved, with which I have to disagree. If there wasn't a loss, why aren't you five points up?

I also have to admit to being somewhat skeptical, having finally heard a cry of "Broken!" after the combo has been in existance for years.

Shahai

This is still making NO sense, as it's a unique, non-experienced Iuchi Shahai that is, apparently, not an MRP on either.

Shahai "counts as Iuchi Shahai for Uniqueness". That means the Shahai card cannot go into the same deck as any card with the title "Iuchi Shahai" and the "Unique" trait. Nor can both be in play at the same time. This is straight from the rulebook.