Rules for July 23rd

Hi guys!

Well the scout says he can play before the defenders first battle action..But was there not just an argument that Purusha's action is not a battle action but a reaction before the battle actions or something because his reaction can not be cancled by Bayushi Kachiko exp 3 because it is not a battle action but a reaction?

Okay, here's the full on explanation. There are a number of cards with Reactions that trigger after a battle has been chosen to resolve, but before the defender gets to take his or her first normal battle action. All of those Reactions, *regardless of exact wording* trigger off of the same timing window. This is specifically to avoid worrying about the semantic differences that have been noted above. Purusha is a solid example of this. His ability reads:

Reaction: Immediately before the Defender takes the first action in this battle, bow Purusha for a Ranged 3 Attack.

Now, if the Defender has a Purusha, and wants to use him, he would (according to the literal text) enter a paradox where he's trying to take his first action (Purusha) as a Reaction triggering off of his first action (which would also be the same Purusha). So, in cases where you have a card that has 'before the battle' timing, ignore the precise wording, and remember that they all trigger off of an ephemeral moment immediately after the battle has been chosen to resolve, but before the Defender gets to take the first normal action of the battle. The player to the left of the active player gets to React first to the ephemeral moment, followed by the player to his left, and so on.

Now, to every rule, there must be an exception. And so, to the general rule presented above, I give you the exception. Cards with traits that allow you to do something before the Defenders first action will beat out cards with actions that let you do something before the Defenders first action. Traits beat Reactions. However, in cases where there are multiple 'before the battle' traits, resolve them in normal timing order (player to the left of active player first, and so on). So, a Scout in the attackers army will be able to play a Terrain before any other 'before the battle' Reactions can be played.

That's a reversal to what I said the other day about Purusha shooting the Scout before it could play a terrain, btw. As Zen reminded me, traits beat Reactions, so Scout beats Purusha.

Everyone happy, or do I have more questions coming?

Re: Kaede's Tears

Gold Edition wording: Kiho Limited: Target a Unique Personality in your discard pile. Bow one of your Shugenja with Chi greater than or equal to the Personality's Chi and remove this card from the game to shuffle this Personality into your Dynasty deck.

Does this MRP change the permanent removal of Kaede's Tears from the game to be a cost?

Yes.

Re: A Glimpse of the Soul's Shadow

Gold Edition wording: Kiho Battle: Bow one of your Shugenja in this battle for Fear equal to his or her Chi.

Does this MRP make it no longer usable by Monks?

Yes.

btw - Anyone else notice that the art for Glimpse of the Soul's Shadow is Sezaru wearing his little 'not-porcelain-I-swear' mask, getting ready to toast someone offscreen? Coincidence? I think not.

I feel pretty dumb for asking this, as I'm sure I already know the answer, but I'd like someone official to back me up, cause I got into a little debate with someone about this recently. A Samurai can commit seppuku while they are Dishonored, if they are involved in something that causes a loss of family honor, correct? I mean, that's the whole point of seppuku, right? If a samurai Marries a Barbarian, and then Shames the family, they can seppuku at that point, can they not?

Sure. They don't have to be dishonored to Seppuku, though. Anytime that they are involved in an action or effect that would cause an honor loss to their controller, they can Seppuku. Being Shamed is just one of the most common cases.

I feel foolish for even having to ask this question...

Pshaw. There are no stupid questions. If I may ask, though, what was the other side of the argument? It's kinda weird, but usually when people ask 'argument' questions without presenting the other side of the argument, I wonder what strange card combo brought this up, and whether or not there's a hidden rules change lying in the shadows.

Greetings,

Question 1) Suppose my opponent attacks with two personalities and I defend with one I Block Supply Lines on personality A and he responds with Test of Courage. He passes. I then play Stand Against the Waves. Can he choose to bow the personality that was Tested? (In other words, is selection of a personality to bow from *my* Stand counted as targeting with an action)

Yes. A Tested personality cannot be targeted by its controller with any actions, even actions controlled by your opponents.

Question 2) In Time of War has gone off. My opponent gains 2 honor and then attaches the Imperial Standard. I have a 3 chi shugenja. Using a Wind's Truth, can I get the 3 honor that he would get from the Imperial Standard or am I limited by the fact that he gains 4, but only 3 gets added to his honor? (I hope this questions makes sense)

It does. You gain 3. This question becomes a little easier to answer if you move one step further in the chain. Your opponent gains 2, and then attaches the Imperial Standard. Then, because he's a silly wonk, he bows his Poorly Placed Garden. Can you Wind's Truth the 2 point gain from the PPG before it gets eaten by In Time of War? No. When In Time of War is in play, honor gains are modified before they can be Reacted to.

I don't THINK I've seen this anywhere . . .

Can a player whose personality has a Scout and Armor of Sun Tao attached play a Deadly Ground out from under before his opponent's first action?

No. You can't take an action that would play a Terrain using the Scout, you have to just play the Terrain.

Sense Domotai can not assign or move into a battle as a defender, can he be Ambushed?

Sure. From the Archive:

The unit being attacked does not have to be one that can legally defend. It can be bowed, prohibited from defending (e.g., Kakita Yoshi), etc. [FAQ 3.2]

Asako Misao - Ability to remove Bloodspeaker trait was added. I assume that she can only remove a single trait from a personality with 2 or all 3 of the removeable traits.

Yes. A Ninja Shadowlands Bloodspeaker will take three turns to fully scrub clean.

If Asako Misao has one of the removeable traits, can she bow to remove it from herself?

Nope. His action bows both him and the target personality as a cost. You can't bow him to fulfill both costs.

Bayushi Kwanchai - Does the ruling for Bayushi Tangen apply, so he can substitute for someone else's Scorpion Personality in a duel?

Sure.

Way of Death - I assume that "The Way of Death" from Hidden Emperor 5 has been renamed

Yeah.

Bayushi Yojiro (exp 2) - I assume he raises his own Personal Honor. Do you gain 2 or 3 honor if you pay his full cost to bring him into play?

Um...3.

What are the storyline implications of having both an experienced Bayushi Yojiro and a Soul of Bayushi Yojiro in Gold Edition?

Umm...dunno. Not my department.

Isawa Riake - Gold Edition text is: "Phoenix Clan Shugenja. Master of Water *. Soul of Isawa Tomo Battle Elemental: Bow Natsumi to move a unit from one of the Defender's Provinces to another." HUH???? Who is Natsume?

There's errata at the back of the Gold rulebook that covers that change. I would guess that her name changed as things were going to print.

Shosuro Turaki

Limited: Once per turn, Turaki copies the Force, the Chi, or an ability of another player's Personality until your next turn begins.

If she's copying the force of my character whose printed force is 3 and has a +2 weapon equipped, does she copy my printed Personality force (3) or my total force (Personality + weapon =5)?

Total force. When you use a copy action, you copy the current value, with all current modifications. There's a section in the Gold rulebook that explains all the copying related stuff.

THis came up in a game the other day. Bayushi Paneki gets +3ph for attaching follower, but what if he is dishonroed? Does the bonush still count? The rule book states a dishonored person ALWAYS has 0ph.

The 0 PH from being Dishonored is always applied last. A Dishonored Paneki essentialy winds up having a useless trait.

I just wanted to check this-Utagu exp. can cast kihos, correct? He can't be targetted by spell effects, but targetting him as the caster is a cost and not an effect, unless I miss my guess.

Correct.

Re: Tao of Shinsei

The text on this one is a little confusing, with the game definition of "discard from play". In order to use the straightening effect, must the ring discarded actually *be* in play, or can you discard it from your hand? And is it actually "discarded from play", as in, can't ever be brought back, or simply discarded? I'm pretty sure the card predates the implementation of "discard from play" as a concept, so I wanted to check for the intent.

Yes, the Ring actually has to be in play. Yes, it is actually discarded completely from play.

Hello,

Recently a question came up. During a duel between Hida Hio and a nameless 4 chi Crane samurai, my opponent called for a strike,a nd played "Bend Like A Reed" in response to their call for a strike.

Is that a correct play? The original Bend clearly stated it should be played when an OPPONENT called for a strike, the new wording is a bit ambiguous in this case.

It's kinda ambiguous, but the wording is close enough to the orignal for the effect to remain the same. The trigger for Bend is: 'Play this card when a Personality strikes in a duel against one of your Personalities.' Strikes...against. The striking personality is hitting your personality with his strike. Therefor, your personality cannot be the striking one (unless they've got some weird thing about hitting themselves).

Then the question becomes: Does it target the card creating the duel, your personality entering the duel, or both?

Enough Talk? It targets both personalities, the one that you pick to challenge the offending talker, and the offending talker themselves.

Actually I thought most of the e-mail was about Shosuro tech... At least that's what I was talking about. ;)

Shosuro Tech also targets both personalities. It's lucky for me that, although the cards in question were different, the answer remains the same.