post for 10 April 2002

Rules Question: Isawa Maasaki

Hello Jeff,

In a pre-release tournament I played against a Pheonix, and he was of course using the personality, Isawa Maasaki. I questioned his use of the ability "Open: Once per turn, Maasaki gives another personality a Force and Chi bonus equal to the number of spells attached to Maasaki (minimum +1F/+1C). " The player was using the ability to give another personality +1/+1 when he had no spells attached to the personality. His explanation for this was the final note (minimum +1F/+1C), as there would be no need to put this final explanation of the ability if this was the intended use. My only counter argument was that someone could not use the ability to give a +0/+0, to get the Ring of Air out.

Please Help

Thank you,

Steve Mayberry

It means the ability will always give at least a +1/+1 bonus, even if used when Maasaki has zero Spells.

Rules Question: Isawa Maasaki

I hate to "me too" this message but... it does say minimum +1F/+1C, otherwise it would say something along the effect of not being able to perform this ability if you have no spells attached. Also, before the first MRP on Dragon Tattoo (and I have a post on the second MRP I have yet to send because, until recently, I have been experiencing errors with the list), one could have a tattooed Shugenja breath 0 +1F/+1C fire tokens three times and play the Ring of Air because 0 was a valid number.

With the Dragon Tattoo, it has always been (and is STILL) possible to add one Fire token three times in a row, thus playing the Ring of Air "for free" anyway.

What isn't possible anymore is using the same Dragon Tattoo to play the Ring of Air multiple times in one turn...something people no longer care about doing anyway with the change to Finding the Harmony.

question about Toturi Koshei...

I have a question about Toturi Koshei in regards to bowed personalities and Force.

If one of your personalities is challenged to a test of might, and you use Koshei's reaction, is the challenging personality's force automaticallly zero because he is bowed?

No. [DA rulebook p. 55]

This is how I'm going to expand upon it in the upcoming FAQ:

Q: My opponent has an 8 Force samurai in a battle against me. Can I kill him with a strength 2 ranged attack? I think I can. His Force is 0 when he's bowed.

A: You can't. As an individual card, his Force is still 8. The Force total of his unit -- and the Force that that unit adds to its army -- is 0.

Even when a unit is just one Personality card with nothing attached, there's still a distinction between individual card Force and total unit Force. Some card and game effects, like To Do What We Must and the Resolution Step at the end of a battle, care about one, and some, like Test of Might and ranged attacks, care about the other. You need to read the card or the rulebook carefully and decide which kind of Force it refers to. A ranged attack below strength 8 won't kill that samurai.

torrential rain

last week we got a problem with this spell, and i'd like an official word with this.

"Elemental Battle: Bow this Shugenja and destroy this Spell to end this battle without resolution. All units go home bowed."

does "to end this battle without resolution" means:

a) the battle ends now, and there is no resolution of it. b) when the battle segment ends, there would be no resolution (meaning that the spell just stacks a no resolution to the end of battle, but other players can still take actions in this battle). c) other

a)

post for 9 April 2002

your -> in play (just like ratlings, ki-rin shrine, and tsukune ascends) you own -> in play, decks, province.. anywhere... (im not sure about an opponent stealing your oni, i think they loose the +1 +1 then).

"you own" = "was in your deck when the game began, or was created out of thin air by you" [DA rulebook p. 75] Stolen Oni, Trolls, etc. keep the bonus. The owner of a card does not change during a game.

No Hiding Place

Question, Can I use No Hiding Place on Rekai's battle action? ["Reaction: Play before producing a Ranged Attack from exactly one of your attacking cards in the current battle to target a card in the defender's home with the Ranged Attack. The Ranged Attack has -1 strength"] ["Battle: Once per turn, move Rekai into the current battle and have her make a Ranged 3 Attack that cannot combine with other ranged attacks, without bowing."] She isn't producing the ranged attack until she is in the battle. Is this legal?

No. No Hiding Place is used before targets are chosen, and Rekai is not "in the current battle" then.

Sneak Attack/Scouts question

Just a quick question about the interaction of Scouts and Sneak Attack.

In a recent game, the following question came up: Can you use a Scout to play a terrain such as Suspended Terrain and then use action from Sneak to play Superior Tactics (or any other action card)?

Yes.