post for 29 April 2002

Dark Oracles

I have the old SL editions of the DOs of air earth fire and water... are these now legal again or are the new cards different texts?

The old ones are not legal.

Hantei Sensei v. Item [Jeff]

Suppose my opponent uses the Hantei Sensei and names my Celestial Sword of the Mantis.

Later in the game I pull Forgotten Lesson and I make his Sensei not effect play until the end of my turn. I go ahead and attach my Celestial Sword of the Mantis.

What happens to my sword when Forgotten Lesson wear's off?

Nothing. Hantei Sensei only prevents playing the card.

quick RULES question

Just a quick question regarding the Shrine of the Evening Star. Can you use it to bring back one of your unique personalities if another player has that same unique person in play?

No.

If not, do other costs/effects of the personality entering play (such as honor losses, and what not) also apply?

No, because the Personality did not enter play.

post for 26 April 2002

Hi, here's a (hopefully) quick question regarding Bitter Vengeance.

If I target a shadowlands player, all of their Gold Legal strongholds say they can't gain or lose honor, do they have to discard the fate cards? I assume yes, as the option to lose honor for them has been removed by their strongholds.

Anyone who cannot choose to lose honor must choose to discard cards.

Clarification on Shiryo no Taisa

I'd like to get a clarification if I could. If i am the attacker, and Taisa's personality is in the battle, and the defender either uses fall on your knees on my Sneak or the Lion Terrain Buster reaction on my Deadly Ground, can Taisa cancel these reactions?

I'll give that one a tentative "yes".

Speed of the Waterfall question

Here's a scenario: I have a unit in battle with Spearmen and Mantis Bushi attached. I use the Spearmen for a ranged attack, then the Bushi to bow an opposing personality (for example). The unit is then sent home bowed (either by me or my opponent - I don't know if sent home explicitly means the opponent or if it can be anyone sending the unit home).

If I use Speed of the Waterfall, does that re-straighten even cards I voluntarily bowed for effects?

Yes.

Strong Guard

Question on Strong Guard:

The card is worded:

Reaction: Bow Strong Guard and dishonor this Personality to negate an effect sending this unit home from battle.

My question is, can you use the Strong Guard more than once with the same personality if they are still dishonored?

No.

The way the card is worded, dishonoring the personality is a cost. I.E. Can the Strong Guard prevent a dishonored personality from being removed from battle?

No.

Shadowlands open question

The shadowlands strongholds say cannot cause an unconditional honor loss, but could they still use cards like Breach of Etiquette since it does have a condition? That also would apply to cards like shame, so on and so forth.

An unconditional loss is one that WILL happen if the action is taken. Breach of Etiquette and Shame both cause unconditional losses. Iaijutsu Challenge is the canonical example of a card that causes a conditional loss -- its player does not know if the loss will occur or not.

Koku Redemption (Again!)

Can anyone give me the latest list of cards up for redemption? I know they are posted in the Herald, but I'm still having... problems... in the department.

They are now up on our website, at http://l5r.alderac.com/ccg/koku.html .

Omen Question?

Okay what if you are Shadowlands player. And your playing against a Dragon player. You use Omen to give a Dragon personality the Shadowlands trait. Can you use Traitor's Grove to kill the Dragon personality with the Shadowlands trait?

No. The Shadowlands faction does not have an alliance trait.

Energy Transference Question

Energy Transference Open: Bow this Shugenja to switch a Personality's Force and Chi. If the Personality is not yours, destroy this Spell.

Fortress of the Dragonfly Each of your Human and Naga Personalities gains +1C while the Fortress of the Dragonfly is in play.

Okay you have a 2 force 4 chi(including fortress bonus, one in play) personality. You switch the force and chi. The force becomes 4. But what about the chi? Would the chi be at 2? Or 3 because of the fortresses?

It becomes 2 because you're setting it to what his Force was. [rulebook p. 32]

Gold Question

Hey all, Is Kakita Kaiten's basic verison Strict Gold legal or not?

He is not.

Two Questions That Need Answering...

Both of these came up in a tournemant this weekend, and were rather pivotal.

#1 Oni No Tsuburu attacks alone, and is unopposed. He will take the province with his 'Tsuburu Smash' +6 F which occurs as the battle sequence ends. My opponent plays Overconf idence at that time, which would bow out Tsuburu and presumably save his province. My question is two fold -

- Could he even play an action, as both sides have passed and the battle is resolving (the point at which the Tsuburu ability kicks in)?

Absolutely. Overconfidence is a Reaction. Both players passing only brings an end to Battle and Open actions.

- Would the action be playable after the force bonus kicks in, but before it is added to the total to determine the outcome?

Yes. The Oni's bonus reaction happens at the end of the Battle Action Segment, which is before final resolution.

#2 Ikoma Fujimaro is defending against Tsuburu and Tsuno Kuroshimi with Tsuno Scouts attached. Fujimaro attempts to cap Tsuburu, I bow the Tsuno Scouts to cancel it, as it counts as a use of Tactician. We looked up a ruling on Tactician, and it didnt make sense. Is the tactician ability 'used' due to it being attempted and cancelled, or not? If not, it relegates the the new Tsuno and the Tsuno Scouts down several notches.

This has been well explained by other posters. Thanks, guys!

Another Tsuburu Question.

If Tsuburu is attacking a province that has Garrison attached, Tsuburu wouldn't get his bonus right? Because Garrison acts as if there is a Unit in the battle.

Forwarded to the Rules Team.

Two Rules Questions

Howdy,

First of all, I have a question about the new card Unprepared and the card Judgement of Toshiken. If I play Unprepared after one of my personnalities is challenged and my opponent has higher chi and plays Judgement of Toshiken what would happen?

Judgment of Toshiken can't be played after Unprepared. Unprepared forces the duel to resolve immediately.

Honorable Seppuku Question

If I play Honorable Seppuku in response to an honor loss/dishonoring effect that is part of action, what if any, part of the action is cancelled. HS says nothing about cancelling, however if say I use an Ikiryo (SP? The shadowlands ranged attack follower) and HS in response to that, does the ranged attack go off.

Yes. Destroying the source of an effect does not cancel the effect [p. 45]. Also, the Ikiryo dishonors the samurai last, so the attack has already happened.

Or, if for some reason I decided to HS in response to my own Ambush, would the ambush resolve fully before the personality died?

The trigger here is him being targeted by Ambush, so he would seppuku before the battle is fought. There'd still be a battle, but the defending unit would be there alone.

Or an effect that dishonors my person entering a duel (Strike from Behind? sorry at work and my cards are not here to reference), would the person die before the duel resolved...

Typically, these will also require the HS be played as soon as he's targeted.

or my own Poisoned Weapon for that matter.

This can't be responded to with Honorable Seppuku, as it neither targets nor affects your Samurai.