post for 17 June 2002

Blood and Darkness

i have a question blood and darkness says: Spell Maho Battle: Target a Personality destroyed during this Battle Action Segment. Bow this Shugenja to return the Personality to play in your Army and permanently give him or her the Undead and Shadowlands traits. Destroy the Personality immediately after the Resolution Segment.

say you cast eternal darkness on it, or sight of death, or mirror image or something to that affect that would prevent it's destruction, or say that you had a way to attach a decoy in battle and did, could you destroy the decoy or use any of the other ways to prevent it's death and keep the personality for the rest of the game?

This Personality's destruction after the resolution segment is not special. Those methods would keep it in play.

post for 14 June 2002

So, targeting a token no longer targets the personality it's on?

Not if the card doesn't say so, no.

Does this mean that Sympathetic Energies can be used to move fire tokens from a bowed Mitsu (or other Dragon Tattooed guy) to an unbowed personality

Yes.

City of Lightning

Can Open action of this stronghold be used if the stronghold is bowed?

No. [rulebook p. 24]

Defensive Duty

Does the personality you get from your deck and put into your province fulfill the Rule of Presence?

No, because the Personality does not enter the battle. However, the card also states that it is an exception to the Rule of Presence, so the question is rather moot.

Sup Strat vs. Deadly

Jeff,

I'm a little confused by a couple of rulings that would seem to pertain to the Sup Strategist vs. Deadly Ground situation. In your post for 6/11, you state in re to using SS under DG's restrictions-

(You can't use SS) "because the only direct effect of Superior Strategist is "get an Open or Battle Action card from your Fate deck and play the card", and that doesn't meet Deadly Ground's restrictions on what's legal. The Smart Cards ruling does not apply because it is not public, guaranteed knowledge that a card like Superior Tactics is going to be retrieved."

But in the next entry, re Hataki exp., you state-

"Knowing that some or all of an action's parts will fail does not make using that action illegal."

This would seem to allow a player to play ANY action under Deadly Ground, even though I know it's not going to destroy the terrain.

There is a difference between failing (i.e., producing no noticable effect) and being outright prohibited.

Imagine two action cards that say "Limited: Destroy all shugenja." and "Limited: Destroy one shugenja." I can play the first when there are no shugenja in play -- the knowledge that nothing will be destroyed does not make it illegal. But I CAN'T play the second -- I need to pick one shugenja as a target, and that's not possible.

The new ruling that Sup Strat and its retrieved action are two separate actions now resolves the original problem-the Sup Strat will always fail, because it's an action all to itself that doesn't destroy the terrain. But how does the "failing actions aren't illegal" ruling effect DG?

It doesn't. DG tells you, quite poignantly, "If it doesn't destroy me, you can't play it." That's all there is to it.

Shiryo no Shoju question

This one came up in a game yesterday and I couldn't find a ruling in the Archives or work it out from card text.

I face up against Paneki Exp. with Shiryo no Shoju attached in a battle.....my opponent names an action I can't play. I choose another battle to resolve first and

Stop. Shoju's Reaction is used between when the Attacker picks which battle to resolve next and the formal start of that battle's Battle Action Segment. It's not legal for him to assign to Province B and then use it before knowing which Province you're going to resolve first.

Shiryo no Shoju question

I would like to add my own quick question that I believe I know the answer too. since reactions are actions and Shiryo no Shoju's is taken before the defenders first action If I have Shiryo no Tasai at that battle can I cancel Shiryo no Shoju's Reaction?

No. Taisa can't cancel actions taken before the battle begins.

ancestor question

Does bowing a personality bow any ancestor it has attached?

No.

Playing a Sensei?

Is there another way to play a Sensei card other then at the beggining of the game? Ignoring Temples of the Crow, I thought you couldn't, but I heard you can play them as a limited action.

There is no standard way to put a Sensei into play after the beginning of the game. It can only be done with card effects.

season of the mantis kit question

The season of the Mantis booklet in the tourney kit says that first place should be given the Foil Not Another Step, but the cards supplied in our kit were missing this foil. Is this a printing error, packaging error, or are the 10 koku cards in as subsitute?

It was a printing error in the instructions. The Tournament Organizer is encouraged to distribute the cards that are supplied in a manner that he or she deems fitting.

Couldn't find definitive answer in the archives, so...

Situation: Player is using Kaiu Sensei and has four provinces, two of which have Bridged Pass.

Second player is attacking a province without a Bridged Pass. When the Kaiu player uses the Bridged Pass' ability, does one of the Bridged Passes have to be physically "blown up," or can the Kaiu player instead use the "virtual" Bridged Pass at the province being attacked?

I ruled that a physical Bridged Pass must be physically destroyed (i.e., actually send the card, from the other province, to the discard) otherwise having two Bridged Passes out with Kaiu Sensei would basically lock the game, militarily.

The Kaiu player agreed, but later I thought of things that would break the lock: Carpenter Wall Falls, Oni No Fushiki/Sneak Attack, etc., but just because solutions exist doesn't mean the combo would be legal.

So, under Kaiu, do you have to destroy one of your actual Bridged Passes even if the attacker is at a Province which doesn't contain the actual Bridged Pass?

You would have to destroy the Bridged Pass whose ability you're actually using.

Otomo Dsichi

Hello,

I bring Otomo Dsichi into play. My opponent uses Kolat Master on him. I kill Dsichi. Who loses the Province ?

Your opponent, since he controls Dsichi and is therefore the player Dsichi refers to whenever his text mentions "you" or "your".

Uncertainty - Energy Transference

Face Me! doesn't switch Chi and PH like Force of Will, it staples the peeps PH in place of Chi in the duel. Gakochun would still bite the big one since it says replace Chi with PH, and PH hasn't been restricted to a minium of 1 by Uncertainty

Irrelevant. Face Me! doesn't say "use my PH instead of my Chi any time anything talks about my Chi in any way". It does a one-time, instantaneous copying of whatever total value your PH is on top of whatever your current Chi total is. This works no differently than any other time a stat is set directly to a particular value. Then, because minimums and maximums are always applied after bonuses and penalties [DA rulebook p. 31], if your Chi is less than 1, its final value is changed to 1.