post for 22 October 2002

post for 21 October 2002 / Ruling, please. [JEFF] And a follow up, can Shinsei's Staff reaction be used in Lesson?

No. not). And what happenes if Mirumoto Zenko with 2 weapons attached, enters a duel? Are the opponents focus values still lovered by 2? Yes. Zenko is affecting the focus values, and Zenko is not an Item.

What about Unprepared? Can you use it in an Iaijutsu Lesson duel as long as you have the Armor and Weapon attached, or does Lesson effectively negate their presence entirely?

They're there, they just have no effects themselves. They still allow you to play Unprepared.

Rules question

Overwhelmed question.

Say I have Ashura in an army against 2 opposing units.

I play overwhelmed, and destory my highest force unit. (Ashura)

Will I get to use Ashura's ability before or after the other effects of Overwhelmed resolve.

As soon as the Ashura dies.

Another Ashura question:

Ashura's ability to destory an opposing card when destoryed in battle.

This can not be canceled by asako towers because it is a trait not an action?

Correct.

Ruling Clarification (JEFF)

Regarding your ruling on Hitomi Echiko & the Snow Crane Tattoo (in your post on 21 October 2002) I assume you meant to say that if Echiko has bowed to use her ability during a duel and the Snow Crane Tattoo is ON HER that the tattoo could not be used.

Correct.

If the Snow Crane Tattoo is on one of my other personalities it should be legal for me to use even if my duelist is bowed as the tattoo's reaction targets the personality with the tattoo and the focus value being raised but not the duelist. Is this correct?

Yes, someone else with the Snow Crane Tattoo could raise Echiko's focuses.

Kwanchai and Ambush...

A question recently popped on the French mailing list.

Player Jojo sits accross the table, trying to crush my little Scorps with big-biggy lions

Kwanchai stands proudly in my fief, insuring no one besides him gets killed by nasty opponent ...

On my opponent's turn, he foolishly assumes he can kill my bowed Paneki, who's loaded for bear, with let's say 2 veteran bushi and an ogre warriors ... So nasty opponent Jojo play ambush, and his domotai tries to trap my poor, poor bowed Paneki.

Bad Jojo doesn't Sneak. I thus get first opportunity for action...

Kwanchai wants to step in and die under Domotai's assault.

Now, I understand Kwanchai can't effectively move into the battle. But ...

Can he still have Paneki removed from battle ?

Relevant text:

Ambush Limited: One of your units begins an attack against another player's unit. No other units can be assigned or move to the battle, and the battle cannot destroy a Province. The units cannot move to other Provinces from the battle. This does not replace your Attack Phase. After the battle, lose 5 Honor.

Bayushi Kwanchai Battle: Once per battle, if Kwanchai is home, send a bowed or unbowed Scorpion Clan Personality in your army home without bowing and move Kwanchai into your army.

Kwanchai's ability is still legal. You do as many of its effects as you can. Paneki moves to your home but Kwanchai does not move into the battle because Ambush prevents it.

oh, btw, will any of the AEG guys be there ?

We're still deciding that.

Tricky Rules Question

First question : How do Ryokan's Sword and the Blades of Truths interact ? What if the top card of my deck is of the focus value I was prohibited from using with the blade ?

In that case, you read Ryokan's Sword...particularly the part where it says "If you cannot focus with the card, discard it when you reveal it."

Next question, a bit longer : The interaction of Kwanchai and Ambush. We know for sure that Kwanchai won't join in the battle to replace the targetted Scorpion Personnality, but can you use its ability just to remove it from battle, à la Hataki exp ? So :

Already answered.

B) No you cannot. Since both effects are separate, they must both be legal for me to have the right to use Kwanchai's ability. While I have the right to use a move action when I'm already there for no effect (Hataki exp example), Ambush specifically prohibits any peep from moving into the Battle.

It says "No other units can be assigned or move to the battle". "No units can move in" is NOT the same as "actions that move units in can't be taken".

Four thoughts and three Questions from KYoD

1) Heroic Sacrifice - Battle: One of your Personalities with Double Chi or with more than one Weapon issues two consecutive unrefusable challenges to opposing Personalities. Before the first challenge, permanently remove your duelists's Double Chi trait, or destroy one of his or her Weapons if your duelist is not Double Chi. What if the Double Chi trait comes from an item, like Atarasi's Armor?

You remove the Double Chi trait. He stays without the trait until some other effect gives it to him, such as using Atarasi's Armor's action next turn.

2) All the new gold/diamond legal non-tainted personalities in the set have the Toturi's Army trait. Is the Wolf Legion coming back?

There are still no plans to create a Gold-legal Toturi's Army, Ninja, or Naga stronghold.

3 Why no Dark Master of Water card? I can see why you wouldn't want to print a copy of Daigotsu (right now), but why not Okura?

Ultimately this is a question more for the Story Team than Design, but the Personality mix in KYD was tightly confined by the size of the set. I think it's more appropriate to ask how we managed to fit four in than why we don't have all five.