post for 25 March 2003

The New Phoenix Stronghold

Perhaps if you could explain why the design/playtest team thought they were equivalent it would be easier to see. It isn't that simple to me I guess.

As I've already stated, the action on Kyuden Ikoma was found to be more relevant to the outcome of games than Morning Glory Castle's was. I've already explained as much as I am willing to without breaching the confidential nature of our playtest process and without instructing players before the set even releases what kind of decks they should build or arbitrarily declairing for them what strategies will and will not work.

Kyuden Ikoma MRP?

Incidentally, a couple of KI questions while I'm on that topic:

1.) can Kyuden Ikoma cancel Reactions taken during battle, or ony Battle Actions?

It says Battle actions. It can't cancel other kinds.

2.) can Kyuden Ikoma cancel a Superior Tactics that's trying to remove a Deadly Ground?

No, nor can most other action-canceling Reactions. It's one of the odd side effects of Deadly Ground.

Questions- Pulse of the Black River

Once Pulse of the Black River takes effect...

If I use To Do What We Must on one of my Shadowlands personalities to blow up a Shadowlands personality, I gain 4 honor and may taint two personalities correct?

Yes. Notice that you are forced to "select one Personality ...to permanently gain the Shadowlands trait", twice -- it is not an optional effect. However, it can be the same Personality both times and it can be a Personality who already has the trait.

If I challenge an opposing personality with Iaijutsu Duel with my Shadowlands personality, and my Shadowlands personality loses and is destroyed, who gets to gain the 2 honor and choose which personality to taint? And if the duel is a tie and both personalities die, would I gain 4 honor and taint two, or would each player gain 2 honor and taint one?

For duels, go with resolution over action. The controller of the winning Personality would get the Honor and the choice of who to taint (although it will not be much of a choice -- it will be his own Personality, as the only survivor of the duel).

If I destroy a personality during a battle with an Iaijutsu Duel, do I have to choose the surviving personality in the duel or can I choose any personality surviving the battle?

The one surviving the duel.

With Overwhelmed, if a Shadowlands personality is chosen to be destroyed (instead of two being sent home) who is destroying the personality, the player who plays the Overwhelmed or the player who chooses the personality being destroyed?

The one playing Overwhelmed.

If I used Iaijtusu Duel to destroy Voitagi with two Skeletal Troops on it, do I get credit for destroying the Skeletal Troops (so 6 honor and taint 3?).

No.

If I used say To Do What We Must to blow up the unit, I would get credit for all three right?

Right. To Do What We Must destroys entire units directly.

post for 24 March 2003

Does Quiet Tombs stop the Shadowed Towers reaction ability to recycle the action?

I'd say yes. The trait beats the Reaction.

Quick note on that one, Jeff. Shadowed Towers says "Instead of discarding", so does the card hit the discard pile ever?

Shadowed Tower puts it into your Fate deck "instead of discarding" it, but Quiet Tombs likewise causes the card to go somewhere else instead of the discard pile. You cannot put a card into your deck instead of your discard pile if it is not going into your discard pile to begin with.

rule question

Jeff can you explain how you can play overwhelmed with cowardly conscripts if the cowardly conscripts are destoryed before they are targeted like it says in the cowardly conscripts card?

Following that logic, Cowardly Conscripts would effectively say either "this Personality cannot be targeted" or "this Personality can be destroyed for free by anyone as a bonus added side effect without even using up an action." Neither of those accurately describe how it works. It can still be targeted, and that locks the targeting selection in, but the Conscript self-destructs before any costs or effects involving it occur.

Cowardly Conscripts is worded the way it is to prevent it from being used to perform actions like Nezumi Technique and You Are Weak. I'm guessing it was conceptualized before the decision was made to define "perform" in that set's rulebook.

post for 24 March 2003

Canceled and resolved are mutually exclusive. You cannot play One Life, One Action on a canceled action.

Can I play OLOA as the first reaction, then cancel it wih the next action?

By its own text, One Life, One Action cannot be played until after an action has completely resolved. At this point, most, if not all, canceling Reactions in the game are illegal, and any that might still be playable are pointless since they won't undo any of that action's effects that have already happened. [FOU rulesheet]

Example: Bow a small farm and OLOA Kolat master, his reaction opportunity he passes, I elect to react to the trigger again and bow a Sanc temple, paying 2 gold and launch an Investigation.

Ahhh...now that's different! Investigation does not cancel! By MRP, Investigation "negate[s] all of the action's effects except Honor losses to the player taking the action". (Remember, canceling an action means stopping the entire action from ever happening, but negating an effect means the action still happens and still produces all its other effects.)

You would respond with the Investigation first, "When a...Kolat action targets... any of your cards", then play One Life, One Action second, "after another player resolves an Action card from his or her hand".

Kakita Munemori

One quick question: Is using the favor political even if the card using it doesn't say so?

GE rulebook, page 4:

] "For cards printed prior to the Gold Edition set, an action ] that changes a Family Honor loss or gain in any way, including ] canceling, preventing, or redirecting it, is Political. This ] does not apply to actions that cancel or negate other actions ] or Events completely. (Creating a loss or gain is not ] necessarily Political, nor is an action Political just because ] it interacts with the Imperial Favor.) For cards printed ] starting with the Gold Edition set, Political actions are only ] those that have the Political trait."

And from the upcoming Heaven & Earth rulesheet:

] In addition to modifying a loss or gain of Family Honor, an ] action on a card printed prior to Gold Edition is Political if ] it requires discarding the Imperial Favor as a cost of taking ] the action.

Such as attaching the Imperial Standard.

The Standard is in Gold Edition and says nothing about its attachment being Politcial, plus, the current rulebook does not say that all uses of the Favor are Political. Ergo, it's not Political.

I swear I read in the rule book that using the favor isn't implicitly political, but a number of people tonight told me it was.

That used to be true, but it isn't now.

post for 24 March 2003

2. Hamanari + Spirit Guide... If I have a SG attached to AH and I use AH's reaction to cancel an action card, then straighten him with SG, can I use his reaction again during the same turn? (each printed instance can only be used once per turn?)

Each printed Reaction can be used once per TRIGGER, not per turn. Hamanari can be used again on a different Action card.

I never noticed this. So this means if someone plays a Kolat Assassin and I cancel it with Hamanari, the next time its played Hamanari can't cancel it?

He can, even if it's the same card. It's a different playing, thus a different trigger.

This rule impacts Hamanari only if he has a way of using his ability without bowing and needs to use it twice on the exact same playing of the card.

Rules question about Shiro Matsu

A question to kinda compound someone's question from last week about Plans Within Plans and Ambush. If this happens:

I play Plans Within Plans. My opponent Ambushes my Personality Bobby with his personality Freddy. As my first opportunity to play a Limited action, I choose to use the ability off of the Shiro Matsu stronghold.

Would Bobby or Freddy be able to assign to battles during this made-up attack phase? If so, would anything that happens to them during the attack phase affect the original Ambush (like, being sent home, being bowed, etc). If not, could they somehow be assigned to attack with a card effect that moved them into a battle?

Bobby and Freddy can only be in one place. If they move or assign anywhere, they leave the Ambush battle. If something stops them from leaving it, they can't move or assign.

Question about Shinjo and Tsuruchi Techniques

Shinjo Technique

Reaction: Play when another player targets one of your personalities with an action card. Redirect the action to one of that player's Personalities, if a legal target is available. If you are a unicorn player, the gold cost of this action is reduced to zero.

Tsuruchi Technique

This card costs 1 less Gold for Mantis Clan players. Battle: Ranged 3 Attack. Reaction: When one of your units makes a ranged attack, raise its strength by 3.

I used Tsuruchi technique to ranged attack one of his unicorn personalities. He played Shinjo Technique in response, and redirected the effect to one of my personalities. I argued that my personalities aren't 'legal targets' because I can't ranged attack my own cards. He argued that they were legal targets.

I looked in the rule book, and I found this "A ranged attack must target a single card opposing the card or cards making the ranged attack: either a Follower or a Personality with no Followers."

So now I'm confused, my ranged attack didn't come from a card in the battle, they came from an action card -- do my action cards 'oppose' his units in the battle? If so, my personalities wouldn't be legal targets, correct?

Ranged attacks from your hand must still target cards in the opposing army. They cannot be redirected to cards in your own army by Shinjo Technique.

post for 24 March 2003

I´m playing Kyuden Doji, I´m in an attack I play Come one at a Time, when I replace the personality that played come one at a time in the battle with a Samurai, does this personality enter the battle? (With any other battle duel?)

Replacing one Personality in a duel with another does not cause them to change locations. Period.

a question

i attatch earthly yearnings i then target a random crane person with last gift giving him 5 ph he duels me. here's the question can i take reactions to the duel then give my person 5force 5chi or does my person just get the force and chi bonus automatically the second he duels me then i take reactions

He's "performing" an action as soon as you know the action is going to resolve and not be canceled. That will typically before any of that action's effects happen -- in your case, "the second he duels you".

Questi

If Ikoma Goro has a Kakita Instructor, can he still use his ability like Matsu Hataki (Exp.) where you can straighten him without moving him or move him without straightening him (if unbowed) even though he reads < straighten Hataki (if bowed) and move>, AND being the key word? Or is it like Morning Glory Castle where it reads <Discard a card from that Province and fill>, AND being the key word as well?

The key word is not "and". They key word is "to".

"If Goro is Honorable, bow and dishonor him TO restore a Dishonored Personality to Honorable status." [card text] Bowing him and dishonoring him are both costs. [GE rulebook p. 39] If you can't do both, you cannot use the action.

Or if I had Kakita Instructor on a Samurai could I play Frenzy?

Yes. The dishonor is an effect of Frenzy, not a cost.

Moving/Switch Rules Query

Ok, I've got some linked rules questions that I could do with answering.

Right, to start with, Daidoji Rekai XP2 *can* use her ability to move and shoot in the current battle when she's already there. i.e she effectively moves away, comes back and then performs a ranged strike. This has been cleared up already.

She does not "move away and come back". She does not move. If her movement is meaningless, it does not make her action illegal -- the movement simply doesn't happen.

(Moving without shooting is different for her. It is not legal, but for unrelated reasons. Her action requires a target to shoot at, and NO targeted action in L5R can be taken if there's no target for it.)

Matsu Hataki XP. As a defender can straighten and move into a battle. Can he do this if he's already in the battle?

Yes.

Finally, northern Provinces of the Moto. it says switch the location of two of your cavalry people. Are these considered to be moving (or switching, like it says)?

Switching is movement. Switching means "move Card A to where Card B was, and move Card B to where Card A was." Don't get misled by Way of Deception. It's a special case by explicit card text.

Can it target two units in the same battle, and if they switch in this way are they considered moving?

Yes it can. No they aren't.

winningist clans in the gold arc (storyline tournys)

[KAI] Actually, I know many tournaments that simply don't BOTHER wil OP any more because the system was felt to be unsatisfactory. ... As it stands, the system hasn't provided any more integrity than the old ones, IMO.

Which is the height of irony, considering how many players called out for ELO by name as an example of a system that had integrity -- i.e., gave many more points to people who play well than to people who merely play often. :/