post for 7 May 2003

2 questions for jeff alexander.

1. Can I use Akodo Rokuro`s ability (Reaction: Once per turn, before one of your Lion Clan Personalities bows due to another player's card effect, negate the bowing.) to cancel the use of Earthqueake?

Absolutely. Earthquake is a card, and its effect bows a Personality.

2. If I use Kyuden Ikoma`s ability (Reaction: Bow your Stronghold to cancel a Battle action. If it's an Action card, its player may return it to his hand after the battle. The player may inmediately take another action.) to cancel a Tactician use for a battle, Can my opponent use this Tactician trait again?

Yes. A canceled action does not count as being taken [GE p. 45], so it does not count against any limit on the number of times it may be used within a certain time period.

post for 5 May 2003

There appears to be a conflict between this rule and the rulings on Show of Good Faith.

GE p. 39: "Effects on a card do not end prematurely if the card is destroyed, discarded, or even sent back into its owner's hand or deck. They last as long as they would have, had the card remained in play."

The Show Rulings about the the fate of destroyed personalities seem to only take this rule into account

DA pg 60 "Destroyed and discarded cards leave play and go to their current controller's appropriate discard pile."

In particualr rulings relating to what happens if a destroyed card is returned to play.

I'd also like to draw your attention to the situation of Soshi Aki being stolen with Show of Good Faith and being shuffled into her current controller's deck via her ability. It would seem that GE pg 39 applies in this case also, but where is she returned to when the turn ends?

She is not returned anywhere. If I steal her and she dies or gets reshuffled, I can no longer return control of her to you because I don't control her anymore. Some other effect has come along and changed her state further.

Targeting questions

Just to check: Can I target a 5 chi personality with Kolat Assassin?

"Destroy a Personality with under 5 Chi." No. Five is not under five.

Can Munemori cancell a political action preformed by a non personality (player, holding...)? Or only non-courtier personalities?

The card seems clear to me: "Bow Munemori to cancel a Political action performed by a non-Courtier Personality." The answer is, "only a non-Courtier Personality".

Questions....

In search of the Future: I know there was a debate on this last week, whether or not a charge/tac bonis/ frenzy would "come back" if you moved to another fight. What was the outcome? Does the bonus come back?

There is no reason to have a debate on something that can be looked up. From the FAQ at http://www.legendofthefiverings.com/ccg/faq.html :

] * The phrase "in this battle" describes which cards are ] affected, not the duration of the effect. Any bonus reduced to ] 0 stays 0 until end of the turn, no matter where the card may ] move afterwards, and cards moved into the battle after In ] Search... is played will not suffer any reduction.

A Wish Granted: Do you need to meet the honor requirement of the personality coming into play?

No. Personality Honor Requirements only need to be met during the Dynasty Phase.

Defend your Honor: This one came up in a test game. If my opponent resolved suspicions, then boosts its loss by 1 with his crane peep, can I defend against it?

No. An action must CAUSE the loss. Increasing a loss or gain is not the same as causing one. (Brief aside: this is why Wind's Truth-ing an honor gain does not restore a dishonored shugenja to honor.) The one and only cause of the loss here is Suspicions, which is not an action.

To the last man

The Card to the Last man, the force of the bowed cards counts to destroy the force of the opposing player?

To The Last Man requires the destruction of individual cards, not entire units. Bowing does not change the Forces of individual cards when they are counted up separately. It only changes whether they add to their unit and army totals.

The total amount of Force that needs to be destroyed DOES get reduced if cards in your own army are bowed. Conveniently, though, it is also a number you already know: it is the total you calculated when you figured out who won and who lost. Other than dividing by two, you're not doing any new math.

Question

If my opponent's Test of the Emerald Champion resolves, is it legal for me to target one of my bowed personalities to accept (as per Test of the Emerald Champion) and then cancel the event with Balance in Nothingness?

Yes. Balance in Nothingness does not care which player made the decision to target your bowed Personality. It can cancel an action or Event that you aimed.

noh ?

with h&e out there, i have a question regarding noh theater troupe ... can noh react to player wining a battle while having dishonored personality in army, thus not adding honor from killed units to his family honor, but rehonoring his personality ?

No. The Noh Theater Troupe's Reaction is used "AFTER another player gains Honor". The opponent must actually experience the gain. If anything happens before or along with the gain that prevents or negates it or that redirects it to you, you cannot use the NTT.

post for 6 May 2003

can you use togashi's shrine to go threw your deck if you know you dont have any rings in it?

Yes.

Isn't this stalling and as such should it not be illegal in tournament play?

Not in and of itself, no. Stalling, like many forms of cheating, is not a matter of what you do, but rather how and why you do it. (In fact, for this very reason it's been proposed on more than one occasion that we not bother having formal rules against it. After all, why forbid what can't be defined or objectively classified?)

As such wouldn't it be simpler to rule the answer as No.

The overall integrity of the rules as an entire body takes a front seat over tournament judge friendliness. Adding new rules is never "simple". In this particular case, I also don't see anything gained in the way of preventing unsportsmanlike conduct. What is the difference between arguing over whether he's stalling or trying to play his Ring of the Void easier and arguing over whether he accurately remembered how many Rings he has in his deck the first time he used the Shrine? Either way, it's your word against his.