Rules for June 11th - Part One!

For purposes of catching up, ten emails at a time until all questions are answered.

Hi!

Hi!

I got 2 questions.....

1. Can I use Superior Tactics on a bowed personality so that he/she does not die in this battle? Some people say I can and some say I can't so I don't know what to do.... The manual doesn't help on this one....

As others have said, the answer is no. If your personality is bowed, you can't target him with the Superior Tactics, so he can't be moved.

2. Deadly Ground says that no player can take actions in this battle. Well, can actions from cards in play (ranged for example) still be used since they come from cards in play and not from the player? Since I bought my H&E deck and read the Costs and Effects part I can't understand this card anymore....

I had a whole long thing to say about this, but technically, you're right. Deadly Ground only prohibits players from taking (or performing) actions while it's in effect. However, that's an accidental change due to the refinement of the definition of perform. I suppose the next best word to define what happens with all actions, no matter who performs (or takes) them, would be play, so let's try that.

Deadly Ground should read, "Immediate Battle Terrain: Players can play no actions for this battle except ones that destroy this terrain."

Jeez, I just errata'd Deadly Ground. I feel weird.

Jeff,

Per your ruling, Stand Against the Waves targets personalities. I wanted to know why stand targets, but Imp Census/Peasant Revolt do not.

To start with, here's the text from Stand Against the Waves:

You may play this card only if you have units in this battle and each Personality in your army has Followers. Battle: Your opponent must bow as many Personalities in his or her army who have no Followers as you have units in your army. If he or she cannot do so, bow all opposing Personalities without Followers.

Why does Stand always target? Because the first effect of the Battle action always happens, even if the second part is guaranteed to happen, too. So, after Stand is played, you first force your opponent to target and bow X personalities. Then, you create a second, usually pointless effect that bows all the opposing personalities without Followers. So, that said...

From what I remember of your SAtW ruling, you target all the peeps fitting the criteria of no followers. Why doesnt the same follow suit for IC or PR? Each one has specific catagories of personalities which would seem to follow the same logic as Stands.

There's an important distinction between the two, though. Stand always has an abolute number of personalities that it can affect. Whether that number is one or 70,000, there's always an upper limit. For Peasant Revolt and Imp. Census, that's not true, and that's the difference between a global effect and a targeted one.

If there's no hard cap on the number of things that can be hit by an effect, it's global. If there's a hard cap, then the effect cannot be considered global, and then we go to the other 3 targeting rules to see if it targets.

REND THE SOUL

I'm in a battle and I play Rend The Soul on one of my Personalities for +5F. The Personality is then destroyed or otherwise removed from the battle, but I still manage to win. Is the battle still a tie even though the Personality with Rend The Soul is no longer there?

No, once the Rending guy moves somewhere else, the rest of your army isn't "that Personality's army" anymore. They all just pretend they never knew the guy (though, thanks to him, they still can't destroy any provinces).

HIRUMA TSUKIKO/KISADA'S SHRINE

Tsukiko is destroyed while defending one of my Provinces. Can I bring her back with Kisada's Shrine, or does her Yu trait vanish before the Shrine can take effect?

One of the lesser known rules about Yu - any time you give a personality without Yu a Yu bonus, you first give them a permanent Yu 0, then modify it from there. So, when Tsukiko assigns as a Defender, she gets a permanent Yu 0, and then gives herself a two point bonus to her newfound Yu. That makes her an eligible target for Kisada's Shrine.

It's also worth noting, though, that even did that rule not exist, Tsukiko would still be a legal target for the Shrine. Cards remember changes that have happened to them, even when they're dead.

Along that same reasoning, couldn't you check to see if a personality has 3 force, target and bow it, per P.R., or check to see if a personality has the requisite gold cost, and bow it, per I.C.?

I'm guessing this is about the whole Stand thing. Your argument is persuasive, and correct except for that part where you target the personalities you're bowing. It would be right for a different definition of targeting, but for the current 4 rules version, Peasant Revolt and Imperial Census are clearly global effects, and Stand Against the Waves clearly is not. With these targeting rules, that makes all the difference.

How can this card ever be used when accoridng to the rule book the Battle Action Segment continues until all players pass consecutively?

This card is Show of Strength, incidentally. Show has to be played as your first Battle or Open action, and you cannot have passed in the current battle and still play it. So, that means that, at your first chance to play an action, if you want to play Show of Strength, you must. You can't pass and then play it, and you can't do some other stuff and then play it.

I should be able to play Sneak Attack because Sneak Attack reads "Reaction: Play this card when the Battle Action Segment begins. The Attacker may take an Open or Battle action before the Defender's first action in this battle." and Show of Strength reads "Political Battle: This action may not be played if you have passed or taken an Open or Battle action this battle.". So Sneak Attack is neither an Open nor a Battle action just like Kyuden Ikoma only cancels actions that have Battle on them, then play Show of Strength as my first action.

Sure, you can do that. It's kinda a waste of a Sneak Attack, though.

In my Asako Deck I usualy play Scout/Deadly and was looking at this card thinking it would be nice if I could get it off before he played any actions.

Aha! Now this, you can't do. You *can* play a Sneak Attack, and then you can use the Scout's trait to play a terrain, but you *cannot* squeeze a Show of Strength in between those two. Sneak Attack doesn't give you an immediate extra action, it only changes the normal order of battle actions so that the attacker (probably you) gets to take the first action. After you play Sneak Attack, you're still in the moment before the first normal battle action, and all other Reactions or traits that are used in that window have to be used or not before you move on to the first normal battle action. The card you are looking for is Mushin.

Sneak/Mushin/Show of Strength/Deadly Ground. Now that's power.

Hello

Hi!

first the serious ones:

If shrine of the sun or unexpected strike negates the effects of rampant plague after a player has become inmune to its effects do they lose inmunity, in case rampant strikes again.

Yes. Both the distribution of tokens each Events phase and the immunity to the Plague are ongoing effects of the Event.

Recentyl i've heard the rule about "spawing grounds player's oni personalities" not losing the +1/+1 benefit if they change controller, for the bonus applies to cards owned not controlled.

Does this work in the same way for personalities that gain your clan trait through the use of sensei like kage sensei.

No. All the Sensei that hand out Clan traits refer to "your" personalities, not personalities you own. Bonuses granted to cards you own stay even when those personalities are no longer under your control. Bonuses granted to your personalities only apply to personalities you control yourself.

now the stupid ones. I know this ones are most likely to never happen in a game but i had to ask. sorry.

Time ago, a tricky question about the egg of p'an ku and ninja shadow walker exp 2 ended with the egg of p'an ku into the dinasty deck as a fate card. My question is if i targeted the province with egg of p'an ku with dark oracle of earth exp, it would get the shadowlands trait permanetly, so i could use, Yogo junzo exp2KYD to retrieve it from the discard pile to my hand. Once played again would retain the egg the shadowlands trait if copying a non shadowlands personality?

Yup. Silly Egg combos live on!

What happens if someone copies the make a wish promo with grandfather's jaw or the path not taken and his deck ends under 40 after playing the copy.

In a tournament? Disqualification for having a deck under the legal size limit.

Hi

When playing I give you my Name, can the shugenja who has the spell attached be destroyed as a cost of playing that spell ?

Sure. Targeting is neither a cost nor an effect, and happens before both. So, after you announce that you will be playing I Give You my Name, you announce all targets for the Spell, then pay the costs, then resolve the effects.

If 2 shadowlands players are playing and both have "take" who plays the first one? what if one of the players gets lucky enough to have 2 copies in his hand?

The way it works is like this:

Follow the normal rules for determining who goes first.

Then, one player or the other has the chance to play a Take.

Seeing as one player is currently going first, there's no reason for him to play his Take. So, the other player probably plays his. Then, the guy who was originally going first has a chance to play a Take, and he probably wants to (going first being good and all).

Game starts.

In the event that one player has more than one Take, last person who plays a Take goes first. Again, if the person who is going first has two, the second one is probably dead weight. But if the guy who was going second has two, he's gonna be really happy.

Alright, first ten down. Lunch break, then ten more!