Rules for 1 May 2004

Your Rules for Tuesday, May 1, 2004

Can a Quartermaster pay for a Crystal Mine

Can I bow and destory a Quartermaster and bow a Crystal mine at the same time to produce 6 gold and a +2/+2 token on a Samurai coming into play?

No, you either have to bow Quartermaster to satisfy the cost of using Crystal Mine, or you have to bow it to satisfy the cost of using itself. You can't use it for both at the same time.

Qs on two cards cont'd

COAT can send the entire army home. Can it do so against one defender without risking challenges? Doesn’t the army have to go home one action at a time?

Yes, the Action only moves one unit per use.

It is pretty much impossible to get home from a COAAT without risking a challenge. I mean, just playing the card gives a lone defender an immediate opportunity to issue such a challenge.

As for Hiruma Dojo, I’m still confused.

Say I have a 6 gold samurai personality of my faction. I choose to reduce its cost by 2 instead of pay full gold for the honor gain. Now, he costs 4 gold to play. I have only Hiruma Dojo unbowed as a source of gold.

If I bow Hiruma Dojo as a reaction, I could “make” 4 gold. But, timing-wise, how can I “pay” 4 gold from nothing at all, then react to actually produce thye 4 gold? This is the exact situation I can’t figure out.

The Hiurma Dojo doesn't make 4 gold. It reduces the cost of a Samurai by 4.

So you say that you want to buy your Samurai. Now you are paying for a Samurai (even a 0-cost Samurai like Koto!) Then you play cost-reduction Reactions and make Gold. If you have enough effects to reduce the cost to 0, you can pay 0 gold and successfully hire the Personality.

More fun with Danjuro and others...

Just wanted to stick my nose in and mention Akodo Rokuro's bow negation effect, as it was part of the last round of UL talks. Specifically, I choose to bow, but negate it w/AR, so I don't gain honor (I didn't bow), but I'm not dishonored either (I didn't choose the "not bow" path). Not sure that the two relate, but thought I'd bring it up.

It doesn't really relate. You choose one path or the other. You can only choose the bow path if you can bow the Personality as a cost. Once you attempt to do so, it is too late to go the other way. If you negate the bowing, you fail to pay the cost, and consequently do not gain the 1 Honor (since you didn't pay the cost).

Senpet Scimitar, force bonuses, Hoshi Wayan, oh my.

I have a question in a similar line.Can Toritaka Kitao(can't spell diamond legal guy off top off my head.)attach the scimitar and still be honorable since he cancels the action dishonoring him not the attachment?

Yes, Hiruma Ashihei can successfully attach Senpet Scimitar. None of the effects of the Action dishonor him. The trait of the card being attached dishonors him, and that's not part of any Action.

Same deal with Force Bonuses from Items when you attach them - they don't qualify as "A Force Bonus from an Action."

2 Questions. Hakai and Faith in My Clan

1 - Regarding Hakai, at what point are you allowed to play either ability? Reaction: Once per turn, after a target Shugenja casts a Spell or Kiho or uses an innate ability, permanently give that Shugenja -2C. Reaction: After a card is put into a discard pile, remove that card from the game.

For example, suppose Agasha Seruma out of Morning Glory Castle plays Purity of the Heavens (kiho that destroys a shadowlands card) and targets Hakai.

Can Hakai kill Seruma? Can Hakai remove Purity of the Heavens? At the NorCal Kotei, Hakai was ruled that he couldn't do the -2 ability, even though I think the ruling on playing Ring of Air would suggest that as long as the spell/kiho was not cancelled, he can do it immediately.

He can do it immediate after all costs of the Action are payed and all players pass on playing Reactions to cost-related timing, but before any effects of Purity are generated.

However, killing Seruma won't stop Purity at that point either. It has been successfully cast and the Action will generate all its effects.

Casting : Playing Cast : Played

"Played" is met as a trigger once the prerequisite song-and-dance stuff and Reactions to such have been completed (announcement, targeting, cost payment). You can't consider something successfully "played" if you haven't paid for it, after all!

However, the process of "playing" an Action is on-going, from announcement to resolving the last immediate effect. "Casting" reflects this process as closely as it can. The only deviation from "playing" you get with "casting" is if the casting Personality leaves play. You're still in the process of "playing" the Spell or Kiho Action, even if the shugenja or monk is now too stone-cold-dead to be "casting" anything.

Yes, Hakai will get to React before Seruma kills him.

He's still going to die, though. Killing her at that point won't stop the Action already set in motion.

2 - If I have a Clan Champion in the battle and my opponent plays Superior Strategist, can I Faith in My Clan the subsequent action or does it have to hit the Superior Strategist?

You can cancel the subsequent action. Superior Strategist instructs the player using it to gain an additional action to play the retrieved Battle or Open Action. You can React to such a play like any other play.

Wow, lots of Code of Bushido commentary. I think that's out of my ball-park. So, that will do it for Tuesday. If I missed your question, please repost it with the flag [RULES] in the subject line and I'll get back to you at the first opportunity.

Thanks folks,