Rules for 8 November 2004

Your Rules for Monday, November 8, 2004

Web of Lies Shahai (Marty)

The GE version was NON-EXP, but counted as Iuchi Shahai for Uniqueness, so this form is truly an Experienced form.

So, for Open play The experienced Shahai will overlay Shahai, but not Iuchi Shahai exp or Iuchi Shahai. Right?

You can't have Iuchi Shahai xp. and Shahai nonexp. in play at the same time. That is all the relationship there is between those cards.

Iuchi Shahai nonexp. and Iuchi Shahai xp. are one distinct path of experience.

Shahai and Shahai xp. are another completely distinct path of experience.

The only overlap between the two is that Shahai counts as Iuchi Shahai for Uniqueness - Not Experience Levels. The two paths are completely separate.

Unexpected Allies & XP personalities

If UA goes off & I have a basic personality in play & I flip his/her XP version, as I understand it I can put the XP version into play with no issues.

So long as the basic version is not himself Unique, sure.

My question is, if I already have a XP1 version of a personality in play, say Doji Tanitsu for sake of arguement, UA resolves & I flip Doji Tanitsu XP2. Following rules for the Unique keyword, I cannot have 2 cards with the same name & the Unique keyword in play at the same time.

Indeed

What I would like to know is am I given the oppertunity to overlay the new XP version or am I forced to discard it?

This is covered in the Accumulated Rulings under "Unexpected Allies"

"You may not overlay the revealed Personality atop a less-experienced version. That option is only available during the Dynasty phase. [DW, 1/3/96]"

"If a Personality cannot legally enter play (e.g., due to Uniqueness conflicts, you are unwilling or unable to pay non-gold costs), the Personality goes back to the top of your Dynasty deck. [Partial Reversal, JA, 5 April 2002]"

That should answer the issue. In your Tanitsu example, Tanitsu stays on top of your Dynasty Deck.

Bayushi Muhito + Bayushi's Mask

If I use Bayushi's Mask to move Bayushi Muhito after the Cavalry Declaration segment, do I get to take a battle or open action? For example, could I destroy Bayushi's Mask and move Muhito to oppose a personality and use his reaction to play Overwhelmed?

Bayushi Muhito Reaction: Once per turn, after Muhito moves during an Attack Phase, take a Battle or Open action.

You could use the Reaction, but it won't do anything noticeable. Pages 74 and 75 clearly state when you can take Open and Battle Actions, and the only time you can do so during the Attack Phase is during the Battle Action Segment. Since you haven't begun the Battle Action Segment and Muhito gives you the timing opportunity to play a Battle or Open Action, it won't do you any good since those types of Actions are yet illegal to play.

Effects that allow you to play an Action outside of its normal phase / segment designations either:

A.) Make it explicitly clear that they do so, such as with Plans Within Plans.

OR

B.) Can't be played at any time that they would abide the rule they are breaking, such as the abjectly horrifying (and completely hypothetical) concept of a card which read, "Battle: You may take a Limited Action after this."

* Shudder *

City of Blood question

If a player has City of Blood for a stronghold and Iuchiban Sensei, does the stronghold produce 5 gold for paying for Phoenix shugenja?

Only if that Shugenja has the Bloodspeaker Trait in the Province. The preview I saw on Tsuruchi.com for City of Blood doesn't give anyone the Bloodspeaker Trait until they are under your control, which requires them to be in play, not in the Province, so it won't help for City of Blood "converts" as it were.

rules: opposition

And what exactly dais opposed means ?

In an army with at least one unit in the other army at that location, regardless of whether that battle is currently being fought. That is not exactly true. The definition of "opposing" with respect to cards and units is not limited to the current battle only. What you are thinking of as the definition is actually a rule is that an ability that refers to "opposing" cards is not usable unless the card it's on is in the current battle (with an exception made for cards that cannot be in battles, such as Action cards).

Ninja Mentor re-clarification

Ninja Mentor reads:

"While in an army, this Personality may not be targeted by other players' actions unless he has performed an action this Attack Phase."

"He" refers to "this Personality", not "other players".

clarifying the change in "your"

For cards printed before Dawn of the Empire, the word "your" will continue to mean what it meant when the cards were written: "controlled by you and in play" when referring to something that can be in play, or determined by context otherwise ("your deck", "one of your Honorably Dead Samurai", etc.)

For cards printed in Dawn and later, "your" no longer has a strict game definition. Its meaning is NOT changing, not to "owned by you" or to anything else. It won't have a definition at all. It will go back to being an ordinary word. Cards will not refer to things like "your Shugenja" or "your Items" except in contexts where the meaning is clear from reading the rest of the card.

Neither "control" nor "own" change in Dawn. "A Shugenja you control" still means what it's meant since Imperial. "A Shugenja you own" still means what it's meant since Gold.

Traits

I didn't want to put specifics in when I asked the question because I thought that Dawn questions weren't being answered yet. Since Dawn's rules changes (smal though they are) are now in effect, I'll add in the specifics.

Kakita and Mirumoto both have traits that let the winner of a duel draw extra cards after winning the duel. Neither of those traits say "while Kakita/Mirumoto is in play", so according to the current rules, they will always generate those effects.

My questions are 1) Will Kakita and Mirumoto allow you to draw extra cards after winning a duel while they are in your discard pile?

2) Will Kakita and Mirumoto allow you to draw extra cards after winning a duel while they are in your deck or face down in your provinces? (I'm assuming that you'll either be required to show your opponent or show a judge/neighboring player these cards before the games starts to verify that they are in your deck if the answer to this question is yes.)

3) Will Kakita and Mirumoto allow you to draw extra cards after winning a duel while they are face up in your provinces?

4) Will Kakita and Mirumoto allow you to draw extra cards after winning a duel simply by existing in the game if they're not in your deck or your opponent's deck at all - after all, the traits still exist even if they're not in either of your decks.

No, no, no, no.

Something important was left off the Dawn rulesheet. This:

Abilities and Traits [p. 63] While traits of a card are always active, even while the card is not in play, the traits of a card that is not in play do not affect anything except that card itself.

Doji Konishiko ability

I'm aiming this mainly at Jeff, but allviews are welcome.

I bring Konishiko into play, I attach Show of Good Faith from hand and give her that ability, next turn I attach Diplomatic Apprentice to her.

When I bow the DA to preform the SoGF ability on Konishiko do I have to pay the 4 gold that I would normally have to play?

That's a good question. I'll make Jeff answer it definitively.

Rules: Many Temple Master + Singular

1. if i have a Singular personality in play, then overlay them with Many Temple Master, can i then bring in a new copy of that original Singular personality?

Sure. You don't control a copy of that Personality anymore. You control a copy of Many-temple Master

2. if so, can i overlay that new one with another Many Temple Master?

No. You already have a card called "Many-temple Master" under your control with the Singular Trait. Another Singular Many-temple Master will not "join" (come under control of) you for any reason. This is more than just an "entering play" restriction, and also impacts cards like Show of Good Faith and even the expiration of temporary "theft" effects. (See the Accumulated Rulings for more details).

Being a broad restriction on taking control of Personalities by any means, it is not counted as "a card's play restriction" that Overlaying ignores.

"Ignoring the card's play restrictions," won't get you around paying costs, selecting legal targets, or having to attach Items, Ancestors, Followers, and Spells to Personalities either. All those rules are too broad to be considered "a card's play restriction."

Questions about Mirumoto

My first question is, how the phrase "These effects end when the duel ends" relates to the phrase: "Mirumoto focuses first with 1 or 2 cards, and must focus if able."

Does this mean Mirumoto must focus until either his opponent strikes, or his controller runs out of cards, or is he only forced to focus the first time.

I'm not 100% sure about that one. I'll ask Jeff.

My second question is, how does the restriction: "Mirumoto focuses first with 1 or 2 cards, and must focus if able." interact with effects that are played instead of focusing. Can he use those effects, like wrath of the emperor, or must he focus a "Real" focus card first?

"Must focus" would prevent him from declaring a strike and it would prevent you from doing things "instead" of focusing.

Whether this applies to the whole duel, or the first time Mirumoto can focus, however, is something I need to here back from Jeff about.

That should cover everything for Monday, November 8, 2004. If I missed your question, please repost it with the flag [RULES] as part of your Clear and Distinct subject line. I'll get back to you at the first opportunity.