Rules for 23 January 2005

The Rules for Sunday, January 23, 2005

A few questions

1) Can I use Same Old Tricks on a sensei? I think that the answer to this is yes, but well...

It is a card in play. You can target it with The Same Old Tricks.

2) Let us assume the following situation: I am currently attacking and I have a couple of bowed shujenja in the battle that is currently being resolved. Isawa Sezaru waits patiently at my home to show how broken he is. The way I understand the rules it is perfectly sound to use his ability, correct? What happens now if: a)Sezaru is at home and bowed. Although actions on bowed cards that straighten themselves are legal, can this actually be done (since sezaru is not in the current battle)?

Why would that impact anything? There are two complete separate rules. You need to meet both.

Is Sezaru's ability going to affect a card in the battle? Yes, it will unbowed Shugenja in that battle. Relevance checks out.

Is Sezaru's ability going to straighten his card? Yes. Rule about using abilities on bowed cards checks out.

b)Sezaru is again home, but the shujenja in the current battle are bowed and are prevented from straightening (e.g. Saori lock). Is the action relevant? Does it fall under the "Just because one or more effects of an Action are doomed to fail does not mean that the Action itself is illegal, nor that its other effects fail as well." clause?

No. It does not meet Relevance. The effect it would have on any cards in the battle are all going to be Negated. That means the Action won't meet Relevance.

c)Again, if Sezaru is prevented from straightening himself (e.g. he's buzy fondling a nice ruby), can he use his action?

No. The ability doesn't straighten Sezaru, so the action won't get around the "can't use abilities on bowed cards," clause.

3) During my straighten phase the Water Dragon copies Bairei's "fetch - a - spell" ability, and get's a spell. Can he copy it (and use it) again next turn? Is it a new instance or the once per game constraint is "global"?

He can make a new copy of the ability next turn and use it. This restriction is specific to the individual ability, not anything "global."

4)Yoritomo Katoa's text says "Cancel the next political action". Since it does not imply a duration, does this effect last until the end of turn? If not, do multiple uses of Katoa stack?

He doesn't say that. He says, "Political Open: Bow Katoa to negate all effects of the next Political action this game."

There is a significant difference there.

The duration of his ability is until the next political action resolves.

You can create a "stack" of such effects, but they would ALL trigger and be used when the first political action comes down the pike. In that respect, you can't create an effective "stack" against the next 5 or 6 political actions to be played.

some question

-If I egg paneki,do I have the right to play two cards in my opponents handper turn in an attack phase? I guess the answer is no because of the text on paneki.

Each card and trait is distinct. You can play one card with Paneki and one card for Egg of Paneki.

-Is Shusui saved by explored territory if he has used his ability? I guess yes since you ruled that people can be saved from wedge.

If Shusui is actually AT the battlefield when he is destroyed, it will work. However, attacking and allied units (and defending units if it is the last battle of the Attack Phase) are sent home at the end of the Resolution Segment, which is before the battle "ends" and Shusui's ability kills him. Explored Territory only saves a card that is AT the correct battlefield.

-In the case above,what if I play dying effort on shusui? Does explored territory save him from his ability and then he dies from the effect of the dying effort or does explored territory save him from both effect?

Explored Territory only saves you from the first attempt at killing you. It only saves you one time, not twice.

I guess he's saved by explored territory and then he dies from the dying effort effect.

Assuming he's at the battlefield to be saved the first time, yes, dying effort will catch him next.

-If I have a lot of personality cards discarded and no more cards in my dynasty deck, can I use musume mura to discard nothing from the province and put a personality instead? I guess the answer is no because the discard of musume is a cost.

No. Read Musume Mura again. The cost is "bow Musume Mura."

The problem, however, is that you need to target a card to discard for the first effect of Musume Mura. If you don't have a card in your Province to target, then you can't use that ability, because you don't have a required target.

some questions

I hav Shattered Focus in Play, and no card in my hand. My opponent focuses and I strike.

Can I use Shattered Focus 's reaction to discard his focus card ? (or is the effect negated since there isn't A focused card to discard for each opponent)

Shattered Focus is printed after Dawn of the Empire, and does not explicitly state that it targets the discarded cards. That means you do not have to have a focus card for each personality in the duel. It will resolve and discard the one card that is card discard, and its attempt to discard a card which is not there is simple Negated.

Redirection question

I have a question about redirection and Kolat Assassin.

I already answered this exact same question yesterday. Only Personalities with chi less than 5 are legal targets of that ability of Kolat Assassin, just as only Personalities with 3 or more Personal Honor are legal targets for Strength of Purity. If something means to say, "Target a personality. It that Personality is X, do Y," then the card will clearly say so.

just a few other questions

-What happens if I egg Moto Latomu exp, will my personalities make two rangeds instead of one?

You'll have two Reactions available on each card. You can take each one in turn.

-If I'm playing with Tomorrow Sensei and, for some reason, shuffle one of my ratling personalities who was killed from having 0 chi, will the personality dies when he enters in play? And, if so, what happens if I have other copys of the same personality in my deck?

If you bring a Personality into play with 0 Chi, he enters play and then dies.

If you have to shuffle a card back into your deck that has been permanently changed but looks identical to other copies in your deck, you need to find some way to make that copy distinct from the others. I personally recommend using sleeves and inserting a scrap of paper between the card front and plastic.

-After a player search his deck for some reason (such as Kakita Dueling Academy or Gifts and Favors), does he have to shuffle the deck after that? If he doesn't have to, what happens if he, "by mistake", shuffles it in a tournament?

Whenever you search your deck, you must shuffle afterwards. That's the 4th Cardinal Rule on page 34 of the Diamond Edition Rulebook.

As to the second question, it depends on the card. Searching for Gifts and Favors out of your deck when you can't produce one from your deck or Provinces is illegal, and you lose the game if you do so. The card itself even reminds you of this. As for searching your deck for a card that is not there, this is not a "mistake" nor is it cheating. You can use abilities like that of Isawa Taeruko to search for cards that you know aren't in your deck, just to be able to shuffle it.

You can certainly search for that which can't be found. The Brotherhood of Shinsei and Togashi have been teaching such lessons of Enlightenment in Rokugan for generations.

Subuto question

Can Subuto come in for free on the defence if opposed?

Yes. That's exactly what his card says. If you aren't the Defender, you have to pay his gold cost. If you are the Defender, there is no cost to using his ability.

That's everything for Sunday. 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.