Rules for 25 January 2005

The Rules for Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Wako

"Will not enter play if you control no Naval Personalities." When can I play a Wako?

When you have at least ONE Naval Personality. You can't play it if you control ZERO Naval Personalities. You can control any number of Personalities that are not Naval so long as you control at least ONE with Naval.

Misdirection

Tarako destroys a region, and kills one of my personalities.

And targets one of your Personalities. Misdirection is played during Targeting, which is well before she actually kills anything.

I have no presence in the current battlefield:

That's irrelevant. Reactions don't require Presence or Relevance. Redirected Actions need to abide the play conditions in terms of Presence and Relevance of the Player who played the Action in the first place, not the redirecting Player.

can Misdirection be used to have them destroy Tarako herself?

Assuming Tarako or the Region destroyed as a cost where at the Current Battle, yes. If Tarako is at home, the Region was at a different battle, and your Personality was the card in the Current Battle that made the Action relevant, Tarako wouldn't be a legal choice (since the other player couldn't have targeted her).

Furthermore, will Misdirection allow me to choose which region Tarako destroys?

No. "You cannot redirect costs either." (Diamond Edition Rulebook, page 74)

Another question, can strength of purity be given to someone not at the current battle (I'm wondering for purposes of misdirection)?

How would that targeting ever be legal? The Action would fail Relevance, so Personalities not in the battle aren't legal targets for it.

If Kakita or Mirumoto focus with multiple cards and their opponent then plays Smoke and Mirrors, what happens?

Exactly what it says in the card text: Discard the last card.

Not unbowing oneself

Just imagine. I have Sezaru, with an eclipse attached. Sezaru casts eclipse, thus bows and may remain bowed. Then, I want to use Sezaru's ability to straighten everyone, what is legal even if he's bowed, since he would straighten himself. However, I then decide not to straighten Sezaru, per the "may remain bowed" clause.

Sure. You have the option to have the effect of straightening Sezaru to fail when it resolves. The Action was legal when you took it. Just because you used an optional effect or Ability to thwart part of that doesn't mean the Action is Canceled or anything.

Hatsu Suru

How about the simple answer is usually the right one. "Sometimes a Reaction changes the trigger in such a way that further reactions aren't legal," DE rulebook pg 75. In this case we know, from the glossary, "Removing a card from the game is not considered destruction," DE rulebook pg 103.

So as soon as you pay the cost of Oni no Hatsu Suru's reaction, you have changed his destruction into a removed from game, which is not destruction, which means Feign death is now no longer a legal play because it no longer has a valid trigger. You either get the 2 baby oni's or Oni no Hatsu Suru, not both.

Hatsu Suru does not say "instead of being destroyed," so he is still destroyed. Since the controller has not yet passed on a chance to react to its destruction, Feign Death is still a legal play as far as reaction legality and timing go.

It's legal to play because the destruction still occurred, but it will do nothing except cause its player a 2-point Honor loss. Although Feign Death says nothing about the destroyed card needing to be in a discard pile, it is not legal to bring anything into the game in any state from outside the game without explicit instruction. Suitengu's Surge has such text. Feign Death does not.

stupid question: Iyaken & Etsui

Iyaken has an ability that reads: "Battle: Bow Iyaken: Target an unopposed personality. Bow him." On the face of it, I would take that to mean that Iyaken can: 1) If Iyaken is in the current battle, bow a personality at a different battlefield who opposes no units. 2) If Iyaken is in the current battle, bow a personality at a player's home. 3) If Iyaken is not in the current battle, Iyaken may bow a personality in the current battle.

Sure, provided the Personality isn't opposed.

So Etsui can (in a Raid battle): 1) If Etsui is in the current battle, bow a personality at a different battlefield who opposes no units. 2) If Etsui is in the current battle, bow a personality at a player's home. 3) If Etsui is not in the current battle, Etsui may twiddle his thumbs.

Correct.

That should cover everything for Tuesday, January 25, 2005. If I missed your question, please repost if with the flag [RULES] as part of your Clear and Distinct subject line. I'll get back to you at the first opportunity.