Blade of the Pure Soul

Legend of the Five Rings card from Words and Deeds

Card Type

Item

Force

+2

Chi

+1

Gold Cost

4

Keywords

Unique, Weapon

Card Text

Battle, w: You may target and destroy an Item in the enemy army. If there are now no Items in the enemy army, give this Personality +2F.

Focus Value

4

Legality

Race for the Throne (Samurai)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: I just wanted to confirm that if Blade of the Pure Soul's ability is used in the following situations:
  - vs. an army that had no Items to begin with - vs. an empty army (you are unopposed)
  ...that in these situations, the Force bonus would still apply itself.
  A: Those are both correct. The former was never really in question. The Rules Junta decided that "enemy army" in this context for this card could include situations where it was unopposed. Zen Faulkes, "Blade of the Pure Soul", 10 Jun 2008
• Q: In regards to http://www.alderac.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=68307:
  The answer to the second part was:
  No. "Army" implies units; see http://rules.l5r.com/Glossary_A#Army.
  How does this work with the line in the same link that says
  Likewise, comparing the number of units in an army to the number of units in another army does not imply that both sides must contain one or more units for the comparison to be valid. This is similar to the rules for absent stats; if anything in the game needs to know the Force, number of units, or other numerical aspect of an "army" with no units, it is always zero. ?
  A: My first thought was that you're not really comparing the number of units of the two sides, so that bit really isn't applicable. But as I think about it, yes, it does look like that can be used for an unopposed force bonus.
  Note to self to talk to Rules Junta about terminology for empty armies. Zen Faulkes, "Blade of the Pure Soul", 22 May 2008
• Q: Blade of the Pure Soul: If my opponent assigns no units against my army with this card, may I use the battle action on Blade of the Pure soul legally (and count towards playing Ring of Water by its own text)?
  A: Yes. That's what "may" means. Zen Faulkes, "Blade of the Pure Soul", 22 May 2008