Earth's Protection

Legend of the Five Rings card from Torn Asunder

Card Type

Spell

Gold Cost

0

Keywords

Earth

Card Text

Battle: Bow this card and give the current battlefield's province a bonus, or a penalty if you are defending, from 1 up to its current strength: Give this Shugenja an equal Force bonus. Negate his next bowing or movement from other players' cards' effects if he is Earth.

Focus Value

3

Legality

Age of Conquest (Emperor)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: Mumoku no Oni (Nonhuman Personality) has the trait "While Mumoku is attacking at a battlefield, its province has a maximum strength equal to its base strength."
  Earth's Protections (Spell) has the ability "Battle: Bow this card and give the current battlefield's province a bonus, or a penalty if you are defending, from 1 up to its current strength: Give this Shugenja an equal Force bonus. Negate his next bowing or movement from other players' cards' effects if he is Earth."
  My question is this: if Mumoku no Oni and a Shugenja with Earth's Protection attached are attacking at the same battlefield, can the bonus be given to the province without increasing its strength?
  For example: Mumoku and 3F/2C Shugenja are attacking a province with a base strength of 7. I use Earth's Protection to give the Shugenja +4F, which I must also give the province, taking its strength to 11. Does Mumoku's trait prevent the bonus from applying to the province? Or would his trait negate the cost of Earth's Protection?
  Thanks!
  A: In order to give a bonus or penalty (the cost for Earth's Protection), the stat must actually change its value. Since Mumoko will prevent the province strength from going higher than its base strength, you cannot give the province a bonus (and pay the cost of Earth's Protection) unless the province's strength is already below its base strength. Jon Palmer, "Mumoku no Oni & Earth's Protection", 8 Mar 2013
• Q: Spell text: Battle: Bow this card and give the current battlefield's province a bonus, or a penalty if you are defending, from 1 up to its current strength: Give this Shugenja an equal Force bonus. Negate his next bowing or movement from other players' card effects if he is Earth.
  http://rules.l5r.com/EE_Special_wording ... and_values As a quantity, the phrase "up to" [a certain number] indicates a number chosen by the player taking the action or using the trait, between zero and that number, inclusive.
  Since the card text says 1 up to current strength instead of 0 up to, I assume the card text overrides the emphasized portion of the 'up to' rules. If a player has 0 province strength and uses the action on Earth's Protection, how much force can they gain? 0, 1, or infinite (in the event that the 'conflicting minimum/maximum stat' rule also applies in a '1 up to 0' situation)
  A: If the current province strength is zero, since no number is both greater than or equal to 1 (the minimum you can choose) and less than or equal to the current province strength of zero (the maximum you can choose), you cannot fulfill that part of the cost. Jon Palmer, "Earth's Protection", 21 Feb 2013