Bloodspeaker Ambush

Legend of the Five Rings card from Wrath of the Emperor

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

2

Keywords

Bloodspeaker, Maho, Terrain

Card Text

Personalities and Followers at this battlefield with Bloodspeaker or Shadowlands have +1F/+2C.
Battle: Put this card into play at the current battlefield. Destroy all other Terrains in play. Lose 2 Honor.

Focus Value

1

Legality

Rain of Blood (Diamond)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: Ok, then... Suiteiru no Oni's Token have no real chi, so they have always 0 chi.
  Now, let's think of Skeletal Troops. If I have a Skeletal Troop in the current battle, and I play Bloodspeaker Ambush. Do my Skeletal Troop become a 3/2 Follower or a 3/+2 follower ?
  A: If you give a 2F, 0C card a +1F, +2C bonus, it becomes a 3F, 2C card.
  Cards only have a "+X" stat if they come with it printed (like most Weapons and Armor), or some effect says that they do. In the case of Skeletal Troops, neither condition is true, so they do not wind up with a Chi stat of "+2" but merely "2." Martin Lund, "Rules for 6 October 2004", 11 Oct 2004
• Q: 2/ Here is the situation : I have a suiteiru no oni with, say, five token from his action (1F Nonhuman Shadowlands Oni Follower tokens ). I play a Bloodspeaker Ambush... do my 1F followers become 2/+2 followers (thus giving my suiteiru +10 chi (+12 with the terrain)), or mere 2/2 followers (and suiteiru only gains 2 chi from the terrain) ?
  A: Neither. They become 2F tokens.
  Take a closer look at the part of the Rulebook that deals with unspecified stats - page 63 of the Diamond Edition Rulebook, first paragraph (italics):
  "If something refers to a value that isn't specified or is missing, such as the Focus Value of a Follower token or the Gold cost of an Event, consider that value to be 0. Effects that try to change a value that a card does not normally possess fail - the value is always 0."
  Your 1F Follower Token does not possess a Chi Value, so all attempts to raise its Chi Value fail. It always is considered to have 0 Chi. Martin Lund, "Rules for 4 October 2004", 6 Oct 2004
• Q: My friend is playing Shadowlands and plays the terrain Bloodspeaker Ambush. Does this allow him to get infinite force as long as he has at least one unit in the battle? As in, can he keep using its ability over and over since he doesn't lose honor for being Shadowlands. If so, that's rough.
  A: Infinite?
  Most Terrains are played for their "Battle" Action when you put them into play. You can't put them into play again, so you can't use their ability again. Terrains aren't the same as Formations - which you put into play as a battle Action, then use the printed Battle Actions on them as a separate play.
  Further, Bloodspeaker Ambush is an immediate Terrain and has an ongoing effect. It only hands out a single bonus to each card while it is in play. If you remove it from play and play it again, you don't double up its effect - the old one ends and a new one begins.
  Check out the Diamond Edition Rulebook, page 82 for more information about Terrains. It is kind of awkwardly placed away from "Card types in detail" - instead kept under the expanded section about Battle. Martin Lund, "Bloodspeaker Ambush", 23 Mar 2005