Unholy Strike

Legend of the Five Rings card from Aftermath, Twenty Festivals, Promotional–Twenty Festivals

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Card Text

Battle: Melee 2 Attack.
Interrupt: Give a Melee or Ranged Attack +2 strength.

Focus Value

1

Legality

A Brother's Destiny (Ivory Edition), A Brother's Destiny (Twenty Festivals), Age of Conquest (Emperor), War of the Seals (Onyx Edition)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: Just needed some clarification on how the interrupt affects melee and ranged attacks.
  Conservation
  Courage
  Interrupt: Each of the action's Melee and Ranged Attacks has -1 strength, or -3 strength if its target has Armor attached. Open: Show one or two target attachments in your hand. Shuffle them into your Fate deck. Draw cards equal to the number you showed plus one.
  Example:
  -Player A declares a Ranged 3 attack from their target personality, and interrupts with Ranged 2 attack from a follower in the same unit.
  -After Player B opts to pass, Player A interrupts the now Ranged 5 attack with Unholy Strike to increase it to a Ranged 7
  -Player B finally interrupts the Ranged 7 with Conservation
  What is the end result of the ranged attack?
  Would it simply result in a final Ranged 6 attack or would it become a Ranged 5 attack ((3-1)+(2-1)+2)?
  Thanks!
  A: It reduces the strength of the overall ranged attack, so it would become a ranged 6 (or 4 if the target has Armor attached) Jon Palmer, "Clarification on Conservation", 1 May 2015
• Q: Can Unholy Strike be used to increase Gensai's Range attack? I assume that if it can, I have to play Unholy Strike as an Interrupt to his action's declaration.
  A: Yes, you may use Unholy Strike to Interrupt the action. You may even then choose not to discard the card to perform a Ranged Attack, if circumstances arise that warrant it. Jon Palmer, "Daidoji Gensai yet again", 7 Oct 2014
• Q: Under what circumstances, if any, can Tsuruchi Gosho's RA be combined?
  I understood you can not Unholy Strike his RA. But this came up during a game:
  player A has Gidayu Sensei, and a unit with a RA ability in play, Gosho in a province player B attacks him, he defends.
  What player A wanted to do was Reserve Gosho in, Interrupt with Gosho's RA, combine with the RA from his other unit -> preposterous! He then tried to start the "combo" with the RA from his other unit, and combine with Gosho's Reserve (+ Interrupt RA) -> blasphemy!
  These two scenarios I know would not be legal.
  However, if he uses Gosho's Reserve (no Interrupt) first, and then (on a later action) announces the RA from his other unit *when Gosho is already in play*, can he combine that RA with Gosho's "Ranged Attack action" (per Gidayu Sensei's text)?
  (also, a reminder on my other lingering question over here)
  A: No. Tsuruchi Gosho's Ranged Attack ability is an Interrupt, so it is not "appropriate to the phase", as the Combat Segment is an Action Round for Battle actions, not Interrupts. Alex Jones, "Combining Tsuruchi Gosho's RA", 12 May 2014
• Q: Regarding this post: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=106955
  As far as I can see, there's nothing in the rulebook preventing Unholy Strike from interrupting the recruit action, and increasing the strength of his Ranged attack. Please clarify.
  A: The Recruit action isn't generating Gosho's ranged 3, his Thunder Interrupt action is.
  If you take a look at page 26 of the advanced rules, you can see that the Interrupts interrupt whatever created the original attack (Ranged, Melee, Fear). In this case that's Gosho's Thunder Interrupt, and you cannot Interrupt an Interrupt. Jon Palmer, "Re: Tsuruchi Gosho + Unholy Strike", 3 Mar 2014