Acquiring Favor

Legend of the Five Rings card from A Perfect Cut

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Keywords

Political

Card Text

Reaction: When paying a cost of discarding the Imperial Favor, bow your Stronghold: This action pays that cost instead.

Focus Value

3

Legality

Four Winds (Gold)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rulings

• Q: Do I need to possess the Imperial Favor in order to play Acquiring Favor? A: No. Legend of the Five Rings FAQ, May 21, 2003, p. 13

Rules Q&A

• Q: In the archive you can find this :
  Imperial Favor If a card is used to pay the cost of an Imperial Favor effect (e.g., Acquiring Favor), it is considered a use of the Favor in all ways. [VRD, 28 December 2001]
  In all respect, this should be applicable to Kyuden Bayushi, BUT a stronghold is not a card.
  So do you plan to update the ruling OR does Kyuden Bayushi creates an exception ?
  A: That would be Zen's department. It does seem to need an update. I guess I could sick so Yasuki Taskmasters on him or something, but I think they'd just take his side, being Crabs and all. Martin Lund, "Rules for 18-21 August 2004", 29 Aug 2004
• Q: 2) The Accumulated Rulings say "If a card is used to pay the cost of an Imperial Favor effect (e.g., Acquiring Favor), it is considered a use of the Favor in all ways." Can this be safely extended to include paying it with non-cards (strongholds, tokens, etc.)?
  A: Yes. If you pay the cost using the Imperial Favor, the game treats it as though you have used the Imperial Favor. Gozaku Sensei can only have one person under the 6-gold lock at a time, no matter how much Acquiring Favor, Commanding Favor, Eloquence, Kyuden Bayushi, Kakita Yoshi, and Kakita Mai you introduce to the equation. You can sure bow a lot of people, though. Martin Lund, "Rules for 12 July 2004", 15 Jul 2004
• Q: Do you have to have the Imperial Favor to use this action?
  A: No (card text). Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 15 November 2003", 15 Nov 2003
• Q: Can someone tell me, how "Acquiring Favor" works, what exactly it is doing?
  A: Any time you would have to give up the Favor as a cost of something (like using a Wind action or attaching the Imperial Standard), you can play Acquiring Favor instead. You may do this regardless of your Family Honor and regardless of where the real Favor is. Jeff Alexander, "post for 27-28 May 2003", 29 May 2003
• Q: I was told recently that to use Acquiring Favor you don't actually need to have the Imperial Favor in the first place. I've always played it that you did because the card refers to satisfying a cost to use the favor but if you never actually had the favor to begin with paying its cost seems irrelevant.
  but that may have been a bad assumption on my part. The card text is:
  "Acquiring Favor
  Political Reaction: Bow your stronghold and play this card to satisfy the cost of using the Imperial Favor"
  Thanks!
  A: You do not need to have the real Favor to use Acquiring Favor. Jeff Alexander, "post for 3 March 2003", 4 Mar 2003
• Q: Concerning "Acquiring Favor":
  "Political Reaction: Bow your Stronghold and play this card to satisfy a cost of using the Imperial Favor."
  Q1: Is playing this card effectively equal to discarding the Imperial Favor?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 3 September 2002", 4 Sep 2002
• Q: 7. If a card is used to pay the cost of an Imperial Favor effect (e.g., Acquiring Favor), it is considered a use of the Favor in all ways. [VRD, 28 December 2001]
  A: Again, are you saying this is unnatural or pointing out its absence from the rulebook? Jeff Alexander, "post for 24 July 2002", 25 Jul 2002
• Q: Jeff, I brought this question up at the Sac Kotei and you said that at the moment you would rule it one way and look into it more later. So the question: Can you use Acquiring Favor plus Tsudao to send an attacking Matsu Hataki home? I said yes, you said no, could you clarify.
  A: Zen found the current ruling, right where he'd left it. Good ol' Zen.
  "If a card is used to pay the cost of an Imperial Favor effect (e.g., Acquiring Favor), it is considered a use of the Favor in all ways. [VRD, 28 December 2001]" Jeff Alexander, "post for 27 June 2002", 28 Jun 2002
• Q: Since I found nothing in the archive: Is discarding the favor a cost using the favor?
  A: If you're discarding the Favor "to" do something, yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 26 November 2001", 27 Nov 2001
• Q: So can I play Acquiring Favor instead of discarding the favor?
  A: If you're discarding it to pay for something. That's exactly what the card was made for. What you can't do is something like play Acquiring Favor when your opponent lobbies to take the Favor away from you in order to keep the Favor. Discarding it is not a cost in that instance. Jeff Alexander, "post for 26 November 2001", 27 Nov 2001
• Q: That's a subtle nuance I didn't catch the first time. You're absolutely right. The combo actually isn't legal. This is a REVERSAL.
  Yeah, the 'cannot react twice to the same trigger' affects quite a number of things in APC (most notably Acquiring Favor and the Diplomatic Apprentice.
  A: And yet, it's not a new rule. Weird. Jeff Alexander, "post for 9 October 2001", 9 Oct 2001
• Q: And even if you started the turn with the Favor, your stronghold unbowed, and Acquiring Favor, wouldn't using Naseru's ability twice fall under the rule about not using a reaction on the same card twice for one trigger?
  A: That's a subtle nuance I didn't catch the first time. You're absolutely right. The combo actually isn't legal. This is a REVERSAL. Jeff Alexander, "post for 8 October 2001", 8 Oct 2001
• Q: Quote from the Gold rulebook, p. 53 (the APC rulebook is identical, AFAIK):
  A player can only take actions associated with the current battle. This is called the _Rule_of_Relevance_. In particular, the action needs to satisfy at least one of the following conditions:
  * It comes from a card or token at the battle.
  * It moves or creates a card or token in the battle.
  * It targets or directly affects a card or token in the battle, the Province under attack, or the battle itself.
  * It is reacting to a card or token leaving the battle (including leaving play from the battle).
  OK, now which part of this does Acquiring Favor satisfy? None. Ergo, Acquiring Favor is illegal during a battle.
  A: Exactly, positively 100% correct, which is why I need to say add this to the card:
  "You may take this action during battle, even in a battle in which you have no units." Jeff Alexander, "replies to 10 September 2001", 12 Sep 2001
• Q: After reading the card a couple of times, I have a question regarding Acquiring Favor.
  Does using this card constitute using the favor to trigger actions on 4 Winds? For example, if you are using Toturi Tsudao, can you discard Acquiring Favor and bow your stronghold to send a unit home from a battle?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "replies to 8 September", 11 Sep 2001