Shibata Sensei

Legend of the Five Rings card from A Line in the Sand

Card Type

Sensei

Province Strength

+0

Gold Production

+0

Starting Family Honor

+0

Keywords

Scorpion Clan

Card Text

Recruiting Personalities has a minimum Gold Cost of 5 for you. You may bow your target unbowed Courtier instead of discarding the Imperial Favor for Favor actions.

Legality

A Brother's Destiny (Ivory Edition), A Brother's Destiny (Twenty Festivals)

Deck

Pre-Game

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: I have Shibata Sensei and a courtier with Taketori attached.
  If I bow the courtier in battle to use the Rulebook Favor Battle ability, may I unbow him with Taketori?
  I'm not sure, because the action is in the rulebook, but the bow cost is printed in Shibata.
  Thanks!
  A: It's not a cost, but the bow effect is certainly printed on Shibata Sensei, so a Taketori can straighten the Courtier you bowed. Alex Jones, "Shibata and Taketori", 8 Sep 2015
• Q: In this ruling: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=114881&p=1486194&hilit=traditionalist&sid=a42731923fbbf8086ff9aa93443fe60e#p1486194 , Gilador says that "It [Traditionalist ] has no effect on actions for which only your Personalities are legal targets"
  But here: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=109365&p=1441343&hilit=traditionalist&sid=a42731923fbbf8086ff9aa93443fe60e#p1441343 Palmer says that Traditionalist allows you to bow other players' courtiers (with Shibata Sensei) to meet the requirement of playing Imperial Summons.
  Which is correct?
  A: The earlier ruling has been reversed. Alex Jones, "Traditionalist clarification?", 31 Aug 2015
• Q: Does bowing a courtier with Shibata Sensei satisfy the conditions of Claiming the Throne, or must one actually possess and discard the Imperial Favor its self?
  I looked for a ruling, but the closest situation I could find was a thread from what I believe was Celestial Edition, which seems to suggest you can, but I'd like clarification.
  viewtopic.php?f=59&t=74318&p=974921&hilit=Claiming+the+throne#p974921
  A: Shibata Sensei's trait only applies to Favor actions. The player ability granted by Claiming the Throne does not have the Favor keyword, so actions from it are not Favor actions. Alex Jones, "Shibata Sensei and Claiming the Throne", 24 Jul 2015
• Q: If Orikasa bows in place of discarding the favor, is it treated as a political action allowing her to straighten herself with her interupt?
  A: It would depend on the action. Both Rulebook Favor actions are Political, and if Orikasa bows to pay the favor cost via Shibata Sensei, you could Interrupt the action and straighten her. I can't offhand think of any non-Political Favor actions, but they could exist, in which case just bowing her wouldn't make the action Political and let her trigger.
  Anyway, that's a bit convoluted, but for all practical purposes I could find, you'll always be able to trigger Orikasa off the action for which she's bowing to pay the cost via Shibata Sensei. Jon Palmer, "Shibata Sensei and Shosuro Orikasa", 13 Jul 2015
• Q: Hi, sorry if this has been answered but I couldn't find anything on it so far:
  If I have Shibata Sensei can I bow any of my courtiers instead of discarding the Favor for Kozan's open action?
  A: Yes, you may. Shibata Sensei allows you to bow to pay the Favor cost for Favor actions, and Kozan's ability is a Favor action. Jon Palmer, "Hida Kozan + Shibata Sensei", 23 Jun 2015
• Q: For example I am playing Shibata Sensei out of Scorpion, and I want to bring Ninube Shiho into play.
  Do I: a: Pay 7G - 4G increased to a Minimum of 5G plus 2G for Out of Clan. or b: Pay 6G - 4G plus 2G for Out of Clan, then check for 5G Minimum, and check is passed.
  A: Shibata Sensei checks the total Recruit cost, and in Scorpion, Shiho's cost is 6. So you will pay 6. Jon Palmer, "Shibata Sensei and Out of Clan personalities", 11 Mar 2015
• Q: While playing Shibata Sensei and controlling the Favor, can I send home 2 attacking personalities? One with the Favor and one with a courtier at the battle.
  A: The Rulebook Favor Battle action is not Repeatable: each player may only use it once per turn. Alex Jones, "Shibata Sensei while controlling the Favor", 19 Nov 2014
• Q: This is a followup to viewtopic.php?f=59&t=109337&p=1434775&hilit=Shibata+sensei#p1434775,
  Do I still need to control the favor in order to be able to bow courtier to send an attacking personality home, or use the favor discard/draw action? I assume I would have to actually control the favor for these actions, but would to the official ruling.
  A: No, as explained in the post to which you linked. Alex Jones, "Shibata Sensei", 29 Sep 2014
• Q: Regarding this ruling (and the similar one just posted): viewtopic.php?f=59&t=109338&p=1434799&hilit=shibata+sensei&sid=362d8d5ead7f6a4d0ecfb122f7ec38ff#p1434799
  What if the favor action you are taking has Absent, like Toturi Tsudao? Would the courtier still need to be at the battlefield? If so, is there any keyword associated with an action that would allow the courtier to be at home?
  Also, could you clarify whether the courtier would have to be at the batttle if I was using the reaction from Kyuden Bayushi with the rulebook favor action? What about with Toturi Tsudao?
  A: Absent will not help you. While it allows you to ignore the Rule of Presence, it gives no such exception to the Rule of Location. I believe a Personality with a Favor Absent Home battle ability that does not bow him as a cost of the ability would be able to use it via Shibata Sensei.
  Kyuden Bayushi's ability is a Reaction, which isn't governed by Presence and Location. It still works. Jon Palmer, "Shibata Sensei and targets", 26 Sep 2014
• Q: For Shibata Sensei do I need the courtier to be at the battlefield to bow him to replace the cost of the favor or can he be at home?
  Thanks
  A: The Courtier is a target of the action, so the Rule of Location applies: he or she must be at the current battlefield. Alex Jones, "Shibata Sensei and targets", 26 Sep 2014
• Q: I'm not following the reasoning here. Traditionalist prevents a Personality from being targeted if there is another legal target, but Shibata Sensei lets you replace discarding the Imperial Favor with bowing one of "your target Courtiers". How can Traditionalist force your opponent's Courtiers to bow as an effect of Shibata Sensei? If you have no other unbowed Courtiers, no Imperial Favor, and in the case of Imperial Summons, no unbowed Stronghold, doesn't the Favor action just fail from Good Faith?
  A: You're looking at the wrong part of Traditionalist. The key is "Your Favor actions may target your Personalities as well as other players'".
  At its most straightforward, this allows you to use the Rulebook Favor Battle action to send home your own guys. However, it also means that in a situation where you're REQUIRED to target your own Personality with a Favor action, you can instead target your opponent's Personality.
  Shibata Sensei, absent Traditionalist, means that a card like Imperial Summons effectively reads "Favor Political Open: Bow your Stronghold or discard the Imperial Favor or bow your target unbowed Courtier to bow a target Personality." Traditionalist then allows you to modify "your target unbowed Courtier" to "any player's unbowed Courtier" due to its trait.
  As for the Good Faith Rule, it says "Favor actions require that their player control the Imperial Favor, or have an alternate effect, substitute, or waiver (“need not”) for discarding the Favor." If your combination of effects allows you to bow another player's Courtier, that satisfies Good Faith. Jon Palmer, "Shibata Sensei + Traditionalist", 26 Sep 2014
• Q: Traditionalist You may not play other Allegiance cards. Your Favor actions may target your Personalities as well as other players'.
  Political Open: Put this Strategy into play.
  Political Interrupt, w: Choose a Personality. The action may not target him if it is a Favor action and there is another legal target
  Shibata Sensei
  Recruiting Personalities has a minimum Gold Cost of 5 for you. You may bow your target unbowed Courtier instead of discarding the Imperial Favor for Favor actions.
  A question being is that can i use the text of shibata sensei to use cards like my lords favor and imperial summons to bow my opponents courtiers as apart of the effect?
  Favor Political Open: Bow your Stronghold or discard the Imperial Favor to bow a target Personality.
  Could i bow my opponents courtier to replace my discarding the favor as a cost? because progressive allows me to target my opponents cards with my political actions?
  Thjis is quite frustrating to hear and try to understand as this probably wasn't intended to be worded or understood like that.
  A: This combo does work as you've described it. If you have both Shibata Sensei and Traditionalist, and use Shibata Sensei's Interrupt when playing a Favor action, you may bow another player's Courtier to cover the discard of the favor. Jon Palmer, "Shibata Sensei + Traditionalist", 25 Sep 2014
• Q: Shibata Sensei says: "Recruiting Personalities has a minimum Gold Cost of 5 for you."
  Comprehensive rules state: "Before paying for a card entering play, a player may permanently increase the card's Gold cost by the additional cost in its Invest trait, once, to get an additional effect after it enters play..."
  Shosuro Hotaka has a base cost of 4 gold, and states: "Invest (2): Discard a card from your hand to make a target player lose Honor equal to half the Focus Value, rounded up."
  Question: If I play with Shibata Sensei, and invest Shosuro Hotaka while recruiting him, does he cost 6g (base + Invest), or does he cost 7g (Shibata minimum + Invest)?
  A: When determining the current value of a stat, minimums and maximums are always applied last, after bonuses and penalties.
  So, an Invested Hotaka would only cost 6, even while using Shibata (printed + Invest "bonus" = 6, apply minimum of 5, still 6). Brook Cunningham, "Shibata Sensei and Shosuro Hotaka", 5 Sep 2014
• Q: In rulesets that allow clan discount, does the minimum gold cost set by Shibata Sensei already take clan discount into consideration or will I still be able to recruit for less than 5?
  A: Minimums and maximums are always applied last, so the -2 for Clan Discount would not let you go lower than 5 with Shibata. Brook Cunningham, "Oracle of the Void #rules", 15 Oct 2024