Alchemy Lab

Legend of the Five Rings card from The Coming Storm

Card Type

Holding

Gold Cost

2

Card Text

w: Produce 2 Gold
Open, w: Increase a positive numeral on your target Spell by 1. (2 is a numeral, two is not.)

Legality

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

Deck

Dynasty

Story

2012 Name a Holding - Luke Gregory

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: Can i activate my 3 alchemy lab (which says that it would increase a positive numeral on a spell by one)on my seeking the way's gain 2 honor to boost it to gain 5 honor and attack my single cavalry unit (which has the seeking the way) on the opponent and assuming he/she doesn't have any blockers and activate the seeking the way's ability to gain 5 honor by bowing the same attacking personality? tia
  A: Yes, you may. Jon Palmer, "Alchemy Lab + Seeking the Way", 24 May 2015
• Q: Does Alchemy Lab increase a spell's focus value? For kicks, does it also increase the printed year on the card a la Night Medallion?
  A: It may, if those are what you choose to increase. Jon Palmer, "Alchemy Lab + Focus Values", 24 Sep 2014
• Q: Could you please clarify the definition of numerals as used by the Alchemy Lab card? In English, numeral has a few different definitions. I typically understand it to refer to the Arabic numerals. And this seems to be the case from the italicized text. However, the card specifies "positive numeral," but there are no such things as negative Arabic numerals.
  With that in mind:
  Can I increase the numeral 1 to 2 in the number 10 resulting in the card reading 20?
  Can I increase the numeral 1 to 2 in the number -1 resulting in the Spell reading as -2?
  A: No, and no.
  In L5R, "numeral" refers to a number written as a number, rather than as a word. "One" is not a numeral, "1" is a numeral. "Three Fifty Seven" is not a numeral, "357" is a numeral.
  If you use Alchemy Lab on the numeral 10, it will increase to 11.
  You may not use Alchemy Lab on the numeral -1, as it is a negative numeral, not a positive numeral. Jon Palmer, "Alchemy Lab and Positive Numerals", 24 Sep 2014
• Q: In reference to viewtopic.php?f=59&t=109354&p=1435470
  Per the CR
  Per the Ruling
  Cardinal Rule 1
  It seems there is a bit of a paradox:
  I have Alchemy Lab and Study the Wheel in play.
  Study the Wheel
  Alchemy Lab
  I use Alchemy Lab to increase the [2] in the Kharmic reminder text of Study the Wheel to a [3];
  The text of Study the Wheel now conflicts with the Comprehensive Rules for Kharmic
  From CR
  The Cardinal Rule #1 is interesting in that it refers to "the" Comprehensive Rules as a single body and NOT specifically the rules within that body that are in conflict.
  So the way it is currently worded is that if a card conflicts with the CR, then I am given permission to not follow the entire CR.
  If that were not the case then the correct wording should have said
  With the example given we have a conflict with the CR, Cardinal Rule 1 kicks in to override the CR. The ruling tries to kick in an say no, you have to ignore the reminder text when comparing to the CR. However, this ruling is in the CR, and per the cardinal rule are NOT followed. It is a very interesting paradox since no matter what you put in the CR to try and fix this, the new card text will still prevail. Changing the Cardinal Rule #1 as I suggested would be the only way to fix the problem.
  A: Firstly, you quote the description of the Reminder Text: Reminder text ... carries no rules implications.
  Then you quote Cardinal Rule #1: Something that changes one aspect of a rule does not by itself change any other aspects of the rule.
  Card text that ignores a rule only ignores that rule, not any other rule.
  So, in this case, while you could argue that the Alchemy Lab increases the gold icon in the reminder text of Study the Wheel to 3, this does nothing to let it ignore the rule that "Reminder text carries no rules implications." Alex Jones, "Reminder Text Paradox", 26 Aug 2014
• Q: Is the +1F on Stones of Purity a numeral (as mentioned in Alchemy Lab)?
  A: Yes, it is.
  However, I should mention, targeting Stones of Purity with Alchemy Lab and choosing to increase that +1F to +2F will not change the value of tokens it already gave out when it was Equipped (before it became a legal target for Alchemy Lab's Open ability). Brook Cunningham, "Stones of Purity + Alchemy Lab", 25 Aug 2014