A Cleansing Death

Legend of the Five Rings card from The Harbinger, Battle of Kyuden Tonbo

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Card Text

Reaction, : After the resolution of a Battle action that destroyed one of your Deathseekers, Recruit a target a face-up Personality in one of your Provinces for 3 less Gold. Gain 2 Honor.

Focus Value

3

Legality

Destroyer War (Celestial)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: In reference to: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=83580
  Therefore "A Cleansing Death" would be a legal action to take after playing: Calm before Death (as previously ruled), Matsu Ushio or Akodo Nagataka's printed battle action. However "A Cleansing Death" could not be taken in reaction to Duty (negating a ranged attack by destroying a deathseeker personality for duty) nor to Akodo Senichi's reaction because they are "reactions" and not "battle actions" right?
  A: It can be played in the manner you suggested, for the reasons you suggest.
  A Cleansing Death can be played in reaction to an action whose costs or effects destroy one of your Deathseeker personalities. Dan Jacobson, "A cleansing death+Calm before death", 18 May 2010
• Q: Can I play A Cleansing Death, if I can't afford to buy the face-up personality in my province?
  A: No.
  http://rules.l5r.com/CE_Abilities_and_a ... Faith_Rule: "If the action involves putting one or more cards into play as a non-optional effect, the player must be able to bring those cards into play legally to meet the Good Faith rule."
  The effect on A Cleansing Death does not say "may", so is not optional. Zen Faulkes, "A Cleansing Death", 31 Jan 2010
• Q: [OBH] "recruit" question. Can I consider that all effects saying "bring a personality into play" actually are "recruit effect" or should I check the Oracle wording card by card to find out?
  For instance: Your Clan Needs You!: I would understand it is a recruit action but I prefer to double-check here https://oracleofthevoid.com/#game=l5r,#cardid=9687
  A Cleansing Death: It is explicitaly a recruit action, so no doubts here https://oracleofthevoid.com/#game=l5r,#cardid=12
  Thanks in advance, Regards, Rémi.
  A: Well, unfortunately, the Oracle is a bit inconsistent/incomplete. All the card wordings are modernized up to at least Emperor Edition, but Recruiting was introduced in Ivory, and only some cards are aligned to that Ruleset.
  However, if you're specifically wondering if a bringing into play effect requires or waives payment, I believe they should all be explicit in the latter case. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 21 May 2026