Calm Before Death

Legend of the Five Rings card from Path of the Destroyer

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Card Text

Battle: Destroy your target performing unbowed Berserker or Deathseeker Personality to reduce the Force of one or two target enemy Followers or Personalities without Followers by an amount equal to your Personality's Force. You may destroy one of those enemy cards whose Force is now 0. If your Personality is a Deathseeker, gain 3 Honor.

Focus Value

4

Legality

Destroyer War (Celestial)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: Tsudo no Oni is attacking a province and Otsuko defends alone with no sneak attack being played. I play Calm (Before Death) targeting her and tsudo, please tell me if this is the right sequence of events
  1. Targeting 2. Costs paid (Otsuko destroyed) 3. Reaction to destruction (reducing Tsudo's force to 0) 4. Resolution (Tsudo's force is subtracted by 4 again, it is still 0 and he is destroyed)
  Is this correct?
  A: Yes. Zen Faulkes, "Matsu Otsuko plus Calm Before Death", 2 Oct 2010
• Q: I have a Hida Ikarukani at the battlefield. My opponent has 2 personalities with 5 force and no followers, opposing Ikarukani. I play Calm Before Death. I reduce both opposing personalities force by 7, killing one of them, then i kill the other one with ikarukani since his trait reacts to Calm Before Death resolving completely? Am i correct?
  A: 96% correct. With only one Personality left, after your Calm Before Death has resolved, Ikarukani's trait forces your opponent to choose his only remaining Personality (provided he's unbowed; if he's not, he's "ducked" the destruction) and then Ikarukani's trait destroys him. Brook Cunningham, "Hida Ikarukani and Calm Before Death", 25 Jul 2010
• Q: A recent example is the following: I have Akodo Kurogane and 5 other lion clan personalities in play, My opponent has 3 crab personalities defending his province. His first action is to announce Calm Before Death, which has 1 required target and 1 optional target in my army. The concundrum occurs here. He wishes to target Kurogane with the required targeting and hypothetically someone else with the optional targeting. I have chugo seido in play (and unbowed) do I have to react with it before optional targets are chosen?
  A: I'm not exactly sure what you're asking, but I hope the following helps.
  There are two options for when you'd wish to trigger Chugo Seido. You may either trigger it during the Required Targeting Step upon his choice to target Kurogane as the required target to change that targeting, or upon his next choice during the same Step to target a second Personality, if you want to change THAT targeting. Brook Cunningham, "Required and Optional Targeting Timing", 24 Jul 2010