Building Contract

Legend of the Five Rings card from Twenty Festivals

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Card Text

Dynasty, :g*:: Search your Dynasty deck for a non-Unique Holding and Recruit it, paying 1 more Gold unless it is a Fortification. (You may only take Dynasty actions during your Dynasty Phase.)

Focus Value

4

Legality

A Brother's Destiny (Twenty Festivals), War of the Seals (Onyx Edition)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: I would like to continue this discussion because I need several clarifications.
  2) I think that your answer contradicts your post here where you wrote: In Step D, Resolve Effects, you search your deck for a Market or Port. If it has gold cost equal to the gold you paid in Step B, Recruit it; otherwise, discard it.
  5) If it concerns a Reserve Personality, I understand that all the gold paid disappears, but the Gold Cost stat does not change, and the Personality stays in the Province. Am I right?
  Additional question: is it possible to use Plain Library's Interrupt when recruiting it via Building Contract? I would say no, because the Interrupt would have to be declared in response to BC's Dynasty action, and at that time PL is not "visible". But I am confused.
  A: 2. That ruling was made with the Ivory Edition rules, which did not target the Holding, so you could get any Port or Market. With Twenty Festivals, all Recruit and Equip actions target the card entering play, so you may only search for a card which meets the targeting requirement.
  5. The Recruit effect is negated, so you never "pay for" the Personality, so the Invest cost increase does not happen.
  Note that during the Pay Costs step, it is known that you will be paying for a Personality, which may affect the amount of gold produced. However, this does not mean that you are at that point paying for the Personality, which happens later - in the Resolution step of the action.
  6. Correct. You cannot use an Interrupt on a face-down card. Alex Jones, "Failing to Equip or Recruit", 13 May 2015
• Q: Howdy! Another quick question:
  Are my provinces considered part of my Dynasty deck for the purposes of Building Contract? In particular, could I in theory use Building Contract to move a fortification from one province to another when I purchase it? Also, could I peek at face-down provinces to see if I have a holding/fortification?
  Cheers!
  Building Contract: Dynasty, *g : Search your Dynasty deck for a non-Unique Holding and Recruit it, paying 1 more Gold unless it is a Fortification.
  A: No, your provinces are not a part of your Dynasty deck. This is why abilities such as Legacy allow you to search your deck and Provinces. Jon Palmer, "Building Contract Part Deux", 17 Apr 2015
• Q: Just a quick question:
  Could I elect to play building contract, not pay the gold, and simply have the holding I selected be discarded?
  Cheers!
  A: If you pay 0 gold for Building Contract, you must select a 0G holding from your deck. You cannot pay an amount of gold different than a holding's cost, select that holding, and discard it. Jon Palmer, "Building Contract", 9 Apr 2015
• Q: [OBH] if you play building contract to recruit a fortification. does it enter bowed?? finals match right now if you have time for a quick response
  A: I don't see why it would enter unbowed? All Holdings enter play bowed by default.
  Maybe someday, if I get to retire before I die, I might go in and Oracle every pre-Ivory Fortification with PPG's MRP trait. :/
  (except Empty Crevasse; you know what you did!) 😉 Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 11 Dec 2025
• Q: [OBH] Does Private trader produce 3 gold when paying for Building Contract?
  A: Yes.
  (Replying to a player: "But not for Peace because there the cost is not part of the action?") Right. Not Peace, because it has not undergone an 'Ivory/20F' conversion in Oracle (and probably never will), the "paying all costs" is not part of the action's own cost. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 19 Apr 2025