Cross Blades

Legend of the Five Rings card from Road to Ruin

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Card Text

Discipline
Iaijutsu Repeatable Battle: Your target Personality challenges a target enemy Personality. Bow the loser. If this is the second time this ability targeted your Personality this turn, gain 1 Honor.

Focus Value

3

Legality

Shattered Empire, War of the Seals (Onyx Edition)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: [ShE] Hi, just a couple of questions that came up in a game today: Can I use my own bowed duelist to challenge with Cross Blades? I think yes but need to check as my opponent didn't think it worked like that. Also, if I challenge and my opponent focuses brutal lesson, does this increase all focus values for all focused cards to the force of the personality? I think no but also my opponent had a different interpretation so just checking.
  A: 1. Yes. If it required either target to be unbowed, it would say so explicitly.
  2. No, it does not. It makes each card Focused for both Personalities have a maximum value equal to their Force. So, for example, if your Personality is 3F, if you Focus a printed "2" for him, it is just a 2, but if it gets a bonus of +2 from some other source, the maximum caps it off at 3, being equal to his Force. Likewise, if you Focus a printed "4" for him, even with no other modifications, the maximum would cap it at a value of "3" also. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 12 Oct 2025
• Q: we went through the "what ifs" of the rounds that would have followed, regardless of ruling I probably could have won, I think I might've misplayed and lost although unlikely we will still need a ruling because being able to use it twice for Courage feels a bit broken So, to explain the issue: Normally, you cannot use the same Strategy card twice in the same turn for the same action (for instance, using Discipline) unless it says otherwise (for instance, using Repeatable, example: Cross Blades). My point was that Courage is a Repeatable player/rulebook ability, therefore ignores that. A further issue was brought up about timing: is it discarded at the end of the Interrupt step of Courage (meaning it's in the discard pile ready to be used for its trait text), or is it discarded at the end of the Fear action (meaning it doesn't enter the discard pile until it's too late to be used for its trait text)?
  A: Neither; it's discarded during the resolution of the Courage Interrupt, as its first effect. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 29 Nov 2023