Contentious Terrain

Legend of the Five Rings card from Gold Edition, Pre-Imperial Edition, Imperial Edition, Emerald Edition, Battle of Beiden Pass, Obsidian Edition, Jade Edition, Pearl Edition, L5R Experience, Top Deck Booster Pack, Ivory Edition, Promotional–Ivory, Onyx Edition, Shattered Empire, Shadowlands, Anvil of Despair, Crimson and Jade, Time of the Void, Hidden Emperor Starter, Three Dynasties, Scorpion Clan Coup Starter, Fire & Shadow, The Fall of Otosan Uchi, A Perfect Cut, Dark Allies, An Oni's Fury, Winds of Change

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Keywords

Terrain

Card Text

Your Personalities at this battlefield have +1F.
Battle: Destroy a Terrain (if able). Put this Terrain into play.

Focus Value

1

Legality

A Brother's Destiny (Ivory Edition), A Brother's Destiny (Twenty Festivals), Clan Wars (Imperial), Four Winds (Gold), Hidden Emperor (Jade), Shattered Empire, Three Dynasties, War of the Seals (Onyx Edition)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Reads, "Contentious Terrain 0G 1FV Delayed Terrain. Battle: Each Personality in your army gains +1F until the battle ends." [MRP, Winds of Change, July 2003] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 10

Rules Q&A

• Q: Following viewtopic.php?f=59&t=108055 Reapplied force bonus or penalty do not remember being negated by Breaking the Rhythm and similar abilities. I wonder what change in bonus/penalty is counted as reapplying?
  Bonus/penalty from Contentious Terrain and Moto Naleesh was reapplied again after going home and back to army, but what if force modification is more complicated than binary "there is one", "there isn't".
  If I have e.g. Daidoji Hiroteu in battle and my opponent has a personality with bowed attachment Hiroteru has +1F. Opponent plays BtR, bonus disappears and I bow his Personality. Do I have +0F, +1F or +2F?
  Each is, in my eyes, possible ^^ 1)+0F if changing value of bonus is not considered reapplying, but what if his attachment straighten and my bonus (technically still negated) value drops to +0F and bows again? Is that reapplying then?
  2) +1F if ongoing bonus was negated, but it's new "part" is counted separately, but here again appears problem of unbowing and bowing my opponents cards,
  and
  3) +2F if bowing another card in enemy unit counts as full reapplying of whole trait,
  A: The effect granting Daidoji Hiroteru's bonus lasts as long as there is an enemy army. Breaking the Rhythm will negate the bonus until the effect ends, ie until there's no longer an enemy army - that is, until the battle ends or there are no enemy units at the current battlefield. A change in the number of bowed cards in the enemy army will not reinstate the effect - you'll have to wait until there is a new enemy army after there having been no enemy army. Alex Jones, "More Breaking the Rhythm vs Traits", 15 May 2015
• Q: Can Courage Beyond Question's interrupt negate force bonuses from a terrain like Contentious Terrain?
  If so, then the terrain card would still be in play, correct?
  A: It would not. Contentious Terrain's bonuses come from the terrain's trait, not from the action (which puts it in play). Jon Palmer, "Courage Beyond Question", 3 Feb 2015
• Q: If I play contentious terrain can someone use the interrupt on courage beyond question to negate the force bonus, even though the action itself is giving no force?
  Courage Beyond Question Interrupt: Negate all force bonuses or penalties from the action.
  Contentious Terrain Battle: Destroy a terrain (if able), and put this terrain into play. Trait: Your personalities at the battlefield have +1 force.
  A: No. "The Action" is not giving the force bonus here, the terrain's trait is.
  Generally, cards that affect "the action" don't affect what terrains are doing, unless they negate the action of putting the terrain in play. It's not always the case, but it's a good rule of thumb. Jon Palmer, "TNO Courage Beyond Question and Contentious Terrain", 14 Jan 2015