Gates of Persistence

Legend of the Five Rings card from Three Dynasties

Card Type

Stronghold

Province Strength

8

Gold Production

4

Starting Family Honor

4

Clan

Crab

Card Text

After another player targets one of your Heroes with an action, once per phase: They must discard a card.
Battle: Give your target Personality +2F for each Personality opposing them. If they are a Hero, give them Elite.

Legality

Three Dynasties

Deck

Pre-Game

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: [3D] A question about Gates of Persistence, Kuni Doru and Hunting Tiger: If I have all three in play plus a Hero, how many cards does my opponent have to discard when he targets my Hero with a battle action (assuming I use Doru's reaction and he is in the battle)? And if the Hero is Toranosuke, what happens if I use his reaction?
  A: Action Steps:
  1. Announce 2. Pay Costs 3. Choose Targets 4. Resolve Action (Targeting chosen during Step 2 actually "happens" now, for the purpose of Reacting or Triggering effects that React or Trigger from "targeting".)
  So, during "2", Hunting Tiger forces the payment of "Discard a card" in addition to any other costs. If that known upcoming cost could not be paid, (because their hand was/will be empty at this point), the action was not legal to announce in the first place.
  During "3" the action's target is chosen. Assuming it's a Crab Clan Hero and the non-Gates player has no Reactions, you can choose to React with Doru and/or Toranosuke. It doesn't really matter what order you do them in; Doru Forces the discard and negates the action if none happens, so the opponent doesn't really get a choice. They're going to discard and only if their hand is empty will Doru ever negate anything. Toranosuke's Reaction will negate all the action's effects, regardless of if they discard or not, but if they had an empty hand at the point you Reacted with Doru, it's already being negated so there's no reason to use it with Doru.
  During "4", the action actually "targets" the Personality that was chosen in Step 3 and resolves its effects. If you used Toranosuke (or Doru when their hand was empty), the effects won't happen, but the chosen targeting still happens. It's at this point that Gates triggers and forces them to discard a 3rd card, if they have any. But if they don't, nothing changes.
  (Replying to a player: "Also, a follow up: If I have two copies of Doru in play, is it legal to use both to force the discard of an additional card?") Yep. Ouch. Brook Cunningham, "Onyx Lives #rules-questions", 19 Oct 2026
• Q: [3D] Gates of Persistence: I have a couple of questions - first, if the other player targets my hero but they have no cards in hand, is the action negated? Secondly, if my hero is unopposed, can they still gain Elite from the battle action?
  A: 1. No.
  2. Yes. Brook Cunningham, "Onyx Lives #rules-questions", 14 Oct 2026