Cowed by Wisdom

Legend of the Five Rings card from The Harbinger, Onyx Edition, Shattered Empire

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Card Text

Reaction: Before an action's resolution, negate the action's movement of Personalities that are not yours from the current battlefield.
Battle: Target your performing unbowed Personality and bow him unless you control a Ring to bow a target enemy card.

Focus Value

4

Legality

Destroyer War (Celestial), Shattered Empire, War of the Seals (Onyx Edition)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: Scenario: I have 5 samurai personalities attacking a province. The defender uses Scandalous Rumors and I choose to target and try to move all my people home. Before the resolution of the action, Cowed by Wisdom is played by the defender. Because of this, I want to reduce the honor loss to 1 via seppuku.
  Am I required to seppuku everybody as everybody was the target of the action, or can I seppuku only 1 person?
  A: While you COULD seppuku everyone if you wanted, you are not required to do so.
  Since Scandalous Rumors only creates one loss, it only takes one seppuku to reduce it to 1. Brook Cunningham, "Scandalous Rumors and Cowed by Wisdom", 12 Sep 2011
• Q: I have a personality with expensive weapon on him. My opponent plays Superior Mobility. Now... what happens if we assume I have Muscle And Steel in my hand, and my opponent has Cowed By Wisdom.
  1. I react with Muscle And Steel. Do I choose which effect I negate or do I negate the first one that happens? 2. If my opponent chooses not to react with Cowed By Wisdom. Do I negate the movement and then die ? 3. If my opponent chooses to react with Cowed By Wisdom. Will he negate movement and after that, I will negate dying?
  Superior mobility TEXT : Battle: Choose your performing unbowed Personality and bow a card in his unit: Move a target enemy Personality home. If the movement fails, destroy him.
  Muscle and Steel TEXT : Text Reaction: After another player's action targets one of your Personalities, bow one of his attachments with a base Gold Cost of 7 or more: Negate either the action's bowing, destruction, or movement of cards in his unit.
  Cowed by Wisdom TEXT : Text Reaction: Before an action's resolution: Negate the action's movement of Personalities that are not yours from the current battlefield.
  A: You must choose one of the three.
  If you choose to negate the destruction, your opponent can decide not to play Cowed By Wisdom and your Personality will move home. If you choose to negate the movement, your opponent doesn't need to play Cowed By Wisdom and you Personality will be destroyed.
  Best option? Play 2x Muscle and Steel... Alex Jones, "Superior Mobility + Cowed By Wisdom + Muscle And Steel", 28 Jan 2011
• Q: I bow my personality to lobby for the imperial favor. I then react four times with 2x Cowed by Wisdom and 2x Hamstrung. Having resolved these 4 actions, I put the Ring of Void into play.
  A: Legal.
  That a Reaction will prevent some effect does not mean that other Reactions to the same trigger that will also prevent the effect cannot be played.
  When there's a trigger for Reactions, you go around the table playing Reactions to that trigger until everyone passes (http://rules.l5r.com/CE_Sequence_of_play#Action_Phase). One Reaction doesn't automatically "force" anything to move forward. Zen Faulkes, "Reactions and Failing Effects", 3 Jun 2010
• Q: The question: If the opponent chooses to move their personality away from the current battlefield, may I react with Cowed By Wisdom and thereby remove the personality (and attachments) from the game? Or are they able to re-choose.
  A: The timing of Cowed by Wisdom is such that you must react with it before the choice is made at all. Its trigger is "Before an action's resolution", which would be after your (required) targeting of the Personality but before anything else (including the choice) occurs. Brook Cunningham, "Cowed by Wisdom + Preserving Honor", 9 May 2010
• Q: I seem to recall a rule about multiple reactions not being able to be used to apply to the same trigger.
  A: There is no such rule, and never has been.* Zen Faulkes, "Cowed By Wisdom", 22 Mar 2010
• Q: Is it possible to use multiple Cowed By Wisdoms to react to a single action?
  A: Yes.
  * There has been a rule that the same printed copy of a Reaction cannot react multiple times to a trigger. Multiple copies of the same Reaction have always been okay. Zen Faulkes, "Cowed By Wisdom", 22 Mar 2010
• Q: Can the reaction on Cowed by Wisdom be used even if there is no battlefield?
  A: This is a variation of the frequently asked question, "Does an effect have to happen for an action to be legal?"
  It does not.
  http://rules.l5r.com/CE_FAQ#Is_an_actio ... _happen.3F Zen Faulkes, "Cowed by Wisdom and no Battlefield", 18 Feb 2010
• Q: Can Cowed By Wisdom prevent the costs of action that send a personality home(?)
  A: No. Cowed By Wisdom is played "before resolution," at which point costs have been paid. Zen Faulkes, "Cowed By Wisdom", 15 Feb 2010
• Q: Courtesy Battle: Target your unbowed honorable Samurai Personality: Move him and a target enemy Personality home. Each Personality’s controller gains Honor equal to the Personal Honor of the other Personality. Temporary Truce Battle: Target your unbowed Paragon: Target an enemy Personality with lower Personal Honor. Move both Personalities home. If both of them moved, draw a card. Cowed by Wisdom: Reaction: Before an action's resolution: Neggate the action's movement of Personalities that are not yours from the current battlefield.
  If i use Courtesy or Temporary truce (or get it used on me) can i use Cowed by Wisdom to stay at the battle while they go home? (i know i won't draw the card from truce, but do i get to wave bye-bye to them as i stay to win the battle?)
  A: Note the text on Cowed by Wisdom.
  It refers to personalities "that are not yours..."
  In effect, you can go home and make the other player's Personality stay at the battlefield, but not vice versa. Dan Jacobson, "Cowed by wisdom, courtesy, and temporary Truce", 2 Feb 2010