Cultist Infiltrator

Legend of the Five Rings card from Promotional–Celestial

Card Type

Follower

Force

3

Chi

0

Honor Requirement

0

Gold Cost

3

Personal Honor

-

Card Text

This Follower will not be transferred.
After each turn begins, give this Personality a -1C token.
Limited, : If this Follower is in your hand, Equip it to a target Personality you do not control.

Focus Value

2

Legality

Age of Conquest (Emperor), Destroyer War (Celestial)

Erratum

Errata'd via the internet 10 August 2012; effective immediately.

Deck

Fate

Notes

Legal December 1st, 2011, Released in the 2011 Summer Con pack

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: Question 1: It has been stated that if an action causes a personality a Chi penalty (through tokens or not) and that person dies from having 0C, then the death is caused by the action and not by the rulebook chi-death affect. In the case of Cultist Infiltrator, would a chi-death caused by the -1C tokens it creates each Straighten Phase be considered a destruction of the personality by the card trait itself or by the limited action that attached the card? It would seems that it would be the trait that caused the destruction, but I'm just not sure.
  Question 2: If a personality is destroyed (not the "unit", strictly the personality) by an actions effects and they have an attached follower, is the follower considered destroyed by the actions effects or is it the rulebook that destroyed them? This is in reference to the wording on The Tachikaze.
  A: In this case the answer is that it's the trait on Cultist Infiltrator that ends up killing the Personality, not the action of attaching it. This makes your second question not directly pertinent here, although as a general rule, directly killing the Personality will not allow you to attach the follower to the Tachikaze as the follower is destroyed by the rulebook effect of what happens to attachments when their Personality leaves play. Jon Palmer, "Two Questions: The Tachikaze + Cultist Infiltrator", 5 Mar 2013
• Q: After reading this thread: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=99867 I had a few questions...
  1) If I use Cultist Infiltrator's limited action targeting my opponent's Merchant, and he uses Jinn-Kuen to negate that action, then the Cultist Infiltrator stays in my hand and I don't pay the 2 gold, correct? And if that is correct, then can I just use my next action to perform Cultist Infiltrator's limited action yet again?
  2) My opponent has Shosuro Aroru xp2 in play. I use Cultist Infiltrator's limited ability targeting a different Ninja in my opponent's home. He uses Aroru's reaction to try to change the targeting to Aroru. Can he choose Aroru to redirect the action to even though the attaching will fail? And if he is allowed to redirect the action to Aroru, what will happen to the cultist infiltrator when it's action tries to resolve? Will it stay in my hand or go to the discard pile? And will I have to pay the gold or not?
  A: 1. Technically, the Infiltrator will go to the Entering Play area, then return to your hand when its attachment is negated. But yes, you may take the action again, and you do not need to pay the costs.
  2. He may redirect the action to Aroru, and at step 3 of the procedure for playing Attachments, it will be unable to meet the restrictions of attaching. It will go back to your hand and you will not need to pay the 2 gold. Jon Palmer, "Cultist Infiltrator new text", 2 Dec 2012
• Q: Is attaching an action? If yes, then, Yasuki Jinn-Kuen (Experienced 2) can effectively negate the opponents action of attaching the infiltrator to one of his merchant's?
  "Political Reaction: After an action targets your Merchant, pay 2 Gold: Negate the action's effects."
  A: Per the errata on Cultist Infiltrator, yes, that is an action, and yes, Jinn-Kuen may negate its effects. Jon Palmer, "Cultist Infiltrator", 24 Sep 2012
• Q: With regards to: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=98951&hilit=cultist+infiltrator
  Surely the "simple" rules answer to this would be along the lines of:
  In the case of Border Market, it's a card that specifies your personality as targeting. However in the case of Equip rulebook action, the "cards override the rulebook" rule applies. So in the case of equipping using the Equip Ltd, the card's trait overrides the rulebook. Then the only problem is with regards to cards such as Border Market, where the 2 cards conflict.
  Hope that made some kind of sense, even if it's not useful
  A: See here. Brook Cunningham, "Border Market and Cultist Infiltrator 2", 9 Aug 2012
• Q: Hi,
  Is enybody know the answer to this question? viewtopic.php?f=59&t=98951
  I wanted to build deck on this and I'm waiting for answer.
  Pleas a fast reply
  A: Apologies for the delay, but we are still working out the proper wording for the fix for this paradox.
  As a general L5R rule, if something seems like it won't work at all, or like it will work too well, that's probably not how it's going to end up. Jon Palmer, "Border Market and Cultist Infiltrator 2", 4 Aug 2012
• Q: I have attached a Cultist Infiltrator to one of my opponent's personalities. If I use Asako Rikate on that personality, where does the Infiltrator go if the opponent uses the optional portion of Rikate's ability? Does it actually go into their hand, or does it go into mine?
  Asako Rikate Force/Chi: 4/2 HR/GC/PH: -/7/2 Keywords: Phoenix Clan • Shadowlands • Earth • Monk • Golden Arm • Henshin • Blood of Kinuye Text: Maho Battle: Target an enemy Personality: His controller may put any attachments in that unit into his hand. Give the Personality -2C.
  Cultist Infiltrator: 3F/0HR/3GC/2FV You may attach this card to a Personality you do not control. This card will not be transferred. After each Straighten Phase: Give this Personality a -1C token.
  A: It would go into your opponent's hand.
  The rule about cards going back to their opponent's side of the table applies to cards entering decks or discard piles, but not the hand. Jon Palmer, "Asako Rikate and Cultist Infiltrator", 22 Jul 2012
• Q: Hi,
  Have two short questions:
  Can I attach Cultist Infiltrator using border market ability Open: Bow this card, choose your performing Personality, and target a non-Unique Follower or Item in your discard pile: Attach it to your performer, paying all costs. to my oponent's personality?
  cultist - You may attach this card to a Personality you do not control. This card will not be transferred. After each Straighten Phase: Give this Personality a -1C token.
  I am asking becouse the normal rule of equip says also abut - Limited: Any number of times per turn, choose your performing Personality and target an attachment card in your hand: Attach it to him, paying all costs.
  The second question is about Mastering the elements: Reaction: Once per game, after this card enters play, target your Spell and pay Gold equal to its base Gold Cost: This card permanently copies the Spell's keywords, traits, and its base abilities that do not themselves copy abilities.
  Which spell I can copie? Can I copie only spell that is already in pleay or can I also copy a sell from my discard pile or fate deck?
  Thanks for reply
  A: 1. No, because Border Market specifies that you need to choose YOUR performing Personality.
  2. As a general rule, you may only target cards that are in play, and Mastering the Elements is no exception; the spell must be in play. Please see Areas of the Game for additional information. Jon Palmer, "Border market and cultist infiltrator", 17 Jul 2012
• Q: Can cultist infiltrator be attached to enemy personalities by the rulebook equip action(?)
  A: Yes. Zen Faulkes, "Cultist Infiltrator - performing equip to enemy?", 26 Oct 2011
• Q: (I)f so is it still performed?
  A: No. http://rules.l5r.com/CE_Glossary_P-Q#Perform: "A Personality or Follower is performing an action if its controller is the player taking the action". The Personality's controller is not taking the action here. so it isn't performed. Zen Faulkes, "Cultist Infiltrator - performing equip to enemy?", 26 Oct 2011