Dark Oracle of Water

Legend of the Five Rings card from Shadowlands

Card Type

Holding

Gold Cost

4

Keywords

Unique, Dark Oracle, Retainer, Shadowlands, Water

Card Text

Water Repeatable Reaction, w: After a Maneuvers Segment ends, you may assign any of your units (that are unbowed and at home). Lose 7 Honor which will not be increased, decreased, negated, or given to another player instead.

Legality

Clan Wars (Imperial)

Deck

Dynasty

Printings

Rulings

• Does not target Personalities; it provides an extra assignment step during the Maneuvers Segment. [DW, 23 June 1997] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 80
• Q: Is it really legal to use the Dark Oracle of Water to do something like sending a single card-heavy unit on a suicide attack against yourself, so that you gain lots of honor by killing it? A: Okay. This question strikes a common chord with a lot of other questions, and that chord is this: when, exactly, does card text really override the game's general rules? The answer is, "not as often as you might think". Let's read that Dark Oracle: "Bow the Oracle after Cavalry have been assigned in the battle phase. You may now assign any of your unassigned units to attack or defend any of the Defender's Provinces." At first glance this card lets you commit your own units into any battle, even on both sides, and regardless of whether you've been invited by either side as an ally. But nothing on the card specifically allows this. Any tules the card doesn't clearly allow you to break must still be obeyed, and it's against the rules to attack yourself, help both sides, or commit or move in uninvited troops. So, all the Oracle lets you do is assign the troops that you could have assigned normally, just after everyone else's. Here are some other examples: ¢ The Jmperial Edition Wyrm Riders didn't say that they needed to bow to make their Ranged Attack. But they didn't say they could make it without bowing, either. Since the Rulebook says that Ranged Attacks bow the shooting card, the Riders still needed to bow. ¢ Kaiu Suman allows you to attach a new Fortification to any of your Provinces. However, you cannot use Suman to attach the Moat that just appeared in one Province to another Province which already has one. Suman only overrides the rule that Fortifications are always attached to the Province they appear in -- he doesn't override the rule that Provinces can't have duplicate Fortifications. e Many cards allow you to challenge "any Personality", or "any Shadowlands Personality", or whatever. But the Glossary defines a "challenge" as always happening between one Personality which you control and another which you do not, so none of these cards allow you to challenge your own Personalities, despite the word "any". Legend of the Five Rings FAQ, Version 3.6.2, May 1998, p. 14
• Changes: Q: Is it really legal to use the Dark Oracle of Water to do something like sending a single card-heavy Unit on a suicide attack against yourself, so that you gain lots of honor by killing it? A: Okay. This question strikes a common chord with a lot of other questions, and that chord is this: when, exactly, does card text really override the game's general rules? The answer is, "not as often as you might think". Let's read that Dark Oracle: "Bow the Oracle after Cavalry have been assigned in the battle phase. You may now assign any of your unassigned units to attack or defend any of the Defender's Provinces." At first glance this card lets you commit your own Units into any battle, even on both sides, and regardless of whether you've been invited by either side as an ally. But nothing on the card specifically overrides these rules. So, all it lets you do is assign the troops that you could have assigned normally, just after everyone else's. Any rules the card doesn't clearly allow you to break must still be obeyed, and it's against the rules to attack yourself, help both sides, or commit uninvited troops. The Imperial Herald, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Issue 5), p. 16

Rules Q&A

• Q: I know that Ninube Ogoku can assign on the opposite side of the battle, even from your own units, but I'd like to know about Hida Yakamo and teh Dark Oracle of Water.
  Hida Yakamo (I think it's the Thunder) can assign to battle if there are Shadowlands cards in the opposing army 'ignoring assignment restrictions'. Can he be in the opposite army from your own (I think not)?
  One of the guys I play with plays a Shadowlands deck (Junzo's Army). Can he use the DOoW to assign with another player? Can he assign to the opposite army?
  A: No in both cases. This is actually a pretty old issue, and is covered in the FAQ. Unless a card specifically says that it breaks a rule, always assume that the card doesn't break the rule. In the case of Yakamo and the Dark Oracle, they both do not *specifically* say that you can assign in opposition to yourself, so they don't break that basic rule of assignment. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for January 31st", 31 Jan 2001
• Q: Pretty much, yes. By the way, has anyone else ever noticed that you technically shouldn't be able to use Dark Oracle of Water if no Cavalry have been assigned? Not that I'm going to change its effect or anything, just a quirky note. Interaction of Monsoon Season and DOoW?
  A: Wow. Apparently, even with a liberal reading of the Oracle, you can't use it during Monsoon Season. If there's no Cavalry Maneuvers Segment, then you can't bow the Oracle after it to assign units. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for December 11th", 11 Dec 2000
• Q: My opponent is bringing a Shadowlands holding (let's say the Dark Oracle of Water) into play by using the Shadowlands Horde stronghold's (or the Festering Pit of Fu Leng's) ability to reduce a Shadowlands card's cost by four (or five respectively), making it 0. Later, I flip Plague of Locusts. Is the Oracle destroyed?
  A: http://rules.l5r.com/Older_Card_Rulings ... of_Locusts: "Destroys all Holdings that entered play with a Gold Cost of 0, regardless of their current cost or whether Gold was paid anyway; does not destroy Holdings whose costs were ignored." Emphasis added. If it came in for 0G, it's locust munchies. Zen Faulkes, "Plague of Locusts and The Shadowlands Horde", 23 May 2011