Dead Eyes

Legend of the Five Rings card from Gold Edition, Ambition's Debt

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

5*

Card Text

This card costs 5 less Gold if it targets a Crab Clan Personality.
Limited: Target your unbowed non-Berserker Personality: Permanently reduce his Personal Honor to 0, give him Berserker, and give him the ability, "Battle: Give this Personality +3F. After this battle's Resolution Segment ends, destroy him unless his army had more than twice the Force of the opposing army, if there was one when the Resolution Segment began."

Focus Value

1

Legality

Four Winds (Gold), Hidden Emperor (Jade)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Reads, "Dead Eyes 5*G 1FV This card costs 5 less Gold if it targets a Crab Clan Personality. Limited: Permanently lower to 0 the Personal Honor of one of your Personalities without the Berserker trait and permanently give the Personality the Berserker trait and the ability, 'Battle: Once per turn, gain +3F. When the Resolution Segment ends, destroy this Personality unless his or her army had more than twice the opposing army's force if there was an opposing army when the Resolution Segment began.'" [MRP, Gold Edition, 1 July 2001] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 12
• Erratum: The reduction to 0 Personal Honor is permanent. [errata] Accumulated Rulings, February 8, 2000, p. 22
• Erratum: the reduction of Personal Honor to 0 is permanent. Text Change & Errata List, February 15, 2000, p. 2

Rules Q&A

• Q: I'd value people's input (and perhaps official ruling) on the following:
  When I Berserker Rage one of my berserker personalities, can they gain force bonuses afterward (i.e. Frenzy, Dead Eyes ability) or is the phrase "That Berserker's Force becomes equal to twice his or her printed Force until the battle ends" absolute?
  A: Their Force may change afterwards. Jeff Alexander, "post for 2 June 2003", 3 Jun 2003
• Q: Also, if I play Dead Eyes on one of my personalities, then in a subsequent battle I use A Test Of Courage to stop them being sent home, can I still use the +3F battle ability?
  A: Yes. The ability neither targets the Personality nor requires bowing. Jeff Alexander, "post for 2 June 2003", 3 Jun 2003
• Q: Question #1: How does a card like this, or Dead Eyes, or Shosuro Tech make it into Gold, but Shinjo's Breath doesn't?
  A: Shinjo's Breath is a speed military support card. Since Unicorn had a decent alternative (Shinjo Technique), they got that instead.
  Dead Eyes is also speed military, but it has drawbacks instead of just benefits, plus Hida Technique is too weak to be a good alternative.
  Shosuro Technique is not speed military. Jeff Alexander, "post for 15 February 2002", 16 Feb 2002
• Q: I thought that the official ruling was that an action that refered to an 'opposing army' could oly be taken if there was one or more units in the opposing army - i.e., the opposing army exists. If there is no opposing army, you can't take the action. So you can't crushing attack an empty province, Mukami can't produce range attacks targeting no-ono to move province, Berserker's can't gain their 2F, and a crab with Dead Eyes cannot use their ability in an empty province.
  A: Not quite. Dead Eyes and Berserkers both generate actions that don't care about the presence of an opposing army for legality. However, they both also have effects that trigger off of the opposing army's force total, and those effects are worded similarly to Crushing Attack. That's the confusion.
  BTW - Neither ruling will be changing. Crushing Attack is still not playable vs. an empty army, and Berserkers (and all the others) will not destroy themselves in absolute rage if no one shows up to fight them. More information will be forthcoming later, but for right now just consider it clarification of intent. It's an unfortunate circumstance that both sets of cards have the exact same wording, but those words were meant to mean completely different things in each case.
  English. Gotta love it. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for November 26th", 26 Nov 2000
• Q: * Vaughn's recent reply on the "Dead Eyes vs no opposing army" wasn't clear cut - does the ruling go with "designer's intent", or by the wording? (Crab deck builder wannabe wants to know!)
  A: Designer's intent. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for November 26th", 26 Nov 2000
• Q: Crushing Attack Battle: You may only play Crushing Attack if your army currently has more than twice as much total Force as the opposing army. The battle action phase ends (resolve any terrain, if applicable), and this battle is now resolved.
  Dead Eyes This card costs 0 Gold when targeting a Crab Personality. Limited: Target one of your Personalities. Lower the Personality's Personal Honor to 0. The personality permanently gains the Berserk trait and the ability "Battle: Once per turn, this Personality gains +3F. Destroy this Personality immediately after this battle unless his or her army has at least twice the opposing army's Force at the battle's resolution."
  From the Archives: Crushing Attack May not be played if there are no opposing units. [REVERSAL]
  Since Crushing Attack and Dead Eyes have the same exact wording ("army currently has more than twice as much total Force as the opposing army."), I would expect them to work the same way. That means that either:
  A) A personality using the Dead Eyes ability will die if there are no opposing units (because there is no opposing army to have twice the force of) or
  II) Crushing Attack can be played when there are no opposing units at all because you have more force than two times zero.
  Which is it?
  A: It looks like it should be A. However, this looks like it's definitely against designer intent, so... Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for November 23rd", 23 Nov 2000