Desperate Gambit

Legend of the Five Rings card from The Truest Test

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Card Text

Limited: Dishonor your target performing Samurai Personality to target another player's Personality with equal or lower Chi. If either target assigns opposing the other this turn, destroy them both.

Focus Value

1

Legality

Age of Enlightenment (Lotus), Race for the Throne (Samurai)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: Let's assume that I play Desperate Gambit dishonoring one of my samurai-courtier personalities and target with it my one of my opponent's personalities. If I then play heated discussion and assign them both what exactly happens?
  1. They both die before the battle begins? or 2. They are both about to die, but they get dishonored instead due to Heated Discussion's effect?
  A: Number 1 is what occurs. Brook Cunningham, "Desperate Gambit and Heated Discussion", 14 Jul 2008
• Q: In other words, is assignment considered happening during the battle, or is it just a step before the battle begins?
  A: In a regular attack, the Maneuvers phases (during which units assign) occur before any battles begin. After that, the Attacke chooses a battlefield and begins the battle:
  http://rules.l5r.com/Battles#Choose_Battlefield: "The Attacker chooses a battlefield whose battle has not yet ended, and the attacking and defending sides there engage. Engaging is the time point at which the battle, and the Combat Segment, both begin.... “During a battle” includes both the Combat and Resolution Segments."
  In contrast, the assignments for Heated Discussion's battle occurs as effects of the action itself. But, as it is above when the Attacker chooses a battlefield, Heated Discussion's battle begins (units engage, Combat Segment starts) when its effects direct you to "Fight the battle". "During" the battle (as I quoted) includes everything after that, but not the assignment beforehand. Brook Cunningham, "Desperate Gambit and Heated Discussion", 14 Jul 2008