Devious Explorer

Legend of the Five Rings card from Stronger Than Steel

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Card Text

Reaction: After you announce a Battle action, target an enemy Personality: Your action's effects that move him home will not be negated. Negate new Force bonuses to him and negate his movement to battlefields (this turn).

Focus Value

3

Legality

Race for the Throne (Samurai)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: Devious Explorer's Relevant text: "Reaction: After you announce a Battle action: Target an enemy Personality. Your action's effects that move him home cannot be negated."
  Since it says the action's effect itself can't be negated, if it would move him home, how does that interact with cards that move multiple targets home? Is the movement effect itself immune to negation as long as the target is one of its subjects, or just that singular instance of movement as it pertains to the target, and the others can be negated?
  A: Cannot: When found in card text, and when referring to a type of cost or effect (e.g., bowing, Force bonuses), “cannot” (or "can not") means that a certain type of effect or cost is negated whenever it occurs.
  This means that Devious Explorer negates any effect that would negate any effects of the Battle action on the target Personality that would move him home. However...
  Definition of effects: Each individual change to a card, a player, a game entity (such as Provinces), or the game state is a separate effect.
  This means that an effect that moves a target Personality... is just that: it doesn't move anyone else; it doesn't do anything else to the Personality. Furthermore, if an action creates a group of effects (including negating all the effects of another action), each effect is negated individually. See Negating effects: Effects are negated individually; negating one effect of an action does not automatically negate the others, for instance.
  Devious Explorer only ensures that the target Personality moves home. It does not negate movement effects on other Personalities; it does not negate other effects on the target Personality.
  Alex
  REVERSAL - ALJ Alex Jones, "Devious Explorer+Multiple Send Home Effect", 9 Aug 2008
• Q: Can i announce a battle action at battlefield 1 and play Devious explorer targeting personality Y at battlefield 2?
  A: Yes. Announcing a battle action satisfies the trigger; as long as there is an enemy Personality at any battle, you can satisfy the required targeting (this part: "Target an enemy Personality."), and that's because:
  http://rules.l5r.com/Battles#Combat_Segment: "Reactions are not subject to rules of Presence and Location." Brook Cunningham, "Devious Explorer and far away targets", 7 Apr 2008
• Q: If yes, would Devious Explorer negate an action moving personality Y to a battlefield?
  A: It would negate the Personality's movement. Any other effects of such an action (except Force bonuses, of course, due to the other part of Devious Explorer's text) would still occur. Brook Cunningham, "Devious Explorer and far away targets", 7 Apr 2008
• Q: Devious Explorer Text Reaction : After you announce a Battle action: Target an enemy Personality. Your action's effects that move him home cannot be negated. He cannot gain Force bonuses or move to battlefields this turn.
  Question: Is this possible that Devious Explorer could be affective against the following:
  ChagataiOther players' actions cannot move Unicorn Clan Personalities in Chagatai's army.
  Battle : Even if Chagatai is bowed or has been in a battle resolution this turn: Move him to the current battlefield. If he is now opposed, straighten him.
  Winter WarfareText Winter
  Until the beginning of your second Events Phase from now, Terrains can not be played, and actions can not move units to or from battlefields.
  Blanketed ForestWinter Terrain Battle : The snow blocks travel, negating units' movement to or from this battlefield.
  The khan's GambitWinter Terrain Battle : Your Personalities have +1F and cannot move home. You cannot use abilities on your cards at this battlefield.
  Preparing StockpilesRecon Limited : Target one of your Scouts: Target a province. Other player's card effects can not move your Personalities home from that province's battlefield.
  which all have have the ability "can not be moved home"
  Seeking for your great minds on this matter thank you.
  A: Devious Explorer will normally trump all of the above examples.
  When you have an effect that says "move someone home" then when you hit an effect that says, "this Personality can not be moved home," the movement effect is Negated.
  When you have an effect that says, "Move someone home. This can not be Negated," then when you hit an effect that says "this Personality can not be moved home," the move effect resolves normally.
  This is not true, however, when you hit a GAME RULE (something in the Rulebook other than the effects of an ability) that says you can not do something, rather than just a card effect. Martin Lund, "Devious Explorer", 20 Feb 2008