Doom of the Dark Lord

Legend of the Five Rings card from Diamond Edition, Promotional–Imperial, Training Grounds, Celestial Edition 15th Anniversary, Promotional–Twenty Festivals

Card Type

Event

Keywords

Unique

Card Text

Each player draws an additional card at the end of his turn. After each time a player must draw a card but cannot because his deck is empty, destroy his rightmost Province.
Open: Put this Event into play.

Legality

A Brother's Destiny (Twenty Festivals), Clan Wars (Imperial), Rain of Blood (Diamond), War of the Seals (Onyx Edition)

Deck

Dynasty

Printings

Rulings

• Defenders of the Realm stops it from destroying Provinces for the current turn. [Reversal, DW, email, 6/5/98] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 70
• Won't trigger if a player can manage to avoid drawing from his Fate deck (e.g., using Kyuden Hitomi's ability). [DW, 19 August 1998] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 70
• A single Defenders of the Realm will stop this event from destroying Provinces for the rest of the game, though it would still cause players to draw additional Fate cards. [DW, l5rinfo, 2/20/98] Accumulated Rulings, April 22, 1998, p. 13

Rules Q&A

• Q: If you (or your opponent) has Sezaru in play, and you draw multiple cards (say with Doom of the Dark Lord), do you have to flip each card up before you draw it, allowing your opponent to see it?
  A: Yes.
  "Each card draw is separate. You may take actions between them or give up individual cards that are part of multiple-card draws to pay for abilities such as Kyuden Hitomi. [Reversal, DW, email, 18 August 1998]" (Accumulated Rulings, "Drawing")
  In page 99 of the Diamond Edition Rulebook, it defines "draw" to mean, "Take the top card of your deck into your hand." That means each card must become the top card of the deck before your draw it, and thus must become face-up for a moment before you add it to your hand. Martin Lund, "Rules for 14 December 2004", 20 Dec 2004
• Q: If you are drawing 2 cards in your End Phase via Doom of the Dark Lord and you activate Kyuden Hitomi's ability do you draw one card from under Kyuden Hitomi and another from your fate deck or just the one from Kyuden Hitomi and nothing else?
  A: Using Kyduen Hitomi replaces the drawing of - a - card, not all cards drawn during the End Phase. Martin Lund, "Rules for 5 July 2004", 7 Jul 2004
• Q: . . .we expect to bring back some previously printed cards that are currently only legal in Open. We're looking at cards like Doom of the Dark Lord, Feign Death, and other such popular cards.
  I found this a very, very curious list. Most of my associates did as well. Acknowledging that it is short, it also contains some extremely strong cards from Open, each of which wasn't amazingly thematic or clever. They don't add much flavor, but they add a lot of strength, especially for the Horde -- which already needs to be reigned in.
  A: Those are the kinds of cards we're *looking* at. We pass over the upper stratosphere of too-strong cards like Wedge and begin just below, working our way downward. We want cards that players will be excited to find in their packs and want to use in their decks. Yes, it will be a tricky balancing act due to so many cards being well-used simply because they're extremely cost-effective or relatively mindless. On the other side of the coin is how quickly interest in the game will surely wane if we produce a 550 card set full of Dispersive Terrains and Archers. Jeff Alexander, "post for 8 January 2002", 9 Jan 2003
• Q: if I read correctly aka mizu umi says: Any Event that is about to destroy this Province has all of its effects negated. The Event is still considered to have been resolved.
  So When the Doom of the Dark Lord tries to destroy the region, the event is negated. It affects nothing more . Completely, since ALL his effects are negated. The Doom has been resolved (Another Doom event that flips in a province will have no effect) but the present one is gone. Why "until en of turn" or "my province is saved, but yours will be destroyed"?. Just "Why I am saved by my region but my opponent not, if all effects are negated"?
  I know there is a ruling with Defenders of the Realm, but is because Defedners says no provincies are distroyed this turn.
  A: It doesn't say "No Provinces are destroyed this turn," it just says "No Provinces are destroyed." But I see your point. The two cards are not nearly as much alike as I'd first believed.
  Aka Mizu-Umi will negate all effects of any Event that tries to destroy its Province, even ongoing ones. This is a REVERSAL. Jeff Alexander, "post for 31 May 2002", 1 Jun 2002
• Q: My Doom of the Dark Lord resolves. A couple of turns later, I get an Aka Mizu-Umi into play at one of my Provinces. What happens if I cannot draw any more cards and have to destroy the Province with Aka Mizu-Umi attached? Does DotDL get negated for everyone or are the effects negated until the end of turn, which means that my opponent(s) need to keep destroying their Provinces if they cannot draw cards?
  A: In the spirit of past rulings, it would only prevent the draws and distruction that turn. Jeff Alexander, "post for 30 May 2002", 31 May 2002
• Q: 3.- If I play with the Prophecies of Uikku and Doom of the Dark Lord Prophecies of Uikku While the Prophecies are in play, you and your cards are not affected by any Doom events. This has no effect on events that have already resolved. Reaction: This Personality gains a 2F/3C bonus until the end of your next turn when a Doom event resolves.
  To have my cards not to be destroyed by the Doom when I have no more fate cards, i must have a Prophecies in play by the time the doom resolves adn keep the same prhpecies all the time along, yes?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 6 March 2002", 7 Mar 2002
• Q: How does Kyuden Hitomi interact with Sacrifices for our Future? Sacrifices for our Future says:
  Sacrifices For Our Future(Event) While this card is in play, you may choose not to draw a fate card during your end phase. Each turn in which you do not draw a Fate card you gain 2 honor. If you draw a Fate card for any reason, this card is discarded from play.
  Wouldn't it be legal to use the SH ability of Kyuden Hitomi to take a card from underneath it, which wouldn't count as Drawing a fate card? I think so, because this is similar to the reason quoted that Doom of the Dark Lord won't blow up a province if your fate deck is empty but you pull a card out from under Kyuden Hitomi in your end phase...
  A: Drawing is specifically taking the top card of your deck and putting it into your hand. Using Kyuden Hitomi instead of drawing will not destroy Sacrifices, and you'll gain 2 honor. Good combo. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for July 20th", 20 Jul 2001
• Q: Thanks! Also, Togashi Higaru xp3 and Doom of the Dark Lord: because you draw 2 cards at end of turn, can he look at the top card and send it to the bottom of deck twice, or only once?
  A: Yep, twice; the Doom draw has the same timing as the normal draw, so each will trigger Higaru Exp3's trait. 🙂 Brook Cunningham, "Onyx Lives #rules-questions", 21 Dec 2023