Duel of Haiku

Legend of the Five Rings card from Forgotten Legacy

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Keywords

Political

Card Text

Political Open: Your target performing unbowed Personality challenges another player's target Personality. In this duel, each Personality uses Personal Honor as his or her duel stat. The winner gains 1 Honor. Bow and dishonor the loser.

Focus Value

4

Legality

Age of Conquest (Emperor), Destroyer War (Celestial)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: My question revolves around the fact that Ambush does not create a new phase, but instead creates a Combat Segment during the Action Phase.
  Ambush reads:
  Limited: Choose your performing unbowed Personality and target another player's Personality: Create a battlefield (not at any province). Assign your Personality to attack there. Assign the target to defend there, even if he is bowed. Other Personalities will not move there. Fight a battle there (after this action's resolution). After the battle ends, lose 5 Honor.
  Looking through the rules, the only restrictions I can see on taking Limited/Open/Battle actions are:
  Limited: At an opportunity to act in the player’s Action Phase; Open: At an opportunity to act in any player’s Action Phase; Battle: At an opportunity to act in the Combat Segment; Reaction: At its stated trigger.
  So, is the following play legal? And if not, could you please clarify why not?
  It is my turn. I control a single Naval personality, Yoritomo Tsang for arguments sake. My first action in the Action Phase is to play Ambush, targeting Kakita X. After the personalities have assigned, I take a Naval action killing Kakita X. My opponent passes their action. As it is now my opportunity to act in the Action Phase, the restrictions above would suggest that I can take a Limited or an Open action now, so I play another copy of Ambush, choosing Yoritomo Tsang to assign against Kakita Y. Again I take a Naval kill action. As it is now my opponents opportunity to act in my Action Phase, they now take an Open action to play Duel of Haiku from Kakita Z (who is at home) targeting Yoritomo Tsang.
  Is all this legal?
  Thanks in advance!
  A: You and your opponent cannot play Open or Limited actions while a battle is being fought, even if that battle is occurring during an Action Phase, as per the rules regarding the Combat Segment. Ben Higgins, "Ambush and Limited/Open actions.", 9 Dec 2012
• Q: Hello,
  I did a search on this topic but could not find anything on this point. My apologies if this has already been addressed or answered before.
  ...
  I was playing my friend last night when he managed to dishonor one of my personalities. He then used Duel of Haiku on it, meaning that thanks to the rule on dishonored personalities my duel stat was a 0. I went to focus (I had high focus value cards in my hand, so I thought I still might have a chance) but he told me there was no point in it. His logic is that since my duel stat is capped at zero thanks to dishonor, my focus values cannot apply ever, as no matter what my end result is still a zero thanks to the cap enforced by the Dishonored state.
  Here are the relevant rules/card abilities:
  Reading the last entry on how Focus Values work in a duel, I think that while my duel stat is 0 thanks to the personality being Dishonored, I would still be able to add Focus Values to my Total Score. E.g. If my Dishonored personality normally has a PH of 3 and I focus cards with a FV of 2, 3, and 4, my Total Score in the duel would be a 9.
  Am I correct? Or does the Dishonored state of my personality really cause my Total Score to automatically/permanently be 0, even if I focus?
  Thank you for the response!
  A: You are correct.
  It USED to be the case that Focusing in a duel served as temporary bonuses to the stat, but that rule was dropped a number of years ago. If your friend has been playing for quite a while, he may have missed that change. Brook Cunningham, "Duel of Haiku vs. a Dishonored Personality", 16 Jun 2012
• Q: So, after I defeat someone in a duel and my opponent reacts with Calculate Strength, and I then use Duel of Haiku, will Calculate Strength increase my opponent's personal honor above the normal max of 5?
  A: Since Calculate Strength does not specifically override the rulebook Personal Honor cap of 5, it will increase their Personal Honor to a maximum of 5 only. Jon Palmer, "Calculate Strength and Duel of Haiku", 8 Dec 2011
• Q: If I play a Duel of haiku, and I focus Disreputable Deal, will I be able to get that same copy of Duel of Haiku into my hand again, or is it still in the play area until the action fully resolves? Thanks!
  A: The latter.
  Playing Strategies:
  "A. The player puts the Strategy card face-up in a resolution area, which is created for that card.
  B. The player announces which ability on the card is to be used. The action then proceeds (see Abilities and actions.)
  C. After the action ends, the player discards the Strategy card, even if the action did not resolve. Then, the resolution area ceases to exist." Brook Cunningham, "Disreputable Deal's Focus effect", 25 Oct 2011