Face Me!

Legend of the Five Rings card from Dark Allies

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Card Text

Reaction: After your challenged Personality enters a duel, target both Personalities in the duel: Set their Chi equal to their Personal Honor until the duel ends.

Focus Value

3

Legality

Four Winds (Gold)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rulings

• Kills a Personality with zero Personal Honor entering the duel. [JA, 3 April 2002] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 15

Rules Q&A

• Q: << "If a Personality's Chi drops to 0, destroy the Personality." [GE p. 29] There is no "stack" in L5R. Each action resolves fully before the next one begins. [GE p. 47] The only exception is Reactions, and even those will only interrupt an effect if they are Reactions TO that effect. In other words, if some trigger occurs (such as Personalities entering a duel), and two different Reactions are played that both respond to that trigger rather than to each other (Face Me! & Private Dojo), then the Reactions are played and fully resolved one at a time.
  Wow. That doesn't answer the question. :>
  A: Yes it does. Private Dojo does not interrupt Face Me! in any way. Face Me! reduces the Shadowlands Personality's Chi to 0 before Private Dojo's Reaction can even start. This kills the Personality. There is no chance to use Private Dojo. Jeff Alexander, "post for 2 May 2003", 3 May 2003
• Q: A) Private Dojo goes off, then Face Me, so the guy dies. B) Face me goes off, then Private Dojo, giving him a Chi equal to his fear. C) Active player gets to decide (and therefore B)
  A: B) is not possible according to what I wrote above. Also, C) is not one of the ways Reaction timing is determined in L5R. The correct way to determine first Reaction is on page 48:
  1. Exact wording of the Reactions ("before" beats "after", etc.)
  2. If identical wording, did one particular player cause the Reactions' trigger?
  Yes -> first Reaction goes to that player's left No -> first Reaction goes to active player Jeff Alexander, "post for 2 May 2003", 3 May 2003
• Q: I've looked for about an hour now (that's on dial-up, folks), and I can't seem to find the answer to this one:
  Timing on Chi-Death. Does a personality whose chi is reduced/replaced by zero die immediately, or do they have a "window" of reaction time to try and raise their chi so that they don't croak?
  A: "If a Personality's Chi drops to 0, destroy the Personality." [GE p. 29] There is no "stack" in L5R. Each action resolves fully before the next one begins. [GE p. 47] The only exception is Reactions, and even those will only interrupt an effect if they are Reactions TO that effect. In other words, if some trigger occurs (such as Personalities entering a duel), and two different Reactions are played that both respond to that trigger rather than to each other (Face Me! & Private Dojo), then the Reactions are played and fully resolved one at a time. Jeff Alexander, "post for 1 May 2003", 2 May 2003
• Q: I'm not sure how a couple of cards interact with the current targeting rules and therefore whether or not they're legal under Yodin:
  1). Face Me - I think it probably does target your opponent's Personality (under the 4th targeting rule......"all other effects target") but I'm not certain (sorry if this has alreday been answered.....missed it if it was).
  A: Try rule #1: it targets both Personalities because it says so. Jeff Alexander, "post for 25 November 2002", 26 Nov 2002
• Q: Just an Open question to which I think I know the answer but wanted to confirm. Can I use Face Me with Yodin Sensei?
  A: No. Jeff Alexander, "post for 18 November 2002", 19 Nov 2002
• Q: Prior to Gold it would have been legal (if Face Me had been around)
  A: This is incorrect. Face Me! says "Play after one of your challenged Personalities enters a duel and target both duelists." By its own text, Face Me! targets both Personalities. Even before Gold, if a card says it's targeted, it's targeted. Jeff Alexander, "post for 18 November 2002", 19 Nov 2002
• Q: He does not die instantly; his chi is not 0, in fact is hasn't changed. however, he WILL probably die when you say strike.
  His personal honor is 0. naginata does not change personal honor. The duel compares PH instead of chi; it does not, in any way, swith chi and PH. you start out ahead by 3 (your PH compared to his)
  A: Are you reading a poorly-translated foreign version of the card? My copy says "Replace [both duelists'] Chi with their Personal Honor until the duel ends."
  This happens when Face Me! is played. Anyone with 0 Personal Honor dies instantly, when their Chi is set to the same value. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 9 September 2002", 10 Sep 2002
• Q: I got this email through the L5R-useful mailing list, so I can't tell if other people have already responded to this, but I'm guessing that you had Force of Will on the brain here. Face Me! will set the Chi to 0, but the Personal Honor remains 5. The challenging Personality dies instantly and the duel ends without resolution, but their personal honor is still 0 when they die.
  A: Very true. Good catch. Jeff Alexander, "post for 5 September 2002", 6 Sep 2002
• Q: Ive got a personality with 4 chi and 3 personal honor. My opponent has a personality with 3 chi 0 personal honor and a naganita (bringing his chi to a 5). He challanges my person to a chi based dual and I respond with Face Me!. Does his person die because his personal honor is a 0 or is he dualing with a 2 (from the naganita bonus)?
  A: His Chi is 5 and his Personal Honor is 0. Face Me! switches those, setting Chi to 0 and Personal Honor to 5. [p. 32] The challenging Personality dies instantly and the duel ends without resolution. Jeff Alexander, "post for 4 September 2002", 5 Sep 2002
• Q: Question about Badge of Purity and Face Me!. Badge of Purity: Reaction: Bow Badge of Purity before this Personality receives a Chi penalty to negate the effect or destroy the token creating the penalty. Face Me!: Reaction: Play after one of your challenged Personalities enters a duel and target both duelists. Replace their Chi with their Personal Honor until the duel ends. Situation, personality A with a Badge of Purity attached challenges personality B. Personality B's controler plays Face Me! Personality A's Personal Honour is less than his current Chi so he is receiving a Chi penalty due to Face Me!. Personality A's controller bows the Badge of Purity to "negate the effect... creating the penalty". Question: What is negated? Obviously personality A's Chi & personal Honour remain unchanged but do personality B's Chi and Personal Honour still switch? My reading of Face Me! would seem to say that because the switching effect is simultaneous on both personalities that neither personality would have their stats switched but I'd like a clarification on that.
  A: Badge of Purity only negates the penalty to its own Personality. Jeff Alexander, "post for 3 September 2002", 4 Sep 2002
• Q: Face Me
  A: Targeted by rule #1. Targets both duelists by card text. Jeff Alexander, "post for 22 August 2002", 23 Aug 2002
• Q: A Scorpion player dishonors a target personality. The Scorpion then uses Shosuro Higatsuku to force the personality to challenge him. Once challenged, the Scorpion player throws Face Me!
  When the Chi and the Personal Honor are switched, and the personality dies, does the player's honor loss equal the personality's printed Personal Honor or does the honor loss equal the personality's Chi since the two stats were switched?
  A: Point the first: Face Me! does not switch Chi and Personal Honor. It copies Personal Honor over Chi and leaves Personal Honor alone. [card text]
  Point the second: When a Personality dies dishonorably, his controller loses the Personality's *printed* Personal Honor, which almost nothing, including being dishonored or switching stats, changes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 5 June 2002", 6 Jun 2002
• Q: Can you play Face Me as a reaction to your opponent playing Geisha Assassin?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 22 May 2002", 23 May 2002
• Q: Can you play Face Me as a reaction to your opponent playing Geisha Assassin?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 21 May 2002", 22 May 2002
• Q: Since Face Me states that it targets both duelists, and not necessarily personalities, I would think that you could, but then the question of the PH of a Geisha Assassin comes up.
  A: It's 0, which is bad news for the would-be assassin. Jeff Alexander, "post for 21 May 2002", 22 May 2002
• Q: Can you play Face Me as a reaction to your opponent playing Geisha Assassin?
  A: Sure. Why not? Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 18 May 2002", 18 May 2002
• Q: The effects of the recent targeting ruling keep spreading. Say my Higatsuku uses his ability on someone with higher chi in a battle, bowing and forcing him to challenge. Now, I try to play "Face Me!", which targets both duellists. You can't target your own bowed personality (in this case, Higatsuku) with (re)actions. So does this preclude you from playing the card at all?
  A: It precludes you.
  It also has absolutely nothing to do with the new targeting rules. This card targets both duelists because it says it does, so it would have before Gold as well. Jeff Alexander, "post for 15 April 2002", 16 Apr 2002
• Q: Face Me! Rarity/EditionU Dark Allies TextReaction: Play after one of your challenged Personalities enters a duel and target both duelists. Replace their Chi with their Personal Honor until the duel ends. Gold0 Focus3
  Personality A has 3 Chi, and 1 ph and a Weapon attached (Wakizashi +1C) total chi = 4 If I duel this personality and play face me, the Chi of this personality is 2 (1ph + 1C from the wakizashi) or 1?
  A: Dark Allies rulebook, p. 32:
  "It is possible to set a card's value directly to a particular number. Do not apply any bonuses or penalties already in effect to this new number--in essence, they're already part of it."
  Answer: 1. Jeff Alexander, "post for 9 April 2002", 10 Apr 2002
• Q: Actually, more of a clarification. Does Face Me! trump Geisha Assassin? I'm presuming yes, since the Assassin has no Personal Honor value, and therefore is considered to have 0 PH by default.
  A: Face Me! would cause the Geisha Assassin Personality to die instantly. Jeff Alexander, "post for 8 April 2002", 9 Apr 2002
• Q: This got me thinking.... There was a ruling way back when... It was for Hoshi Maseru. The ruling was "bowing was the last thing you do when resolving an action." This was so that Maseru (who unbows after casting kiho) could target himself with Chasing Osano-Wo. If that ruling still holds then, technically, Higatsuku itsn't bowed until the duel is over. Bring back Shosuro Tech and Face Me!
  A: The ruling is not that bowing doesn't happen until after everything else. The ruling -- now a rule, on page 46 -- is that, for any action, targets are chosen before costs are paid. Thus a Shugenja or Monk can target himself with a bow-to-cast Kiho. Sadly, Maseru will still be bowed while his own duel commences. Jeff Alexander, "post for 5 April 2002 pt. 2", 8 Apr 2002
• Q: An un-modified Ikoma Tsai looks over and sees a dishonored Hoshi experienced whatever with the Clan Sword attached. Tsai issues an Iaijutsu Challenge to Hoshi. Hoshi scratches his head and goes...Paaaleease! Are you kidding me? Okay I accept. Tsai plays Face Me and Hoshi with Clan Sword dies instantly and the duel ends unresolved. Oh and the controller of Hoshi loses his honor.
  Did I get the above correct?
  A: No. You can only play Face Me! if the other Personality is the challenger. Otherwise, it's accurate. Jeff Alexander, "post for 4 April 2002", 5 Apr 2002