Falling Leaf Strike

Legend of the Five Rings card from Emperor Edition, Celestial Edition, Stronger Than Steel, Emperor Edition Demo Decks

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Keywords

Kiho

Card Text

Battle: Choose your performing unbowed Monk and target an enemy Personality or Follower: Move your Monk to the current battlefield. Give the target -3F. Bow it if its Force is now 0.

Focus Value

3

Legality

Age of Conquest (Emperor), Destroyer War (Celestial), Race for the Throne (Samurai)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Reads, "Falling Leaf Strike 0G 3FV Kiho Battle: Target your unbowed Monk: Move him to the current battlefield. Give a target enemy Personality or Follower –3F. Bow it if its Force is now 0." [MRP, Celestial Edition, 29 June 2009] Comprehensive Rules, Celestial Edition, with specific card rulings, final version, February 2012, p. 131

Rules Q&A

• Q: RE: Again!
  Akodo Gilador-san, I believe FPAlpha was asking if you could, after Battle Resolution at the first battlefield and the Kensai has been sent home, at a second battlefield use this action and then use the additional action to satisfy the rule of location by moving in.
  This wouldn't work as you would indeed need location for Again! and the additional action is irrelevant, in this context I would guess that they wanted to straighten them, then move in with Falling Leaf Strike or similar which requires an unbowed personality to do the movement.
  Hopefully that should clarify a bit
  (disclaimer - not part of rules team, just helping out)
  A: You might believe that, but I don't see how you get there from what FPAlpha said.
  Regardless, you are correct in stating that you cannot target a unit at home with Again!, since you cannot satisfy the Rule of Location by using the additional action to move the unit to the current battlefield. Alex Jones, "Again!", 17 Oct 2011
• Q: I just saw this ruling here about Falling Leaf Strike. I think that is in error. The targeting of the opposing unit seems to be an effect of the action and not required targeting. Therefore, Falling Leaf Strike can be used to move into a battlefield unopposed, correct?
  Kiho Battle: Target your unbowed Monk: Move him to the current battlefield. Give a target enemy Personality or Follower -3F. Bow it if its Force is now 0.
  A: Any targeting not preceeded by "may", or as part of an optional effect is required targeting.
  The effect of "Give a target Personality or Follower -3F" does not have a "You may" or similar conditional phrase in front of it, so it is a mandatory effect, and the targeting stated in the effect is required targeting. Dan Jacobson, "Falling Leaf Strike", 18 Dec 2009
• Q: Can you use Falling Leaf Strike on a Monk that is already at the current battlefield to apply the force penalty or do you have to move a monk to the battlefield?
  A: The former. All effects are independent. See the FAQ entry, "Is an effect legal if an effect can't happen?" http://rules.l5r.com/CE_FAQ#Is_an_actio ... _happen.3F Zen Faulkes, "Falling Leaf Strike", 3 Dec 2009
• Q: Hello! Is it legal to target a monk at the current battlefield with falling leaf strike? Does it legally follow the good faith rule since the monk is already in the battlefield and no movement occurs? Thanks!
  Good Faith Rule Good Faith Rule: When an action is announced, the player must be able to target all required targets, meet all conditions of the action, and pay all mandatory costs, to the best of his or her knowledge.
  Falling Leaf Strike reads: Kiho Battle: Target your unbowed Monk: Move him to the current battlefield. Give a target enemy Personality or Follower -3F. Bow it if its Force is now 0.
  A: So, checking the good faith rule:
  Good Faith Rule Good Faith Rule: When an action is announced, the player must be able to target all required targets, meet all conditions of the action, and pay all mandatory costs, to the best of his or her knowledge.
  Can you target all required targets?
  You have your monk, who is at the current battlefield, which meets the requirements of Location and Presence, and the enemy personality at the current battlefield, also a required target. Check
  Can you pay all costs? Since targeting your unbowed monk is the ONLY thing between the first two colons, and there is no gold cost in the coin on the Strategy, there is no cost, only a performer (your monk). Check.
  Says nothing about effects in the Good Faith Rule. Good to go!
  In the future please ask such questions in the CCG Rules Forum. Thank you! -Genji Dan Jacobson, "Rules Clarifications: Falling leaf strike", 12 Oct 2009
• Q: Is it legal to play Falling Leaf Strike on a monk that is already at the current battlefield or must he move for the action to be legaly taken?
  "Battle: Target your unbowed Monk: Move him to the current battlefield. Give a target enemy Personality or Follower -3F. Bow it if its Force is now 0."
  Thanks!
  A: Actions effects can fail. The only requirement for this Strategy is that you target an unbowed monk. He can be anywhere, including the current battlefield, due to the effects of the card and the exception to the Rule of Location. Dan Jacobson, "Falling Leaf Strike", 23 Jul 2009
• Q: Falling Leaf Strike: can I move into an unopposed battle?
  A: Celestial Edition rules, page 23: "Targeting mentioned in the effects block is not required at this time if it: is done by another player..." Does not apply.
  "...is delayed in time..." Although the movement effect comes before the targeting, the targeting is not "delayed." Delayed means a time for the effect is spelled out in the card text as happening at some point other than during action resolution. Does not apply.
  "...or is optional." Does not apply.
  Thus, targeting the enemy Personality is mandatory. You have to do it. Zen Faulkes, "Falling leaf strike (rewording)", 11 Jul 2009
• Q: I have attacked with cavalry one of the provinces the defending player didn't assign any units. After I declare that I want to resolve such battle, he plays Falling Leaf Strike, giving a -3F penalty to my personality, but not moving the monk to the battle, because Winter Warfare doesn't let him move. Is this a legal action, since he has no presence before he plays the action, nor after it finishes resolving?
  A: http://rules.l5r.com/Battles#Combat_Segment:
  "Even if the movement is known beforehand to fail -- for example, due to ongoing negation effects, or due to the unit having been in an attacking army during the Resolution Segment of another battle -- the action can still be taken. [CHANGED Jan 20 2008]
  "Example: Winter Warfare ("actions can not move units to or from battlefields") is in effect. It is legal to play Rout ("Battle: Move home a target unit. Destroy one of its attachments (if any).") even though the movement effect will be negated. The destruction of an attachment still occurs because effects are independent." Zen Faulkes, "Falling Leaf Strike X Winter Warfare", 22 Jan 2008
• Q: Falling Leaf Strike: Does the word “your” means that it is the same monk, that was targeted in the constraints block(?)
  A: Yes. Zen Faulkes, "Two monks and one Falling Leaf Strike", 13 Jan 2008