Gifts and Favors

Legend of the Five Rings card from Lotus Edition, 1,000 Years of Darkness, Diamond Edition, Promotional–Lotus, Training Grounds, Training Grounds 2, Tomorrow, Promotional–Gold, The Fall of Otosan Uchi, Heaven & Earth, Winds of Change, Reign of Blood, Hidden City, Wrath of the Emperor, Web of Lies, Enemy of My Enemy, Code of Bushido, Path of Hope

Card Type

Holding

Gold Cost

2

Card Text

After your Dynasty Phase ends, if this copy of this Holding is not in play and you put no Gold-producing Holdings into play this turn, you may bow your Stronghold to search your Dynasty deck, then face-down Provinces, for a card titled "Gifts and Favors" and put the first one you find into play (bowed), ignoring costs. If you find none, you are eliminated from the game.
w: Produce 2 Gold.

Legality

Age of Enlightenment (Lotus), Four Winds (Gold), Rain of Blood (Diamond)

Deck

Dynasty

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Reads, "Gifts and Favor 2G During your End Phase, only if this copy of this card is not in play and you played no Gold-producing Holdings this turn, you may bow your Stronghold as a cost to search your Dynasty deck, then face-down Provinces, for a card titled "Gifts and Favors" and put the first one you find into play, bowed. If you find none, lose the game. Bow this card: Produce 2 Gold." [MRP, Tomorrow, 12 March 2007] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 81
• If you find a copy in your deck, you may not search your Provinces. [ZF, 15 April 2003] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 81
• Erratum: Gifts and Favors: The ability now reads, "Reaction: During your End Phase, if you've brought no Gold-producing Holdings into play this turn, bow your Stronghold to search your deck, then face-down Provinces, for this card. Put the first Gifts and Favors you find into play bowed and shuffle your deck. If you find none, you lose the game." [MRP] Legend of the Five Rings FAQ, April 26, 2004, p. 16

Rules Q&A

• Q: -After a player search his deck for some reason (such as Kakita Dueling Academy or Gifts and Favors), does he have to shuffle the deck after that? If he doesn't have to, what happens if he, "by mistake", shuffles it in a tournament?
  A: Whenever you search your deck, you must shuffle afterwards. That's the 4th Cardinal Rule on page 34 of the Diamond Edition Rulebook.
  As to the second question, it depends on the card. Searching for Gifts and Favors out of your deck when you can't produce one from your deck or Provinces is illegal, and you lose the game if you do so. The card itself even reminds you of this. As for searching your deck for a card that is not there, this is not a "mistake" nor is it cheating. You can use abilities like that of Isawa Taeruko to search for cards that you know aren't in your deck, just to be able to shuffle it.
  You can certainly search for that which can't be found. The Brotherhood of Shinsei and Togashi have been teaching such lessons of Enlightenment in Rokugan for generations. Martin Lund, "Rules for 23 January 2005", 25 Jan 2005
• Q: I'm not Jeff, but I would guess that the difference is that Gifts and Favors and AFR say "search your deck and provinces for *this card*", whereas Tengoku Acolyte says to search your deck for "a Tengoku Acolyte".
  A: Bingo.
  There is no searching for the first. Martin Lund, "Rules for 12 November 2004", 14 Nov 2004
• Q: What about other things that occur "during" the End phase (Gifts and Favors, Shinsei's Shrine). When do these happen, exactly?
  A: Shinsei's Shrine produces an effect that happens "during" the End phase, and thusly can happen at any time during the phase, as per Dave William's ruling above.
  Gifts and Favors has a Reaction, so again, it would have to happen in response to entering into the End Phase (the first point at which the trigger == true) or not at all. Of course, it is up to you whether you order "during" triggered Effects before you take your Reactions or at some point afterwards. Martin Lund, "Rules for 19 and 20 September 2004", 24 Sep 2004
• Q: I need a ruling because of an incident.
  Can you bow your stronghold to search for and bring in a “Gifts and Favors” while you have none in play? If you bought nothing that turn?
  Thanks again guys,
  A: Short answer: Yes, you can get Gifts and Favors without having one in play.
  Long answer: Yes, you use the ability of the Gifts and Favors in the deck to do this. Sometimes cards break the basic rules of the game in order to function. In this case, Gifts and Favors refers to itself, not any old other card with the name "Gifts and Favors." You can only find a given copy of Gifts and Favors in your deck or provinces if it is not in play, so the only time this ability is legal is when the card it is printed on is not in play.
  Ergo, it must break the rules and allow you to play its ability from the Dynasty Deck. Martin Lund, "Rules for 10 April 2004", 12 Apr 2004
• Q: If I fetch a Gifts and Favors from my deck with my stronghold, does it count as having "entered play for 0 gold" for purposes of being destroyed by Plague of Locusts?
  A: According to the Archive, no. Plague of Locusts works based on the card's Gold cost when it entered play, and Gifts & Favors cost 2. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 9 Feb. 2004", 10 Feb 2004
• Q: If Contingency Plans is in effect, it takes a stronghold and one gold to fetch a Gifts and Favors, right ?
  A: No. Gifts and Favors isn't in play when its ability is used (card text). Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 10 November 2003, Part 2", 11 Nov 2003
• Q: Assuming that you can't search your deck for a Gifts and Favors while Uona Sensei is in play, can you search only the face-down cards in your provinces for said Gifts and Favors?
  A: Yes. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 2 September 2003", 3 Sep 2003
• Q: An annoying rules question, thus:
  My "Right to Rule" resolves, and my opponent, laughing at my idiocy, keeps his province.
  Now...he can only win by Enlightenment, Military or Honor. The fool! He has handed my ULTIMATE POWER.
  If I am in any danger of losing the game, I can merely destroy all of Rokugan at my whim, and rule over the rubble of civilization. What more could a man wish for?
  I bow my SH to search for "Gifts and Favors".
  It's not there...so I lose.
  BUT HE DOESN'T WIN.
  A: Yes, he does. If you're sitting at the table, and your opponent vanishes, you win by a Military victory. As far as the rules are concerned, it doesn't matter why he vanished - if you're the only person left in the game, you win a Military victory. Vaughn Derderian, "Post for June 19, 2003", 19 Jun 2003
• Q: Instead, they made Gifts and Favors a fixed card in starter decks and everyone can get them. If Shrine to Daikoku proves important enough, I'm almost certain we'll see more access to it.
  A: It will not prove "important enough". There is a universe of difference between a card that helps one uniquely and dependably recover from a gold-free first turn and just one more Holding that costs two gold and can be used to produce three -- something most clans already have three of in their decks. Jeff Alexander, "post for 4 July 2003", 5 Jun 2003
• Q: Hi! That's me again!!
  What about this card? I've seen some decks at L5RShop.com that use only 1 Gifts and Favors....
  Won't I lose the game if I bring my only copy of it into play?
  A: You have NEVER lost the game by bringing a copy into play using its special ability. The newest wording makes it clear:
  "Reaction: During your End Phase, if you've brought no Gold- producing Holdings into play this turn, bow your Stronghold to search your deck, then face-down Provinces, for this card. Put the first Gifts and Favors you find into play bowed and shuffle your deck. If you find none, you lose the game." Jeff Alexander, "post for 28 April 2003", 29 Apr 2003
• Q: It seems that the middle ruling regarding calling a neutral party to check your provinces is contrary to the current wording of the card[.]
  A: Yeah. It's obsolete. I had already removed it, but hadn't uploaded the most recent version. By the time you read this, it'll be gone. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 22 April 2003", 23 Apr 2003
• Q: But the diference is that Counterattack isn't in play all the time. This card is.
  A: Sorry, you're drawing a distinction that does not exist in the rules. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 16 April 2003, Part 1", 16 Apr 2003
• Q: Does the ruling for Gifts and Favors also work for Imperial Gift or even Boundless Sight. My opponent stated before he even went looking that the only item he had in his deck was his clan sword which was already in play, but he looked through his deck and then shuffled anyway.
  A: There is no ruling on Gifts and Favors. The "you lose if you don't find one" result is new text written onto the Most Recent Printing of the card. There is nothing to extend to other cards. Jeff Alexander, "post for 23 January 2003", 24 Jan 2003
• Q: I would like to know if the "Gifts and Favors" holding card is: a fixed one into the FOU set (but I havn't found it into the official list, and it has no number!); a "reprinted" into the FOU set (but I can't find in which set it was originally printed!).
  A: Originally printed in 1,000 Years of Darkness (see checklists at URL above). One is reprinted in each Fall of Otosan Uchi starter deck. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 21-25 December 2002", 26 Dec 2002
• Q: I will ask again. << In a message dated 12/9/02 7:54:33 PM Pacific Standard Time, writes:
  << >In a multiplayer game is ongoing effects he creates after he lost still considered ongoing? Were those effects legal if they are done before he is discovered to have lost?
  No and no. Moral: if it's that important, find out right away whether the use was legal.
  Ok how? Who among the players in a multi player game gets to look under the provinces when a player can not find the gifts and favors in his deck? In this situation there is no neutral party to ask for help?
  A: If absolutely no one else is available, the best choice is that player, since he has the least to gain from knowledge of his own Province contents. Jeff Alexander, "post for 12 December 2002", 13 Dec 2002
• Q: I think my favorite suggestion so far has been a general ruling that no given search effect can be performed by a player again once it yeilds no results. This would cover G&F, Taeruko, the occasional Superior Strategist, and a few other things.
  A: I don't favor that solution. There are ways to get a Fortification back into your deck after using Taeruko and not finding any. Jeff Alexander, "post for 11 December 2002", 12 Dec 2002
• Q: That's what I mean by assumption of intent. There is no Rule of Obvious Legality in print. We've also called it Designer Fiat. The problem with it is that what's obvious to one person is not necessarily obvious to another person.
  A: fiat (n): An arbitrary decree or pronouncement, esp. by a person or group of persons having absolute authority to enforce it.
  The long-standing-but-no-longer-current ruling that Shadowlands Horde players couldn't benefit from the Alliance event was fiat. A ruling that a card that says "Take this card from Location X" can, in fact, be used when it's in Location X -- regardless of whether Location X is a place where actions can typically be used from -- is not fiat.
  There may very well exist one or more people who insist that such a card's action is illegal without explicit text or published errata specifying that it's valid, but those sorts of people are in the extreme minority. There is a limit to how verbose we can be on these cards, and the time and effort required to craft every single card to these individuals' needs lie past the point of diminished returns. Jeff Alexander, "post for 11 December 2002", 12 Dec 2002
• Q: Forfeiture of the entire game is *way* out of line.
  A: The primary reason for the MRP was to incorporate an official ruling that you're not allowed to use it if it's not in your deck, in a way that wasn't pointless -- every card can have the sentence, "You can't take this action if it's illegal" tacked onto the end, and it wouldn't change the card one bit. Yet the question of what to do if G&F is used and not found was a common one, and we try to incorporate rules clarifications onto cards whenever we reprint them.
  Arbitrary free reshuffles are only an example of WHY someone might want to deliberately misuse G&F's existence in a dishonorable fashion, as well as a demonstration that it COULD be misused in ways that most cards (such as Taeruko) can't. Reshuffles are not so potent in and of themselves to be the sole or even the main reason for the change. Jeff Alexander, "post for 10 December 2002", 11 Dec 2002
• Q: During my end phase, I bow my stronghold to retreive my one Gifts and Favors from my deck and put it into play. I now check to see if I have Gifts and Favors in my deck or face-down Provinces, which I don't, since the one I'm playing with is now in play. I lose the game.
  A: No, you don't. Losing is contingent upon trying to use G&F and finding you have none. It's an alternative, not a later, separate effect. Jeff Alexander, "post for 10 December 2002", 11 Dec 2002
• Q: << Yes, you still lose for using a G&F that you don't have anywhere in your deck or face-down Provinces even if it is not discovered immediately. The loss is not being delayed, either -- it happened at the time you used the illegal action.
  Jeff, Follow up. Currently the rule book says this:
  A player loses and is removed from the game along with all cards he or she owns if all of his or her Provinces are destroyed OR if he or she ever has under -19 Family Honor. Any ongoing effects the player's cards created continue unchanged. Does this now apply for people who lose by the Gifts and Favors error.
  A: Yes. All eliminations have the same result. Jeff Alexander, "post for 9 December 2002", 10 Dec 2002
• Q: WC: You may call it rules lawyering, I call it a need for clarification. The fact of the matter is the rules are specifics about how long an effect last. By definition this is a card effect.
  A: Yes, you still lose for using a G&F that you don't have anywhere in your deck or face-down Provinces even if it is not discovered immediately. The loss is not being delayed, either -- it happened at the time you used the illegal action. Jeff Alexander, "post for 6 December 2002", 7 Dec 2002
• Q: One thing about the MRP...if I don't find it in my deck, can I look in my provs to see if it's there and still play it?
  A: You cannot play it from your Provinces. [card text] In formal play, if you need to verify its presence, either have a neutral person like a judge examine your Provinces or wait for all the cards to be revealed naturally, which should not take longer than your next Events Phase under normal situations. Jeff Alexander, "post for 5 December 2002", 6 Dec 2002
• Q: << Bow Gifts and Favors to produce 2 Gold. Reaction: During your End Phase, if you've brought no Gold-producing Holdings into play this turn, bow your Stronghold to retrieve this card from your deck and put it into play, bowed. If you have no Gifts and Favors in your deck or face-down Provinces, you lose the game. Shuffle your deck.
  Thanks Jeff, Now if I can't find the Gifts and Favors in my dynasty deck, what happens exactly? What are the game mechanics for checking under the provinces?
  A: Call a neutral person over, or just wait a turn. Jeff Alexander, "post for 4 December 2002", 5 Dec 2002
• Q: I agree with the comments quoted below. The "death penalty" on the MRP of Gifts and Favors is far too harsh. One has to wonder if it might eventually apply to Isawa Taeruko's ability to search one's Dynasty deck for a non-Unique fortification. What if you know (or have forgotten) that you have no such forts left? Should using Taeruko's ability under those circumstances also cause the loss of the game? I'm not sure I see any difference here.
  A: The difference is that Taeruko's action is one you know you can take, since you know you have the card it's on. Jeff Alexander, "post for 4 December 2002", 5 Dec 2002
• Q: This gets worse if you are a real pedant (moi?) Bowing the stronghold is a cost of looking for Gifts and Favors. Looking through the deck is an effect of this card, too, even though it may not be in the deck. At the point when you know the card is not in the deck, shouldn't its effects cease? Including the reshuffle?
  A: The reshuffle will still happen by Cardinal Rule 4. Jeff Alexander, "post for 19 September 2002", 20 Sep 2002
• Q: I know that Dave and maybe a couple of other people have said that at least the vast majority of 1KYoD will not be reprinted (although there will be one or more exceptions to this - Gifts and Favors in particular), but will any of 1KYoD be a reprint of older sets?
  A: No. Jeff Alexander, "post for 18 September 2002", 19 Sep 2002
• Q: Anticipation seems higher than ever for 1000YoD, as it should be :) I have one question after seeing the preview of Gifts and Favors: It seems to hold a diamond bug... Now I need to know if Diamond is coming soon and what it will do to cards printed in the gold arc.
  A: Diamond is at least a year away, and many more cards will be Diamond-bugged prior to its beginning than were Gold-bugged before Gold began. Jeff Alexander, "post for 17 September 2002", 19 Sep 2002
• Q: Note: 'Gifts and Favors' is IMO a great card. Great idea. The only problem is that maybe a rule will be needed about playing actions on cards in fate and dinasty decks.
  Rule of Obvious Legality - if something seems like it does nothing, by a strict reading of the rules, the rules are overridden. Thus, even though you normally can't take actions on things in your deck, by the rule of Obvious Legality, this works.
  So, by this rule, can the Cultist cast kiho?
  A: No. Jeff Alexander, "post for 16 September 2002", 17 Sep 2002
• Q: Since Gifts and Favors reads "during your end phase", and the legacy rules read "AFTER your dynasty phase ends", are you triggering legacy holdings during your end phase? Or are you triggering legacy holding during an "in-between" phase?
  A: According the Oracle of the Void, Gifts and Favors no longer reads that ambiguously.
  It now triggers "After your End Phase begins" so its timing is definitely AFTER the timing of the Legacy Holding search ability, which I believe answers your question.
  If not, feel free to post a follow-up and link this one within it. Brook Cunningham, "Legacy Holdings", 25 Sep 2013
• Q: With regards to: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=69606&p=900986&hilit=gifts+favors#p900986
  Wouldn't it be better to actually answer rules questions, since I've now come on to ask the same question, found it previously "answered" without any answer being given.
  Are you actually legally able to declare that you will "search" for Gifts and Favors in SE?
  A: No such card or rule exists in Samurai Edition.
  Of course, if you really want to just shuffle your deck (for which reason I assume you are looking for a nonexistant card via an old rule) just look for a Legacy holding when you know you don't have one in your deck.
  Of course, you won't be able to do that again that game, but it is a viable option. Dan Jacobson, "Searching for Gifts and Favors in SE", 6 Apr 2009
• Q: (C)an you search for a Gifts and Favors in order to lose the game in a Samurai Edition Constructed tournament?
  A: Isn't easier just to concede?
  Or play really bad?
  Why bother with an arcane ruling on a card that hasn't been printed for a few years? What's the point? Zen Faulkes, "Tournament Deck Construction and Gifts and Favors", 25 Jul 2008
• Q: Hi, to ensure that I am properly reading Gifts and Favors and its intent I've come here =)
  1. If on my first turn I bring out no holdings and my stronghold is unbowed I can bow my stronghold and grab a Gifts and Favors from my deck and put it into play.
  2. Further Clarification: I do not need a "Gifts and Favors" in play to use the reaction on "Gifts and Favors"
  3. The intent of this card is to lessen the chance that I get gold screwed in the first few turns and not draw a gold production holding.
  4. I can use this effect with Temple of the Ninth Kami even though the stronghold produces no gold (one of my friends posed this question so I might as well repeat it).
  Thank you in advance.
  A: You've got the whole deal down. You use the ability of a Gifts and Favors in your deck / provinces, not in play, otherwise the whole idea of "Search your deck for this card" would be lost. Note how it says "this card," not "a copy of Gifts and Favors."
  This ability tells you to make a play that would otherwise be illegal, so the card takes priority over the standard rules, as per the Cardinal Rules on page 34 of the Diamond Edition Rulebook.
  Gifts and Favors brings itself into play via the ability. You do not have to pay its Gold Cost, so having a Stronghold that produces 0 Gold won't get in your way if you search it out of your deck + facedown provinces, rather than trying to purchase it regularly.
  If you turn it face-up on your first turn, you may run into some problems if that was the only copy in your deck, though. Martin Lund, "Returning to game: Gifts and Favors Question", 25 Mar 2005
• Q: If, when going first, I get a first turn Death of Ryoshun, and then buy a Gifts and Favors - if I use it, during the opponent's Action Phase, to target my G&F, it does make it impossible for the opponent to search for a G&F, right?
  A: Yes, for that one turn. Zen Faulkes, "Gifts and Favors and Death of Ryoshun", 25 Mar 2005
• Q: A question about paying costs. Can I voluntarily pay more gold than necessary to bring into play a card. For example, if I have 2 Quartermasters (produce 2 gold each) and 3 Gifts and Favors (produces 2 gold each), can I bow all of them to pay for a personality with a cost of 8, and then bow my Storehouses to put a counter on it?
  Storehouses (holding)
  Reaction: Bow when you produce more gold than is necessary to bring a card into play. Add one storage token to the storehouses. Reaction: Bow and destroy any number of storage tokens when you are bringing a card into play to produce gold equal to the number of storage tokens destroyed.
  Second question: Can I bow a holding without having something to pay?
  If no, can I pay for something than normally does not have a cost, but could have a cost, like an innate ability?
  A: Well, technically you aren't "paying more," but you can produce more than you need to pay the cost with. You pay the exact cost out of what you produced (any amount) and the rest is then lost (taxed away by the Emperor or some such).
  So yes, you could bow 5 holdings that each produce 2 gold for a total of 10 Gold, using 8 of it to pay the cost and having 2 lost, causing a trigger for Storehouse.
  You could even play a 0 Gold Cost Action Card and buy a holding to produce 2 Gold, then pay the 0 cost and have the 2 lost, causing a trigger for Storehouse.
  You can not produce gold without trying to meet a required Gold Cost for a play or effect of some sort, though (even a "0" cost will count). An ability with only non-Gold costs, for instance, would not be grounds to bow a holding and produce Gold. Martin Lund, "Paying costs of cards", 14 Mar 2005
• Q: Hello.
  If you use the reacction on the G&F you have in play=>you cant find it in your deck nor provinces=> you lose the game.
  Greetings.
  A: Gifts & Favors finds the first card titled "Gifts and Favors". It will not find The Daimyo's Gift. Jeff Alexander, "Gifts and Favors", 7 Feb 2005
• Q: After searching any deck for a card, reshuffle it.
  A: - Marty Lund
  Deputy Rules Monkey Martin Lund, "Gifts and Favors", 4 Feb 2005