Gozoku Pawn

Legend of the Five Rings card from Web of Lies

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

4

Keywords

Gozoku, Political

Card Text

Limited: Bow your performing Courtier or Gozoku Personality and target a another player's Personality: Lose 2 Honor. That player targets one of your Personalities with lower Chi. The first target duels the second. Destroy the duel's loser.

Focus Value

2

Legality

Age of Enlightenment (Lotus), Rain of Blood (Diamond)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: Ok, I understand what you mean detailing Saori, etc. however, What about things like Gozoku Pawn, or Temple of the ninth kami that can target bowed personalities. Can I target someone with Gozoku Pawn and make them issue a duel even though they are bowed??
  A: The Rules for determining who Performs an Action, on page 71 of the Diamond Edition Rulebook, that could make the challenging Personality perform such an Action all explicitly state that the Personality must you "yours" (meaning under your Control for things printed prior to Dawn of the Empire - in this case the Diamond Edition Rulebook itself). Your opponent's personalities don't qualify as "your Personality" for these criteria.
  So, no, the Challenger does not Perform Gozoku Pawn or Temple of the Ninth Kami's Actions. Martin Lund, "Rules for 4 January 2005", 8 Jan 2005
• Q: there's a rumor circulating in my group about a ruling that may or may not have been made regarding this card(.)
  A: You know, we take pretty great pains to try to do as much possible out in the open here. The question to ask is, "Where was this ruling made?" If on this forum, a search will find it pronto. Zen Faulkes, "Gozoku Pawn", 30 Mar 2005
• Q: 1. If I bring Doji Konishiko in play and used his reaction, making Gozoku Pawn his permanent ability, does his ability still counts as a political action?
  A: Yes. Zen Faulkes, "Doji Konishiko and Gozoku Pawn", 7 Mar 2005
• Q: In relation to question 1, can Konetsu copy the ability of Doji Konishiko (after he reacted, of course)?
  A: Yes. Zen Faulkes, "Doji Konishiko and Gozoku Pawn", 7 Mar 2005
• Q: If I then use Doji Konishiko's ability (Gozoku Pawn text), are the following steps correct?
  a. Target an opponent's personality(.)
  b. Pay costs which now only involve bowing a courtier/gozoku personality. In this step, I choose to bow Doji Konishiko because he is a courtier. No need to pay 4 gold.
  c. Resolve action as normal even though the last phrase of Doji Konishiko's ability wasn't met ("...bows as an added effect.") since he is already bowed for the cost.
  A: Correct. Zen Faulkes, "Doji Konishiko and Gozoku Pawn", 7 Mar 2005
• Q: However, since his opponent has no viable target for the action, i.e. there is no personality with lower chi than himself, can he issue a duel?
  A: No (card text). Zen Faulkes, "Blade of the Master/Gozoku Pawn Clarification", 27 Feb 2005
• Q: This seems to contradict the rulesheet from Web of Lies, Zen. Would you clarify, please?
  Blade of the Master's targeting requirements appear to be "an opposing Personality."
  Gozoku Pawn's targeting requirements appear to be "a Personality controlled by another player."
  The other instances of targeting for each of them (the challenged personality) appear to be part of the cards' effects.
  A: New rules. Huh. I was wrong. Zen Faulkes, "Blade of the Master, Gozoku Pawn, and targeting", 27 Feb 2005
• Q: If I discard a Gozoku Pawn to Doji Konishiko when she comes into play, then next turn bow her to use the effect; would I have to bow a second coutier or gozoku to meet the cost of Gozoku Pawn?
  A: Konishiko could bow to pay the cost. Zen Faulkes, "Doji Konishiko (Experienced 7) & Gozoku Pawn", 26 Feb 2005
• Q: I only asked for some opinions coming from other players, that's all...
  A: Fair enough. But keep in mind that in the sticky at the top of this forum, Jeff Alexander has specifically asked players not to jump in with their own answers to questions, unless it quotes an existing rules document. Zen Faulkes, "Shrine of Compassion / Gozoku Pawn", 5 Feb 2005
• Q: So, by card text, shrine of compassion doesn't do a thing against Iaijustu Challenge, Tamura's challenge, Saori's challenge... (but do force the player to bow his stronghold when issuing a challenge such as Contested Holding)
  A: I wouldn't jump to that conclusion. I suspect this is a slight miswording of Shrine of Compassion, with the idea being to make it very broadly applicable. I'm going to tentatively say that Shrine of Compassion applies to challenges performed by Personalities, in fact. Zen Faulkes, "Shrine of Compassion / Gozoku Pawn", 5 Feb 2005
• Q: How can a player issue a challenge ?
  A: By specific card text allowing it (e.g., Contested Holding). Zen Faulkes, "Shrine of Compassion / Gozoku Pawn", 5 Feb 2005
• Q: The cards:
  Shrine of Compassion
  Bow Shrine of Compassion to produce 2 Gold. While you control a Shrine of Compassion and have more than two destroyed Personalities in your discard pile, players must bow their Strongholds before they issue a challenge to one of your Personalities during the Action Phase or the challenge is negated.
  Gozoku Pawn
  Political Limited: Bow a Coiurtier Personality or Gozoku Personality you control: Target a Personality controlled by another player. Lose 2 Honor. that player targets a Personality you control with lower Chi. His Personality issues yours an unrefusable challenge.
  The question:
  I have the Shrine of Compassion in play and 3 dead bodies. What happens if i play a Gozoku Pawn on another player's personality?
  Thx
  A: You can use your pawn, but it won't do a whole lot. The other player can just choose not to bow his Stronghold and have the challenge Negated, just like the card text says. Martin Lund, "Shrine of Compassion / Gozoku Pawn", 5 Feb 2005
• Q: [OBH]
  If I play Gozoku Pawn, and my opponent targets someone: I want to redirect: sorry, but these have slightly different timing so I want to make sure... Can I deflect to a duelist with equal or higher chi? Can I do the same with passing the message?
  A: No in both cases. The new target must be legal, and the targeting for Pawn must be someone of lower Chi. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 17 Jun 2026