Hantei XVI

Legend of the Five Rings card from The War of Spirits

Card Type

Personality

Force

2

Chi

4

Honor Requirement

10

Gold Cost

8

Personal Honor

4

Clan

Spirit

Keywords

Unique, Emperor, Samurai, Spirit

Card Text

Will not be controlled by a Toturi's Army player.
Other players will not win an Honor Victory.
Open: Any number of times per turn, even if you do not control Hantei XVI, set your Family Honor to 20 points lower, which is not considered an Honor loss: Take control of Hantei XVI.

Legality

Hidden Emperor (Jade)

Deck

Dynasty

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: I cross 40 honor on my turn (I was below to start my turn). My opponent controls Hantei XVI. I play and cast Call the Spirit on him. At the beginning of my next turn, which happens first: I win via honor vicory or I lose control of Hantei?
  A: Cardinal rule 3. Active player picks. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 2 December 2003, Part 2", 3 Dec 2003
• Q: That archive entry was written before the Gold Edition rules. It is no longer correct.
  Does that mean that Hantei XVI + Kitsuki Kaagi's Journal for exemple makes it almost impossible (very, very hard anyway) for my opponent to perform an honor victory ?
  A: So it would seem. Jeff Alexander, "post for 6 February 2003", 7 Feb 2003
• Q: I have a question regarding Hantei XVI and targetting.
  "Hantei XVI Unaligned Emperor. Spirit. Samurai. Unique. Hantei the XVI will not join an Toturi's army player. No player can achieve an honor victory while Hantei the XVI is in play unless the player controls Hantei XVI. Any player may, as an open action, lower their honor by 20 to permanently take control of Hantei the XVI. This is not considered an honor loss."
  the rules archive says : "Using his trait to take control of Hantei XVI does not target, because the action is self-referential"
  I do not understand this : there does not seem to be an action written on Hantei XVI, merely a trait granting all players the ability to perform an open action. I see this as something similar to Yogo Towers, which has been ruled that way : "The ability granted by the stronghold is considered printed on the Personality" and "Ability is a card effect". Then i would say the action "open : take control of Hantei XVI" does not come from Hantei, but from... let's say the player performing it ? (should we consider it printed on each player, and therefore a player effect ;) ?) Thus it would not be self-referential...
  A: That archive entry was written before the Gold Edition rules. It is no longer correct. Jeff Alexander, "post for 5 February 2003", 6 Feb 2003
• Q: You can use the action on Hantei XVI's card, even if you cannot normally lose honor. However, because the lowering of your honor isn't an honor loss, it still happens, and a Shadowlands player would instantly drop to -39, losing the game.
  I thought I'd already ruled on this, Vaughn: the Spawning Ground and Horde cannot take Hantei XVI because they cannot change their honor from -19.
  A: Yeah. Mea Culpa. For whatever reason, I'm just having trouble kicking the answer I got on this during playtest out of my head. :/ Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for January 6th", 6 Jan 2001
• Q: Text: Unaligned Emperor Spirit Samurai Unique Hantei XVI will not join a Toturi's Army player. No player can acheive an Honor Victory while Hantei XVI is in play unless the player controls Hantei XVI. Any player may, as an Open Action, Lower his or her Honor by 20 to permanently take control of Hantei XVI. This is not considered an Honor loss.
  Question: Can't the Spirit player just take back control immediately after control has been lost, thus making it impossible for anyone other than the Spirit player to win via Honor?
  A: Sure...at a cost of 20 honor or so. Matter of fact, two Sepulchre of Bone or old Scorpion players could just do this forever, losing 20 honor as an Open action each turn until they got tired of it. The Crane player in the example would probably be much better off losing 5 honor to send a Korat Assassin after the Revered Emperor. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for November 18th", 18 Nov 2000