Iaijutsu Duel

Legend of the Five Rings card from Gold Edition, Pre-Imperial Edition, Imperial Edition, Emerald Edition, Battle of Beiden Pass, Obsidian Edition, Jade Edition, Pearl Edition, Storms Over Matsu Palace, Siege of Sleeping Mountain, L5R Experience, Celestial Edition 15th Anniversary, Top Deck Booster Pack, Shadowlands, Anvil of Despair, Crimson and Jade, Time of the Void, Hidden Emperor Starter, Scorpion Clan Coup Starter, Honor Bound, Fire & Shadow, Soul of the Empire, The War of Spirits, The Fall of Otosan Uchi, Heaven & Earth, A Perfect Cut, Broken Blades, Dark Allies, An Oni's Fury

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Keywords

Iaijutsu

Card Text

Iaijutsu Battle: Your target performing unbowed Personality challenges a target enemy Personality. The winner gains 5 Honor. Destroy the loser.

Focus Value

2

Legality

Clan Wars (Imperial), Four Winds (Gold), Hidden Emperor (Jade)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Reads, "Iaijutsu Duel 0G 2FV Battle: A Personality in your army issues an unrefusable challenge to an opposing Personality. You need not control either Personality. If the Personality in your army is not yours and the challenge gains a cost, the controller of the Personality may choose to not pay the cost and send this card back to your hand. The winner's controller gains 5 Honor." [MRP, Broken Blades, 8 August 2002] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 21
• Clarified: if one selected Personality is controlled by you, it must be unbowed. Text Change & Errata List, February 15, 2000, p. 3
• Erratum: this card creates a challenge which cannot be refused. Text Change & Errata List, February 15, 2000, p. 4
• Clarified: The Personality in your army is the challenger. Text Change & Errata List, February 15, 2000, p. 4
• Erratum: Clarified: if one selected Personality is controlled by you, it must be unbowed. Errata: this card creates a challenge which cannot be refused. Legend of the Five Rings FAQ, Version 3.4 & errata, June 1997, p. 22
• Erratum: Iaijutsu Duel: Losing Honor and dishonoring the Personality are not costs of refusal (erratum). The Imperial Herald, Issue 16, p. 12
• Q: How can I tell if an action is targeted? A: There are two things to check. Some will actually tell you. For the rest, you have to consider whether you ever have to decide what the action affects or references. If an action is ever targeted, it is always considered a targeted action, even in situations where there is only one thing it may be played on. For example, Iaijutsu Duel starts a duel between one attacking and one defending Personality. Since the rules of the game allow both attacking and defending armies to contain any number of Personalities, Iaijutsu Duel targets both of them. Because it is a targeted action, it is considered targeted even in battles where there is only one unit on both sides and your selections are forced. On the other hand, Togashi Yoshi's reaction is used when one of your Personalities enters a duel. Since duels can only be fought between Personalities belonging to different people, and since the game rules do not allow starting multiple duels simultaneously, you will never have more than one Personality who can receive Yoshi's bonus at any given instant. Yoshi's effect is therefore not targeted. The Imperial Herald, Issue 10, p. 11
• Q: Can I use Biting Steel on a Personality who is on his way into a duel? A: No. L5R was expressly set up so that "timing questions" of this sort wouldn't arise more than once. Here's the secret: it's always somebody's turn to do something. Here's an example. Let's say that during my Action Phase I bow my Hawks and Falcons to gain Honor, which is a Limited action. Before I get to do another Limited or Open action, I have to give you, my opponent, a chance to do Open actions of your own. If you have a Shugenja with Biting Steel ready to go, you could bow him now to give that bonus to somebody. However, if you pass, and don't do any Open actions, then I can play an Iaijutsu Duel and initiate a challenge on one of your Personalities. You don't get a chance to do anything else: my action has to resolve before it becomes your turn to act again. So: the duel starts up, and as the challenged party, you get to choose first whether you want to focus or strike. Once the duel is over and the body is carted away, my action (the Iaijutsu Duel) has resolved, and it's your turn to do an Open action again. The Imperial Herald, Vol. 1, Issue 1, p. 10

Rules Q&A

• Q: 2) Superior Strategist for an Iaijutsu Duel (Both the Sup Strat and Iaijutsu Duel target Uji)
  A: Again, no. Drop a Spearmen on that Uji or something. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for June 11th - Part Two!", 12 Jun 2003
• Q: 5) What happens to a Battle Action duel (e.g. Iaijutsu Duel) if one of the participants moves out of the battle during the duel?
  A: It proceeds as normal. There is no rule prohibiting duels between Personalities in different locations. Jeff Alexander, "post for 22 May 2003", 23 May 2003
• Q: I play and win and Iaijutsu Duel, my oponent plays Wind's Truth, can I negate that reaction with Keen Eyes, as it is played during a duel?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 1 May 2003", 2 May 2003
• Q: If I challenge an opposing personality with Iaijutsu Duel with my Shadowlands personality, and my Shadowlands personality loses and is destroyed, who gets to gain the 2 honor and choose which personality to taint? And if the duel is a tie and both personalities die, would I gain 4 honor and taint two, or would each player gain 2 honor and taint one?
  A: For duels, go with resolution over action. The controller of the winning Personality would get the Honor and the choice of who to taint (although it will not be much of a choice -- it will be his own Personality, as the only survivor of the duel). Jeff Alexander, "post for 25 March 2003", 26 Mar 2003
• Q: If I destroy a personality during a battle with an Iaijutsu Duel, do I have to choose the surviving personality in the duel or can I choose any personality surviving the battle?
  A: The one surviving the duel. Jeff Alexander, "post for 25 March 2003", 26 Mar 2003
• Q: Hence: Bayushi Aramoro making me discard cards from my province is a Ninja Action.
  But Bayushi Aramoro challenging me to an Iaijutsu Duel is not, because Iaijutsu Duel lacks the Ninja Trait on its card, and the Action is Iaijutsu Duel's ability, not Aramoro's, right?
  A: Right. Jeff Alexander, "post for 29 July 2002", 30 Jul 2002
• Q: - I have Kwanchai with the Celestial attached in a battle at province A. I'm also attacking to province B. On a battle on province B, the player makes a Iaijutsu Duel. Can I bow Kwanchai and make him take the duel ?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 10 June 2002", 11 Jun 2002
• Q: More specific, could I use Fall on your Knees to cancel a Poisoned Weapon "inside" an Iaijutsu Duel?
  A: Yes, but mainly because Fall On Your Knees is playable during a particular part of the game turn. Your question about whether the duel is "in" the battle is beside the point. Jeff Alexander, "post for 13 May 2002", 15 May 2002
• Q: Ok Jeff, explain this to me in VERY simple language (I'm a very simple guy, after all) hypo situation:
  My opponent, George, has a personality with a total of 6 chi and the Shinsei's Staff attached, challenges one of my attacking personalities with a chi of 3 to an Iaijutsu Duel. I have 2 A Perfect Cut in my hand, using them both, and he focuses two 4's. What is the result of the duel? a) His pers. wins because my APC's become 3's as they are revealed. b) The APC's are unaffected and my personality kicks his 15 to 14.
  So, in other words, does the Shinsei's staff JUST look at the little number at the bottom of the card or does it consider the card's effects as well?
  A: Shinsei's Staff and A Perfect Cut both try to change A Perfect Cut's focus value at the same time: when it's focused. You have to fall back to Cardinal Rule #3. The active player decided which happens first. Jeff Alexander, "post for 4 April 2002", 5 Apr 2002
• Q: A quick question on reactions during battle: -Iaijutsu Duel played by Personalities that doesn't allow reactions in a duel (Reinsei or Aroru) can be canceled by Know the enemy, Asako towers ability or similar efect?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 28 February 2002", 1 Mar 2002
• Q: As a corollary, though, you can redirect an ally's Iaijutsu Duel: If the ally chooses your personality as one of the duelists, you can bump it to one of the allying personalities instead.
  A: Correct. Jeff Alexander, "post for 20 February 2002", 21 Feb 2002
• Q: On another note, has the definition of "your army" changed dramatically? I thought it used to mean the cards controlled by you in an attacking or defending army, but the GE text of Iaijutsu Duel (..."You need not control either Personality...") seems to imply otherwise. How can it be in your army, but you not control it? I understand allies might play a part, but isn't that their army, and the Personalities contained therin?
  A: Nope. In any battle, there are only two armies. There's the attacking army, and the defending army. All allies are in one or the other, and if you are the attacker or defender, all units in the appropriate army (regardless of control) are in your army. That's nothing new with Gold, though. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for July 25th", 25 Jul 2001
• Q: Likewise, the destruction!=removal case needs to be in place to prevent silly applications of cards like Test of Courage. Test of Courage should not be able to cancel Iaijutsu Duel. 'Removing' is moving the unit home or to another province, nothing else.
  I agree, but there is no desperate need for consistency between Test of Courage and Gaheris.
  A: Other than the general need for consistency and clarity between *all* cards. If 'removing' is being sent home for Test of Courage, then it needs to be 'being sent home' in all other cases, not just for ToC. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for February 6th", 6 Feb 2001