Isawa Maasaki

Legend of the Five Rings card from Dark Allies

Card Type

Personality

Force

1

Chi

4

Honor Requirement

5

Gold Cost

8

Personal Honor

2

Clan

Phoenix

Keywords

Phoenix Clan, Shugenja

Card Text

Battle/Open: Target another Personality: Give him a Force bonus and a Chi bonus equal to the number of Spells attached to Maasaki, or +1F/+1C, whichever is higher.

Legality

Four Winds (Gold)

Deck

Dynasty

Printings

Rulings

• Ability gives +1F/+1C when he has no spells. [JA, 10 April 2002] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 105

Rules Q&A

• Q: Hello Jeff,
  In a pre-release tournament I played against a Pheonix, and he was of course using the personality, Isawa Maasaki. I questioned his use of the ability "Open: Once per turn, Maasaki gives another personality a Force and Chi bonus equal to the number of spells attached to Maasaki (minimum +1F/+1C). " The player was using the ability to give another personality +1/+1 when he had no spells attached to the personality. His explanation for this was the final note (minimum +1F/+1C), as there would be no need to put this final explanation of the ability if this was the intended use. My only counter argument was that someone could not use the ability to give a +0/+0, to get the Ring of Air out.
  Please Help
  Thank you,
  Steve Mayberry
  A: It means the ability will always give at least a +1/+1 bonus, even if used when Maasaki has zero Spells. Jeff Alexander, "post for 10 April 2002", 11 Apr 2002
• Q: I hate to "me too" this message but... it does say minimum +1F/+1C, otherwise it would say something along the effect of not being able to perform this ability if you have no spells attached. Also, before the first MRP on Dragon Tattoo (and I have a post on the second MRP I have yet to send because, until recently, I have been experiencing errors with the list), one could have a tattooed Shugenja breath 0 +1F/+1C fire tokens three times and play the Ring of Air because 0 was a valid number.
  A: With the Dragon Tattoo, it has always been (and is STILL) possible to add one Fire token three times in a row, thus playing the Ring of Air "for free" anyway.
  What isn't possible anymore is using the same Dragon Tattoo to play the Ring of Air multiple times in one turn...something people no longer care about doing anyway with the change to Finding the Harmony. Jeff Alexander, "post for 10 April 2002", 11 Apr 2002