Isawa Suma

Legend of the Five Rings card from Time of the Void

Card Type

Personality

Force

2

Chi

3

Honor Requirement

7

Gold Cost

8

Personal Honor

2

Clan

Phoenix

Keywords

Phoenix Clan, Shugenja

Card Text

Before a Spell attached to Suma is destroyed by its own costs or effects: Instead, permanently give Suma a Chi penalty equal to half the Spell's Focus Value, rounded up; if the destruction was a cost, it is considered paid.

Legality

Clan Wars (Imperial)

Deck

Dynasty

Printings

Rulings

• Effect works on spells that cannot be copied by Scribes. [DW, 2/12/98] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 105
• Effect does not work on spells destroyed by Norikazu's Ravings, because they are not destroying themselves. [Reversal, card text, DW, email, 4/5/99] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 105
• The cost of destroying the spell is still considered to have been paid. [JA, 9 April 2002] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 105
• Chi reduction is an effect, not a cost. The spellcasting is not cancelled if Suma's chi cannot be reduced. [JA, 5 September 2002] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 105

Rules Q&A

• Q: 1. I have Isawa Suma with an emerald armor. Casting spells will not reduce his chi to below one right?
  A: Right. Jeff Alexander, "post for 11-12 September 2002", 13 Sep 2002
• Q: 3. For spells that destroy themselves (or otherwise remove themselves from play), the spell's destruction is always a cost. [JA, 8 October 2000]
  (A bit problematic for Isawa Suma then...)
  A: Things like Suma are a problem when the Spell requires its own destruction regardless of whether there exists a catch-all ruling to cover for bad templating. These are two independent, though interrelated, issues. Jeff Alexander, "post for 24 July 2002", 25 Jul 2002
• Q: 1) How works 'the purity of Kitsu' with Isawa Suma?
  A: Very well. Suma won't lose Chi. Jeff Alexander, "replies to 18 September 2001", 19 Sep 2001