Isawa Tomo

Legend of the Five Rings card from Obsidian Edition, Imperial Edition, Emerald Edition, Time of the Void

Card Type

Personality

Force

1

Chi

3

Honor Requirement

5

Gold Cost

8

Personal Honor

2

Clan

Phoenix

Keywords

Elemental Master, Phoenix Clan, Shugenja, Water

Card Text

Water Remote Repeatable Battle, w: Move a target Personality to a different battlefield. This ability has Absent and the target may be at any battlefield if the second battlefield is, or if Tomo is at, the current battlefield.

Legality

Clan Wars (Imperial), Hidden Emperor (Jade)

Deck

Dynasty

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Reads, "Isawa Tomo 1F/3C 5HR 8G 2PH Phoenix Clan Shugenja. Master of Water. Battle Elemental: Bow this card to move a unit from one of the Defender's Provinces to another." [MRP, Obsidian Edition] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 106
• Clarified: moves units between Defender's Provinces only. Text Change & Errata List, February 15, 2000, p. 16

Rules Q&A

• Q: but he was the soul of Isawa Tomo, and proceded to move my biggest unit from the current battle into Sorrows Path.
  Anyway my question is, is that action legal? I tried telling him that because he dosen't have a unit in the battle, and isn't moving anyone in, it's not legal. All the non-Phoenix players here agree with me but that dosn't stop the Phoenix players from playing the combo.
  A: Riake needs to satisfy Presence and Relevance, just like every other Battle action that doesn't say otherwise. If your opponent has no units in the battle currently being resolved, his only legal use of Riake would be to move one of his own units into it. Jeff Alexander, "post for 3 September 2002", 4 Sep 2002
• Q: OK, I'm pretty sure this has been asked a couple of times, so I'm not flagging it for the rules guys, but a friend is having trouble wrapping his mind around the sheer pimpdom of Isawa Tomo, so I promised I'd double-check. Can somebody confirm for me?
  Player A attacks Player B at Province 1. Player B defends with Tomo/Riake at Province 2. Player A resolves the battle at Province 2 first. Player B bows Tomo/Riake to move Player A's unit from Province 1 to Province 2 to die screaming on Sorrow's Path.
  Legal, or not?
  A: Legal. It follows Riake's text ("move a unit"), it satisfies Presence (Player B has a unit in Province 2), and it satisfies Relevance (twice: the action came from a card in Province 2, plus it moved something into Province 2). Jeff Alexander, "post for 11-12 February 2002", 12 Feb 2002
• Q: Isawa Riake
  Should read, "Isawa Riake 1F/3C 5HR 8G 2PH Phoenix Clan Master of Water. Shugenja. Soul of Isawa Tomo. Elemental Battle: Bow Riake to move a unit from one of the defender's Province's to another." [Erratum, Gold Edition rulebook]
  Aftermath
  A resolved battle is still a battle until the Attack Phase ends. (Note that only defending units remain in battle after resolution.) [ZF, 8 June 2000] Units in a resolved battle are still part of an army. (Note that only defending units remain in battle after resolution.) [ZF, 8 June 2000]
  Here's the question. Let's say the attacker has one unit attacking Province A. Defender defends with Isawa Riake in Province A. Attacker resolves Provinces B, C, D and no provinces are destroyed. You get to Province A, can Riake move the attacking unit to Provinces B, C, or D even though the battles are resolved?
  A: Yes. Each of those is "another of the defender's Provinces". Jeff Alexander, "post for 24 January 2002", 24 Jan 2002
• Q: 2. The Isawa Tomo clone out of gold (whoes name escapes me cause she's not right in front of me at the moment) allows you as a battle action to move a unit from one of the defenders provinces to another. Can she do this while not assigned to a battle? To opposing units?
  A: Yes and yes, but make sure you satisfy both Presence and Relevance every time you use her. Jeff Alexander, "post for 11 January 2002", 12 Jan 2002
• Q: Isawa Tomo (1/3 5|8|2) Phoenix Clan Shugenja. Master of Water. Battle Elemental: Bow this card to move a unit from one Province to another. (Clarification: Moves units between Defender's Provinces only.)
  Just something I wanted to resolve.
  Firstly does the rule of presence come into effect when moving someone elses personality into the battle.
  A: No. Relevance, yes, but not Presence. Remember, you need both. It's legal to move someone else's unit into a battle if and only if you've satisfied Presence some other way, which means you can only do it if you have someone there already. The only legal use of Tomo when you have no units is to move one of your OWN in. Jeff Alexander, "replies to 15-20 July", 26 Jul 2001
• Q: Isawa Riake - Gold Edition text is: "Phoenix Clan Shugenja. Master of Water *. Soul of Isawa Tomo Battle Elemental: Bow Natsumi to move a unit from one of the Defender's Provinces to another." HUH???? Who is Natsume?
  A: There's errata at the back of the Gold rulebook that covers that change. I would guess that her name changed as things were going to print. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for July 23rd", 23 Jul 2001