Jigoku Sensei

Legend of the Five Rings card from Wrath of the Emperor

Card Type

Sensei

Province Strength

+0

Gold Production

+0

Starting Family Honor

+0

Keywords

Shadowlands Horde

Card Text

After revealing this Sensei, search your deck for zero to nine non-Unique Oni Personalities and place them face-down under this card, such that your deck remains legally constructed afterward.
Non-Unique Oni Personalities will not enter play from your Provinces.
Repeatable Limited, : Discard your target performing Shugenja from play to Recruit a target Oni under this card with lower Gold Cost than the Shugenja's Gold Cost plus Chi, ignoring costs other than this action's printed one.

Legality

Rain of Blood (Diamond)

Deck

Pre-Game

Printings

Rulings

• The Shugenja must be discarded from play. (When this card was printed, "your" was defined as "controlled by you," and only cards in play have a controller.) Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 141
• Ability can only be used on an oni that is an Oni currently under the Sensei. [JA, email, 10 December 2004] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 141

Rules Q&A

• Q: [8]. Jigoku Sensei
  Can I pay 3 gold and discard a Shugenja from a Province? Does the shugenja needs to be in play?
  A: It must be in play. When Jigoku Sensei was printed, the word "your card" meant that you controlled the card. Cards in your Province are not controlled by anyone, thus don't qualify as "your shugenja," for Jigoku Sensei.
  It says "Discard," because the Designers did not want you to be able to use "cheat death" tricks like Pit of Blood or Feign Death to circumvent the cost of using Jigoku Sensei. Martin Lund, "Rules for 11 December 2004", 13 Dec 2004
• Q: Also, lets say that the gozoku'd personality is discarded from play and then enters play again later (Jigoku Sensei followed by Musume Mura, for example). They'll enter play unbowed, but will the "cannot unbow" lockdown effect still be in place?
  A: Yes. Martin Lund, "Rules for 3 December 2004", 8 Dec 2004
• Q: Jigoku Sensei specifices that you must discard a Shugenja as part of the cost of bringing an Oni into play. Where are you discarding that Shugenja from? Does it have to be a Shugenja in play, or can it be a Personality card in a Province or a Follower card in hand?
  A: It must be a Shugenja you control, since it says, "discard one of your Shugenja." You only control Shugenja when they are in play, so discarding a Shugenja from a Province or Hand would not meet the cost as they would not be "your shugenja."
  It is a little confusing, but Jigoku Sensei says "discard" as opposed to "destroy" so that death-avoidance effects like Pit of Blood or Feign Death can't be used to circumvent its cost. Martin Lund, "Rules for 21 October 2004", 25 Oct 2004
• Q: 1/ Is paying for an action that bring a shadowland card into play, paying for a shadowland card ? ie : can Daigotsu Dojo pay for Jigoku Sensei ?
  A: No. You are paying for an Ability on a Card that is Not Shadowlands. Daigotsu Dojo doesn't care about what that ability DOES, only that the card with the cost is Shadowlands - and Jigoku Sensei isn't, as per the Keyword Rule on Page 64 of the Diamond Edition Rulebook. Martin Lund, "Rules for 4 October 2004", 6 Oct 2004
• Q: and, can daigotsu dojo pay for the ability of Jigoku Sensei? (it´s a shadowlands card)
  A: No. Jigoku Sensei is NOT a Shadowlands card.
  "The Keyword Rule does not apply to Sensei cards or to Strongholds." (Diamond Edition Rulebook, page 64) Martin Lund, "Rules for 21 September 2004", 24 Sep 2004
• Q: Also, some events are your events due to control and all other events are your events by English? Isn't that a bad precedent (eg for Jigoku Sensei, as already mentioned) as the english versions of 'your' now overlap with the rule versions?
  A: [MARTY] Nope.
  This isn't about the events so much as the cards that reference them.
  As I've already pointed out, Escape From Shadow can NEVER refer to a card in play, since it specifies a card in a Province, which by definition has no controller. Hence, Escape From Shadow does not reference control of the card when it uses the word, "your." Martin Lund, "Rules for 14 September 2004", 17 Sep 2004
• Q: Several Shadowlands cards say "Produces x Gold for a Shadowlands card." Can this be used to pay for abilities that produce or get shadowlands cards (i.e. Daigotsu Dojo and Jigoku Sensei). I can see it either way so I am asking.
  A: No. Producing "for an X card" only produces to pay the costs of a card that is of type X. Gold paid to the ability of Farmlands, for example, is not gold paid "for a Follower card," even though the ability in question makes a Follower. Jigoku Sensei is not a Shadowlands Card either. Martin Lund, "Rules for 18-21 August 2004", 29 Aug 2004
• Q: I would like to understand Jigoku Sensei restriction : "Your deck must still be legal."
  A: It means, after putting the Oni cardss under Jigoku sensei, your Dynasty deck must still have the minimum 40 cards. So: Brook Cunningham, "Jigoku Sensei VS A new teacher", 17 Mar 2010
• Q: If I use this Sensei at the start of the Game, that means that my dynasty deck should have at least 40 legal cards once I have put the onis under the Sensei, does it?
  A: Yes. Brook Cunningham, "Jigoku Sensei VS A new teacher", 17 Mar 2010
• Q: Does it means that I can have 3 copies of a non-unique Onis in My dynasty Deck and 3 more copies of the same non-unique Oni under the Sensei ?
  A: No. Your deck also had to be legal BEFORE Jigoku Sensei was revealed. Brook Cunningham, "Jigoku Sensei VS A new teacher", 17 Mar 2010
• Q: So now, the game has started, I use A new teacher to put Jigoku Sensei into play. I check my dynasty deck to put the onis under the Sensei. How can I check that my dynasty deck is legal?
  A: I'm going to use some powers of interpretation here and say that the legality check refers to the deck's construction, since construction is the only way a "deck" can be "legal" or "illegal". If your opponent does not trust that you had 49 cards in your deck before you put the 9 Oni under Jigoku Sensei due to A New Teacher, he could call a judge to verify. Brook Cunningham, "Jigoku Sensei VS A new teacher", 17 Mar 2010
• Q: Also, will Summon the Dead's destruction clause re-destroy a personality that is once again in the discard pile (turning a previously dead personality who you Summoned and then discarded with Jigoku Sensei into a dead personality in the discard pile)?
  A: It can only successfully destroy cards that are in play when it produces the effect. It will not destroy a Discarded card in the Discard Pile, so you have no worries about being converted from "Discarded" to "Dead" status. Martin Lund, "Summon the Dead", 17 Mar 2005
• Q: So if somehow the cost of using the action is prevented (ie, Jigoku Sensei ability cancelled by Surge) and it's allowed to be cancelled, does that mean that the action is not 'taken' because I did not pay the cost? Meaning, it would not be a legal target for Same Old Tricks?
  A: Yes. Yes. Zen Faulkes, "Action 'state'.", 5 Mar 2005