Kan'chek

Legend of the Five Rings card from Dawn of the Empire

Card Type

Personality

Force

3

Chi

3

Honor Requirement

-

Gold Cost

6

Personal Honor

2

Clan

Ratling

Keywords

Unique, Nonhuman, Ratling, Shugenja

Card Text

Kan'chek may perform Kiho actions on cards in any discard pile as if they were from your hand.
Kan'chek may cast Spells in any discard pile as if they were attached to him, except those whose costs would remove the Spell from play.
Remove any Kiho or Spell he performs these ways from the game, after its action resolves.

Legality

Age of Enlightenment (Lotus), Rain of Blood (Diamond)

Deck

Dynasty

Printings

Rulings

• Spells cast from the hand do not enter play [ZF, web, 28 February 2005] but are still considered to have been played and to have resolved (similar to how Action cards do not enter play but have been played and resolved). [ZF, web, 1 March 2005] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 109

Rules Q&A

• Q: Hey folks,
  Another example of poor template writing.
  Kan'Chek says
  " Kan'chek may cast Kihos in any discard pile as if they were in your hand. Kan'chek may cast Spells in any discard pile as if they were attached to him, except those whose costs would remove the Spell from play. Remove any card that he casts these ways from the game, after it resolves."
  The phrase "remove from play" used to be the same as "remove from the game." Examples of spells/kiho's that do this after being used include "Sezaru's Gift" or Rise from the Ashes.
  A: "Discard from play" used to mean "remove from the game". It was so confusing and unintuitive that we stopped using it four years ago. The last cards on which that phrase appears were printed in Spirit Wars. Notice that Sezaru's Gift has the actual phrase "remove this card from the game", as does the Diamond MRP of Bronze Lantern. Martin Lund, "Rules for 18 January 2005", 21 Jan 2005
• Q: If it is the former, then Kan'Chek is merely okay. If it is the latter, then Kan'Chek can basically duplicate practically any spell after it has been used once by anyone (with some very small exceptions) and he is utterly broken.
  Can anyone let me know which way this has been ruled?
  A: Kan'chek can basically duplicate practically any Spell after it has been used once by anyone, with the exception of ones that require destroying, discarding, etc. the Spell itself as part of its casting cost. And although he's undeniably a very strong Personality, "utterly broken" is kind of stretching it. Martin Lund, "Rules for 18 January 2005", 21 Jan 2005
• Q: Question is : What does "[the spells] whose cost would remove the spell from play." mean? Does it only apply to spells like Rise from the Ashes which have a 3remove from play" wording, or do we strictly follow English and apply this to any spell that is destroyed/discarded/ends not in play when cast?
  A: It means spells that have a cost that includes phrasing that implies you take the spell from being in-play to some out-of-play area like "removed from the game," in the Discard Pile, in a Deck, etc. can't be used via Kan'chek's special effect.
  You're looking mainly for costs that include: "Destroy this spell," "Discard this spell," "put this spell back into your deck," or "Remove this spell from the game," etc. Martin Lund, "Rules for 19 December 2004", 25 Dec 2004
• Q: Destroying a spell is considered removing it from play? Is this ruling due to Isawa and Kan'chek specifically? Destroying just about anything else isn't removing it from play, because it goes into your discard pile and can still be targeted, so I just want to get a ruling on this from the Rules Junta. Thanks
  A: Destroying something moves it from In Play to the Discard Pile, which is out of play. That qualifies as removing it from play. Kan'chek doesn't have good mojo with spells that destroy themselves as a cost to cast them. Martin Lund, "Kan'chek and Fist of Osano Wo", 27 Mar 2005
• Q: Destroying just about anything else isn't removing it from play
  A: That's not true. What you're thinking about is "removed from the game," which is different than merely leaving from In Play. A players Home and Battlefields are "in play." Cards in Discard Piles, Hands, Province, and Decks are "out of play" while a few special effects blow a card completely out of the game, where they can't be targeted or have new effects introduced on them other than ones that return them to the game. Martin Lund, "Kan'chek and Fist of Osano Wo", 27 Mar 2005