Loyal Yojimbo

Legend of the Five Rings card from Diamond Edition, Broken Blades

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Card Text

Reaction: Before one of your Personalities is destroyed by a duel or by another player's card's effect, if it is not during a battle: Negate the destruction. Bow the Personality. Dishonor the Personality if the destruction was the result of a duel.

Focus Value

4

Legality

Four Winds (Gold), Rain of Blood (Diamond)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Reads, "Loyal Yojimbo 0G 4FV Reaction: Play before one of your bowed or unbowed Personalities is destroyed by a duel or by another player's card effect to negate the destruction. Bow the Personality. Dishonor the Personality if the destruction was the result of a duel. You cannot play this Reaction during battle." [MRP, Diamond Edition, 27 October 2003] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 24

Rules Q&A

• Q: Does "Remorseful Seppuku" count as a "card effect" for the purposes of Loyal Yojimbo? I believe seppuku is normally a rulebook effect, but I didn't know if this was an exception to the rule.
  A: When a Samurai or Courtier commits Seppuku via the Rulebook Effect, it does not count as a card effect.
  When someone commits seppuku due to a card telling them to, it IS considered to be a card effect. Much like a Duel has procedures defined in the Rulebook, so does Seppuku.
  Loyal Yojimbo can Negate the destruction caused by a Duel from Iaijutsu Challenge, so it can Negate the destruction caused by a Seppuku from Remorseful Seppuku. Martin Lund, "Rules for 26 April 2004", 29 Apr 2004
• Q: I assume that Feign Death and Loyal Yojimbo can be played on [Hiruma] Ashihei when he's destroyed without dishonoring him, due to card text sequencing.
  A: Yes to both. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 26 November 2003", 27 Nov 2003
• Q: Should I place Kakita Masazumi as my only defender and then play Come One At A Time, would I be able to issue challenges until either Kakita dies, or all defenders are either defeated or routed?
  A: Yes (card text). Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 24 November 2003, Part 2", 25 Nov 2003
• Q: During such duels, should I lose one, would I be able to play Loyal Yojimbo?
  A: No (Diamond Edition rulebook, pg. 80). Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 24 November 2003, Part 2", 25 Nov 2003
• Q: Will a Loyal Yojimbo protect you from a No Hiding Place?
  A: Yes. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 14 November 2003", 14 Nov 2003
• Q: One of the factors that has made PK so rampant, in my opinion, is the spilting of the favor into the four winds. Before, the versatility of the favor meant that a player could use it against military, dishonor, or help card drawing - all in the same game. Now a player has to decide what one aspect is the most useful.
  Most people have decided that sending home militayr units is the most useful. as evidenced by the amount of people playing Tsudao (see OP stats). The problem then was that there was no good, decent, or reliable way to rehonor dishonored personalities, which are extremely vulnerable to PK in the gold environment.
  Recently there have been attempts at fixing the problem - Island Sanctuary in KYOD, Loyal Yojimbo, Shrine of Reverse Fortunes, etc.; But a PK deck should be able to deal with these for the most part.
  I, for one, would like to see a reliable way of rehonoring personalities.
  A: By your own admission, there is one: Hantei Naseru. Yes, choosing Naseru means making your deck relatively weaker against military decks, but that is not a matter of dishonor-defense reliability. Naseru is EXACTLY as reliable for restoring live Personalities to honor as the Favor used to be. Jeff Alexander, "post for 8 Oct 2002", 9 Oct 2002
• Q: 18.Loyal Yojimbo
  will this prevent the first oni's self destruction during his duel?
  A: Yes, since it's a duel effect. Jeff Alexander, "post for 26 August 2002", 27 Aug 2002
• Q: Loyal Yojimbo?
  A: Clearly illegal. Jeff Alexander, "post for 22 August 2002", 23 Aug 2002
• Q: I win a lethal duel against an opponent. He plays Feign Death, Loyal Yojimbo, or some other such anti-death reaction. Can I Keen Eye it?
  A: Archive, Duels, Resolution. Zen Faulkes, "Questions about Keen Eye", 3 Apr 2005