Mirumoto Yozo

Legend of the Five Rings card from Stronger Than Steel

Card Type

Personality

Force

4

Chi

4

Honor Requirement

5

Gold Cost

8

Personal Honor

2

Clan

Dragon

Keywords

Duelist, Dragon Clan, Samurai

Card Text

After Yozo issues a challenge, give him +2F.
Reaction: Before Focus Effects resolve in a duel involving Yozo, lower the Focus Value of any focused card to that of one of your focused cards.

Legality

Race for the Throne (Samurai)

Deck

Dynasty

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: If I have Mirumoto Yozo in a duel against Kakita Bob and I focus Unauthorised Duel (or any 1 or 2 focus card) and my opponent focuses Hamstrung. Before focus effects resolve I react with Mirumoto Yozo's action and reduce Hamstrung's focus value to 1 (Unautorised Duel's focus value).
  When focus effects then resolve can my opponent still choose to reduce Hamstrung's focus value by 4?
  If so, what effects would that cause? Does the card count as having -3 focus value? Does it count as 0 and no other negative effect?
  Thanks
  A: Your opponent can try to lower Hamstrung's Focus Value by 4, giving it a -4 penalty as the card's Focus Effect allows, but the stat itself would be considered 0 (as per step B below):
  http://rules.l5r.com/Card_features#General_rules_about_stats: "To get a stat's current value at any given time, do steps A through C, below:
  A: Apply all current bonuses and penalties. B: If the total is below 0, treat it as 0. (Does not apply to Family Honor, Honor Requirements, and stats with a + or – sign such as an Item’s Force and Chi stats.) C: If the total is less than a minimum or more than a maximum, treat it as the minimum or maximum."
  When the second part of the effect checks to see how much it was lowered by, it sees that it was 1 (thanks to your Yozo) and is now 0, so your opponent would gain 1 Honor. Brook Cunningham, "Mirumoto Yozo + Hamstrung", 20 Sep 2008