Night Watchers

Legend of the Five Rings card from Empire at War

Card Type

Follower

Force

3

Chi

0

Honor Requirement

0

Gold Cost

4

Personal Honor

-

Keywords

Ninja

Card Text

Ninja Reaction, : If this Follower is in your hand, after another player's Battle action targets your Ninja Personality, Equip it to the Personality. If he is no longer a legal target for the action, the action's costs (if any remain unpaid) are ignored and its effects are negated.

Focus Value

1

Legality

Destroyer War (Celestial)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: If I react on Step C that will destroy/remove the source of the action from play - will the remaining effects continue on Step E?
  http://rules.alderac.com/cr_for_20f#action-sequence
  i.e. step A: RA on a personality *announce step B: bows the personality *cost step C: targets Shosuro Oniji (reacts to duel and kills the source of the RA) *targeting
  step D: *interrupt step E: ??? *resolve step F: n/a *strategy discard
  will the RA fail or follow the example stated on the link?
  however, the card left play during targeting.
  another scenario would be, what if Bayushi Shinzo exp wins the duel and gains control of the personality with the RA?
  finally, what would be the interaction of the current action sequence be with Night Watchers?
  since the costs are ignored, do you straighten the personality that bowed? will you get a 'refund' of the gold paid?
  many thanks!
  A: You're misreading steps C & E of the Action Sequence.
  Step C is "Choose targets": These choices define the action’s targeting for purposes of Interrupts and any other effects that check targeting. However, they do not actually trigger effects that depend on targeting.
  Step E is "Check targeting and resolve effects": Targeting as chosen in step C is now actually carried out when called for by the card text, possibly altered by Interrupts or other effects.
  So, Oniji's duel occurs in Step E, which won't stop the action's effects resolving (note however, that challenges & duels won't happen); similarly for Shinzo exp.
  Regarding Night Watchers, you may remember that previously, targeting was done before costs were paid, so in general that clause of Night Watcher's ability would have greater effect. However, it is now generally useless as it only affects costs that have not yet been paid: you do not get a refund. Alex Jones, "Action Sequence vs NINJAS", 8 Sep 2015
• Q: Takaharu and Night Watchers... you CAN react to him being targeted by an effect to play the reaction of attaching the Night Watchers. But after that, you can NO LONGER react to that same targetting to play Takaharus own reaction to redirect it to the now attached Night Watchers? How does this one reaction being used make the original targeting no longer reactionable(?)
  A: It has nothing to do with the Reaction - it has to do with the timing.
  1. Targeting.
  2. Reactions triggered by "would target." <- Takaharu.
  3. Reactions triggered by "after targeting." <- Night Watchers.
  Once you've gone to step 3, you don't get to back up to step 2. Zen Faulkes, "Takaharu and Night Watchers", 28 Mar 2011
• Q: Night Watchers' Reaction is legal to take here. The question I'm unclear on is if it is still legal to take Takaharu's reaction now.
  A: No, for the reason stated. If you wait until "after", you're past the "when it would" trigger. Zen Faulkes, "Takaharu and Night Watchers", 25 Mar 2011
• Q: I didn't see much for Night Watchers here, and nothing with Takaharu.
  My question is this. Can you use both reactions in response to a targeting? If so, does the resolution of one complete before the other one occurs?
  Example......
  Say a player targets Takaharu with an action that gives a target card -4 force.
  Can I then react to this by attaching Night Watchers... which does NOT change the legality or targeting of the original action.
  And THEN can I also use Takaharus reaction to redirect this force penalty to the newly attached Night Watchers? Both reactions seem straight forward, but the timing of multiple reactions, and responding to a single trigger event is the questionable area for me.
  Relevant texts:
  Night Watchers "Reaction: AFter another player's Battle action targets your Ninja Personality, if this card is in your hand: Attach it to the Personality. If he is no longer a legal target for the action, the action's cost are ignored and its effects do not happen."
  Takaharu "Reaction: When another player's Battle action would target a Ninja at Takaharu’s battlefield: It targets a different Ninja you control at that battlefield, if legal."
  A: Reactions (like all actions) are always taken, and resolve completely, one at a time (http://rules.l5r.com/CE_Timing#Priority).
  http://rules.l5r.com/CE_Timing#Resolvin ... _conflicts: "The order of resolution means that triggered effects that come first, due to the above order, the order of Reactions, or the active player’s decision, can negate or otherwise make impossible triggered effects and Reactions that come later. When this happens, Reactions to the now nonexistent trigger may not be taken, and other effects are not triggered by it."
  So if one target is changed from A to B by a Reaction, you can no longer react to something targeting A... because it isn't being targeted any more. Zen Faulkes, "Takaharu and Night Watchers", 24 Mar 2011
• Q: If a player used a card to destroy my target Ninja personality, and i use night watchers reaction, does he still have to discard the card he tried to use to destroy my personality?
  A: Yes.
  http://rules.l5r.com/CE_Card_types#Strategy_cards: "After the action ends, the player discards the Strategy card, even if the action did not resolve." Emphasis added. Zen Faulkes, "Night Watchers", 29 Jan 2011