Ninja Spy

Legend of the Five Rings card from Gold Edition, Imperial Edition, Emerald Edition, Battle of Beiden Pass, Obsidian Edition, Jade Edition, Pearl Edition, Celestial Edition 15th Anniversary, Hidden Emperor Starter

Card Type

Personality

Force

0

Chi

1

Honor Requirement

-

Gold Cost

2

Personal Honor

1

Clan

Ninja, Unaligned

Keywords

Ninja, Spy

Card Text

Will not attach non-Ninja Followers.
Ninja Repeatable Battle/Open, w: Look at a target player's hand. Lose 1 Honor.
Ninja Repeatable Battle/Open, w: Look at all face-down cards in a target player's Provinces. Lose 1 Honor.

Legality

Clan Wars (Imperial), Four Winds (Gold), Hidden Emperor (Jade)

Deck

Dynasty

Notes

Some variants of the Emerald Edition version of this card were printed with a different text alignment.

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Reads, "Ninja Spy 0F/1C -HR 2G 1PH Unaligned Ninja. Followers the Ninja Spy attaches must be Ninja. Open: Bow the Ninja Spy to look at one player's Fate hand. Lose 1 Honor. Open: Bow the Ninja Spy to look at all face-down cards in one player's Provinces. Lose 1 Honor." [MRP, Gold Edition, 1 July 2001] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 117
• Erratum: Changed: Minimum Honor is now "-", not 0. Text Change & Errata List, February 15, 2000, p. 18

Rules Q&A

• Q: So give the "notes" to your opponent after the game. 1) It keeps the notes out of circulation. 2) It keeps people from recording things they shouldn't, like non-public knowledge (cards in a province or in hand after using Ninja Spy or Oracle of Air), or Zen's home phone number.
  A: As if my phone number's some great mystery. "Hello? Directory assistance?" (And that's the long, hard way!) Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 11 December 2003, Part 2", 12 Dec 2003
• Q: Just a quick question in regards to this "mess". If I use Ninja Spy on a face-down province and he is one of the cards, then I use Winds of Change. What happens? Does his ability go off or not?
  A: The question is not, "does it go off?" The question is, "CAN it?" Reactions are not mandatory.
  The answer is that it doesn't matter if Sharaku is face-down when he is discarded. His Reaction is used "after" he is discarded, when he is face-up in the discard pile and visible to all players. Jeff Alexander, "post for 28 February 2003", 1 Mar 2003
• Q: * When an effect allows to search for a card meeting certain conditions from a deck, is it illegal to activate the effect if it is known to the player that there is no such card in the deck? (from one of Dave Williams' comment on this list, I assume it is indeed illegal)
  And what if I used Ninja Spy on a players provinces and know that his last G&F is in it? Can he still search for it even if I tell hem he can't use the reaction cause it isn't in his deck?
  A: Yes. Your word isn't first-hand knowledge of his deck. Jeff Alexander, "post for 23 September 2002", 25 Sep 2002
• Q: Another possible ninja spy use in gold:
  ninja spy + sacred tunnels
  Ninja Spy: Open: Bow to look at all the face down cards in one player's Provinces. Lose 1 Honor.
  Sacred Tunnels: Reaction: Bow before you reveal a face-down Dynasty card in one of your provinces. If it is a personality, reduce its gold cost by 2, to a minimum of 3. If it is a holding, either discard it or pay 2 gold (your choice). If it is an event, discard it with no effect.
  Is looking the same as revealing?
  A: No. Jeff Alexander, "post for 28 February 2002", 1 Mar 2002