No Mercy

Legend of the Five Rings card from Winds of Change

Card Type

Event

Keywords

Unique

Card Text

After you reveal cards in your Provinces at the start of your turn, if this Event is face-up in one of them, until the game ends, if a player who has lost Honor from his own cards is ever at -15 Family Honor or below, he is eliminated from the game.

Legality

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

Deck

Dynasty

Printings

Rulings

• Will eliminate a player using a stronghold that can normally go below -20 honor (e.g., Sepulchre of Bone) if he or she is below -14 Family honor. [VRD, 8 August 2003] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 74

Rules Q&A

• Q: Patrick Thatcher said killing a Dishonored Personality wouldn't do it as, "Honor loss caused by the destruction of a dishonored Personality is a rulebook effect. [Summary of other rulings]" Well, darn. But maybe someone wants to REVERSE that? :-) If not, why's it considered a rulebook effect and not an effect of that Personality?
  A: No, I don't want to reverse that.
  It is considered a Rulebook Effect because the Rulebook says that you lose the honor, not any of the Cards or Strongholds. Martin Lund, "Rules for 16 April 2004", 16 Apr 2004
• Q: I know this was all covered a while back but could someone refresh my mermory. Does this card allow another player to give you an honor loss and put you out the game if you hit -14. As long as you have caused yourself a honor loss since the event resolved.
  A: Yes, someone else can be the cause of you dropping below -14, so long as you have caused yourself any honor losses previously. Martin Lund, "Rules for 9 April 2004", 11 Apr 2004
• Q: If a personality commit seppuku, does "No Mercy" eliminate the player when it comes to -14?
  A: It depends. Seppuku reduces the amount of a loss, it doesn't create a new honor loss. The question you have to answer is, what generated the loss the Personality was responding to by committing seppuku? If it was one of your own cards, No Mercy can eliminate you. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 19 August 2003, Part 2", 20 Aug 2003
• Q: If a Rat player using Tch'Tch Warrens snags a card that causes an honor loss for playing it from someone else's discard pile, and then plays it and then No Mercy resolves, does he lose the game if he reaches -14 honor?
  A: Jeff Alexander's already answered this, but just to reiterate in the "daily Q&A post": you lose. "One of your own cards" is not equivalent to "a card you own." Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 19 August 2003, Part 2", 20 Aug 2003
• Q: (yesterday had a discussion on Norikazu over several Legacy games, hence the flood of questions... sorry).
  Does No Mercy resolve if a Norikazu Sensei is in play?
  A: No. Norikazu only allows Events that create a victory condition, not a loss condition. Jon Palmer, "No Mercy vs. Norikazu Sensei", 24 Jul 2013
• Q: if a personality is destroyed while dishonored, and you lose the honor from it, is it counted as losing honor due to one of your cards? Or does 'No Mercy' only count for cards like 'hired killer" in which the card states "lose x honor"
  A: You left the operative word out of your question, and that word is "from".*
  No Mercy reads, "Until the end of the game, any player who has suffered an Honor loss from one of his or her own cards is eliminated if his or her Family Honor is below -14."
  The Honor loss due to your Personality dying dishonorable is from the rulebook, not your card. No Mercy will not affect you for only that.
  *EDIT: Okay, you didn't leave it out entirely; it's just in there as a "given" rather than part of the question. Really, I'm sorry if my reply was rude-sounding; I'm quite tired and should go to sleep now. Brook Cunningham, "No Mercy and dieing dishonorably", 29 Nov 2008
• Q: Is the elimination condition that the Event, "No Mercy" creates considered to be elimation by dishonor or is just a condition coming from an event?
  A: It is a lose condition created as an effect of the event. See http://rules.l5r.com/The_Player#Other_v ... conditions. Zen Faulkes, "No Mercy", 28 Nov 2008
• Q: [OBH]
  Hello. My opponent is at -37 honor using these strongholds. I play no mercy. I believe each of them would be eliminated because they are not losing the game to dishonor, they are losing the game due to a card trait. Please advise if this is correct.
  A: Correct. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 18 Jul 2026