Overwhelming Pressure

Legend of the Five Rings card from Path of the Destroyer

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

4

Card Text

This card has -1 Gold Cost for each Samurai you control.
Battle: Choose your performing unbowed Samurai and target an enemy attachment: Destroy it. You may target and bow an enemy Personality with Chi lower than or equal to your Samurai's Chi.

Focus Value

3

Legality

Destroyer War (Celestial)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: Muscle and Steel Text Reaction: After another player's action targets one of your Personalities, bow one of his attachments with a base Gold Cost of 7 or more: Negate either the action's bowing, destruction, or movement of cards in his unit.
  Overwhelming Pressure This card has -1 Gold Cost for each Samurai you control. Battle: Target your unbowed Samurai: Destroy a target enemy attachment. You may target and bow an enemy Personality with Chi lower than or equal to your Samurai's Chi.
  I just want some clarification on this issue since I have had this come up against me in top 8 and i have heard it go both ways.
  I have a unit with a Rising Sunblade(8g attachment). My opponent pays all costs and plays overwhelming pressure. Can i react with Muscle and Steel to save the attachment's destruction or is overwhelming pressure's timing different. Such as since it is destroy a target enemy attachment period then target with the bow action.
  Thanks
  A: You cannot react with Muscle and Steel to prevent the destruction of the attachment by Overwhelming Pressure.
  The Reaction on Muscle and Steel is taken after the action targets one of your Personalities, but the only required target for Overwhelming Pressure is the attachment; this is the only targeting done before the effects resolution step of the action. The optional targeting of the Personality is done during the resolution step, after the destruction of the attachment, which is too late to negate the destruction of the attachment.
  See Abilities and Actions, Using Abilities. Alex Jones, "Muscle and Steel vs Overwhelming Pressure", 14 Mar 2011
• Q: Similar scenario but involving overwhelming pressure. Let's say I target Chagatai's Armor with Overwhelming Pressure and then target the person that has the armor attached to him with the other part of overwhelming effect. Since the armor would be destroyed before the bowing of the person it is attached to, could the armor's reaction still be taken to prevent the person's bowing?
  A: Yes, as above, the armor's reaction could be taken before any of the effects of the action resolve; that is, before it is destroyed. Brook Cunningham, "Chagatai's Armor/Muscle & Steel vs Overwhelming/Rout/etc", 6 Feb 2011
• Q: Hi, is it legal to play overwhelming pressure against an opposing personality even if there's no target attachments?
  Overwhelming pressure
  This card has -1 Gold Cost for each Samurai you control. Battle: Target your unbowed Samurai: Destroy a target enemy attachment. You may target and bow an enemy Personality with Chi lower than or equal to your Samurai's
  A: No.
  An attachment in the enemy army is required targeting for this Strategy. Dan Jacobson, "Overwhelming Pressure", 14 Oct 2009
• Q: With Overwhelming Pressure can I play this card even if there is no attachment to destroy to do the bow effect?
  A: Looks like a variation of a more general question, "Is an action legal if an effect can't happen?" And it's in the FAQ here: http://rules.l5r.com/CE_FAQ#Is_an_actio ... _happen.3F
  Now, contained in that entry is an important qualifier: Zen Faulkes, "Overwhelming Pressure", 9 Oct 2009
• Q: (Costs and mandatory targets are another matter, though. Those have to happen.)
  A: Not clear what a mandatory target is? This is also in the FAQ, oh most wondrous thing that is is: http://rules.l5r.com/CE_FAQ#What_are_re ... targets.3F
  If there are not enough legal targets, you can't play the action. Although the destruction of the attachment does not have to occur, the targeting of the attachment does have to occur. Zen Faulkes, "Overwhelming Pressure", 9 Oct 2009