Plague of Locusts

Legend of the Five Rings card from Ambition's Debt

Card Type

Event

Keywords

Unique, Plague

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, destroy all Holdings that entered play for 0 Gold.

Legality

Hidden Emperor (Jade)

Deck

Dynasty

Printings

Rulings

• Destroys all Holdings that entered play with a gold cost of 0, regardless of their current cost, why their cost was 0, or whether gold was paid anyway. [FAQ 3.10] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 74
• Will not destroy a Ninja Stronghold brought into play by another Ninja Stronghold. [DW, email, November 1999] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 74
• Will not destroy a Ninja Stronghold brought into play by another Ninja Stronghold. [DW, 11/99, personal correspondence] Accumulated Rulings, February 8, 2000, p. 48
• Q: Okay now. This Plague of Locusts event. Will it just destroy Holdings with a printed cost of 0 or will it also kill ones whose costs were reduced? A: If it's gold cost was 0 for whatever reason when it was brought into play, it's bug food. The Imperial Herald, Issue 13, p. 34
• Q: What about 0-cost holdings that I purposely spent gold on anyway? A: Gourmet bug food. The Imperial Herald, Issue 13, p. 34

Rules Q&A

• Q: If I fetch a Gifts and Favors from my deck with my stronghold, does it count as having "entered play for 0 gold" for purposes of being destroyed by Plague of Locusts?
  A: According to the Archive, no. Plague of Locusts works based on the card's Gold cost when it entered play, and Gifts & Favors cost 2. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 9 Feb. 2004", 10 Feb 2004
• Q: How much gold is spent on a Gifts & Favors brought into play from your Dynasty Deck ?
  A: Gold is not spent to do that. Jeff Alexander, "post for 29 January 2003", 30 Jan 2003
• Q: Would Plague of Locusts destroy it ?
  A: No. The ruling on Plague of Locusts in the archive is that it "destroys all Holdings that entered play with a gold cost of 0, regardless of their current cost, why their cost was 0, or whether gold was paid anyway." Also, as a general ruling under the heading of "Costs", we find this tidbit:
  ] Putting a card in to play directly, "without gold cost," or by ] "waiving" its cost are not the same as reducing its cost to ] zero. The card still has its cost; you are simply not paying ] it.
  Gifts and Favors enters play with a gold cost of 2 when played via its built-in Reaction. Plague of Locusts will not destroy it. Jeff Alexander, "post for 29 January 2003", 30 Jan 2003
• Q: Howdy,
  Sorry to put everyone through this again but our play group has to many rules lawyers.
  The cards in question;
  Heart of Shinomen Forest
  Your Nagas are immune to fear. You may ignore Honor
  Requirements for Nagas if you have no Shadowlands cards in play. You may have up to 4 of any non-unique Naga card.(now the important part) You may put forests into play for 3 less gold.
  Plague of Locusts
  Destroy all Holdings in play that entered play for 0 Gold.
  The problem;
  If I _pay_ the Gold cost of a forest card are they killed by the Locusts? I told them no way in hell, the cost reduction is voluntary (hence the "may" in the text) not forced. They insist that they are correct (very loudly). So please who is correct?
  A: Choosing to pay more than you need to for a card which costs 0 will not save it from Plague of Locusts. However, in this case, the Naga player also has the option of not reducing the cost by 3 when he buys it. That WILL save it. Jeff Alexander, "Rulings for 22 March 2001", 29 Mar 2001
• Q: My opponent is bringing a Shadowlands holding (let's say the Dark Oracle of Water) into play by using the Shadowlands Horde stronghold's (or the Festering Pit of Fu Leng's) ability to reduce a Shadowlands card's cost by four (or five respectively), making it 0. Later, I flip Plague of Locusts. Is the Oracle destroyed?
  A: http://rules.l5r.com/Older_Card_Rulings ... of_Locusts: "Destroys all Holdings that entered play with a Gold Cost of 0, regardless of their current cost or whether Gold was paid anyway; does not destroy Holdings whose costs were ignored." Emphasis added. If it came in for 0G, it's locust munchies. Zen Faulkes, "Plague of Locusts and The Shadowlands Horde", 23 May 2011
• Q: Hi,
  Do the event Plague of Locusts destroy those Holdings ?
  Card text : Plague of locusts : Destroy all Holdings in play that entered play for 0 Gold.
  Thanks in advance, Rémi.
  A: Plague of Locusts will not destroy Border Keep or Bamboo Harvesters.
  Those Holdings never "enter" play, nor are they paid "for". You start the game with them already "in" play.
  http://rules.l5r.com/CE_Sequence_of_play#Start_of_game:
  "A. All players show their Strongholds at the same time, and start with the Stronghold and an unbowed Border Keep holding in play....
  C. Each player who is not going first also starts with a Bamboo Harvesters holding in play and bowed." Brook Cunningham, "Did Border Keep enter play at anytime during a game ?", 16 Apr 2010