Rend the Soul

Legend of the Five Rings card from Emperor Edition, Heaven & Earth, Onyx Edition, Shattered Empire, Three Dynasties

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Card Text

As a Focus Effect: Raise this card's Focus Value to 5. If your Personality wins this duel, he loses instead (the other Personality still also loses).
Battle: Choose your performing opposed Personality: Give him +5F. If the army he is in during this battle's resolution wins, this battle is tied instead. You will not destroy the province in this battle's resolution.

Focus Value

0

Legality

Age of Conquest (Emperor), Four Winds (Gold), Rain of Blood (Diamond), Shattered Empire, Three Dynasties, War of the Seals (Onyx Edition)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Should read, "Rend the Soul 0G 0FV If this card is focused in a duel, raise its Focus value by 5. If your Personality wins, the duel is considered a tie instead. Battle: Give one of your Personalities in this battle +5F. If that Personality is in your army when it wins this battle, this battle is tied instead. Your army cannot destroy Provinces this battle." [Erratum, JA, 27 August 2004] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 30
• If used with a Personality who wins ties (e.g., Doji Reju): Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 30
• If the Personality is ahead in Chi (or whatever stat is used in the duel), Rend the Soul makes it a tie, then the Personality turns it back into a win. Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 30
• If, however, it's truly a tie, then the Personality turns it into a win, then Rend the Soul turns it back into a tie. [JA, 31 March 2003] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 30

Rules Q&A

• Q: If you play Rend the Soul during a Raid and are unopposed do you win the raid Battle? If you are defended and Rend does Rend's tie clause kick in and prevent you from winning the raid battle no matter your force?
  A: No. You don't "win" unopposed battles. It says so right in the rulebook.
  Aramasu's Pride doesn't change that rule at all. Its gold-production-increasing effect, however, keeps its tally of "won" battles during the raid to include unopposed battles where you have greater than 0 Force. That does not change the status of "win" for any other card or effect. Martin Lund, "Rules for 7 January 2005", 12 Jan 2005
• Q: Rend the Soul reads: "Battle: Give one of your Personalities +5F. If that Personality's army wins this battle, this battle is tied instead. Your army cannot destroy Provinces this battle."
  1) If I move the Rend'd personality to another battle, does the "win becomes a tie" clause follow them or stay with the army at the current battle?
  A: "This battle" means the Current Battle.
  The Current Battle is the one being resolved when Rend the Soul is played. It won't affect any battle at any other Province - so it won't "follow" the Personality in any way. It keys on "this battle." Martin Lund, "Rules for 8 April 2004", 11 Apr 2004
• Q: 2) Domotai naturally wins (including Rend the Soul, the combined Focus Values and Chi are higher than the opponent's). Rend the Soul 'notices' the win and converts the win into a tie. Then Domotai 'notices' the tie and converts the tie into a win. (When you have effects that can go back and forth like this, the guideline is to have the cycle happen once and once only.) Domotai wins, opponent dies.
  3) Domotai naturally ties (the Focus Values + Chi are equal between Domotai and the opponent). Domotai 'notices' the tie and turns the tie into a win.
  Then Rend the Soul 'notices' that Domotai won the duel and turns it back into a tie. Both duelists die.
  You have to take a closer look at the ruling to realize that it's clarifying
  the difference between results 2 and 3.
  This rend the soul with domotai ruling, might be one of the most ignored rulings ever. You would think the cardinal rule of letting the active player decide the effects would somehow cancel this ruling out.
  A: The rule you refer to applies to simultaneous contradictory effects. That isn't what's happening here. At any given time, only one of those two cards is trying to change something. The starting point is also clearly identifiable. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 26 Feb. 2004", 27 Feb 2004
• Q: 2. I attack with a shugenja with the stick and Kuro's. My opponent blocks with lots of people. I Sneak Attack, then Speed of the Plains giving me two actions. I use the first to Rend the Soul and use the second to Kuro's and destroy his entire army. Is resolution still a tie even though he has no personalities in his army?
  A: A battle cannot be a win, loss, or tie unless there is at least one unit on both sides during resolution. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 16 Feb. 204", 18 Feb 2004
• Q: I was at a tournament recently and heard that a ruling was passed down somewhere that a unit targetted by Rend the Soul and then moved to a different battle could not take the province at it's new battle.
  Is this true?
  A: No. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 16 Feb. 204", 18 Feb 2004
• Q: Can I use this card to give +5 F bonus to a personality in another battle?
  A: No (Rule of Presence, Gold Edition rulebook, pg. 53). Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 21 August 2003", 21 Aug 2003
• Q: I didn't catch the final answer to what happens when the "tied means I win" trait and Rend the Soul go head-to-head.
  A: Rules Archive, Specific Cards, Actions, Rend the Soul. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 20 August 2003", 20 Aug 2003
• Q: Does Rend the Soul have a focus value of "0" for the purposes of this card?
  A: Yes. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 19 August 2003", 19 Aug 2003
• Q: I have Bayushi Sunetra attacking a province. My opponent does not block. I Rend the Soul then use her ability to move to another province. She will still have the +5F and will take the other unblocked province correct?
  A: Would depend on the Province strength, but it would be possible. The Gold rules, pg. 43, spells out (in bold type!) how long effects like force bonuses last. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 26 June 2003", 27 Jun 2003
• Q: REND THE SOUL
  I'm in a battle and I play Rend The Soul on one of my Personalities for +5F. The Personality is then destroyed or otherwise removed from the battle, but I still manage to win. Is the battle still a tie even though the Personality with Rend The Soul is no longer there?
  A: No, once the Rending guy moves somewhere else, the rest of your army isn't "that Personality's army" anymore. They all just pretend they never knew the guy (though, thanks to him, they still can't destroy any provinces). Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for June 11th - Part One!", 11 Jun 2003
• Q: Consideringthe following combo: I play a Iajatsu Art with Mirumoto Uso (4Chi 3 Ph) against a Personality with 5 Chi and 2 PH. My Personality has Tsutomu no Shiryo attached. I use the ancestors ability to change the duel to PH. He focuses a 3, I focus a Rend the Soul. This changes the duel to a tie. After the duel I play Honorable Sepuku, how much honor do I gain?
  A: 8. Your Personality has a Personal Honor of 8 until the duel ends, because focuses last that long. Iaijutsu Art dishonors the loser -- that happens during duel resolution, which is still part of the duel. When Honorable Seppuku is played, your focus is still in effect.
  The important thing to realize is that cards like Rend the Soul and Kharmic Strike do not change the duelists' stats when they make the duel a tie. Jeff Alexander, "post for 26 May 2003", 29 May 2003
• Q: I'd also appreciate if someone would mail me messages concerning Rend the Soul + Doji Reju. There are some oddities in that ruling too (though it makes much more sense).
  A: The ruling in the archive is not up to date on this issue. Jeff Alexander, "post for 23 May 2003", 29 May 2003
• Q: Ok Jeff then what if, I am facing Reju xp2 in a duel. I focus Kharmic Strike, then I focus Rend the Soul. What would happen if my personality would have won the duel?
  A: Karmic makes it a tie. Reju makes him win. Rend makes it a tie. Jeff Alexander, "post for 31 March 2003", 1 Apr 2003