Revering the Past

Legend of the Five Rings card from The War of Spirits

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, each player may search his Fate deck for an Ancestor and Equip it to one of his Personalities, ignoring the condition of bowing the Personality. Each player who did not find and Equip an Ancestor loses 3 Honor.

Legality

Four Winds (Gold), Hidden Emperor (Jade)

Deck

Dynasty

Printings

Rulings

• You only need to get an Ancestor from your deck to avoid the honor loss. [JA, 25 January 2001; 18 July 2001] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 75
• If you get an Ancestor, you must attach it if possible. [ZF, 10 July 2002] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 75

Rules Q&A

• Q: Can I use Imperial Messenger on either Revering the Past or Imperial Funeral?
  A: Yes. See Rules Archive (http://www.legendofthefiverings.com/rulings). Jeff *may* have misspoken about this combo; I specifically asked him about it, and he hasn't instructed me to change the archived ruling. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 4 July 2003", 4 Jul 2003
• Q: Can I use Imperial Messenger on Revering the Past?
  A: No. Events are not played. Jeff Alexander, "post for 26 May 2003", 29 May 2003
• Q: what do i do when revering pops up before i have any peeps in play? do i get the ancestor and keep it in my hand?
  Any time you are told to "get a card from your deck and play it", you discard it if playing it is impossible.
  Do you still lose the three honor?
  A: No. The card says, "Each player who does not get an Ancestor this way loses 3 Honor." All you have to do to avoid the loss is get an Ancestor from your deck. Jeff Alexander, "post for 24 April 2003", 25 Apr 2003
• Q: It is not clear in the rules archive about Revering the Past, it says that "If you get an Ancestor, you must attach it if possible." What happens when you can't attach it? Someone in the kotei told me that I have to discard it, but I see no indication of that.
  A: That was a general case ruling made in response to issues raised by this card. It's in the Archive under "Search". Vaughn Derderian, "Rulings for January 5th", 6 Jan 2003
• Q: I need an answer regarding Revering the Past. If you retrieve an Ancestor, but do not have a personality to whom you may attach it, does that Ancestor go to your hand, return to your deck, or go to the discard pile?
  A: From the archive: "Any time a card is retrieved from any deck with instructions to play it immediately, if the card is not playable, it is discarded." Jeff Alexander, "post for 14 October 2002", 15 Oct 2002
• Q: Hi, I have a few questions:
  - Me and a fellow scorpion are playing against each other (a pity, we could be killing cranes). He begins his turn and reveals Revering the Past. We both have Shiryo no Shoju on the deck. Who gets to attach it first?
  I think that him, because the event is his
  A: He, being the active player, can decide which of you resolves that part of the Event first. [rulebook p. 5] Jeff Alexander, "post for 10 June 2002", 11 Jun 2002
• Q: <x-html><!x-stuff-for-pete base="" src="" id="0"><HTML><PRE><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR> <BR> Just a few quick questions.<BR> <BR>
  A: See all that stuff in angle brackets? It's HTML. Please don't use it. Jeff Alexander, "post for 6 June 2002", 7 Jun 2002
• Q: 1:&nbsp; Revering the Past.&nbsp; When this event resolves, if A player has no personalities in play, can they still search for the Ancestor?&nbsp; If yes, where does the Ancestor card go, and do they lose 3 honor?<BR>
  A: See that "&nbsp;"? That's also HTML. Please don't use it.
  Each player may always retrieve an Ancestor, regardless of whether they can attach it. Retrieving the Ancestor is all that's needed to avoid the honor loss. If the Ancestor is not attached, it gets discarded. Jeff Alexander, "post for 6 June 2002", 7 Jun 2002
• Q: Some of these answers were incorrect. Read on below.
  While I was thinking about these rulings, something came to me: Ancestors must be of the same faction as the cards they attach to. But Shadowlands cards don't have a faction trait. The Rule of Obvious Legality says of course Shadowlands Ancestors can attach to Shadowlands Personalities, but that's a last resort. Did I miss something on the list or in the DA rulebook?
  A: You didn't miss anything. Jeff Alexander, "post for 6 June 2002", 7 Jun 2002
• Q: &gt;Yes, they are Shadowlands cards and they have the Shadowlands trait with all<BR> &gt;the good and bad that goes with it.&nbsp; They do not belong to the Shadowlands<BR> &gt;Horde faction, however, because there are no personalities with the<BR> &gt;Shadowlands Horde faction trait.&nbsp; Shadowlands trait does not equal the<BR> &gt;Shadowlands Horde faction trait.<BR>
  A: Hard to read, i'nnit? Jeff Alexander, "post for 6 June 2002", 7 Jun 2002
• Q: If this event resolves before you have a body you can legally attach your ancestor to. Can you get your ancestor and add it to your fate hand without playing it, avoiding the honor loss OR if I get the ancestor to avoid the honor loss would I need to discard it as I can't attach it?
  A: The latter.
  You only need to get an Ancestor from your deck to avoid the Honor loss. [card text]
  In general, any time you are told to get a card from either deck and immediately play it, you must discard it if it is unplayable. You may not keep a Fate card gained this way in your hand. Jeff Alexander, "post for 21 February 2002", 22 Feb 2002
• Q: This came up in a game recently and I was ruled against, tell me what you guys think. My opponent had Revering the Past resolve with no guys in play. I said he should lose 3 honor. Here's why:
  Revering the Past Each player may get an Ancestor from his or her Fate deck and attach it to one of his or her personalities. The player need not bow the Personality. Each player who does not get an Ancestor this way loses 3 Honor.
  From how I read it, if you do not have a personality to attach it to, you should lose 3 honor and not get an Ancestor. He said it was ruled "online" that he gets an Ancestor and adds it to his hand, losing no honor. It never says anything about adding it to their hand, nor does it say you have the choice to attach it. If you get one, it says you "attach it one of you guys" not "you may attach it to one of your guys". So, what is the ruling here Jeff?
  A: From the archives, getting the Ancestor is all that's required to avoid the honor loss. Getting it and attaching it are two separate effects and the first resolves even if the second one can't. Jeff Alexander, "replies to 17 September 2001", 18 Sep 2001
• Q: Revering the Past a.. You only need to get an Ancestor from your deck to avoid the honor loss. [JA, 25 January 2001; 18 July 2001] b.. The Ancestor is added to your hand if it cannot legally attach. [ZF,11 July 2001. This ruling is under review and may reverse.]
  Is this ruling still under review?
  A: No. Jeff Alexander, "replies to 17 September 2001", 18 Sep 2001
• Q: Revering the Past. If you don't have a personality in play when this event resolves but you do have one in your fate deck, what do you do? Do you still fetch the ancestor? Do you then discard it or do you put it in your hand?
  See Rules Archive. Get the Ancestor.
  OK. I take it that means that the line in the archive is supposed to mean the Ancestor goes into your hand. It's not very clear :-)
  Revering the Past * You only need to retreive an Ancestor from your deck to avoid the honor loss. [JA, 25 January 2001]
  And a second question. If the Ancestor is in your fate hand but not in your deck, you would still lose the honor?
  A: If you don't get it from your deck, you lose honor. If all your Ancestors are already in your hand, you can't get one from your deck. Ergo, you will lose honor. Q.E.D. Jeff Alexander, "replies to 10-14 July 2001", 19 Jul 2001
• Q: Revering the Past. If you don't have a personality in play when this event resolves but you do have one in your fate deck, what do you do? Do you still fetch the ancestor? Do you then discard it or do you put it in your hand?
  A: See Rules Archive. Get the Ancestor. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 11 July 2001", 12 Jul 2001
• Q: What happens if Revering the Past resolves and you don't have any Personalities in play? Do you automatically lose three honor?
  How about if you have no Personalities in play, but you go and retrieve an Ancestor?
  A: Forwarded to the Junta. Jeff Alexander, "Rulings for 16 January 2001", 19 Jan 2001