Right to Rule

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, starting with you and proceeding in turn order, each player may destroy his rightmost Province; each player who did not, until the game ends, will not win the game by any means other than an Honor, Military, Dishonor, or Enlightenment Victory.

Legality

Four Winds (Gold), Hidden Emperor (Jade)

Deck

Dynasty

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: An annoying rules question, thus:
  My "Right to Rule" resolves, and my opponent, laughing at my idiocy, keeps his province.
  Now...he can only win by Enlightenment, Military or Honor. The fool! He has handed my ULTIMATE POWER.
  If I am in any danger of losing the game, I can merely destroy all of Rokugan at my whim, and rule over the rubble of civilization. What more could a man wish for?
  I bow my SH to search for "Gifts and Favors".
  It's not there...so I lose.
  BUT HE DOESN'T WIN.
  A: Yes, he does. If you're sitting at the table, and your opponent vanishes, you win by a Military victory. As far as the rules are concerned, it doesn't matter why he vanished - if you're the only person left in the game, you win a Military victory. Vaughn Derderian, "Post for June 19, 2003", 19 Jun 2003
• Q: In a head to head game Right to Rule resolves and both my opponent and I renounces the ability to win by any means other than an Enlightenment, Honor, or Military. Now my opponent drops below -19 honor and loses but since I can not win the game because I have yet reach an Enlightenment, Honor, or Military Victory, do I keep playing with myself until I reach one of those and if I do not is the game considered a tie because although he lost I did not win?
  A: Well, you *can* keep playing with yourself, but your opponent will get up and walk away from the table to report the match.
  When your opponent is eliminated from the game due to hitting -20 honor, you are the only player left in the game, and have won by a Military victory. That's not prohibited by Right to Rule, and despite popular conception, there is no "Dishonor" victory condition - simply victory by virtue of being the only person left alive. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for June 12th", 12 Jun 2003
• Q: 1) There was some discussion once which implied that a dishonour victory was a form of military victory. Does this event [Right to Rule] hose dishonour or not?
  A: Not. Dishonor is a military victory due to being the only player left in the game with provinces. You do not win when your opponent hits -20, they just lose, leaving you as the sole occupant of a two player game. Dishonor is a military victory. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for January 10th", 10 Jan 2001
• Q: ...if you renounce your ability to win via a Dishonor Victory, does this also prevent prevent your opponent (or your last opponent, in multi-player) from suffering a dishonor loss?
  A: Right to Rule in no way affects your opponent's criteria for losing. He loses by Dishonor before you are considered to have "won" by it, so your inability won't retroactively save him. Consider a multiplayer game; a number of players might lose by Dishonor without you ever winning by it. Brook Cunningham, "Right to Rule", 29 Jul 2008
• Q: ...does it effectively create a double-loss (because your opponent has lost, but you cannot win)?
  A: The concept of the double-loss only exists in the Tournament and Event Floor Rules and can only be caused by such.
  As far as the rules of the game (and logic) that govern card effects are concerned:
  If every other player in your game has lost, then you win.
  As an aside: If you happen to playing some homebrewed tournament format, wherein each player's manner of Victory is recorded for some purpose, feel free to withhold a tick in the "Dishonor Victory" column from a player who won under these circumstances. Brook Cunningham, "Right to Rule", 29 Jul 2008