Rout

Legend of the Five Rings card from Celestial Edition, Rise of the Shogun, Samurai Edition, Gathering Storms, Three Dynasties, Promotional–Samurai

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

1

Card Text

Battle: Target a unit: Move it home. Destroy one of its attachments (if any).

Focus Value

3

Legality

Age of Enlightenment (Lotus), Destroyer War (Celestial), Race for the Throne (Samurai), Shattered Empire, Three Dynasties

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Reads, "Rout 1G 3FV Battle: Move a target unit home. Destroy one of its attachments (if any)." [MRP, Celestial Edition, 29 June 2009] Comprehensive Rules, Celestial Edition, with specific card rulings, final version, February 2012, p. 151
• Erratum: Reads, "Rout 1G 3FV Battle: Move home a target unit. Destroy one of its attachments (if any)." [MRP, Samurai Edition, 25 July 2007] Comprehensive Rules, Samurai Edition, with specific card rulings, final version, May 2009, p. 153

Rules Q&A

• Q: For example, would the controller of the person with chagatai's armor on him have to react before he gets to see whether I win the duel or not?
  A: The timing of the Reaction is before the action's resolution; that is, before any of its effects resolve, which include even issuing the challenge and starting the duel. So, yes, he would have to react before knowing if he'd won or lost, but if he does, it would negate the bowing. Brook Cunningham, "Chagatai's Armor/Muscle & Steel vs Overwhelming/Rout/etc", 6 Feb 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: concerning this:http://www.alderac.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=87621
  after the ninja personality w/ flawless assassin moves, would rout still destroy the attachment (ie flawless assassin)?
  thanks
  A: Yes.
  Rout's second effect isn't conditional upon anything. Nothing in the scenario described would stop it from happening. Brook Cunningham, "Flawless Assassin and Rout", 3 Dec 2010
• Q: Hi,
  In one game, I have a Ninja personality with a Flawless Assassin. The enemy leader plays "Rout" and chooses to destroy the flawless. The question is: can I react with the follower in order to move my personality to the battlefield again, before the follower´s destruction? I think that I can, but my opponent isn´t sure about it.
  Flawless Reaction: Reaction: After one of your Personalities moves to or from this unit's location, if this unit has no non-Ninja Personalities or Followers: Move this unit to any location.
  Rout Battle: Battle: Move a target unit home. Destroy one of its attachments (if any).
  best regards :)
  A: Yes, you can.
  The point at which Flawless Assassin's Reaction is triggered is directly after Rout's movement effect, which would be before its destruction effect. Brook Cunningham, "Flawless Assassin and Rout", 3 Dec 2010
• Q: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=86993
  Regarding that topic, surely the easily relevent texts are: Reaction: After the resolution of another player's action that destroyed this card or its Personality: Attach this card to your target Personality.
  (my emphases)
  The bolded means that the Blade is back in the discard pile of it's owner before it's reaction could be used, meaning only it's owner could possibly take the reaction.
  The underlined means that only if the person who ISN'T the owner of the Blade destroyed the blade/person destroyed it, could you reattach it, as when you react, it's looking for another player to its controller.
  So if Player A controls the Blade that Player B owns, and Player B plays Rout, the sword would die and it's reaction would not be legal to announce.
  If Player A controls the Blade that Player B owns, and Player A plays Rout, then Player B could use the reaction.
  Forgive me if I'm wrong, I just thought it looked fairly cut and dry.
  A: Whether it is "another player's action" checks who controlled the Blade and who played the action at the time it was in play, by the referencing rules (http://rules.l5r.com/CE_Special_wording ... References).
  But because the Reaction itself is after the item has gone to the owner's discard pile, the owner would be the one who gets to activate the Reaction, as "you" means owner for out of play cards.
  Thus, in a two player game, he would not be able to get the item back into play, because it was not "another player's action." Zen Faulkes, "Blade of Perfection", 21 Oct 2010
• Q: If I use Rout to send home a unit that has Snow Riders Equipped, be my opponent use their Reaction to negate the movement before Rout destroys the follower?
  Rout: Battle: Move a target unit home. Destroy one of its attachments (if any).
  Snow Riders: Reaction: Before an action's resolution begins: Negate this Personality's movement from the action's effects.
  Thank You!!!
  A: Yes. Snow Rider's Reaction triggers before any of Rout's effects occur. Rout's effect still can destroy the Snow Riders, however. Dan Jacobson, "Rout vs. Snow Riders", 17 Jul 2009
• Q: My opponent, the active player, is going to play a battle action. He has a Determination in hand, and I have a Misdirection in hand.
  Determination says: Dark Virtue Reaction: After you announce an action, target one of your Samurai: The action cannot have its effects negated or have its targeting changed. After the action destroys any Personality, remove him from the game.
  Misdirection says: Political Gozoku Reaction: Before another player would choose targets for one of his action’s effects during a battle, target one of your Courtier or Gozoku Personalities: You choose the targets instead. (Emphasis on triggers mine)
  Before the errata, Determination and Misdirection had a distinct timing separated by the announcement of the action. Now, the timing is different but in a very, very subtle way. Determination comes before, but nothing really happens between the triggers. So the point where the timing for Determination ends and the timing for Misdirection begins is only a thin line. While playing, you don't usually ask for reactions for every possible trigger.
  So my opponent announces his action (eg Rout), and before he chooses the targets, I announce I'm using Misdirection, but then he (cunningly) claims he hadn't had the chance to react to the announcement because I rushed to react before he chose targets, and plays his Determination now knowing that it trumps the Misdirection I planned to play.
  I could ask perhaps "any reactions?", but then the player would suspect my next move and play the Determination. My special interest in "closing" the timing window shows that my interest is playing a Misdirection safely. I haven't really advanced too much.
  How should/may players determine that the timing window for Determination is closed and the timing window for reacting with Misdirection opens?
  A: This is a more of a Floor Rules issue than one for this forum, I fear. Pleas confer with your TO. Brook Cunningham, "Determination Errata Vs Misdirection", 14 Jan 2009
• Q: Is it possible to use Rout on one of your own personalities that has been afflicted with a rock token from Earth Becomes Sky to take off the rock token...?
  A: No, sorry.
  Rout destroys an attachment.
  Attachments are "cards that enter play by being attached to Personalities" (Citation).
  Tokens are not cards (Citation). Brook Cunningham, "Interaction of multiple cards to remove token and return per", 24 Jul 2008
• Q: Hello everyone.
  I have a few questions regarding oblivious scout. can you use Rout to target a unit equipped with oblivious scout? Does targeting a unit counts as targeting a follower? What does it mean by ‘The enemy leader targets this follower with a battle action’? Is the enemy leader the opposing player or is it the opposing personality?
  Thanks!
  A: Shattered Empire printing of Rout does not target the unit, it explicitly targets the Personality. So, no, you can't play Rout as it doesn't target the Scout. And the "leader" refers to players; the Attacker or Defender; "enemy" of those 2 would be the one who is not you you (in a 2 player game). Brook Cunningham, "Onyx Lives #rules-questions", 8 Jul 2024