At'tok'tuk Sensei

Legend of the Five Rings card from Ambition's Debt

Card Type

Sensei

Province Strength

+0

Gold Production

+0

Starting Family Honor

-2

Keywords

Brotherhood of Shinsei, Crab Clan, Mantis Clan, Naga, Scorpion Clan, Shadowlands Horde, Unicorn Clan

Card Text

Your Ratling Personalities in and out of play have your Clan Alignment.
Ratling Followers enter play for you for 1 less Gold.

Focus Value

2

Legality

Hidden Emperor (Jade)

Deck

Pre-Game

Printings

Rulings

• Ratling Personalities acquire your Factions's trait. [Reversal] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 140
• Applies continually to Ratling Personalities you control and in your deck, Provinces, and discard piles. A card that changes controllers or traits may gain or lose your alignment. Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 140
• Is not considered swearing fealty. Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 140
• Does not allow a Heart of the Shinomen Forest player to build a deck with 4 copies of Ratling cards. Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 140
• Ratling Personalities fully acquire your Clan's trait. [REVERSAL]. This effect applies continually to all Ratling Personalities under your control and in your deck, Provinces, and discard piles. A card which changes controllers or traits may gain or lose your alignment. This effect is not considered swearing fealty. Shadowlands faction players are excluded from the "pay 2g less or gain honor" option when purchasing Personalities. [rulebook] Accumulated Rulings, February 8, 2000, p. 1
• With respect to the Heart of the Shinomen Forest Stronghold: Does not allow you to build a deck with 4 copies of Ratling cards. Your deck must be legal before Sensei are chosen. [l5rinfo, 2/3/2000] Accumulated Rulings, February 8, 2000, p. 1
• Note that only cards with the printed Naga trait are automatically Nonhuman. [Ibid.] Accumulated Rulings, February 8, 2000, p. 1
• Q: Does the Event "Tsukune Ascends" give a Force bonus to everyone I have in my deck or just the people I have in play? A: Only those you have in play. The word "your" has been used to mean more than one thing in the past, but starting with Gold Edition we're being very careful to use it exclusively when we mean "controlled by you," and that means things in play only. (This is not a reversal of any rulings on pre-Gold Edition cards where a change or bonus to "your" cards was judged to apply to those still in your deck as well, such as At'tok'tuk Sensei. Those cards were written with much looser templating.) The Imperial Herald, Vol. 2, No. 4, p. 18
• Q: Speaking of Sensei, are my Kolat and Ratlings Shadowlands cards if a Shadowlands player brings them into play using Kage Sensei or Ak'tok'tuk Sensei? A: No. They gain the "Shadowlands Horde" trait. This term is not separable and is not equivalent to "Shadowlands." This is true if you're playing Sepulcher of Bone and The Spawning Ground, too, not just the Shadowlands Horde Stronghold itself. The Imperial Herald, Issue 16, p. 12
• Focus on Kage Sensei and At'tok'tuk Sensei: There has been some confusion (even within the design team) how these two sensei cards exactly work. As of February 1, 2000, both senseis will work as follows: When you have one of these two sensei cards in play, they grant your clan trait onto all of your Kolat/Ratling Personalities in your deck. This is a REVERSAL of a ruling made on the l5rinfo listserver. The original ruling was more in line with the original intent of the cards, but was confusing and counter-intuitive to the players. This reversal/ruling should be much easier for everyone to understand and apply. The Imperial Herald, Issue 14, p. 46
• Q: If I play At'Tok'Tuk Sensei, do Ratling Personalities gain my clan affiliation? A: They don't actually gain any traits. "Ratling" does not become fully equivalent to your Clan's trait, either. Only effects that look for a generic "your clan" affiliation will see them as belonging to you. The Imperial Herald, Issue 13, p. 34
• Q: Well that's annoying. But, hey, if I'm a Shadowlands player, I can finally start buying Personalities cheaply or for honor! A: Nope. Evil never gets a break. Check out this line from the "Clan Affiliations" section of a Pearl Edition or later rulebook: "The Gold cost reductions and Honor bonuses for bringing in members of your Clan do not apply if you are a Shadowlands player." The Imperial Herald, Issue 13, p. 34

Rules Q&A

• Q: At'tok'tuk Sensei Crab. Mantis. Monk. Naga. Scorpion. Shadowlands. Unicorn. Sensei. Your Ratling Personalities are members of your Clan. Ratling Followers will join you for 1 less Gold.
  ok first question when played with a shadowlands box what happens? 1. B/c card text over rules the rules your ratling personalities are aligned with the shadowlands though they do not get any trait to signify this. Even so you can bring them out for 2 less. 2. They would be allied with the shadowlands but b/c their is no such allignment trait to signify this it doesn't happen.
  A: #2, according to the Archives at http://l5r.alderac.com/rulings/ . Jeff Alexander, "post for 24 January 2003", 25 Jan 2003
• Q: In the long long ago, there was a ruling that a player running Heart of the Shinomen Forest with At'tok'tuk Sensei could not include 4 copies of non-Unique Ratling (=Naga) cards. My understanding is that this ruling was made because, at the time, Sensei were chosen after Strongholds were revealed. A deck running 4 copies of a Ratling card would thus be illegal after Strongholds were revealed but before the Sensei was, making it illegal to construct such a deck.
  However, Sensei are no longer chosen from the deck, and are revealed at the same time as Strongholds; that window of illegality no longer exists. Does the Pearl-era ruling still hold for some other reason, or may these decks be legally constructed?
  A: The previous ruling on At'tok'tuk Sensei is still correct: the trait on At'tok'tuk Sensei only applies while it is in play, and not during deck construction. Alex Jones, "Heart of the Shinomen + At'tok'tuk Sensei", 31 Aug 2015
• Q: How can I say if "Shadowlands" means the faction called "the Shadowlands Horde" or if it refers to the "Shadowlands trait" ?
  A: When you see "Shadowlands Personalities", it means Personalities with the "Shadowlands" keyword, because there are no "Shadowlands Horde" Personalities; as you quoted, there is NO keyword to denote such a Personality. Again, as you quoted, "Shadowlands" is only used as shorthand for "The Shadowlands Horde" when on a Sensei or describing a player (and, by extension, his Stronghold). Brook Cunningham, "At'tok'tuk Sensei and the Shadowlands horde Faction", 13 May 2008
• Q: If I use The Imperial Palace of Fu Leng with the At'tok'tuk Sensei, can I put ratling personalities into play even if they do not have the Shadowlands trait ?
  A: No. Senseis that say certain cards are "members of your Clan" give those cards your Faction keyword. There is no "Shadowlands Horde" Faction keyword, so those Senseis do nothing for a Horde player. They do not give "Shadowlands" to such a player's Personalities because that's not a Faction keyword. Brook Cunningham, "At'tok'tuk Sensei and the Shadowlands horde Faction", 13 May 2008
• Q: If it is possible, is the Corrupt Jade Vein producing gold equal to 2 + the number of personalities I control? => I can only control personalities member the shadowlands horde faction, does the corrupt jade vein count only personalities of the Shadowlands Horde Faction, only personalities with the shadowland trait, or both?
  A: I hope I've made it clear before, but I'll say again: There are no such thing as "Shadowlands Horde" Faction Personalities and no way for there to ever be any. Brook Cunningham, "At'tok'tuk Sensei and the Shadowlands horde Faction", 13 May 2008
• Q: Hi,
  I have a question about At'tok'tuk Sensei...
  I use this Sensei. I resolve the Event : Alliance, may I select the Ratling faction ? If I can, do the ratling personalities I own cost 2 less gold? I mean, may I enter play a ratling personality from one of my province during my dynasty phase for Zero gold if its base gold cost is 4 ?
  If I use one of the Stronghold : "Hidden Catacomb" or "Kyuden Bayushi" with this Sensei, may I bow a ratling personality I own to pay a cost of discarding the Imperial Favor?
  A: Assuming you're playing Legacy Format: Yes to all questions.
  All Legacy factions (see here) are legal to name for "Alliance".
  As to the rest, the Sensei gives your Faction (Clan) alignment to all your Ratlings in and out of play. So, a Scorpion player's Ratling with "Scorpion Clan" from the Sensei could pay for the effects of both Strongholds and could be bought for the -2 "Clan discount" on top of -2 from "Alliance" for a total of -4. Brook Cunningham, "At'tok'tuk Sensei and Faction Trait", 7 May 2008
• Q: question under legacy. Does the shrine of the spirits, give you a clan aligment? Can I use At'tok'tuk Sensei with this stonghold to get rats for 2 less gold?
  A: Yes. The Clan Alignment of the Spirit Stronghold is "Spirit", and the Sensei will give your Rat Personalities "Spirit"... y'know, if the Stronghold isn't banned in the Legacy format you're playing. 😛 EDIT: Oh, and if Ratling Sensei could be used by Spirit, but it's not an "All Clans" Sensei. >_< Sorry I missed that. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 1 Sep 2025
• Q: [OBH] How does At'tok'tuk sensei interact with loyal keyword? does a loyal rat mean it can only join a rat player? or bc rats are a part of my clan i can bring a loyal rat into play with a scorpion box? Also Towers of yogo gives all my scorpion personalities the ability bow to bow. Do all my rats gain that ability? or are they ratling personalities with scorpion caln alignment?
  A: The Sensei gives all your Ratling Personalities in and out of play your Clan Alignment. Loyal Peronalities will only join a player who has the same Clan Alignment they do; a Loyal Ratling with Scorpion Clan will join a Scorpion Clan player. The Towers of the Yogo grants an ability to all your Scorpion Clan Personalities; if your Ratling Personalties have that Clan Alignment, the Stronghold gives them that ability too.
  I hope the above answers all your questions? They were a little hard to follow; your last two seem to ask an "either/or" question, but both things are true. :/ Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 10 May 2025
• Q: Just checking, but I think not: by playing the At'Tok'Tuk Sensei can you play cards that will only join a Ratling player?
  A: Probably you can under the current Oracle wording. All Personalities with "will only join" were changed to Loyal, which is slightly functionally different. Might change it back someday.
  If you're playing strict arc simulation though, definitely not. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 19 Mar 2025
• Q: Question about "Loyal". Does At'tok'tuk sensei let you take loyal rats off of a different clan's box?
  A: yes, since the sensei makes them members of your clan, they are also "Loyal" to your clan Jeff Williamson, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 24 Aug 2023