Sanado

Legend of the Five Rings card from Scorpion Clan Coup 1

Card Type

Personality

Force

1

Chi

2

Honor Requirement

-

Gold Cost

6

Personal Honor

1

Clan

Ninja

Keywords

Infiltrator, Ninja

Card Text

Will not attach non-Ninja Followers.
Reaction: Once per battle, before the Defender's first normal opportunity to take an Battle action or pass, if Sanado is at the current battlefield and there are only Ninja units in his army: Take an additional Battle action.

Legality

Clan Wars (Imperial), Hidden Emperor (Jade)

Deck

Dynasty

Printings

Rulings

• His Reaction is not cumulative with any other effects which give you "one" general action at the beginning of a battle, including other Sanados, but it is cumulative with similar effects that provide only particular types of actions (ex: playing a terrain). [FAQ] Accumulated Rulings, February 8, 2000, p. 51
• If you are the Defender, you'd get two actions in a row: the extra one as soon as you react and then the first normal one in the Battle Action Segment. In the case of Sneak Attack, you'd still get the extra action first, then the Attacker would get the first normal action and you'd get the second normal action. [l5rinfo, 1/20/2000] Accumulated Rulings, February 8, 2000, p. 51

Rules Q&A

• Q: Sanado Can I use Three Sanados to take three actions before the Defender like a person with three Purusha? If so What are the order of these actions?
  A: Multiple Sanados and/or Daikuas aren't cumulative. Multiple Sneak Attacks aren't cumulative. The reason: you don't take the additional action they give you at the same time as the Reaction. Jeff Alexander, "Rulings for 18 March 2001", 24 Mar 2001
• Q: So, if Sanado is defending, the Defender has an action first regardless of Sneak Attacking? And if no Sneak Attack, is the Sanado-granted action before the first regular Defender action? Just so I'm understanding the sequence correctly (or am I missing something because I'm only looking at card text and not Oracle text?)
  A: Yes, the scenario you described is correct, and the Oracle text isn't completely clear either, but I can see where I tried to make it so "the Defender's first opportunity to act" as I reworded it is meant as a game-sequence timing point, not technically the Defender's liiteral first action. Like a Reaction "Before players Focus in a duel" even if no one chooses to Focus, that Reaction can still be taken; Sneak Attack is a "Strike" without any focuses, in this imperfect analogy. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 4 Mar 2026
• Q: [Imperial]
  Saw this ruling of Sanado wherein he still gets the first action in the case of a Sneak Attack
  If you are the Defender, you'd get two actions in a row: the extra one as soon as you react and then the first normal one in the Battle Action Segment. In the case of Sneak Attack, you'd still get the extra action first, then the Attacker would get the first normal action and you'd get the second normal action. [l5rinfo, 1/20/2000]
  My interpretation is that Sneak Attack changes the 'defender has first action' into 'attacker has first action' so Sanado's ability creates one action before that first action.
  Can you help us expound this rule @Brook Cunningham ?
  A: a player Thanks for bringing my attention to that Ruling. I should probably tweak the Oracle text of Sanado and Daikua to be clearer how to follow it.
  The reason is... well, basically, the game was still too new to have really stringent, technical wordings at that time, so sometimes you would get Rulings based on what was "intended" rather than what the card literally says, without anything but the ruling to help with the "correct" interpretation (ie no Rule change or erratum). 🙁
  But as to why, the logic/reasoning is what tea master said above; "the Defender's first normal opportunity to take an action" is considered a timing point, not necessarily fixed to the defender actually taking an action but meant to signify a normal point in game operation; when the Attacker Sneaks, it switches the "normal order", but anything that happens "before" that still happens "before". Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 4 Mar 2026