Scars of War

Legend of the Five Rings card from Before the Dawn

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

2

Keywords

Political

Card Text

Limited: Bow your performing Courtier and target a Holding: Until the game ends, after each time it bows or an ability on it resolves, its controller loses 1 Honor.

Focus Value

1

Legality

Age of Conquest (Emperor), Destroyer War (Celestial)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: Does "Bring into play (bowed)" bow the card being brought into play? For instance, if my opponent plays Scars of War on my Tranquil Garden, and I destroy it for a ring, then bring it back into play with Govern the Land, do I lose honor when I bring it back into play?
  Obviously I lose the honor (actually two honor) when I bow and destroy Tranquil Garden for its ability... but do I lose a third when I bring it into play bowed?
  A: No, in this case "bowed" is simply a reminder text. The holding is not itself bowing, it is entering play in that fashion. Jon Palmer, "Scars of War vs. Govern the Land", 30 Mar 2012
• Q: Two questions about Scars of War:
  1) If multiple Scars of War are played on one holding and it is bowed, does the player receive one honour loss or multiple losses of 1? 2) If I target a holding with Scars of War that has an ability that requires it to bow as a cost and my opponent uses the ability, does he lose 1 or 2 or twice 1 honour?
  Scars of War: Limited: Bow your performing Courtier and target a Holding: Until the game ends, after each time it bows or an ability on it resolves, its controller loses 1 Honor.
  A: 1) Multiple 1-point losses.
  2) Two separate 1-point losses. Brook Cunningham, "Scars of War", 14 Feb 2012
• Q: Two questions about Shiro Chugo's Reaction and the interaction with Scars of War and Yasuki Tsujiken.
  If I play a Scars of War on a holding can my opponent react with Shiro Chugo to reduce the honour loss when the holding is bowed by 2? If not, can he use the react later when the holding is bowed?
  Same question about Yasuki Tsujiken's reaction and Shiro Chugo's reaction.
  The way I see it there are these options: A) Shiro Chugo can be used when the action is played, reducing all future honour losses by 2. B) Shiro Chugo can be used when bowing a holding with one of the effects (However in this case I wonder what the trigger for Shrio Chugo is) C) Shiro Chugo can not be used against either card.
  Shiro Chugo: Political Reaction: Before an action's resolution, choose your performing unbowed Courtier: Reduce any Honor gain or loss from the action's effects by 2.
  Scars of War: Limited: Bow your performing Courtier and target a Holding: Until the game ends, after each time it bows or an ability on it resolves, its controller loses 1 Honor.
  Yasuki Tsujiken: Reaction: After Tsujiken enters play, target a Holding: Until Tsujiken leaves play, after each time its controller bows it, he loses 1 Honor. Open: Bow Tsujiken and target a Holding: Straighten it. You may bow it if its base Gold Cost is 4 or lower.
  A: Answer:
  D) Shiro Chugo can only be be used when the action is taken, right before its effects resolve (per Shiro Chugo's wording). And, like all actions without a stated duration, its reduction effect has a default duration of "until the turn ends". So, if you React with Shiro Chugo to the action, and then bow the Holding some time between when the action is taken and the end of THAT TURN, then THAT instance of the Honor loss will be reduced. Any time past that point, after you bow the Holding, the Honor loss will be its normal amount. Brook Cunningham, "Shiro Chugo and "delayed" honour losses", 14 Feb 2012
• Q: Hi Guys,
  This question came up in conversation this evening I felt it needed a Rules Forum clarification.
  If a holding has been targeted multiple times by Scars of War say in this example 3 times and then the holding bows will the Forgotten Temple player lose 1 or 3 honour as the honos is coming from 3 separate sources.
  Scars of war relevant text Political Limited: Bow your performing Courtier and target a Holding: Until the game ends, after each time it bows or an ability on it resolves, its controller loses 1 Honor.
  Forgotten Temple relevant text You do not gain Honor. You may not take Political actions. You do not lose Honor from cards you own. Before you lose Honor: Reduce the loss to 1, which may not be increased.
  On a related tangent if a player bow a Recruitment officer that has been targeted with Scars of War to make a person (i.e Bows it and uses an ability on it) will they lose 2 honour?
  Thanks in advance
  Azrael
  A: When the Holding bows, each Scars of War that has been played on it creates a separate honour loss, which individually trigger The Forgotten Temple's trait: you will lose 3 honour.
  Similarly, the honour losses from Scars of War for the Holding bowing and for its ability resolving are separate, and individually trigger The Forgotten Temple's trait: you will lose 2 honour. Alex Jones, "Scars of War and The Forgotten Temple", 3 Jan 2012
• Q: My opponent plays Scars of War on one of my holdings.
  3 turns later I use the holding and therefore 1 honour. Is that loss an effect from Scars of War?
  A: Yes. Brook Cunningham, "Scars of War vs Unimpeachable name", 19 Oct 2011
• Q: If so, if when someone plays Scars of War can I react with Unimpeachable name?
  A: Yes. Brook Cunningham, "Scars of War vs Unimpeachable name", 19 Oct 2011
• Q: Does that mean I will never lose honour from using that holding?
  A: Now is unfortunately when I have to say "no". While Scars of War has a stated duration of "Until the game ends", the reduction of Honor losses from Unimpeachable Name has no stated duration, so by default it only lasts until the end of the turn in which it was played. Scars of War being a Limited, this likely makes it played on your opponent's turn, and given that you're unlikely to be using the targeted Holding on his turn, Unimpeachable Name will probably only reduce one (if you DO happen to use the Holding once on his turn) or more likely none of Scars' Honor losses. Brook Cunningham, "Scars of War vs Unimpeachable name", 19 Oct 2011
• Q: So I saw this response, and I think I understand the OP/Zens miscommunication here.
  The reason a Scars of War causes two honor loss when something like a previously targeted Traveling Peddler's ability is activated is because it triggers to two different things, Either bowing, or ability resolution, and it triggers "each time" either of those things occurs.
  From the sequence of play these two triggers are always going to occur at different points, and while OP is correct in that if both triggers happened simultaneously only one honor would be lost. That effectively never happens, even supposing some effect to "bow a holding after one of it's abilities resolves" was present in the game state, due to the timing resolution steps.
  The reason for this is because each trigger is seperate. In the case of Peddler, you pay costs (bow the holding) before Action Resolution can even begin to occur. So Scars of War generates one Honor Loss when a Traveling Peddler bows to pay the cost of it's ability, and it generates a seperate one Honor Loss later after the ability resolves, per the "each time" text of Scars of War.
  A: Indeed, as stated here. Alex Jones, "Scars of War vs Peddler/others", 28 Jun 2011
• Q: Player A targeted player B's Traveling Peddler with Scars of War, cost paid and all. On player B's turn, they decide to use the ability to draw a card, paying it's 3 gold cost and all. Why would player B be losing two honor if Scars of War says "or". Does the "or" mean both?
  A: It means it can be fulfilled by either condition. This is just regular English use of "or". Zen Faulkes, "Scars of War vs Peddler/others", 25 Jun 2011
• Q: Because normal cards now days would say both.
  A: If there is a particular rule in the wiki you're thinking of, a link or quote from it would help to track down the answer. Zen Faulkes, "Scars of War vs Peddler/others", 25 Jun 2011
• Q: Hi again,
  If I use Scars of War against a Travelling Peddler, what honor loss will be caused when using the Travelling Peddler ability, one honor point, or two (one for using the ability, one for bowing) ?
  Thanks
  A: You lose two honour in total: one for bowing it and one for using the ability. Alex Jones, "Scars of war against Travelling Peddler", 31 May 2011
• Q: If I play Scars of War targetting my opponent's Temple of Redemption do they lose honour each time they use that Temple to Seppuku?
  A: No. Temple of Redemption does not have an ability (i.e., no text with “Limited:” “Open:” “Battle:” or “Reaction:”). Zen Faulkes, "Scars of War and Temple of Redemption", 17 May 2011