School of Wizardry

Legend of the Five Rings card from Pearl Edition, Imperial Edition, Emerald Edition, Obsidian Edition, Jade Edition, Ivory Edition

Card Type

Holding

Gold Cost

7

Card Text

w: When paying for a Human Shugenja, he enters play for 0 Gold.

Legality

A Brother's Destiny (Ivory Edition), A Brother's Destiny (Twenty Festivals), Clan Wars (Imperial), Hidden Emperor (Jade)

Deck

Dynasty

Notes

Misprinted as "School of Wizardy" in Twenty Festivals.

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Reads, "School of Wizardry 7G Bow the School of Wizardry to pay the entire Gold cost for any one Human Shugenja. Variable-cost cards cannot be paid for this way." [MRP, Pearl Edition] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 85
• Clarified: can only be used when you are playing the shugenja. Text Change & Errata List, February 15, 2000, p. 13
• Erratum: Changed: effect is no longer a Reaction (and thus not an ability). Text Change & Errata List, February 15, 2000, p. 13

Rules Q&A

• Q: Scenario the Third**
  Can Kolat Agent copy School of Wizardry.
  A: No. Jeff Alexander, "post for 22 January 2002", 23 Jan 2002
• Q: Couldn't find an answer to this, so I could use some clarification.
  Can School of Wizardry be named by the Shadowed Estate of the Scorpion? Or is that a trait on School of Wizardry that allows you to pay 0 for a Human Shugenja by bowing it? I ask since the rules text on School of Wizardry does not state that it is a Dynasty Action/Ability. Thank you.
  School of Wizardry 7G : When paying for a Human Shugenja, he enters play for 0 Gold.
  Shadowed Estate of the Scorpion 7 PS 4 GP 1 FH Tireless Open: Name a Fate card, or name a Dynasty card in play. Negate the effects of the next action from a card with that title.
  A: That's right; it's a trait, not an ability/action, so The Shadowed Estate could do nothing to negate it. Brook Cunningham, "The Shadowed Estate of the Scorpion + School of Wizardry", 21 Sep 2015
• Q: This is something of a strange question.
  There has been a photo that shows the latest printing of School of Wizardry in the 20 Festivals Phoenix starter deck is actually printed with the title 'School of Wizardy'. As the card title is different, it is technically a new card, but not one that is listed in Oracle. As I understand the primacy of Oracle, a card not in Oracle is not legal, but this would make the misprinted cards illegal (which affects new players, sealed deck events etc). I also assume that School of Wizardy is not meant to be a new card (players are not meant to be able to run six cards with "When paying for a Human Shugenja, he enters play for 0 Gold." in their decks).
  The obvious question is: what is the status of School of Wizardy?
  More generally though, (as this is clearly a misprint), what is the specific interaction between physical cards and Oracle, and how can obvious issues (like the example above) be resolved within the framework of card legalities*? Oracle was a huge step forward for the game and a solution will hopefully retain Oracle's primacy as the source for card legality and text.
  *Without resorting to 'interesting' solutions, such as adding School of Wizardy to Oracle and adding an errata to make it the soul of School of Wizardry, as this would also require a change to the 'Soul of...' rule as well.
  A: School of Wizardy is the same card as School of Wizardry. This is the same as other cards with minor unintentional title changes, such as "Master Painter" vs "The Master Painter", "Charge" vs "Charge!" and "Market Place" vs "Marketplace".
  We've added a note to Oracle; I'll see if we can get a redirect for searches on "School of Wizardy" as well. Jon Palmer, "Misprinted cards", 31 Mar 2015
• Q: I understand that School of Wizardry doesn't work with Orinoko's invest, but I don't fully see why. As far as I can tell from the CR, SoW doesn't reduce or even affect the gold cost of a personality at all. It instead just lets them enter play paying 0 gold, which seems more like a substitution (i.e. you pay 0 gold INSTEAD of their gold cost). For SoW to meaningfully interact with her invest under the rules wouldn't it have to say something along the lines of "when paying for a human shugenja entering play, reduce their gold cost to 0 until it is paid?"
  Thank you
  A: You're welcome; the key phrase here is Orinoko's "This Invest cost may not be reduced." We treat the "0 Gold" as a reduction, because it changes like for like (a Gold cost for a lower Gold cost). Note that under "Reduction" not all examples directly say "reduce" and one example, the closest to how School of Wizardry works, is "Set his Force to 3" (when it was higher). A substitution would be something like "Bow your Stronghold instead of paying its Gold cost," that is, substituting an effect that is different in kind and using the word "instead." I hope that answers your question. Roger Giner-Sorolla, "School of Wizardry and Isawa Orinoko", 15 Feb 2015
• Q: if i have Isawa Orinoko in play and invested, she dies, then at a later point on a different turn I recruit her from my graveyard and invest a second time.
  is her cost now 5 and an invest cost of 20? or 15 with an invest cost of 10?
  can i use a School of Wizardry to pay the full adjusted 15 gold for her and invest 10 from elsewhere? or will it still only pay the 5 and i would have to pay 20 from elsewhere?
  if her cost is now 5 and an invest cost of 10, and i choose to recruit her from the graveyard and not invest, as invest is optional, do i just pay 5 and she would enter play with the fear 5 ability (as its a permanent change) or am i forced to pay the optional cost?
  A: When you Recruit Orinoko, you have the choice then to use the Invest trait, and permanently increase her cost by 10. From this point onwards, her cost is always 5 + 10: you do not get to choose whether or nor to pay that increased cost once you have chosen to increase it.
  Each time after that that you Recruit Orinoko, you have another choice: whether or not to use her Invest trait again, and permanently increase her cost by another 10g.
  The clause "This Invest cost cannot be reduced" is a modifier to the cost increase, it is not a separate effect. Thus, it does not have a separate duration to the cost increase.
  If you have previously Invested Orinoko once, and Recruit her again with Invest, you must pay 25g, of which 20g cannot be reduced. Alex Jones, "School of Wizardry and Isawa Orinoko", 29 Jan 2015
• Q: Firestorm Legion is a Shugenja Follower. I cannot attach spells, and thus cannot "cast spells." But no mention is made as to whether it can participate in Rituals like Sleep. Can Firestorm Legion bow to show another card from sleep?
  Also, can School of Wizardry's trait be used on Firestorm Legion to reduce it's gold cost to 0?
  A: Yes, Firestorm Legion is a legal target for Sleep. Its inability to "cast" Spells in the reminder text is not a reference to a rule specifically prohibiting Followers from casting, but just a general reminder of normal circumstances (such as, should a Firestorm Legion be in a unit led by a Shugenja, any "this Shugenja" text on any Spells in said unit are referring to the Personality).
  And yes, School of Wizardry can pay for it. Followers are Human by default unless they have the Nonhuman keyword. Brook Cunningham, "Firestorm Legion, Sleep, and School of Wizardry", 7 Aug 2014
• Q: Can School of Wizardry be used to recruit a shugenja Personality with The Majestic Temple of the Phoenix?
  A: Yep. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 19 Nov 2023
• Q: Can School of Wizardry be used to recruit a shugenja Personality with The Majestic Temple of the Phoenix?
  A: Yep. Brook Cunningham, "Oracle of the Void #rules", 19 Nov 2023
• Q: Thanks. And I did mean with the Invest. I always assumed they tacked that on her so that School of Wizardry wouldn't be able to work.
  A: yeah she was a beast in Playtest Jeff Williamson, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 24 Aug 2023