Setai Sensei

Legend of the Five Rings card from Wrath of the Emperor

Card Type

Sensei

Province Strength

+0

Gold Production

+0

Starting Family Honor

+0

Keywords

Lion Clan

Card Text

Before your non-Deathseeker Personality enters play, either dishonor him and permanently give him Deathseeker, or permanently give him -1F.
Repeatable Battle: You may rehonor your target performing Deathseeker Personality. Destroy him to destroy a target enemy card without attached cards and a Gold Cost less than or equal to your Deathseeker's.

Legality

Rain of Blood (Diamond)

Deck

Pre-Game

Printings

Rulings

• You may gain honor for hiring a Personality before dishonoring him or her. [JA, 30 September 2004] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 143

Rules Q&A

• Q: And the question : When I put a Ratling Raider into play, do I have the oportunity to use Setai Sensei on the two ratling personalitys created by the Ratling Raiders ?
  A: No. While you are considered to be bringing the cards into play, "Before" you bring them into play (create them), they simply don't exist, and things that don't exist can't be Dishonored or given -1F permanently. Martin Lund, "Rules for 6 October 2004", 11 Oct 2004
• Q: It seems to me that the JA ruling from 2002 about not gaining honor if enter play dishonored implies that the choice to pay full or 2 less happens at the same time as the dishonor choice, but the effect of that choice (gaining honor)doesn't happen until later, which doesn't invalidate anything. It was in fact my initial basis for arguing that you do not gain the honor.
  A: The decision whether to reduce the cost of an in-Faction Personality by 2 happens during the "pay costs" step, along with producing Gold and Reactions such as The Hiruma Dojo's. Honor is gained if this option is not taken by the time the player declares he is finished paying costs, since the gain is before the Personality enters play and the Personality can't enter play until he's been paid for. Martin Lund, "Rules for 4 October 2004", 6 Oct 2004
• Q: The question is: on page 59 of the DE rulebook it states, "If you bring into play a Personality with your Faction’s trait, you may either lower his Gold cost by 2 until he enters play or add his Personal Honor to your Family Honor immediately before he enters play. (The Personal Honor of a Personality who “enters play dishonored” is 0 for this purpose.)"
  Setai Sensei states, "Before bringing a non-Deathseeker Personality into play, either dishonor him and permanently give him the Deathseeker trait or permanently give him -1F."
  I seem to recall, but cannot find in the rulebook, a ruling stating that when two traits would trigger at the same time, the active player decides which one triggers first. It seems to me that the rulebook trait and the Sensei trait trigger at the same time, both being worded "before" the personality comes into play. Therefore it seems to me that I get to choose the order in which the effects happen, assuming I am buying the personality in my own Dynasty phase. Therefore, I get to gain the honor before dishonoring the person. Am I correct in this?
  A: I'll forward this over to Jeff to get the direct justification either way, because I'm not comfortable with these conflicting vs. dependent vs. simultaneous timing issues.
  For the time being, always resolve Setai Sensei's dishonor / -1F choice before you resolve triggered honor gains from hiring Personalities. Martin Lund, "Rules for 28 September 2004", 30 Sep 2004
• Q: would Honorable Seppukku be a legal Reaction to dishonoring a personality with Setai Sensei that you are bringing into play?
  i don't think so, since Setai would dishonor him before he was "your" Samurai, but perhaps not.
  A: You are correct. The Samurai is dishonored before it enters play, thusly before it is "your" Samurai and can make a valid trigger for Honorable Seppuku. Martin Lund, "Rules for 19 and 20 September 2004", 24 Sep 2004