Shadow Dragon

Legend of the Five Rings card from Lotus Edition, Promotional–Diamond

Card Type

Personality

Force

7

Chi

4

Honor Requirement

-

Gold Cost

15

Personal Honor

0

Clan

Ninja, Unaligned

Keywords

Cavalry, Unique, Dragon, Experienced, Ninja, Nonhuman, Shadowlands

Card Text

Shadow Dragon will not bow.
After your Straighten Phase ends, if Shadow Dragon is dead in your discard pile: You may bring it into play, paying all costs.
Battle: Move Shadow Dragon home from the current battlefield and target a non-Unique Personality: Take control of him. After this battle ends, give control of him to the player from whom this took him.

Legality

Age of Enlightenment (Lotus), Rain of Blood (Diamond)

Deck

Dynasty

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Reads, "Shadow Dragon 7F/4C -HR 15G 0PH Creature. Cavalry. Ninja. Experienced. Unique. Shadowlands. Shadow Dragon cannot bow. After your Straighten Phase ends, if Shadow Dragon is dead in your discard pile, you may bring it into play, paying all costs. Battle: Move Shadow Dragon home from the current battlefield: Target a non-Unique Personality. Gain control of him. Move him to your current army (instead of your home, if necessary). After the battle, give control of him to the player this took him from." [MRP, Lotus Edition, 31 October 2005] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 121

Rules Q&A

• Q: Well, I have two diferent questions associated to the same card, the Blessings of the Shi-Tien Yen-Wan and controling other players cards.
  First one, if I have a Shadow dragon exp2, and control a personality in a battle, then my shadow dragon dies in the same battle (but not the personality I got control over). Then at the beggining of my next turn I put my Shadow Dragon on top of my deck (so he loses memory I think). Then I bring him into play and in another battle I use his ability, since Shadow Dragon lost his memory, would I keep both personalities?
  In the same process with Sachina, where I use her ability, then she dies and come back through the blessings process, I guess she would be able to reuse her ability although it is once per game right?
  Thanks!
  A: Correct on both accounts. Jon Palmer, "Shadow Dragon, Sachina and Blessings of the Shi-Tien Yen-Wan", 17 Sep 2013
• Q: Here is the scenario that happened to me in a game with a player running Shadow Dragon against me. Said player attacked with Shadow Dragon and 2 other personalities. He then used Shadow Dragon's trait to straighten. I reacted with The perfect moment and he chose not to assign Shadow Dragon to defend. I took the province and then he reacted with Retribution with Shadow Dragon to essentially take 2 provinces. However, my question is can a personality with the Conqueror trait be involved in two different attack phases if the opponent rets or TPMS the original attack and said Conqueror was in the army that destroyed a province at resolution?
  So basically to summarize: A) Player A attacks with a Conqueror Personality, takes province and uses his trait to straighten B) Player B reacts with Retribution or TPM and Player A decides to not assign Conqueror Personality to defend C) Player A then reacts to Player B's battle with Retribution and assigns the Conqueror Personality to attack
  Is the scenario above considered a legal play? Also could Player B actually then use move-in cards like Sound of Thunder to send their troops in to defend the second attack if Part C is a legal play?
  A: The Second Battle Rule only restricts Personalities from being in an attacking army if they've already been in one that Attack Phase. Both Retribution and The Perfect Moment create a new Attack Phase, and therefore Personalities are not restricted by prior Attack Phase resolutions. What you describe is legal (and since the Second Battle Rule only applies to attackers, it'd be legal for your defenders to move in regardless). Jon Palmer, "Retribution and Conqueror question", 2 Jul 2013
• Q: If I am playing Halls of Memory and control the Shadow Dragon, can I use his battle action to take control of my opponent's personality even without any people at the current battlefield?
  I.E. does change of control meet the conditions of the exemption to the Rule of Presence?
  A: No.
  Halls of Memory allows you to ignore (part of) the Rule of Location, but the exception to the Rule of Presence says, A player who controls no units at the current battlefield may take a Battle Action whose costs or effects say they are able to move, create, or bring into play one or more of his units there.
  Taking control of another player's Personality does none of those. Alex Jones, "Change of Control and Rule of Presence (The Shadow Dragon)", 6 Aug 2012
• Q: When Shadow Dragon takes control of a personality: 1. Do they move into my army or my home? 2. If they do move into my army, may they be at any location when targeted with his ability? 3. When control is returned, do they move into my opponent's army?
  A: Per the CR on Card Control,
  "When a non-attachment card changes control, it goes to its new controller’s home, or to its new controller’s side of the battlefield if it was at a battlefield before changing control. This is not considered movement."
  Therefore, the answers are:
  1. If they're at a battlefield, they join your army. I can't think of a way to take someone who isn't at a battlefield. 2. Per the Rule of Location, they must be at the battle to be targeted. 3. This will depend on the location when the Shadow Dragon's ability is used again. If the Personality is at a battlefield it will join the opposing army; if it's at home it will change control and end up at the other player's home. Jon Palmer, "Shadow Dragon XP 2", 12 May 2012
• Q: do Oni cards(oni in the title) have the type Oni like Ratling? what about dragons? I have the Shadow Dragon(LE) and it doesn't say it's a Dragon or a Non-human or creature. I tryed to find the ruleing on it but couldn't find the answer.
  A: Lotus rules, pg. 24: "A card is “a Keyword card” (or just “a Keyword”) if it meets one of these conditions: It has the word “Keyword” in its title." Zen Faulkes, "Oni and Dragon", 24 May 2007
• Q: Does that mean the Shadow Dragon's theft is permanent?
  A: Yes. Zen Faulkes, "Shadow Dragon", 2 Apr 2005
• Q: Just saw the preview.
  A: I will be standing by my policy of not answering card questions based on previews. Jeff or Marty may want to stick their necks out, though. Zen Faulkes, "Shadow Dragon Experienced clarification", 3 Mar 2005
• Q: Question on Shadow Dragon XP. Oracle says it "unaligned", but none of the prints show the trait. Any idea if and when it got an erratum?
  A: As of SE, general Rules made everything without a Clan Alignment "Unaligned" by definition. The Oracle is oriented from that perspective, as well as from the perspective that Ninja is not a Clan Alignment in Lotus. By strict Lotus Rules, it isn't Unaligned, due to lacking the printed keyword. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 21 Nov 2024