Shinjo's Guidance

Legend of the Five Rings card from Path of the Destroyer, Promotional–Celestial

Card Type

Celestial

Keywords

Unique, Kami

Card Text

Unicorn Clan Personalities have +1F while opposed.
Reaction: When another player's Battle action would target one of your Unicorn Clan Personalities, if you are a Unicorn Clan player, discard this card to choose another one of your Personalities. The action targets him instead, if legal.

Legality

Destroyer War (Celestial)

Deck

Dynasty

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: I know there are a lot of threads regarding Shinjo's Guidance and other redirection effects (such as Chugo Seido) redirecting to illegal targets. The replies that I have read do not seem to agree on whether it is legal to take such an action when there are no legal targets or if the action is legal but has no effect.
  For example: I my opponent tries to use a ranged attack against one of my unicorn personalities without followers. I react with Shinjo's Guidance but all my other personalities at that location have followers (so there are no legal targets for the ranged attack).
  Am I allowed to take this action knowing that the effect will fail, is it somehow illegal because I'm messing with targeting, or is there some other option I have not considered?
  A: It is likely that the variation is because the individual cards are worded differently. There are no general rules an "redirection" - those were killed several editions ago.
  As for Shinjo's Guidance, I found only two relevant rulings, both of which say the same thing: The action is legal to take, even if it has no effect.
  viewtopic.php?f=59&t=81737 viewtopic.php?f=59&t=86267
  I take the opportunity to mention this: http://rules.l5r.com/CE_Effects#Substitution: "In effects that substitute targeting, if the new target has to be a 'legal' target, then failure to find a new legal target means the original targeting happens normally." Zen Faulkes, "Shinjo's Guidance and illegal targets", 24 May 2011
• Q: I'm opposing 4 Unicorn personalities with no Force bonuses other than the Shinjo's Guidance my opponent has in play, except for Moto Jin-Sahn getting +1F from a dead guy in my discard (and I'm defending).
  I target one of the other personalities with The Cost of Pride to bow him. My opponent tries to use the Guidance to redirect.
  What happens?
  a) he can only redirect to Jin-Sahn since after the Guidance is gone that's the only valid target b) he can redirect to anyone since he chooses targets for the Guidance's effect before paying its action costs (discarding), and... b.1) my TCoP fails because its new targeting is no longer valid b.2) my TCoP resolves as expected with the new target because I had a valid target when I announced the action c) he can discard the Guidance to attempt a redirect to another guy (not Jin-Sahn), since the Guidance doesn't have a restriction to being used, just a conditional effect. This effect (targeting change) then fails since the chosen personality is not a valid target for redirection, and... c.1) my TCoP also fails because its original targeting is no longer valid c.2) my TCoP resolves as expected with the original target because that was a valid target when I announced the action
  Relevant cards: Shinjo's Guidance Kami • Unique Unicorn Clan Personalities have +1F while opposed. Reaction: When another player's Battle action would target one of your Unicorn Clan Personalities, if you are a Unicorn Clan player, discard this card: Choose another one of your Personalities. The action targets him instead, if legal.
  The Cost of Pride Reaction: After a Ranged Attack targets one of your cards: Give the Ranged Attack -3 strength. Battle: Bow or straighten a target Personality whose Force is different from his base Force.
  A: c.3) your TCoP resolves as expected with the original target because that was a valid target when you chose the target.
  Note that he can choose Jin-Sahn, although he doesn't have to (I'm just being complete-ist: your description of "c" doesn't cover this option). Alex Jones, "Cost of Pride vs. Shinjo's Guidance", 11 May 2011