Shinsei

Legend of the Five Rings card from Dawn of the Empire

Card Type

Personality

Force

1

Chi

15

Honor Requirement

-

Gold Cost

0

Personal Honor

5

Clan

Unaligned

Keywords

Double Chi, Unique, Kami, Mentor, Monk

Card Text

Shinsei has the additional cost, "Bow five of your cards" to enter play.
You may ignore bowing Shinsei for Kiho actions he performs.
Repeatable Reaction, w: When paying for a Seven Thunder Personality, reduce the Personality's Gold Cost to 1 until it is paid.
Tireless Battle/Open: Bow a target Kami Personality.

Deck

Dynasty

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: Hi,
  In the EE Comprehensive rules, I can no longer find a reference under "Challenges and Duels" that restricts the challenger to being unbowed. It seems (my guess) that this was relegated to specific card text, as per the Oracle text for the classical Iaijutsu Challenge:
  "Limited: Choose your performing unbowed Personality and target another player's Personality: Your Personality challenges him. He may refuse; if he did, dishonor him and his controller loses 7 Honor. The winner's controller gains 5 Honor. Destroy the duel's loser."
  My question then is: can a bowed personality who ignores the cost of bowing to perform Kiho strategies (e.g. Shinsei, Togashi Satsu experienced 1 through 3, etc.) perform a Facing Your Devils, given the Oracle text on that Kiho is:
  "Battle/Open: Bow your performing Monk or Shugenja and target a Personality: Your Personality challenges the target. The Personality's controller may discard cards with a total Focus Value greater than the challenger's Chi; if he did, his Personality may refuse. Destroy the duel's loser."
  With no specific reference to the challenging personality being unbowed?
  A: The lack of "unbowed" in Facing Your Devils was an oversight on my part, sorry. It was from the era of implied targeting, where you implicitly targeted your performer, and while not from an era with implicit need for a challenger to be unbowed, it WAS from an era when your own bowed cards were never legal targets. Fixing! Brook Cunningham, "Facing Your Devils with a bowed personality", 23 Aug 2012
• Q: I'm playing with a Brotherhood of Shinsei stronghold (eg Brotherhood of Shinsei) and control five Unaligned Monks (eg three Akifumi and two Gyosho). These five monks have the printed boldface "Unaligned", and by the rules this means: Unaligned
  The term “unaligned” refers to a Personality, player, or Stronghold without a Clan alignment. Unaligned Personalities do not have the same Clan alignment as an unaligned player or Stronghold, nor do they have a different Clan alignment from anything. “Unaligned” is not a keyword.
  Can I play United, targeting my five Unaligned Monks? Since per the rules they are personalities without a clan alignment, they cannot share Clan Alignments...
  Battle/Open: Target five of your non-Shadowlands Personalities, no two of whom share a Clan alignment: Give each of them +4F. Negate their movement home from other players' actions until the turn ends.
  A: No, you may not play United targeting 5 Unaligned Monks in Legacy format.
  If you are playing Legacy format, "Monk" is a Clan/Faction alignment. So, those Personalities DO have one, even though they also have the "Unaligned" keyword. The first Cardinal Rule is that card text takes precedence over Rules. In this case, the text "Monk" takes precedence over the definition of "Unaligned" that you cited. Brook Cunningham, "Legacy: Unaligned Monks United", 15 Jul 2011
• Q: Hi,
  Can I bow my stronghold in order to pay the cost of Shinsei ? I think I cannot because of that : "Stronghold Immunity. Effects and costs will not change the game state of a Stronghold, and actions and traits may not target a Stronghold, unless they specifically mention the word "Stronghold," or come from the Stronghold itself." => text from : Official Judge’s Rulebook v.1.0, p. 3
  Am I right ?
  Card Text : Shinsei You must bow five cards you control as an additional cost of playing Shinsei.
  Thanks in advance, Rémi
  A: Easier answer: Shinsei does not consider a Stronghold a "card".
  For cards printed before Khan's Defiance: "Use of the word "card" does not refer to Strongholds unless explicitly stated (ie "actions on cards" does not refer to actions on a Stronghold)."
  Bowing your Stronghold may not pay for Shinsei. Brook Cunningham, "Shinsei VS Stronghold", 1 Apr 2010