Solar Eclipse

Legend of the Five Rings card from Gold Edition, Imperial Edition, Emerald Edition, Battle of Beiden Pass, Obsidian Edition

Card Type

Event

Keywords

Unique

Card Text

After you reveal cards in your Provinces at the start of your turn, if this Event is face-up in one of them, until your next turn begins, negate all current effects from Spells and Shugenja abilities, and Shugenja may not perform Spell actions or use their abilities.

Legality

Clan Wars (Imperial), Four Winds (Gold)

Deck

Dynasty

Printings

Rulings

• Any spell that produces an ongoing effect or permanent modification to the game or a card in play (e.g., Immortal Steel) is suppressed while the Eclipse is in effect. The results of spells that create, destroy, or replace things are unaffected (e.g., The Iron Citadel). [RD, 4/8/96, 19 May 1997] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 76
• Changes in state are not supressed (e.g., bowed or dishonored status), but permanent and "until end of game" changes to stats and traits are. [DW, email, 29 May 1997] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 76
• Suppresses spell effects from Kiho. [JA, 8 October 2002] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 76
• Any spell which produces an ongoing effect or permanent modification to the game or a card in play, such as Immortal Steel and Summon Nightstalker, will be "suppressed" while the Eclipse is in effect. The results of spells which create, destroy, or replace things, such as Summon Undead Champion, Touch of Death, and The Iron Citadel, are unaffected. [RD, l5rinfo, 4/8/96 and 5/19/97] Accumulated Rulings, February 8, 2000, p. 55
• NOTE: There is still contention among the Rules Junta about this. Accumulated Rulings, April 22, 1998, p. 31

Rules Q&A

• Q: Sorry guys about the earlier "More enlightenment questions" post earlier, what I really meant to post was "What happens to the Elemental Rings that HOshi Tadao puts into play when Solar Eclipse resolves, are they already considered to count towards an Enlightenment Victory? Or do they return to your hand or get shuffled back to your Fate deck?"
  A: The effects "The Ring does not count towards an Enlightenment Victory." and " At the beginning of your turn, two turns after this one, shuffle it back into your Fate deck." are negated. Jeff Alexander, "post for 26 May 2003", 29 May 2003
• Q: What if the Event is your Solar Eclipse that you have already resolved?
  A: While Solar Eclipse is active, the extra resolution counts from Once and Again are negated. Jeff Alexander, "post for 26 May 2003", 29 May 2003
• Q: If I have all 5 rings in play (some of them out due to FtH) does the resolution of Solar Eclipse trigger an Enlightenment victory ?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 20 May 2003", 21 May 2003
• Q: Can a monk cast a kiho while Solar Eclipse?
  A: Yes (unless said Monk also had the Shugenja trait). Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 12 April 2003", 12 Apr 2003
• Q: - Under solar eclipse, ongoing effects are cancelled, right ?
  "Negate any current effects of Spells and innate abilities."
  My understanding of the card is that I can still cast kihos under solar eclipse, but not spells. Is this correct ?
  Yes.
  Er... Legendary has the following text:
  Solar Eclipse Negate any current effects of Spells and innate abilities. Shugenja cannot cast Spells or use innate abilities until your next turn.
  And the rulings archive includes the following:
  * Suppresses spell effects from Kiho. [JA, 8 October 2002]
  This ruling and the above seem to be in contradiction, unless "effects of Spells" means the same as "Spell effects", in which case you need to be more careful with wording cards...
  A: "Spell effect" and "effect of a Spell" do, in fact, mean the same thing, and I think it would be unfair to expect players to treat them differently. Jeff Alexander, "post for 21 February 2003", 22 Feb 2003
• Q: A quick question about Solar Eclipse and the spell The Masters Imprisoned: Solar Eclipse resolves while a unit is in limbo because of the spell, what happens? A) The unit returns immediately to play; B) The unit returns normally; C) The unit is in limbo until the effects of the Solar Eclipse wear off; D) It's in limbo for ever; or E) Something else...
  A: The unit returns to play for the rest of the turn and leaves play again from the end of the turn until the Event wears off normally. (I can't figure out the difference between your A and B answers.) Jeff Alexander, "post for 6 November 2002", 7 Nov 2002
• Q: I remember this discussion a few weeks back, but as I was busy with other stuff I didnt really read it all the way through.
  Do rings put into play with FTH and/or Hoshi Tadao count towards the elemental victory if Solar Eclipse goes off?
  A: They count while Solar Eclipse is suppressing Spell effects and innate abilities, which, by MRP, is only until the end of the Event's first turn. Jeff Alexander, "post for 5 November 2002", 6 Nov 2002
• Q: Will Solar Eclipse re-honor personalities dishonored by Secrets on the Wind? Is the dishonored state of the personality a "current spell effect"?
  A: No and no. Dishonoring the Personality, like killing one, is an instantaneous change, not an ongoing effect. Jeff Alexander, "post for 28 October 2002", 29 Oct 2002
• Q: I was wondering, if one of my personalities is dishonored by the spell Secrets on the Wind and Solar Eclipse or Final Words pops up, would my dishonored personalities once again become honorable because the two events ends all existing spell effects.
  A: Nope. Permanent changes to the game environment (destruction of a personality, honor gain/loss) are not undone by Final Words or Solar Eclipse. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for February 2nd", 3 Feb 2001