Strength In Numbers

Legend of the Five Rings card from Lotus Edition, Reign of Blood

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Card Text

Battle: Choose three of your performing Personalities, bow their units, and target an enemy unit: Destroy it.
Battle: If you control at least three cards with the same element keyword, choose your performing Samurai Personality, bow his unit, and target an enemy unit: Destroy it.

Focus Value

2

Legality

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

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rulings

• Q: For Strength In Numbers, must all three cards have the same trait in common, or do I just need three cards that all have a keyword from somewhere in the list? A: There must be one common keyword possessed by all three cards. Legend of the Five Rings FAQ, April 26, 2004, p. 15

Rules Q&A

• Q: When I pay a cost by bowing a unit (Direct Assault, Strength in Numbers) does the entire unit need to be unbowed, or only the personality?
  A: A unit is defined as a Personality and all his attached cards. When you are told to do something to a unit, you've got to do that to the whole thing - all the cards. You can't pay a cost of bowing cards with cards that are already bowed. Since a unit is made up of cards, you can not pay the cost of bowing a unit with a unit that contains bowed cards. Martin Lund, "Rules for 27 July 2004", 30 Jul 2004
• Q: For clarification, is it correct that Strength in Number's first ability "Battle: Bow three of your units to destroy an opposing unit" requires all 3 units that bowed to be opposing the destroyed unit.
  A: Yes. The "victim" of Strength in Numbers must be opposing all 3 of the Performing units. Martin Lund, "Rules for 27 July 2004", 30 Jul 2004
• Q: 3 - Can Decoy be used if its entire unit is about to be destroyed (Strength in Numbers, To Do What We must, battle resolution) to prevent the personality's destruction ?
  A: Yes. Decoy says, "Reaction: Before this Personality is destroyed, bow and destroy Decoy to negate the destruction." While it is still "before" the destruction of the unit takes place, Decoy is still around to use its Reaction. Martin Lund, "Rules for 26 June 2004", 29 Jun 2004
• Q: Is a Terrain a "card you control" while it's in play for the current battle?
  A: Yes (Diamond rules, pg. 99). Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 12 December 2003", 12 Dec 2003
• Q: Strength in Numbers for purposes of playing its 2nd action.. must you have 3 three cards that have any of the 3 keywords or 3 cards that have the same keyword?
  A: Same keyword. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 2 December 2003, Part 2", 3 Dec 2003
• Q: "Battle: Bow three of your units to destroy an opposing unit."
  Assuming you have presence, can you use 3 units not at the battle? Or since it says opposing, do you need all 3 to be there? Or can you do it with just one of the 3 present, since your target is AN opposing unit?
  Thanks.
  A: You need to bow 3 of your units to destroy a unit opposing them in the Current Battle. Martin Lund, "Strength in Numbers question", 14 Mar 2005
• Q: Battle : If you control at least three cards that share one of the following traits : Air, Earth, Fire, Void or Water, bow one of your units led by a samurai to destroy an oppising unit.
  The three cards dont have to be in the current battle do they?
  A: No. Zen Faulkes, "Strength In Numbers", 5 Mar 2005