Strength of the Dark One

Legend of the Five Rings card from Time of the Void

Card Type

Spell

Gold Cost

6

Keywords

Ritual

Card Text

Battle: Bow this Shugenja and zero or more of your other performing Shugenja: Simultaneous Fear actions each with strength equal to the number of performers targeting each enemy unit. Lose Honor equal to the number of performers.

Focus Value

2

Legality

Clan Wars (Imperial)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rulings

• All its Fear attacks are altered by effects that modify a Fear attack (e.g., The Face of Fear). [17 May 1999] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 66

Rules Q&A

• Q: If I want to use the citadel of daigotsu effect with the Spell Strenght of the dark one:
  Citadel of Daigotsu (F) 6 / 3 / -19 When one of your cards is producing Fear, you may bow the card to have the Fear also affect Personalities that do not have unbowed cards attached.
  "Strength of the Dark One" :
  Ritual Battle: Bow this Shugenja and any number of other Shugenja you control in this battle. Every unit in the opposing army is targeted with a Fear effect with a strength equal to the number of Shugenja in the Ritual. Lose honor equal to the number of Shugenja in the ritual. Gold 6
  Need I to bow just the spell card or must I try to bow the shugenjas casting it (assuming i have a way to cast the spell without bowing them, like the event celestial alignment)
  A: Using the Spirit Wars rulebook, which is the last one to define who "produces/performs" an action, it's the primary shugenja. Since he's already bowing, the Citadel cannot be brought into play. (What you need to do here is combo it with Celestial Alignment.) Jeff Alexander, "post for 13 December 2001", 14 Dec 2001
• Q: Just a quick question - Does the Strength of the Dark One ritual count for Yokai no Junzo's ability (fear effects created by it's personality affect personalities as well as followers)? If so does it matter whether the personality with junzo attached is the primary shugenja or just participating?
  A: The Ancestor's Personality has to be the primary shugenja for his benefit to kick in. Jeff Alexander, "Rulings for 15-16 February 2001", 19 Feb 2001
• Q: "All" does not include zero. A cost that refers to affecting "all" of a certain thing requires that one or more of those things is affected.
  A: than to "one or more" or "any number," and so the targeting of at least one enemy unit is required. Roger Giner-Sorolla, "Strength of the Dark One, unopposed ?", 15 Sep 2011
• Q: Can I use "Stength of the Dark one" without any opposing unit at the battlefield?
  A: No, due to mandatory targeting: "Every unit in the opposing army is targeted..."
  More on this in the FAQ: http://rules.l5r.com/CE_FAQ#What_are_re ... targets.3F Zen Faulkes, "Strength of the Dark One, unopposed ?", 26 Jul 2011