Summon the Dead

Legend of the Five Rings card from The Fall of Otosan Uchi

Card Type

Spell

Gold Cost

6

Keywords

Maho

Card Text

After this card enters play: Give it a number of Porcelain tokens equal to this Shugenja's Chi.
After your Straighten Phase begins: Remove one Porcelain token from this card.
After this card leaves play or if it ever has no tokens: Destroy all Personalities this Spell's ability has targeted.
Limited: Any number of times per turn, bow this Shugenja, remove a Porcelain token from this card, and target your dead Personality: Bring him into play, ignoring costs. Permanently give him Shadowlands • Undead and the ability, "Fear Battle: Fear 3." Lose 2 Honor.

Focus Value

3

Legality

Four Winds (Gold), Rain of Blood (Diamond)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: 1. Does Summon the Dead destroy the personality it's attached to when the last token is gone? If not, why?
  A: Summon the Dead says, "Destroy all Personalities this Spell has targeted if it leaves play or has no tokens." The Spell never targeted the Shugenja you attached it to. The Standard Attachment Action targets the Personality when you attach a card by such means. That's the Rulebook, not the Spell, targeting the Personality.
  "A card that can be attached to another player's Personalities is not "targeting with a card effect." Attaching a follower to a Personality is a rulebook effect; such cards just extend the number of legal targets. [JA, 5 October 2000]" (Accumulated Rulings, "Attaching") Martin Lund, "Rules for 29 and 30 December 2004", 5 Jan 2005
• Q: For example, Summon the Dead says "When this Spell enters play, it gains Porcelain tokens equal to this Shugenja's Chi." Am I correct in assuming that the spell will gain a few more tokens when it reenters play as well?
  A: Yes. Martin Lund, "Rules for 13 December 2004", 15 Dec 2004
• Q: 6) Now for the fun ones. I have Chimamire no Oni in my dead pile (and I'm playing Spawning Grounds). I have one token on Summon the Dead attached to a shugenja. I then announce my target for Summon the Dead (the oni) and pay costs (bow the shuggy and remove a token). At that point, the spell's trait triggers and all personalities I have targeted with the spell are destroyed. so... Does the Chimamire no Oni then get destroyed before returning to play, thus triggering his reaction (after all, his reaction can only be used when he's in the dead pile anyway)?
  A: You can't destroy cards that are already in the Discard Pile. Such an effect is Negated. Martin Lund, "Rules for 28 November 2004", 30 Nov 2004
• Q: 7) If I've used Summon the Dead on three different Chimamire no Onis, all of whom are now in my dead pile, and then I remove the last token from Summon the Dead, can I use the reactions on all three Chimamire no Oni's (as again, their reactions can only be used when they're in the dead pile anyway)?
  A: No. See above. Martin Lund, "Rules for 28 November 2004", 30 Nov 2004
• Q: If you create an egg copy of a personality that was brought back into play by Summon the Dead, is the egg destroyed when Summon the Dead runs out of Porcelin Tokens.
  A: No. Summon the Dead has not targeted Egg of Pan-Ku. It isn't a "permanent change" to the personality. Rather, it is simply historical fact. The Egg has its own unique history in your match. Martin Lund, "Rules for 13 May 2004", 16 May 2004
• Q: Does Summon the Dead's final destruction clause target?
  A: It helps if you quote the card text in question. Martin Lund, "Summon the Dead", 17 Mar 2005
• Q: Destroy all Personalities this Spell has targeted if it leaves play or has no tokens.
  A: Why would it target? It affects all Personalities of a certain class, and that very class is having been already targeted by the action. No, you can't try to sleaze out of the destruction effect by playing Balance in Nothingness when the time comes for all your undead puppets to fall apart. Martin Lund, "Summon the Dead", 17 Mar 2005
• Q: Also, will Summon the Dead's destruction clause re-destroy a personality that is once again in the discard pile (turning a previously dead personality who you Summoned and then discarded with Jigoku Sensei into a dead personality in the discard pile)?
  A: It can only successfully destroy cards that are in play when it produces the effect. It will not destroy a Discarded card in the Discard Pile, so you have no worries about being converted from "Discarded" to "Dead" status. Martin Lund, "Summon the Dead", 17 Mar 2005