Test of Might

Legend of the Five Rings card from Diamond Edition, Battle of Beiden Pass, Shadowlands, Jade Edition, Gold Edition, Pearl Edition, Promotional–Diamond, Training Grounds, L5R Experience, Hidden Emperor Starter, Honor Bound, Ambition's Debt, The Fall of Otosan Uchi, Heaven & Earth, Dark Allies, An Oni's Fury, Wrath of the Emperor, Web of Lies, Enemy of My Enemy

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Card Text

Battle: Choose your performing unbowed Personality and target an enemy Personality: Your Personality duels the target. Both Personalities use their Force as their duel stat. The winner's controller gains 3 Honor. Bow the loser.

Focus Value

2

Legality

Clan Wars (Imperial), Four Winds (Gold), Hidden Emperor (Jade), Rain of Blood (Diamond)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: 3. Uso Sensei and Explored Territory. I just want to confirm this, because I'm fairly sure of my understanding here: Uso Sensei adds a card Effect to duels that reads "Destroy the loser", yes? which means that with Explored Territory in play, a Test of Might would result in a bowed loser and a destroyed Explored Territory, yes? Provided, of course, that the player chose to use the available Reaction...
  A: The Reaction on Explored Territory des not destroy Explored Territory.
  However, yes, you can choose to Negate the destruction of the loser, and all other effects of the duel resolve normally (gain 2 honor, bow the loser). Martin Lund, "Rules for 21 January 2005", 24 Jan 2005
• Q: Now I've always thought that the only effect of Enough Talk! is negating the action (or not negating, if the defender wins), but recently some of my friends told me that the duel was killing the looser. They said that negating the action is an additional effect, just like gaining honor from Iaijutsu Challenge, but since the card doesn't say what happens to the looser, it is a standard rulebook effect - death. Now all the duels which don't kill personality (Rage, Test of Might) have it written on the card, and Enough Talk! doesn't have such clause. Could anyone confirm or deny if Enough Talk! kills the looser?
  A: Enough Talk doesn't specify anything else to do to the losing personality, so the default effect for being the losing personality in a duel applies: death. Martin Lund, "Rules for 20 May 2004", 24 May 2004
• Q: I challenged my opponent with Test of Might.
  Will the printed force will still be compared even if we both focused?
  A: Well, assuming no one has less Force than their printed force, sure. Silence the Future puts the maximum for Force equal to printed. There may be people with less Force than printed at the beginning of the duel, and they could benefit from focusing up to the point where their Force caps out. Martin Lund, "Rules for 21 April 2004", 23 Apr 2004
• Q: Could you test of might a personality with more chi than Hitomi Mae and then because of his ability choose to focus first and then just strike instead of focusing.
  A: Yes (card text). Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 6 December 2003", 6 Dec 2003
• Q: If I target a bowed personality with a "Test of Might" does the bowed personality have his force for the duel or is it Zero?
  A: "Being bowed does not change a card's own force" (Diamond Edition rules, pg. 83). Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 7 November 2003", 8 Nov 2003
• Q: I've been tooling around with a Crab duelling deck, and I tried something I'm not sure of.
  Ring of Fire reads: Play this card when one of your Personalities wins a duel against a Personality who had higher Chi than your Personality before the challenge. Elemental Benefit: The controller of any Personality dueling any of your Personalities must play Focus cards face up.
  Let's say I've got a 4F/2C personality in play (Crab loyalists should be able to guess who) who I target with Test of Might to challenge an 0F/4C personality to a duel of force. When I win this duel, am I elegible to play Ring of Fire? Or does Ring of Fire only apply to duels of chi?
  A: The Ring of Fire requires that you win a duel. A Test of Might is a duel. If you win a Test of Might against a Personality who had a higher Chi than your Personality before the challenge, you may play the Ring. Jeff Alexander, "post for 20 May 2003", 21 May 2003
• Q: I'm sure I know the answer to this but I live in hope...
  Can I use Shos Tech in reaction to a Test of Might to raise his Force?
  A: No. "Sometimes a duel compares a stat other than Chi. During such a duel, focusing -- and bonuses that add "as Focus cards" -- add to the stat compared in the duel. Effects that make no mention of adding as Focus cards always raise or lower Chi." [GE p. 62] Jeff Alexander, "post for 16 May 2003", 21 May 2003
• Q: when Moto Tech is played as a face-up focus in a Test of Might by a Moto, how are the forces of the Personalities compared?
  A: Forwarded to the Rules Junta. Focuses add as soon as played, so this one is a mite sticky, and I can't think of a precedent right now. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 14 April 2003, Part 2", 15 Apr 2003
• Q: Can we assume the same thing for Test of Might and Matsu Dometai? Currently, he can focus during test of might, but the focus of force can not go higher than his chi during the duel. So it is almost an autoloss for him.
  A: Correct. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 29 November 2002", 30 Nov 2002
• Q: If you play test of Might in a battle where Naga Gaurd has been used or the Oni Fortifiacation is at. Does your focus value equal 0 because you cant gain force?
  A: Your focus values don't change. They just don't add to your duelist's Force. Jeff Alexander, "post for 6 August 2002", 6 Aug 2002
• Q: if the Focuses for test of might are force bounuses does the force go away at the end of duel or till end of turn?
  A: Bonuses from focusing go away when the duel ends. [p. 61] Jeff Alexander, "post for 6 August 2002", 6 Aug 2002
• Q: I heard a very disturbing rumor.
  Matsu Hataki (Exp.) can "Straighten if necessary and move into the battle being resolved if you are the Defender."
  My interpretation is that he can straighten if he's bowed, then move into the battle. Once he's there, he's nothing special beyond being a 4/4 personality.
  I've heard a rumor that after he has already moved into the battle, he can use his ability to straighten again if he gets bowed by another effect (Yogo Towers, Test of Might, bowing to perform a ranged attack with a Jade Bow, etc.).
  A: It's not a rumor. It's a natural result of the way the rules of the game work. Knowing that some or all of an action's parts will fail does not make using that action illegal. Hataki has two parts: move into the current battle, and straighten. If he uses it when he isn't bowed, he simply doesn't straighten. If he uses it when he's already in the current battle, he simply doesn't move. Jeff Alexander, "post for 11 June 2002", 12 Jun 2002
• Q: Hi Jeff,
  I was looking at your post for Friday and I'm a little confused over your ruling on Hunting Tiger & Superior Strategist. Hunting Tiger reads: During any battle while Hunting Tiger is present and unbowed, other players must discard a card from their hand as an additional cost to perform a Battle or Open action. Superior Strategist reads: Battle: Target one of your Personalities with the Tactician trait in this battle who has not used the trait during this battle. Get an Open or Battle Action card from your Fate deck and play the card. This is considered the target's use of the Tactician trait for this battle. Shuffle the deck. In the example presented the player played Superior Strategist to get a Test of Might and you indicated that he only needed to discard one card. The way I read the situation is as follows: Superior Strategist is a battle action meaning that to play it while facing the Hunting Tiger the player must discard a card. Test of Might is also a battle action and I would think that the player would need to discard a second card to play the Test of Might given that Superior Strategist doesn't specifically state that you ignore the costs associated with the action that you fetch (and the Tiger is adding an additional COST to all Battle and Open actions for the battle that it's in).
  A: Playing the retrieved card is not a new and separate action, so it doesn't pick up the extra cost. Jeff Alexander, "post for 10 June 2002", 11 Jun 2002
• Q: So we're having a debate about Superior Strategist and Hunting Tiger. If I'm in battle against the Hunting Tiger and use Superior Strategist to get, say Test of Might. Do I have to discard one or two cards?
  One.
  How about this situation: if someone has 3 Ashigaru Spearman in one unit, and they want to combine to shoot the Hunting Tiger, does the controller have to discard one or three cards?
  A: It's one action. It will cost one card. Jeff Alexander, "post for 10 June 2002", 11 Jun 2002
• Q: So we're having a debate about Superior Strategist and Hunting Tiger. If I'm in battle against the Hunting Tiger and use Superior Strategist to get, say Test of Might. Do I have to discard one or two cards?
  A: One. Jeff Alexander, "post for 7 June 2002", 8 Jun 2002
• Q: Even when a unit is just one Personality card with nothing attached, there's still a distinction between individual card Force and total unit Force. Some card and game effects, like To Do What We Must and the Resolution Step at the end of a battle, care about one, and some, like Test of Might and ranged attacks, care about the other. You need to read the card or the rulebook carefully and decide which kind of Force it refers to. A ranged attack below strength 8 won't kill that samurai.
  So does this mean that TDWWM can be used with say, someone with 0F and 1PH, to kill off a unit with a bowed personality?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 11 April 2002", 12 Apr 2002
• Q: Shadowlands Marsh Each non-shadowlands Personality and non-shadowlands Follower has -2F while in battle at this Province.
  Yamaso no Oni Cards in the attacking army cannot gain Force bonuses during battle at this Province.
  If the Defender plays Test of Might, can the attacking Personality Focus, or would that constitue a Force bonus and have to strike immediatly?
  A: It's still legal to Focus. It would simply not raise his Force. He's *probably* going to just strike, but he's not *forced* to. Jeff Alexander, "post for 22 March 2002", 23 Mar 2002
• Q: 2 - Domotai + Test of Might + focus (hidden bonus >= 3)
  A: Only by someone who knows that the bonus was large enough. Jeff Alexander, "post for 21 February 2002", 22 Feb 2002
• Q: 3 - Domotai + Test of Might + focus, when I have Ring of Fire in play (I see the focus value)
  A: Yes. The focus bonus is public knowledge here. Jeff Alexander, "post for 21 February 2002", 22 Feb 2002
• Q: If I recall correctly, during a duel a focus is considered a chi bonus, hence why many characters who cannot increase their chi specifically say they can focus in a duel. So I would assume that during a Test of Might, a focus is considered a force bonus, right?
  A: Right. Jeff Alexander, "post for 21 February 2002", 22 Feb 2002
• Q: Ok, this brings up a strange question. Does this mean that Matsu Domotai is completely screwed in a Test of Might?
  A: Not completely. You can focus a 2...or two 1s... Jeff Alexander, "post for 21 February 2002", 22 Feb 2002
• Q: Test of Might says to 'Bow the loser'. Iaijutsu Art says that the loser is dishonored. The previous version of Iaijutsu Art says that the loser is dishonored, but not destroyed.
  The Gold Edition rules state: "In a standard duel, the winner destroys the loser, and is unaffected."
  My question: Is the loser of either an Iaijutsu Art or Test of Might destroyed? The omission of the text on the new printing of Iaijutsu Art has caused the question to be raised within our play group, and I'd like to have a definitive answer before our Seeds of War GST.
  A: Anytime there is an alternate penalty for losing listed on the card, it automatically supersedes the standard penalty. Neither Iaijutsu Art or Test of Might kill the loser. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for August 17th", 17 Aug 2001
• Q: Here's the big problem I have with the Silence, Imperial Ambassador and Imperial Favor arguements in reference to force penalties (or bonuses) as extrapolated from Honor loss/gain issue - all of these examples are instantenous - they are played as reactions (or 'faster' in the case of Silence) and are not capable of being applied several actions after the original event occurs. The Imp Ambassador and Favor in particular *modify the gain/loss at the exact point of occurance* prior to the gain/loss actually being applied. Of course it doesn't create a new honor loss - it alters the original gain *AT THE TIME IT IS MADE and BEFORE IT IS APPLIED* (pardon the shouting). ISotF can be played well after the original modification and application has been applied (see the 'Test of Might' reference above) possible *WELL AFTER* the bonus was applied. No matter the semantics, a force reduction is occuring after the force increase, potentially well after the effects of the force increase have been felt. If you guys have ruled that it's not a force penalty despite the force reduction, we obviously have to accept that. It is, however, a very different situation from that used in the Ambassador/Favor/Silence example just by the fact of the timing.
  A: True, but we're also talking about two completely different conceptual things. Honor gains/losses exist only instantaneously. They happen, modify your family honor, and then there is no more gain/loss. Force bonuses, on the other hand, stick around for a while. During their extended existence, they can apparently be modified. This is a new rule to me too, guys.
  I'm definitely not happy with all the dirty rules bugs that have crawled out from underneath this particular rock, and I *really* wish that Battle of Shallow Waters had had a completely different coasterific effect, but making it so that a modification of a force bonus/penalty is not a new penalty/bonus seems to be the only way to make everything reconcile.
  *shrug* Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for November 15th", 15 Nov 2000
• Q: Wow, is this one going to generate debate...ironic considering that I think this card coaster-worthy (*particularly* if it doesn't counter ISoF). How can something that reduces your force (no matter how you got the force) not be a penalty? Sure, it's a penalty exactly the same size as (all) the 'bonuses' or force adds...
  I Charged Gohei, thus gaining 3f. I now have a force total of 6 (1 base, 2 ability, 3 charge). 5 battle actions down the road you play ISoF. It does not counter my ability or charge bonus...it subtracts their value from my force. Since my force *is* changed instantly by the original play of the Charge (for things like Test of Might and such) and my force is now reduced by 3 (since ISoF *does not* retroactively negate my Charge bonus), how can that not be a penalty?
  A: -AND- Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for November 13th", 13 Nov 2000