Test of Sincerity

Legend of the Five Rings card from Path of the Destroyer, Twenty Festivals, Promotional–Twenty Festivals

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Card Text

Political Open: Target another player's Human Personality. His controller may have him commit seppuku (rehonor, then destroy him). If he chose this, he gains 4 Honor. If he did not choose this, dishonor the Personality, and his controller loses 2 Honor.

Focus Value

3

Legality

A Brother's Destiny (Twenty Festivals), Destroyer War (Celestial), War of the Seals (Onyx Edition)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: Oriole Imperial Vanguard says: "After the first time each phase a Political action targets this Personality, negate its remaining effects"
  Test of Sincerity says: Political Open: Target another player's Human Personality. His controller may have him commit seppuku (rehonor, then destroy him). If he chose this, he gains 4 Honor. If he did not choose this, dishonor the Personality, and his controller loses 2 Honor.
  Seppuku says: "Rehonor the Personality, then destroy him; these effects cannot be negated"
  Scenario is that I target a peep attached with Oriole Imperial Vanguard with a Test of Sincerity. Will Oriole Imperial Vanguard negate "His controller may have him commit seppuku" and forces him to commit seppuku?
  A: "may have him" is not an effect to be negated, so he will not be "forced" to commit seppuku.
  Since making a choice is not an effect, the Personality's controller still must choose whether to commit seppuku or not. If he chooses seppuku, it will not be negated, the Personality will be destroyed, and the 4 honor gain will be negated. If he chooses not to seppuku, the Personality will not be dishonored, and the two honor loss will be negated. Jon Palmer, "Oriole Imperial Vanguard+Test of Sincerity", 17 Apr 2015
• Q: Given the phrasing of Price of Honor, I'm inferring that the phrase "rulebook seppuku action" refers specifically to the Player Ability: "Reaction: Any number of times per turn, before you lose Honor from an action that targeted or was performed by one of your Courtier or Samurai Personalities: He commits seppuku. If the seppuku destroyed him, reduce the Honor loss to one."
  Does that mean Price of Honor does not block a Temple of Redemption seppuku or a Test of Sincerity seppuku?
  Price of Honor: Limited: Choose your performing Courtier and target another player’s dishonorable Personality: He is asked to make a sacrifice. The player may show you his hand. If he does, you may discard a card from it. If he does not choose this, his Personality will not be affected by the rulebook seppuku action.
  Test of Sincerity: Open: Target another player's Personality. His controller may have him commit seppuku; if he chose this, he gains 4 Honor. If he did not choose this, dishonor the Personality, and his controller loses 2 Honor; if he is now below his starting Family Honor, he may ignore Personalities' Honor Requirements until the game ends.
  Temple of Redemption: Before you lose Honor from an action that targeted or was performed by one of your Monk or Shugenja Personalities: You may have him commit seppuku. If you did and the seppuku destroyed him, reduce the Honor loss to 1.
  A: Price of Honor does not block a Temple of Redemption seppuku nor a Test of Sincerity seppuku.
  In the effects of an action, the phrase "commit seppuku" refers to the effects described under Seppuku in the Glossary: An act of ritual suicide. If an effect directs a Personality to commit seppuku, apply the following effects: "Rehonor the Personality, then destroy him; these effects will not be negated."
  This is separate from the Player Ability. Alex Jones, "The Price of Honor, Temple of Redemption, and other seppuku", 14 May 2011
• Q: I guess this is more a question about timing than anything else:
  I target my opponent's shugenja with Test of Sincerity. He chooses to dishonor her and lose 2 honor. He then plays Unimpeachable Name to negate the honor loss and rehonor the shugenja.
  Is that a legal play or is there a timing issue?
  A: No, not legal, sorry.
  The timing issue is that Unimpeachable name is triggered and resolves "Before the resolution of another player's action".
  So, the sequence is:
  1. Test of Sincerity targets a Shugenja. 2. Before its effects resolve, NOW is when Unimpeachable Name is played. UN's effects will negate ToS's Honor loss, but now is the time when the choice comes to rehonor a dishonorable Personality, and the Shugenja has not been dishonored yet. 3. ToS resolves. If seppuku isn't chosen, the indefinite conditional effect from UN will reduce the loss, but the Shugenja will now be dishonored. Brook Cunningham, "Test of Sincerity vs Unimpeachable Name", 11 Jan 2011
• Q: I used Jutsushi Exp to limited action dishonour a stacked enemy samurai personality then used Test of Sincerity on them. As they are already dishonoured they can't choose the "dishonour this personality, lose 2 honour" option as they can't pay the cost (dishonour) as they are already dishonoured. Does this mean that they have to choose the seppuku option and I can essentially limited/open kill any dishonoured Samurai/Courtier?
  A: No. Dishonor is not a cost, it's a choice.
  http://rules.l5r.com/CE_Effects#Choices: "A choice may be made even if its consequences would be negated, prevented, or otherwise fail due to lack of suitable things to affect.
  "Example: If a Personality is already bowed, or will not bow due to an effect, you may still make a choice to bow him. If you do not control any unbowed Personalities, you may also make a choice to “bow an unbowed Personality,” which just fails." Zen Faulkes, "Test of Sincerity + Dishonoured Personality = Open Kill?", 30 Nov 2010
• Q: (I)f the targeted personality is not a Samurai/Courtier can they choose to seppuku through this card(?)
  A: Yes. Each is a separate action. Zen Faulkes, "Test of Sincerity + Dishonoured Personality = Open Kill?", 30 Nov 2010
• Q: If I play Test of Sincerity and want to react with my Only Actions Speak, does my opponent have to decide whether to seppuku his Personality or dishonor it before I announce the OAS Reaction or afterwards?
  A: Chain of events:
  1. Announce Test of Sincerity.
  2. Trigger for Reactions to an action being announced... namely Only Actions Speak.
  3. Pick target Test of Sincerity.
  4. Pay costs for Test of Sincerity.
  5. Start resolving effects of Test of Sincerity, which includes target Personality's controller choosing an option. Zen Faulkes, "Only Actions Speak + Test of Sincerity", 9 Oct 2010
• Q: Test of Sincerity reads:
  Political Open: Target another player's Personality. His controller may have him commit seppuku; if he chose this, he gains 4 Honor. If he did not choose this, dishonor the Personality, and his controller loses 2 Honor; if he is now below his starting Family Honor, he may ignore Personalities' Honor Requirements until the game ends.
  During a tournament, my monk was targeted with Test of Sincerity. Per the rulebook, under Seppuku, "An act of ritual suicide. If an effect directs a Personality to commit seppuku, apply the following effects: “Rehonor the Personality, then destroy him; these effects will not be negated.” However, under player abilities, it mentions that only Samurai and Courtiers may commit Seppuku. In this case, the tournament judge ruled that my monk could not commit seppuku and must take the second effect. Was this a correct ruling?
  A: No.
  If a card effect tells you can commit seppuku, the card effect overrides the rulebook.
  Monks that are not also Samurai or Courtier (E.g. Togashi Kazuki) cannot do the rulebook action of Seppuku. Dan Jacobson, "Test of Sincerity and Monks", 7 Mar 2010
• Q: My opponent targets a hero with Test of Sincerity. Can I choose the first part of the action (seppuku to gain 4) and react with Strength of the Bamboo on the Seppuku?
  A: No.
  http://rules.l5r.com/CE_Glossary_S#Seppuku: "If an effect directs a Personality to commit seppuku, apply the following effects: “Rehonor the Personality, then destroy him; these effects will not be negated.” (Emphasis added.) Zen Faulkes, "Test of Sincerity+Strength of the Bamboo", 12 Sep 2009