The Armor of Sun Tao

Legend of the Five Rings card from Gold Edition, Imperial Edition, Emerald Edition, Obsidian Edition, Jade Edition, Pearl Edition

Card Type

Item

Force

+0

Chi

+0

Gold Cost

3

Keywords

Armor

Card Text

Limited: Any number of times per turn, place any number of Terrains from your hand face-down under this card. Until the game ends, you may look at these at any time.
Battle: Any number of times per turn, if there is a Terrain underneath this card: Destroy all Terrains in play. If no Terrains are now in play, put a Terrain from under this card into play. It will not be destroyed.

Focus Value

1

Legality

Clan Wars (Imperial), Four Winds (Gold), Hidden Emperor (Jade)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Reads, "The Armor of Sun Tao +0F/+0C 3G 1FV Limited: Place any number of terrains from your hand face down under the Armor of Sun Tao. If the Armor is moved or destroyed, the Terrains move or are destroyed with it. Battle: Play a Terrain from under the Armor of Sun Tao. The Terrain destroys any Terrain in play and cannot be destroyed." [MRP, Gold Edition, 1 July 2001] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 48
• Erratum: Ability can only be used if the Armor is in the current battle. [Erratum, JA, 31 May 2002] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 48
• A terrain is out of play and "played" (e.g., for Hantei Sensei) when taken from underneath the Armor. [JA, 26 September 2000] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 48
• Placing a Terrain under the Armor is not "attaching" a card. [ZF, 6 July 2002] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 48
• Terrain cards played under it come with it if it is stolen. [DW, l5rinfo, 4/23/96] Accumulated Rulings, February 8, 2000, p. 15
• Clarified: terrains under it go with it if it's destroyed or stolen. Text Change & Errata List, February 15, 2000, p. 6
• Q: Can I use a Scout to play a Terrain through the Armor of Sun Tao or Oracle of Earth? A: Yes. Legend of the Five Rings FAQ, May 21, 2003, p. 10

Rules Q&A

• Q: What happens if I use Kyuden Ikoma to cancel the Battle action on the Armor of Sun Tao, speicifically
  Does the Terrain? a) Go back under the Armor ready for use again b) Get canceled and put aside to be returned to the armor after the Battle c) Get canceled and put aside to be returned to the controlling player's hand at end of turn?
  A: d) Stay in the discard pile because it cannot be "returned" to the player's hand if it was not played from the hand. Jeff Alexander, "post for 24 March 2003", 25 Mar 2003
• Q: 3) If Deadly Ground is in play, can a terrain under the Armor of Sun Tao be played to destroy it, or is that a secondary effect and not playable?
  A: It's playable. Deadly Ground's destruction is a stated effect of the Armor's Battle action. Jeff Alexander, "post for 7 November 2002", 8 Nov 2002
• Q: Is placing a terrain under the Armor of Sun-Tao considered attaching the card? Can Yokubo react to it?
  A: No to both. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 6 July 2002", 7 Jul 2002
• Q: I know this has been ruled on before, but it's not in the archive, and currently being debated on the Unicorn list. Can you use Scout to get a terrain from under the Armor of Sun Tao?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 22 February 2002", 23 Feb 2002
• Q: I don't THINK I've seen this anywhere . . .
  Can a player whose personality has a Scout and Armor of Sun Tao attached play a Deadly Ground out from under before his opponent's first action?
  No. You can't take an action that would play a Terrain using the Scout, you have to just play the Terrain.
  Scout text: An Attacker with a Scout in his army may play a terrain card before the Defender performs his first battle action.
  AoST: Limited: You may store as many Terrain cards as you like face down under the armour of Sun-Tao. Battle: Play a Terrain from the Armor of Sun-Tao and destroy any Terrain for this battle (if any). The new Terrain may not be destroyed.
  Scout says you can play a terrain card before the Defender. AoST says, as a Battle action, to play a terrain from under the armor, etc. Scout does not say where it has to come from or how it must be played. Theoretically, Superior Strategist will also work here. Why does Scout want cards from the hand?
  A: To be honest, Superior Strategist was the card that made me change my mind about the ruling. Extending Scout's trait to cover non-normal play of cards opens a causality can of worms, and those are always yucky. If you can use the Armor, and you can use Osuno, and you can use the Oracle of Earth, then why not SupStrat? The literal text of that ruling allows you to use SupStrat to play a terrain, yet that just seems somehow...wrong. Any rules argument that starts to extend into causality is bad. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for July 25th", 25 Jul 2001
• Q: Can you play White Shore Plain out of The Armor of Sun Tao without gold cost?
  A: Nope. The Armor doesn't say that it changes the normal play of the terrain in any other way than destroying any terrain currently in play and making the Armored one indestructible. You still have to pay any costs associated with normal play of the terrain. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for", 19 Jul 2001