The Brotherhood of Shinsei

Legend of the Five Rings card from Pearl Edition, Crimson and Jade, Jade Edition, Time of the Void, Promotional–Imperial, Promotional–Jade

Card Type

Stronghold

Province Strength

6

Gold Production

3

Starting Family Honor

4

Clan

Brotherhood of Shinsei

Card Text

Repeatable Reaction, w: Before you would trigger a Ring's printed trait that would put it into play, or if you ever meet the conditions for a Ring's printed action which would put it into play, search your Fate deck for that Ring, show it, and put it into your hand. (If Reacting to meeting a trait's trigger, you then have a chance to trigger that trait after taking this action.)

Legality

Clan Wars (Imperial), Hidden Emperor (Jade)

Deck

Pre-Game

Notes

Before Obsidian Edition, the stronghold cards weren't printed with the deck, but as promos and on the back of the starter deck boxes.

Printings

Rulings

• Ability can be used with any condition for playing a Ring, not just one printed on the Ring. [JA, email, 20 January 2003] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 145
• Q: Can I use the Monk Stronghold to play the Ring of the Void from my Fate deck if my hand is completely empty? A: Yes. You can also use it in conjunction with cards that let you play a Ring by satisfying some other conditions. The idea behind the Brotherhood is that they can play a Ring from their Fate Deck as though it were in their hand, and this overrides phrasing that refers to a Ring being "in your hand" or being played "from your hand". The Imperial Herald, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Issue 6), p. 8

Rules Q&A

• Q: Hi,
  Before the Oracle of the Void, the answer was easy : no. So Shinsei couldn't be payed by bowing a stronghold. The Same Old Tricks was not able to remove any stronghold ability. Now, Brotherhood of Shinsei's updated game text refers to that stronghold as a card : "bow this card".
  Has it just changed ?
  Card's text : The Brotherhood of Shinsei : (Before Diamond Edition) Reaction: Any number of times per turn, before you would trigger a Ring's base trait that would put it into play from your hand, bow this card: Search your Fate deck for that Ring, show it, and put it into your hand. (You then have a chance to play it by its own text.)
  The Same Old Tricks : Reaction: Before the second or later time in one turn the same ability on a target non-Formation card resolves its effects: Negate that ability's effects and permanently remove it from that card.
  Shinsei : Shinsei has the additional cost, "Bow 5 of your cards," to enter play.
  Thanks in advance, Regards, Rémi.
  A: Yes, Strongholds are cards now.
  In the Oracle, as we would now do for all future cards, we endeavored to put Strongholds' past immunity to effects directly in the card's text. So... you'll find that The Same Old Tricks looks slightly different now than the last time you checked.
  However, yes, thanks to the change, Shinsei will happily accept your Stronghold bowing as permission to come into play. Brook Cunningham, "Is every stronghold a Card ?", 29 Feb 2012
• Q: are there no "Emerald Edition" or "Obsidian Edition" unique rulebooks? (are they just all the same as Imperial Edition?)
  on that note, with the Brotherhood of Shinsei, Dark Path of Shadow, and Toturi's Army, what is the "clan alignment" for those strongholds? or do they operate essentially the same as the unaligned strongholds from later expansions (e.g. no built-in gold cost reduction, except what is specifically listed, etc.; but no "clan alignment"?)
  A: Yes, there are, but there were not any significant rules changes. Just new story and a few errata. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 19 Aug 2024
• Q: If I play the Brotherhood of Shinsei, would I get the personal Honor of the monks no matter what clan they are from? Or do they have to be unaligned?
  A: No matter if a Personality has an additional alignment, if they have your Clan/Faction alignment, you get all the benefits of that fact. Brook Cunningham, "Oracle of the Void #rules", 26 Apr 2023