A Stain Cleansed

Legend of the Five Rings card from Emperor Edition, Empire at War

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

*

Card Text

Battle, : Target your performing unbowed Magistrate to target an enemy card without attachments with Gold Cost equal to what you paid minus 2 or an enemy Personality whose unit's total Gold Cost is equal what you paid minus 2. Destroy the card or unit.

Focus Value

1

Legality

Age of Conquest (Emperor), Destroyer War (Celestial)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: According to the text of Terrains they are "Put into play at the current battlefield." (e.g. Rocky Terrain) Since they are at the battlefield (targetable), and have no attachments, does that mean that A Stain Cleansed can blow them up? What about Yoritomo Kanaye, or Yorotimo Singh xp?
  A: Terrains are in play at the battlefield, but they are not enemy cards. Therefore they cannot generally be targeted by standard battle abilities, although you will find some pre-Emperor. Jon Palmer, "Terrains?", 26 Jul 2013
• Q: So, if I'm paying for Heir's Wrath or even A Stain Cleansed targetting a unit, Does JEK xp produce Gold for it? I'm guessing yes, but a few guys want official answer.
  Thanks
  A: Yes, Journey's End Keep XP will produce gold in your examples.
  You are paying a gold cost for an action, not a Personality, even though that cost is dictated by the Gold Cost stat(s) of the target. Ben Higgins, "Journey End's Keep xp with Heir's Wrath", 19 Mar 2013
• Q: Hi Rules Team,
  Let's say that I have two personalities and one of them is equipped with the Emerald Armor. My opponent plays an action that targets a whole unit like A Stain Cleansed. Is my Unit with the Emerald Armor a valid target? I don't think so because targeting a Unit targets all the cards in that Unit simultaneously, which would include targeting the Personality, which the Emerald Armor in turn prevents.
  Thanks!
  Relevant Card Text:
  A: Actually, actions that target a unit only target the Personality, not all cards (tho they affect all cards). Therefore, as you stated, if there's another Personality that is a legal target for A Stain Cleansed, they must be targeted instead of the Personality with the Emerald Armor. Jon Palmer, "Emerald Armor (and the like) vs. Unit Targeting", 8 Mar 2013
• Q: Confirming something. My opponent targets my Ninja unit with A Stain Cleansed or similar action. Can I redirect it to a follower or Tsubute?
  The Castle of Order
  Text You do not lose Honor from Ninja cards you own. When another player's Battle action would target your Ninja: He is a master of the art of Ninjutsu. Once per battle, you may choose your Ninja at the same location. If you did, the action targets it instead, if legal.
  A Stain Cleansed Cost * Text Battle: Choose your performing unbowed Magistrate, target an enemy card without attachments or an enemy unit, and pay Gold equal to the card or unit's total Gold Cost minus 2: Destroy it.
  A: Yes, as long as the new target still meets the conditions of the original action, it does not need to be in the same category. Jon Palmer, "Castle of Order and Unit/card targeting", 12 Nov 2012
• Q: Does Wide Valley stop the "unit destruction" of A Stain Cleansed (or similar unit kill effect)?
  Wide Valley (trait) Before an action's effect destroys a card in a unit: Negate the destruction.
  A Stain Cleansed Battle: Choose your performing unbowed Magistrate, target an enemy card without attachments or an enemy unit, and pay Gold equal to the card or unit's total Gold Cost minus 2: Destroy it.
  Wide Valley negates the destruction of a card... but not of a unit. Is there a Rulebook clarification of unit kill being multiple card destruction or is it labeled separately?
  A: Wide Valley's trait will negate the destruction of each of the cards in the unit.
  See Glossary, Unit: A cost or effect like “Destroy a unit” or “Bow a unit” is considered to be multiple separate costs or effects, each affecting one card in the unit (see Definition of effects). Costs and effects on a unit are applied to the Personality and all cards in the unit at the same time. Alex Jones, "Wide Valley vs A Stain Cleansed", 28 Oct 2012
• Q: Regarding viewtopic.php?f=59&t=97704&p=1290324&hilit=revenge&sid=605073a494b8b32b0bae93bbd9516e6b#p1290324
  What about a scenario where I've only passed?
  -Opponent attacks me. -My first opportunity: Pass -Opponent plays A Stain Cleansed to kill my guy. -I play Revenge.
  Is the target of Revenge destroyed?
  A: Passing is not taking an action. Alex Jones, "Revenge and its timing", 16 May 2012
• Q: Just to clarify on this (viewtopic.php?f=59&t=97704) ruling:
  I believe that the player asking the question was stating that the player playing 'Revenge' attacked into him and the defender's first action was a kill action (ex. A Stain Cleansed), and as such, the Attacker's first action was to play 'Revenge'. I believe that this would indeed destroy the card targeted by 'Revenge', would it not?
  Just clarifying.
  Thanks!
  Relevant Text: Revenge Dark Virtue • Determination Battle: Choose your performing unbowed Samurai and target an enemy card without attachments: Bow it. Destroy it if another player's action has destroyed one of your personalities since the end of your last Battle action this battle.
  A: No. That fulfills half of the kill condition "another player's action destroyed one of your Personalities" but not the other half "since the end of your last Battle action this battle."
  If you have not taken a Battle action this battle, there is no window of "since the end of your last Battle action this battle." Therefore Revenge will never kill if is your first Battle action. Jon Palmer, "Revenge and its timing", 1 May 2012
• Q: Will the attachments be destroyed since they were targetted when the unit was targetted, despite being on another guy currently?
  A: The attachments were never targeted, so will not be destroyed. Ben Higgins, "A Stain Cleansed and Waystation of the Path", 23 Feb 2012
• Q: When I go to pay costs, is the unit cost still considered Henshin + weapon + follower? or just the Henshin?
  A: A unit's cost is the sum of the Gold Costs on each card in the unit, which at this point in your example is just the Henshin. Ben Higgins, "A Stain Cleansed and Waystation of the Path", 23 Feb 2012
• Q: Since I know that my A Stain Cleansed will not destroy the Henshin, can I choose not to pay his cost in the unit cost and just destroy the attachments?
  A: The Unit cost has been changed by adding/removing cards in the unit. Under the rules for interference with mandatory costs under step D, this allows you to decide to pay the costs or not. If you choose to not pay the cost, the effects will fail and A Stain Cleansed will be discarded.
  You may not elect to retarget the action at this point in the sequence, so the attachments will still be safe, having been transferred to the other Personality. Ben Higgins, "A Stain Cleansed and Waystation of the Path", 23 Feb 2012
• Q: If the above is true, or if I choose to not pay any of the costs, do the attachments still transfer and the Henshin is stuck there at the battle with me without attachments?
  A: The timing for the Reaction on Waystation of the Path does occur before costs are paid, so you are correct that the attachments would still transfer and the Henshin would remain still at the battle, sans protection, if you elected to not pay the costs of A Stained Cleansed. Ben Higgins, "A Stain Cleansed and Waystation of the Path", 23 Feb 2012
• Q: Ryoshun's Guidence (Reaction: When another player's action would target one of your cards, discard this card: Choose another of your non-Stronghold cards at the same location. The action targets it instead, if legal.) A Stain Cleansed (Battle: Choose your performing unbowed Magistrate, target an enemy card without attachments or an enemy unit, and pay Gold equal to the card or unit's total Gold Cost minus 2: Destroy it. )
  My question is when a card may target diffrent types of cards, cards without attachments or unit for example, is it allowable to change from one target sub-type to another?
  Example: A player nominates a unit to target with A Stain Cleansed. With Ryoshun's Guidence is it legal to change the target to an enemy card without attachments, or would the target have to be another unit?
  A: Yes.
  The player of A Stain Cleansed is choosing one target. This can be one of two types, but the choice of target type is specified implicitly, by the choice of target - you do not separately choose the target type. Alex Jones, "Ryoshun's Guidance, adjust targeting", 12 Jan 2012
• Q: Hey everyone,
  Getting back into the game with EE and I have some questions with negation and unit destruction.
  1. If I play A Stain Cleansed for example, an action that can destroy a unit, on a unit with The Mountain's Power:While this Shugenja is Earth and defending, negate his destruction from other players' cards' effects. does A. The unit get destroyed because it also destroys the spell. or B. The spell get destroyed and save the personality.
  2. Kinda on the same premise, If I play a stain cleansed on a Kensai with one or two weapons attached can he play Hundred-Fold Cut to negate the destruction of the personality, or would killing the unit destroy the weapons so he cannot react?
  Thanks for any response.
  A: For #1, you work through all "before destruction" effects before any destruction actually occurs. Therefore, the spell is able to use its effect to save the Personality, although the spell itself and the rest of the cards in the unit are destroyed.
  For #2, since Hundred-Fold Cut has a reaction trigger based off another player's action targeting, this is long before any destruction, and will also save the Personality. Jon Palmer, "Unit Destruction and negation", 14 Nov 2011
• Q: Would things like A Stain Cleansed, which is performed by a magistrate, be a magistrate action and thus function with the ruling referenced above?
  A: Nope.
  Actions do not gain additional keywords based upon who is performing them; an action only has the keywords of the card it is on. "A Stained Cleansed" is nothing more than a Battle action. Brook Cunningham, "Magistrate actions", 8 Sep 2011
• Q: From the previous discussion:
  | 1. A Stain Cleansed announced. | 2. Targets with no attachements is chosen. | 3. React with Nightwatchers. Original target now no longer legal, so its effects apply.
  Is this necessarily the case, however? A Stain Cleansed targets "an enemy card without attachments or an enemy unit". According to the Judge's Rulebook on conjunctions (p. 38, italics in original), "Effects that check for a condition phrased as 'X or Y' are also satisfied if both X and Y are met. Example: 'Destroyed during a duel or a battle' would apply even if the duel was during a battle, and 'target a Samurai or Shugenja' could target one Personality with both keywords."
  Shosuro Bob, the ninja in the example, is an "enemy card without attachments". He is also, presumably (but see below) a unit, and "targeting a unit is the same as targeting its Personality" (Judge's Rulebook, p. 50). When Nightstalkers are attached, he ceases to be an "enemy card without attachments"; however, a unit has still been targeted, and units remain valid targets for the announced action. The cost of that action changes, because the cost of the unit has changed, but that is covered by the rules on Interference with costs and payments (p. 23).
  Is the outcome of this situation any different if the player announcing A Stain Cleansed specifically declares that he is targeting Shosuro Bob's unit via the second targeting option, rather than Shosuro Bob's card, via the first?
  If this is not a valid targeting option at all, why not?
  Note: My questions assume that Shosuro Bob, without attached cards, is considered a unit. I feel this falls in line with the use of "unit" throughout the game's history, and the mechanical functionality of an overwhelming number of card effects. However, the Judge's Rulebook states that "a unit is made up of a Personality and all his attached cards" (p. 50, emphasis mine). However, in the section on Numbers of Things, "'All' does not include zero" (p.38). I believe that this reading, which would result in naked Personalities not being considered units, constitutes "forc[ing] an unnatural reading onto a phrase" (p. 37); Personalities are, as they have always been, units.
  EDIT: Linked previous post.
  A: D'oh! I misread A Stain Cleansed. Will fix the above post. Thanks for the catch! Zen Faulkes, "Nightwatchers and A Stain Cleansed", 18 Mar 2011
• Q: Ninja personality X is the target for A Stain Cleansed. Can I react with nightwatchers to negate the personality´s destruction?
  A: Negate? No. "Negate" is something very specific in rules terms.
  Using Nightwatchers effectively prevents destruction, however, because the effects of A Stain Cleansed do not happen.
  The sequence is:
  1. A Stain Cleansed announced. 2. Targets with no attachments is chosen. 3. React with Nightwatchers. Original target now no longer legal, so its effects apply.
  Correction! I accidentally overlooked part of A Stain Cleansed. So "3" above is actually "The original target has changed the cost of the unit, so it calls under the rules for changing costs, as described in the FAQ (http://rules.l5r.com/CE_FAQ#What_happen ... ld_cost.3F) and Abilities and actions (http://rules.l5r.com/CE_Abilities_and_a ... _Pay_costs). Zen Faulkes, "Nightwatchers and A Stain Cleansed", 18 Mar 2011
• Q: Can I still destroy the unit that Stone Guardian is in with A Stain Cleansed if I decide to pay for the whole unit?
  A: Yes. The action does not destroy the Stone Guardian, but that does not protect any other card in the unit.
  http://rules.l5r.com/CE_Card_types#Attachments: "When a Personality leaves play, all his attached cards leave play in the same manner as he did. This leaving play is a rulebook effect contingent on the effect that took the Personality out of play, so the attachments are destroyed 'for' (as a consequence of) the original effect, but not 'by' the original effect." Zen Faulkes, "Stone Guardian's Unit vs. A Stain Cleansed", 16 Feb 2011
• Q: the strategy cards specifically that would be paid for during Emperor specifically would be these and that's only based on printed cost there are also cards like A Stain Cleansed that have an implied cost (in this case, the total cost of the target card or unit minus 2)
  A: Well, it's explicit insofar as it has a "" coin. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 27 Nov 2023