The Ruined City

Legend of the Five Rings card from Samurai Edition, Promotional–Samurai

Card Type

Stronghold

Province Strength

8

Gold Production

4

Starting Family Honor

0

Clan

Spider

Card Text

You do not lose Honor from Fate and Spider Clan cards you own; this is not negation.
Your Spider Clan Personalities have the ability, "Battle: Target a Personality whose unit has 0 total Force, or one whose unit has the lowest non-0 total Force (including ties), not counting Force from bowed Personalities or Followers in it, among all units at the current battlefield. Bow the target's unit."

Legality

Race for the Throne (Samurai)

Deck

Pre-Game

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Reads, "The Ruined City 8PS 4G 0FH You do not lose Honor from Fate and Spider Clan cards you own. Your Spider Clan Personalities have the ability, “Battle: Bow a target unit with zero total Force or with the lowest non-zero total Force among all units at the current battlefield.” [MRP, Samurai Edition, 25 July 2007] Comprehensive Rules, Samurai Edition, with specific card rulings, final version, May 2009, p. 162
• Does not prevent honor loss from death of dishonored Personalities. [Extension from The Spider's Lair.] Comprehensive Rules, Samurai Edition, with specific card rulings, final version, May 2009, p. 162
• Granted ability may be used to bow a unit with force greater than zero if all the other units are bowed or zero force. [ML, 3 August 2007; ZF, 8 September 2007] Comprehensive Rules, Samurai Edition, with specific card rulings, final version, May 2009, p. 163

Rules Q&A

• Q: I have two Spider clan personalities at a battlefield, one of which has the Lion mempo attached. If the non-mempo'd personality is destroyed, can I use the mempo to take the Ruined City battle ability on the destroyed Spider personality?
  A: http://rules.l5r.com/Effects#Effects_in_and_out_of_play
  No. Zen Faulkes, "Lion Mempo and Ruined City", 14 Feb 2008
• Q: I find myself confused when it comes to the Ruined City, and if this has been settled already please provide a link to the judgment.
  Your Spider Clan Personalities have the ability, "Battle: Bow a target unit with zero total Force or with the lowest non-zero total Force (including ties) among all units at the current battlefield."
  Citing the rules: http://rules.l5r.com/Card_features#Specific_stats A bowed card in a unit retains its own Force stat; its own Force is not reduced to zero from being bowed.
  Also citing the rules: http://rules.l5r.com/Glossary_U#Unit A unit’s Force is the total of the Forces of each unbowed Personality and Follower in the unit, or 0 if all Personalities and Followers in it are bowed.
  So here's the situation: I'm being attacked by a Spider player using The Ruined City. Let's say he's attacking me with a 5 force personality and a 4 force personality. I defend with a 3 force personality and a 4 force personality.
  Battle actions (no reactions) 1. I as the defender pass (for the sake of argument) 2. He uses the Ruined City's ability via his 4 force personality, bowing my 3 force personality. 3. I pass (again for simplicity)
  Now, can he bow my 4 force defender using the Ruined City's ability since my 3F defender's "unit force" is now zero, or must the action target the bowed 3F defender because the card's force is 3?
  A: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=59871 viewtopic.php?f=59&t=60022 viewtopic.php?f=59&t=60426 viewtopic.php?f=59&t=61462
  I guess this one's going into the wiki... Zen Faulkes, "Ruined City and Unit Force vs. Card Force", 21 Dec 2007
• Q: Courage Bushido Virtue Battle: Until this battle ends, other players’ cards' effects can not move home your honorable Samurai. Bushido Virtue Battle: Until this battle ends, other players’ cards' effects can not bow cards in units led by your honorable Samurai.
  The Ruined City You do not loose Honor from Fate and Spider Clan cards you own. Your Spider Clan Personalities have the ability, "Battle: Bow a target unit with zero total Force or with the lowest non-zero total Force (including ties) among all units at the current battlefield."
  Is the granted ability considered 'other players’ cards' effects' with regards to Courage?
  A: Yes. Chris Fuchs, "Courage vs. Ruined City", 31 Oct 2007
• Q: Ruined City: I have in the current battle a Bayushi Kosaku with 3f vs my opponents Diagotsu Iemitsu with currently ZERO force.. Can Iemitsu use the battle ability granted to him from the Ruined City to bow my Kosaku?
  A: Assuming there are no other units there, yes, since the lowest force that isn't zero is Kosaku. (Fixed.) Zen Faulkes, "Another Ruined City question", 9 Sep 2007
• Q: When using The Ruined City, do you lose honor when your dishonored personalities (with PH>0) are destroyed?
  A: Yes. Zen Faulkes, "The Ruined City", 23 Aug 2007
• Q: http://www.alderac.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=60422
  Thanks for that clarification. Does this mean that ability The Ruined City stronghold give to Spider clan people can only bow the lost force unit?
  Example
  I'm using The Ruined City and have two units each with a total of 5F opposing 2 enemy units with 2 and 5 total force.
  I use the ability the stronghold provides and bow the 2F unit. Can I now use the ability on my other personality to bow the 5F unit, or can I only target the bowed 2F unit since that is the lowest force unit in the battle?
  A: http://rules.l5r.com/Glossary_U#Unit: "A unit’s Force is the total of the Forces of each unbowed Personality and Follower in the unit, or 0 if all Personalities and Followers in it are bowed." Zen Faulkes, "Force while Bowed followup", 12 Aug 2007
• Q: A unit’s Force is the total of the Forces of each unbowed Personality and Follower in the unit, or 0 if all Personalities and Followers in it are bowed.
  A: A bowed unit generally has 0 force. Chris Fuchs, "The Ruined City Question", 1 Aug 2007
• Q: I apologize if this has already been addressed, when using the Ruined City, "Battle: Bow a target unit with zero total Force or with the lowest non-zero total Force (including ties) among all units at the current battlefield." if the lowest force unit is already bowed and this action is used again, would it just affect the bowed unit again or would it then bow the next lowest forced unit?
  A: See the announcements, please. Zen Faulkes, "The Ruined City Question", 31 Jul 2007
• Q: Question with the Ruined city under samurai rules. If you bow the lowest force personality with one spider. Can you target later thw second lowest force personality? Or the same one gets targeted again?
  A: Complicated-ish answer. In Samurai Edition, the Force of a unit at all times is the total Force of its unbowed Personality plus unbowed Followers.
  So, in your scenario, if you targeted the Personality with the lowest non-0 Force unit and bowed the whole unit, its Force would then be 0, so you could use another Spider to bow the next-lowest non-0, because it would now be lowest. However, be careful the lowest non-0 Force unit is not your own. It might be? The ability takes both sides into account. Note: This is different than Ivory+ Rules, where bowed status only affects unit Force during Resolution, and so I'll need to touch up the Oracle wording of that Stronghold. 😦 Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 4 Jul 2025