The Sensei

Legend of the Five Rings card from Death at Koten

Card Type

Personality

Force

3

Chi

4

Honor Requirement

0

Gold Cost

7

Personal Honor

2

Clan

Scorpion

Keywords

Samurai, Scorpion Clan, Sensei

Card Text

Limited: Target another Personality: The Sensei imparts his knowledge. Give the target +3F.

Legality

Destroyer War (Celestial), Race for the Throne (Samurai)

Deck

Dynasty

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: Quick question about Tamoko Sensei,
  The bow ability can it be used when there are no personalities under your opponents control? Basically, I am wondering if It can be used on a turn someone will play a personality or does the personality need to have been in play since the start of the turn?
  Also, with the card Your Past which allows you to use Tamoko Sensei's ability an second time. How limiting is the word second. can you play multiple Your Past to use the Sensei three or four times in a turn?
  A: If your opponent controls no Personalities, the condition at the start of Tamoko Sensei's ability is not satisfied, so you may not announce the action. See Good Faith Rule: To legally announce an action, a player must be able to: 3. meet the conditions of any phrase beginning with “If” that starts the action’s effects (such as “If you are the Attacker, …”).
  Multiple uses of Your Past do not permit you to use the ability more than twice. See Numbers of Things: Something that allows a “second” use of an ability in a turn, etc., only allows the second use of the ability that turn. Multiple effects that allow second uses do not allow the ability to be used three or more times. Alex Jones, "Tamoko Sensei", 11 Sep 2015
• Q: In the long long ago, there was a ruling that a player running Heart of the Shinomen Forest with At'tok'tuk Sensei could not include 4 copies of non-Unique Ratling (=Naga) cards. My understanding is that this ruling was made because, at the time, Sensei were chosen after Strongholds were revealed. A deck running 4 copies of a Ratling card would thus be illegal after Strongholds were revealed but before the Sensei was, making it illegal to construct such a deck.
  However, Sensei are no longer chosen from the deck, and are revealed at the same time as Strongholds; that window of illegality no longer exists. Does the Pearl-era ruling still hold for some other reason, or may these decks be legally constructed?
  A: The previous ruling on At'tok'tuk Sensei is still correct: the trait on At'tok'tuk Sensei only applies while it is in play, and not during deck construction. Alex Jones, "Heart of the Shinomen + At'tok'tuk Sensei", 31 Aug 2015
• Q: What is the order of revealing cards while setting-up? - Do we reveal the Stronghold first followed by the Sensei, or is it simultaneous? - If the Stronghold (The Fortified Monastery of the Dragon) is revealed first wouldn't it be able to trigger its trait before any Sensei restrictions apply? - It's unlikely that the Sensei will be revealed first; given that some of them have Clan restrictions that needs to be checked for legality.
  So to follow-up on that - When does The Fortified Monastery of the Dragon's trait trigger?
  When do we determine who goes first? - At the least I am assuming that Sensei Modifiers would apply first. - What if The Fortified Monastery of the Dragon puts into play a non-Void Dark Ring that causes 5 Honor Loss? Will the Family Honor become 0 instead of 5 to determine who goes first?
  A: Per the CR under Starting the Game, Step A, the Strongholds and Sensei are revealed simultaneously. You would then resolve effects such as that on the Fortified Monastery of the Dragon.
  Step B in the same section describes resolving who goes first. It will therefore take into account any effects triggered during Step A, such as honor loss from the ring chosen by the Dragon player. Jon Palmer, "Setting-up Play vs. The Fortified Monastery of the Dragon", 13 Jul 2015
• Q: There is currently a discussion as to if Yajinden Sensei works at all.
  By its wording, the Sensei seems to suggest that you cannot recruit anything other than Shadowlands Personalities. This means no holdings or attachments.
  Obviously, this would make the game a tad difficult to play if that were the case, so if you could provide clarification on how this works, that would be awesome.
  A: You may Recruit holdings. The Recruit restriction on the Sensei only prevents you from recruiting Personalities who do not have the Shadowlands keyword.
  You may not Recruit attachments, as those enter play via the Equip procedure, not the Recruit procedure (in other words, buy attachments as normal). Jon Palmer, "Yajinden Sensei Clarification", 4 Jun 2015
• Q: Your Past reads:
  Per Oracle, the holding Honored Sensei has the Sensei keyword.
  Would I be able to use Your Past to unbow a bowed Honored Sensei?
  Thanks!
  A: The text in the Oracle was incorrect, thank you for pointing this out.
  Your Past will not unbow an Honored Sensei. Alex Jones, "Your Past + Honored Sensei", 1 Apr 2015
• Q: Seijuko's trait says that after she wins a duel her PH is increased by one, meaning she goes from 2 to 3. The Sensei interrupts at the start of the action but also says that after the personality wins the duel they get a force bonus = to their PH. So when would the increase in PH happen? Before or after they are granted the force bonus? Essentially would Seijuko get +2F or +3F for winning a duel that was interrupted by the Sensei.
  A: Since both effects have the exact same timing (after winning a duel), and both are triggered (step C of timing), the active player will decide which applies first. Jon Palmer, "Seijuro Sensei + Seijuko", 17 Mar 2015
• Q: So the Text on the Rings are "misleading".
  viewtopic.php?f=59&t=110727
  Why is the Text on the Sensei Seppun Tasuke not "misleading"?
  A: Seppun Tasuke does not care who discards the card, as long as it is your opponent's card, and it is discarded from a player's hand. Alex Jones, "Many questions involving Seppun Tasuke", 31 Oct 2014
• Q: Playing Nio Sensei with Imperial Palace of Fu Leng, is my starting honor 15 or 14?
  I know in the old days it was "ruled" impossible for even a Sensei to affect SL Horde strongholds starting honor (and so not cause them to lose the game immediately), but in the present Legacy rules what I find is:
  "Sensei modifiers will not reduce your Starting Family Honor below -19. If a card effect causes you to change Sensei during the game, the new Sensei's Starting Family Honor modifier does not affect your current Family Honor, but any changes to the Province Strength modifier do affect the strength of your provinces. "
  So the restriction on SFH modifying by the Sensei would only apply to "-19" SL strongholds?
  Thanks,
  Jose
  A: As you describe, the game rules allow a player with -19 Starting Family Honour to play Nio Sensei without losing immediately. The rule you quote obviously does not apply if you start on 15 honour, so an Imperial Palace of Fu Leng player with Nio Sensei will begin the game on 14 honour. Alex Jones, "Imperial Palace of Fu Leng with Nio Sensei", 28 Feb 2013
• Q: If I use this Sensei at the start of the Game, that means that my dynasty deck should have at least 40 legal cards once I have put the onis under the Sensei, does it?
  A: Yes. Brook Cunningham, "Jigoku Sensei VS A new teacher", 17 Mar 2010
• Q: Does it means that I can have 3 copies of a non-unique Onis in My dynasty Deck and 3 more copies of the same non-unique Oni under the Sensei ?
  A: No. Your deck also had to be legal BEFORE Jigoku Sensei was revealed. Brook Cunningham, "Jigoku Sensei VS A new teacher", 17 Mar 2010
• Q: So now, the game has started, I use A new teacher to put Jigoku Sensei into play. I check my dynasty deck to put the onis under the Sensei. How can I check that my dynasty deck is legal?
  A: I'm going to use some powers of interpretation here and say that the legality check refers to the deck's construction, since construction is the only way a "deck" can be "legal" or "illegal". If your opponent does not trust that you had 49 cards in your deck before you put the 9 Oni under Jigoku Sensei due to A New Teacher, he could call a judge to verify. Brook Cunningham, "Jigoku Sensei VS A new teacher", 17 Mar 2010
• Q: I searched the Rulings and went through the Comprehensive Rules, but couldn't find anything that seemed relevant to this question. The Student says:
  The Student has +1F while you control The Sensei.
  In a recent game, we assumed that this means that each copy of The Student you have in play gains +1F if you control any number of copies of The Sensei i.e. his force would always be 3F. However, we had some discussion about the possibility that The Student could gain +1F for EACH copy of The Sensei you control, so if you, say, control three copies of The Sensei, The Student would be 5F. We settled on the former because we assumed that if it meant "for each copy of The Sensei", that's what it would say. However, I thought it would be worth checking to confirm. Were we correct i.e. it's just +1F for any number of copies of The Sensei you control and not +1F for each?
  Thanks.
  A: The force bonus is +1F regardless of how many "The Sensei" cards you control, as long as that number is greater than zero. Dan Jacobson, "The Student and his Force Bonus from The Sensei", 8 Jun 2009
• Q: If you mean the Sensei, then no, because the effect comes from a trait being triggered. As for "To The Next Generation", the Fear in the Battle action does have required targeting of an opponent's Personality at the battlefield, if I recall the description of Fear properly. As a non-Interrupt, non-Response action, you can use the Interrupt on Flame's Protection to negate it.
  A: (Replying to a player: "So, if it comes from any trait being triggered I cannot interrupt, right?") You can only Interrupt or Respond to actions; moreover, only actions that are not themselves Interrupts or Responses. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 25 Apr 2025
• Q: For the Sensei I am referring to this fortification, sorry @Brook Cunningham [OBH Legacy] Can I use that fortification without presence with or without that Sensei?
  A: Not in either case, no. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 18 Apr 2025
• Q: Speaking of- the Stronghold copies abilities onto Naga, but the Sensei will let you straighten even if you don't use the copied ability, yes?
  A: Yep. The target of the Sensei just has to have copied an ability; there are no stipulations about use. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 21 Jul 2024
• Q: if I play the Sensei that gives all Magistrates my clan alignment, and I'm playing Unicorn, can I play Loyal scorpion magistrates? (for reference)
  A: Yep. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 28 Dec 2023
• Q: I'd say that the Sensei would be a continuous effect, all followers having -1GC both in and out of play, therefore Nem'tek would stack after that. On a 3GC follower, that would mean it goes to 0 then raised to the minimum of 1GC
  A: You're right, but the reason why isn't exactly what you stated. It is in fact this, from the CR: "TO A MINIMUM/TO A MAXIMUM#
  Bonuses, penalties and other stat changes that are restricted by “to a minimum” or “to a maximum” are applied after any other modifers, bonuses and penalties, and are limited in their amount by the stated minimum and maximum values." Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 16 Aug 2023