The Shadow's Lair

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

Card Type

Stronghold

Province Strength

0

Gold Production

4

Starting Family Honor

0

Clan

Spider

Card Text

You do not lose Honor from Ninja and Fate cards you own.
Ninja Battle: Once per battle, even if this card is bowed and even if you control no units at the current battlefield, target one or more unopposed units with combined total Force of 9 or lower, or one opposed unit: Move each target home; this will not be negated or delayed if you control a Ninja.

Legality

Age of Conquest (Emperor)

Deck

Pre-Game

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: So, there's an ongoing argument in several threads on FB about the interaction of Ring of Earth with Journey's End Keep or the Shadow's Lair.
  Will the Ring of Earth stop movement from JEK or TSL?
  (My personal belief - after looking over the comprehensive rules - is that it will stop the movement. My rationale:
  From the CR: Can not, cannot: These words mean that an effect is prevented (see p. 38). [<---should this be 58?]
  From the CR: Negate: A word used to indicate a prevention effect (p. 58). “Negate an action” means to prevent all the action’s effects and targeting, from the time the negation is applied.
  From the CR: Prevention: A prevention effect is one that uses language such as “negate,” “cannot,” “does not,” or “will not”. While a prevention effect lasts, it makes another effect or type of effect fail to happen whenever it would occur. When an ongoing type of effect is prevented (for example, “Negate all Force bonuses on him”), this only suppresses existing effects for as long as the prevention lasts; it does not prevent new ones from applying. When an instant type of effect is prevented (for example, “Negate his destruction”) this prevents new effects of that type for as long as the negation effect lasts.
  JEK and TSL specifically say that the actions effects won't be NEGATED. Negation is a type of prevention, but according to the CR, not all prevention effects are negation [some of them are indicated by cannot/does not/will not instead]. RoE prevents the effects without negating them.
  I could be wrong, but I want to make sure.)
  A: Per the CR entry on Prevention, all forms of Prevention are interchangeable. Therefore Journey's End Keep's "will not be negated" stops Ring of Earth's "cannot". Jon Palmer, "Ring of Earth and Old SH", 5 Jan 2015
• Q: I target a monk with Tamori Takeshis ability. I then assign said 4F monk to attack a "The Shadow's Lair" province. I play Sneak Attack, then Grappling the Snake. Can he still be sent home by the stronghold The Shadow's Lairs action?
  What if I did not play grappling the snake but used Height of Courage instead after the strongholds action targets my monk?
  A: Your monk will move home.
  In these cases, the effects of Grappling the Snake and Height of Courage are not being negated by The Shadow's Lair. Rather, they are attempting to negate the effects of The Shadow's Lair, and The Shadow's Lair's text causes that to fail. Jon Palmer, "Will not be negated actions", 17 Dec 2012
• Q: I looking for clarifiction when two card are opossite :
  Event resolve : Too Close to Home: You may choose and destroy a Region. Until your next turn begins, negate all movement to and from battlegrounds.
  I declare attack , assign few personality
  and my oponent start to use : The Shadow's Lair: Ninja Battle: Once per battle, even if this card is bowed and even if you control no units at the current battlefield, target one or more unopposed units with combined total Force of 9 or lower, or one opposed unit: Move each target home; this will not be negated or delayed if you control a Ninja.
  Are my personality will be moved froma battle ?
  how about same situation when my oponent start to use : Suitengu's Torch : Battle: Choose your performing unbowed Personality and target an enemy Personality: Move him home. while react with Suitengu's Torch : Reaction: After you announce a Thunder Battle action: Its effects will not be negated or delayed.
  Are my personality will be moved from battle ? I try to find in rules forum topic for this combination ... but I cannot.
  A: "Will not be negated" will always trump "negate" - that's the purpose of writing "will not be negated". Please see Effects prevention in the CR. Jon Palmer, "Too Close to Home + The Shadow's Lair / Suitengu's Torch", 12 Nov 2012
• Q: Does playing The Fires of War allow me play The Shadow's Lair's stronghold ability a second time within a single battle, per-battle; or does it merely indicate I can use it an additional time in a single turn because of the "once per battle" clause? In the latter case, that ability would be nearly pointless.
  A: Please reference the search function before asking questions.
  Fires of War will not allow The Shadow's Lair to use its ability multiple times. Jon Palmer, "The Shadow's Lair and Fires of War", 5 Jun 2012
• Q: So the question is this:
  Can I play Rhetoric's reaction when playing out of the Shadow's Lair as it seems that Rhetoric checks BEFORE I lose honor. It doesn't know that I do not, right?
  A: No, you cannot Rhetoric an Honor loss that does not happen.
  Thanks to Timing, the prevention of the loss will remove the trigger of the loss occuring in Step A, before you have the chance to react to it, in Step D. Brook Cunningham, "Rhetoric and The Shadow's Lair", 21 May 2012
• Q: Just a query that I couldn't find by searching "lair". Does the "control" part of The Shadow's Lair include any Ninja card or just personalities?
  Relevant text I could find: http://rules.l5r.com/EE_Physically_mark ... rd_control It seems to mean that if you bring it into play then you control it, so since the box doesn't specify personalities then any Ninja card should work. The Red Crane Dojo for example.
  The Shadow's Lair You do not lose Honor from Ninja and Fate cards you own. Ninja Battle: Once per battle, even if this card is bowed and even if you control no units at the current battlefield, target one or more unopposed units with combined total Force of 9 or lower, or one opposed unit: Move each target home; this will not be negated or delayed if you control a Ninja.
  So for it's battle action, does the holding count? As it is a Ninja card and you control it so it seems like it works but since it is weird that you could have no personalities on the board, only holdings and still have send home that is unable to be negated or delayed I wanted to just double check.
  A: Per the rules on keywords, you may control any card with the keyword "Ninja". This includes non-Personality cards such as Red Crane Dojo. Jon Palmer, "The Shadow's Lair and Control", 10 Apr 2012
• Q: How many times can you use The Shadows Lair ability when it has been targeted by Fires of War?
  Twice in every battle or twice in one battle and once there after?
  A: No, I'm sorry, The Fires of War won't increase the number of times The Shadow's Lair ability may be used. Since its ability has a base use limit greater than "once per turn", increasing the number of times per turn it may be used has no effect. Brook Cunningham, "The Shadows Lair + fires of war", 10 Apr 2012
• Q: Per the rulings given about Jouney's end keep and that neither entrenched position nor footsteps of madness can negate its actions I wanted to confirm that the Shadow's Lair works the same way assuming you have a ninja in play.
  Shadow's Lair reads: Ninja Battle: Once per battle, even if this card is bowed and even if you control no units at the current battlefield, target one or more unopposed units with combined total Force of 9 or lower, or one opposed unit: Move each target home; this will not be negated or delayed if you control a Ninja.
  A: You are correct. Jon Palmer, "The Shadow's Lair and negation/delay", 30 Mar 2012
• Q: I didn't ask this question clearly enough:
  I'm playing Shadow's Lair and my opponent has Ryoshun's Guidance in play.
  He attacks me with 2 4-Force personalities.
  I target both with the stronghold.
  He attempts to react with Ryoshun's Guidance to put all targeting on one (instead of 2).
  Does his redirection off of both to just one work?
  A: No.
  See Glossary, Targetting: When multiple targets are chosen simultaneously, the same target cannot be chosen twice. This also means that when one target out of multiple, already-chosen targets is being changed, another one of those already-chosen targets cannot legally become the new target. Alex Jones, "Ryoshun's Guidance + the Shadow's Lair XP", 20 Mar 2012
• Q: If I'm targeting multiple units for the effect on Shadow's Lair, and one of those is redirected using the guidance, can I continue targeting up to the 9F requirement anyway and target that unit again?
  A: I'm afraid not.
  All your targeting occurs simultaneously for The Shadow's Lair; Required Targeting: "Two or more targets are chosen simultaneously if they are grouped together by a number (such as, “target two Holdings.”)".
  So, the player with Ryoshun's Guidance Reacts after you've already stated what ALL of the targets will be, then may react to any of them that he wishes. Brook Cunningham, "Ryoshun's Guidance + the Shadow's Lair", 19 Mar 2012
• Q: Ninja Battle: Once per battle, even if this card is bowed and even if you control no units at the current battlefield, target one or more unopposed units with combined total Force of 9 or lower, or one opposed unit: Move each target home; this will not be negated or delayed if you control a Ninja.
  If I have 3 Unopposed Units of 4force at the battlefield, can my opponent use this Stronghold to send home two of them, or does the SH become useless if you have more than 9F unopposed? Thanks.
  A: The Shadow's Lair does not say you must target all the unopposed units at the battlefield, so you may choose as many unopposed units as you wish within the targeting restriction of combined total Force of 9 or lower. Ben Higgins, "The Shadow's Lair send home", 23 Feb 2012
• Q: When choosing targets for the unopposed portion of the The Shadow's Lair action, does Kakihara's reaction trigger as soon as he is chosen, thus counting as 8f? Does the send home still occur if he is chosen last and his +4F pushes the total force over 9?
  A: Kakihara's Reaction may as well do nothing, as far as The Shadow's Lair's action is concerned. His "contribution" to the "total" of 9 or less Force is assessed at the time he is targeted, and since his Reaction occurs AFTER, the additional Force will never affect what other targets may be chosen by the Stronghold's action nor the effect itself. Brook Cunningham, "The Shadow's Lair and Akodo Kakihara", 19 Feb 2012