To the Last Man

Legend of the Five Rings card from Gold Edition, Anvil of Despair

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Card Text

Reaction: After the enemy leader destroys an army containing one or more of your units during battle resolution: He must destroy cards and tokens in his army with total Force greater than or equal to half of what your army's total Force was immediately before its destruction, rounded up.

Focus Value

3

Legality

Clan Wars (Imperial), Four Winds (Gold)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rulings

• Requires the winning player to destroy cards and tokens with a total Force no less than half that of the defeated army, not every individual card / token with that Force or higher. [DW, 19 June 1997] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 37
• Allies' cards and tokens may be destroyed. [Card text] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 37
• Does not force any destruction if the losing army's total Force was 0, because half of 0 is 0. Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 37
• Does not force any destruction if the losing army's total Force was 0, since half of 0 is still 0. 0 does not round up to 1. [elementary school math] Accumulated Rulings, February 8, 2000, p. 58

Rules Q&A

• Q: Say I have a Crab army, and I have force less then my opponent in a battle at X province. We both pass, and he wins. I want to play “To the Last Man” do I take care of the Yu effect first or “To the Last Man”?
  A: You use your Yu effects once your side loses the battle - during the Resolution Segment.
  You play "To the Last Man" after the Resolution Segment.
  They have no interaction with each other. You can use them as a nasty one-two punch against an opponent who squashes your army, however. Martin Lund, "Rules for 31 March 2004", 2 Apr 2004
• Q: How does it work with To The Last Man?
  A: They both work fully. Jeff Alexander, "post for 12 May 2003", 13 May 2003
• Q: Okay, after this past weekend when I was rudely introduced to the Counterattack, Rally, Counterattack combo I started thinking. Is this possible with any other evil react combos? Could I Pick your battles twice with a Yu deck litterally knocking off an entire army while also To the Last Man-ing it?
  A: Pick Your Battles has no effect on how many cards the Yu trait can destroy. Also, playing multiple Pick Your Battles in one battle is no different than playing only one, regardless of whether Yu is involved.
  Playing multiple copies of To the Last Man is legal and will force two separate destructions. It's potentially very nasty, especially if your opponent has to destroy extra Force because he can't match the required amount exactly. Jeff Alexander, "post for 26 November 2002", 27 Nov 2002
• Q: 1) Can Asako Towers cancel To the Last Man?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 14 October 2002", 15 Oct 2002
• Q: 4. In a battle, my army again destroys an opposing army, which is composed of two personalities (for example two daidoji ujis, 2F/2C) My opponent plays final breath which destroys one of my X force / 1 chi personality. Then he plays To The Last Man. My question is, how many ujis count for his To The Last, one or two? Does he have two ujis since final breath and to the last both happen at resolution? Or does he have just one since the first uji was used for final breath?
  A: This question misses a key point: The Final Breath does not "use up" the friendly Personality. It does not kill him "extra dead", it doesn't kill him before resolution...heck, it doesn't kill him at all! Whether you play The Final Breath has no influence on whether To The Last Man is playable or on what it will do when it is played.
  Besides, The Final Breath and To The Last Man are both played after resolution, not during. (TTLM by card text, TFB by old, old errata.) Jeff Alexander, "post for 23 September 2002", 25 Sep 2002
• Q: Hi Jeff, Here we go again.
  To the Last Man. Relevent text: The player's bowed cards contribute their Force for this effect as if they were unbowed. Which player's bowed cards?
  A: The opposing player. The one being forced to do the destroying. It's a reminder, really; since he's destroying individual cards, he wouldn't use the total unit Force rules anyway. Jeff Alexander, "post for 7 June 2002", 8 Jun 2002
• Q: Next, how does Trenches interact with To the Last Man and The Final Breath? Is the destruction still triggered, allowing the actions to be played, and Trenches to save them? Does Trenches' use preclude the latter?
  A: Trenches' Reaction is taken "when" the destruction occurs and saves your army [card text], thus removing the trigger for any Reactions taken "after" your army is destroyed. [AOF rulebook p. 48] This includes To The Last Man and Final Breath. Jeff Alexander, "post for 8 February 2002", 9 Feb 2002
• Q: A question
  If I play To The Last Man, in a battle where I lost, do my bowed units contribute force to the amount the winner has to destroy?
  A: No.
  "Reaction: Play this card after a Resolution Segment during which the opposing player destroyed an army containing one or more of your units. The opposing player must destroy a number of cards and tokens in his or her army whose total Force is greater than or equal to half of your army's total Force, rounded up. The player's bowed cards contribute their Force for this effect as if they were unbowed."
  The amount your opponent has to destroy is determined by "your army's Force total". It uses *exactly* how much Force your army had when the battle resolved and you lost (at least until it divides by 2). Jeff Alexander, "post for 5 February 2002", 7 Feb 2002
• Q: Still, I seem to remember that the head judge in "To the Last Man" (Hi Paul), upon being pointed out the way the rules are worded, ruled differently than what Jeff did; the reasoning being that "Outmaneuvered by Force" certainly isn't counting an army's Force, and doesn't necessarily count "units'" Force, it wants "total Force", which is something that isn't terribly well defined.
  A: The total Force of a bunch of units is the sum of their total unit Forces. Being bowed affects Outmaneuvered by Force, too. Jeff Alexander, "post for 29 October 2001", 30 Oct 2001
• Q: Mostly looking for official word from Jeff A., but feel free to talk amongst yourselves. :)
  According to the Rules Archive, Trenches (and by extension, Surrender) have the possibility of preserving a losing army -- thus, Yu can be used to cause opponent attrition while saving your own army.
  Now: what is the precise timing of Yu vs. To the Last Man? The latter requires the army to be destroyed, thus no fun tricks like the above, but does the Yu player choose his destroyed targets before the opponent must destroy the TtLM targets, or is it vice versa?
  A: Yu happens during resolution [rulebook]. TTLM is played after the battle [card text]. Yu losses happen first. Jeff Alexander, "post for 10 October 2001", 11 Oct 2001
• Q: To the Last Man - If you are the attacker, this is the last battle or your attack phase, the defender played counterattack, and some of his relevant Personalities and/or Followers have changes in their Forces during the extra battle phase, are the old or new values used to determine how much your opponent must destroy?
  A: Force bonuses that last until the end of the Battle only will not be counted for To the Last Man. Force bonuses that last until the end of the turn that get played during the Counterattack *will* count for the force calculation, though. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for August 14th", 14 Aug 2001
• Q: If the force of personalities has been changed, such as with Arriving at the Imperial Gates, and To the Last Man is played, are bowed cards destroyed at full "printed" value or full "force if I wasn't bowed" value?
  A: Current force, with bowed cards contributing as though not bowed, as specified on Gold Edition text. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 11 July 2001", 12 Jul 2001