Underhand of the Emperor

Legend of the Five Rings card from Lotus Edition, Diamond Edition, Reign of Blood

Card Type

Wind

Card Text

Favor Political Repeatable Open: If it is not your turn, discard the Imperial Favor to target a Personality controlled by the active player. The player decides whether this dishonors him. If it did not, the player must declare an attack this turn, and you assign the target instead of his controller in the Maneuvers Segment that attack, after his controller assigns during that Segment.
Political Reaction: After you bring a Personality into play, if you paid at least his printed cost for him, bow your performing Courtier to gain 1 Honor.

Legality

Age of Enlightenment (Lotus), Rain of Blood (Diamond)

Deck

Pre-Game

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Reads, "Underhand of the Emperor Political Open: If it's not your turn, discard the Imperial Favor: Target a Personality controlled by the active player. The player decides whether this Dishonors him. If it doesn't, the player must declare an attack this turn, and you assign the target instead of his controller in each Maneuvers Segment that attack, after his controller assigns during that Segment. Political Reaction: Once per turn, after you bring a Personality into play by paying his printed cost, target and bow a Courtier you control: Gain 1 Honor." [MRP, Lotus Edition, 31 October 2005] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 155
• If the first ability is used on a Dishonored Personality, the effect fails, so his controller must attack and you assign the Personality. [ZF, web, 15 November 2005] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 155
• If the first ability successfully causes an attack, you become the only player who can assign the target unit; the unit's controller does not get to assign that unit during the normal attack phase this turn at all. [ZF, web, 1 December 2005] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 155
• If the first ability successfully causes an attack, you must assign the unit if possible. [Reversal, ZF, web, 29 January 2006] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 155
• Erratum: Underhand of the Emperor: First ability should start with, "Discard the Imperial Favor to name a Political Action card." Also, the restriction against naming any given card more than once applies independently to each player using this Wind. [errata] Legend of the Five Rings FAQ, April 26, 2004, p. 17

Rules Q&A

• Q: A personality who bows to pay the cost of a political action such as Show of Good Faith, the reaction printed on the Underhand of the Emperor, or Bonds of Fate?
  A: Yes again, under rule #3. Martin Lund, "Rules for 21 May 2004", 24 May 2004
• Q: A rule question:
  My opponent use the ability of the Underhand of the Emperor to search for a Storm Heart.
  I react to the discarding of the Imperial Favor with Confusion at Court. The card is not searched.
  after, my opponent lobbies for the Favor, and he wants to use the Underhand.
  Q: Can my opponent name Storm Heart again?
  A: Currently (apparently), naming the card is part of the cost, so the answer is "no".
  Upcoming errata for the Underhand of the Emperor is that it read, "Discard the Imperial Favor TO name a Political Action card". Once Hidden City releases, the answer will be "yes". Jeff Alexander, "rules for 12 March 2004", 13 Mar 2004
• Q: If the Political Open action on the Underhand of the Emperor is cancelled, does the player who attempted to play the action get to keep the favour?
  A: No. Discarding is a cost. This is an erratum. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 22 November 2003", 23 Nov 2003