Unstoppable Strike

Legend of the Five Rings card from Embers of War

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Card Text

Battle: Choose your performing Personality: Give him the ability, "Battle: Target an enemy Personality: Destroy him."

Focus Value

2

Legality

Age of Conquest (Emperor)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: Largely for clarification so I can link this to my friends when I finish my end of arc military kitsune deck.
  So I control two 2/2 Spirit token personalities with no base abilities.
  I play Unstoppable strike on one spirit (Spirit Token A).
  Spirit Token A then performs the battle action, destroying a personality.
  Spiritual Coalescence is then performed by spirit token A and grant his abilities to spirit token B
  Can spirit token B then use the ability granted to spirit token A by Unstoppable Strike?
  After the turn ends, does it still have the ability granted by Unstoppable Strike?
  A: Spirit B gets its own copy of the ability. This ability has not been used yet - the fact that the original ability has been used this turn does not affect whether or not the new copy can be used. Furthermore, the ongoing effect that creates this ability has a different duration to the ongoing effect that created the original ability: the new effect is permanent, so the ability will not go away at the end of the turn. Alex Jones, "Spiritual Coalescence + Unstoppable Strike", 20 Mar 2013
• Q: If I play Unstoppable Strike and give my personalty Hida Bakari the ability and then use it, does that count as two(US and Bakari) battle actions for Ring of Water? Or do the battle actions come from Unstoppable Strike so it still only counts for one action?
  A: Playing Unstoppable Strike and using the granted ability counts as two Battle actions for the Ring of Water, since the second action is from Hida Bakari: Costs and effects of traits and abilities given to other cards, copied from other cards, or on created cards, come from the card they are currently on. Alex Jones, "Unstoppable Strike and Ring of Water", 7 Oct 2012
• Q: I know that a personalities abilities are refreshed after overlaying. What about the game state of cards like Unstoppable Strike?
  A: Strategies like Unstoppable Strike or Spirit of the Monk (as you mention below) don't HAVE a "game state"; the convey ongoing effects to Personalities. And, basically what you should remember is that an overlaying card "forgets" everything about itself when it overlays, and all the ongoing effects (if any) on the UNDERlying card now affect it as if it were the same card as the one it overlayed. Brook Cunningham, "Unstoppable Strike vs Overlay", 4 Sep 2012
• Q: If in battle I use Unstoppable Strike on a henshin followed by using the battle granted by unstoppable strike. Will using the Waystation of the Path refresh the unstoppable strike ability?
  According to the CR the overlaying card forgets its gamestate so it would forget the unstoppable strike ability right? also same with force bumps or effects like Spirit of the Monk right?
  A: If the Personality who had the Unstoppable Strike ability is the overlaying card, he forgets he ever had it, and forgets any Force bonuses or granted keywords. It's like it's a brand new card that came out of nowhere. Brook Cunningham, "Unstoppable Strike vs Overlay", 4 Sep 2012
• Q: What about in the case where these effects are done on the underlaying card? If I unstoppable strike on a personality and use the battle action granted, then overlay another personality onto the one with the unstoppable game state, would the resulting overlaid personality remember the unstoppable battle action? would it be refreshed? What about if the underlay had Spirit of the Monk on it?
  A: The underlying card from that example would be removed from the game, but everything ongoing about it would be true for the overlaying card; it's treated as being the "same card" as the one it overlayed. So, it would have the US granted ability, that ability is used and cannot be used again, and the ongoing effect giving it "Monk" would still be in effect.
  I hope this all helps, and sorry for overlooking your question for a while. Thanks for asking! Brook Cunningham, "Unstoppable Strike vs Overlay", 4 Sep 2012