Uona Sensei

Legend of the Five Rings card from The War of Spirits

Card Type

Sensei

Province Strength

+0

Gold Production

+0

Starting Family Honor

+0

Keywords

Brotherhood of Shinsei, Crane Clan, Dragon Clan, Phoenix Clan

Card Text

You may not search for cards from your decks except via an effect that looks at your top cards, and you will not put cards from your discard piles into play, focusing areas, your hand, or back into decks.
Limited: Look at the top card of your Dynasty or Fate deck. You may discard it.

Focus Value

2

Legality

Hidden Emperor (Jade)

Deck

Pre-Game

Printings

Rulings

• You may look at your top card in response to effects that let you search your deck to see if it's legal. [VRD, 8 November 2000] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 144
• You may not get cards from your discard pile at all. The "except the top" clause refers only to your decks. [VRD, 14 November 2000] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 144
• You may get multiple cards from the top of your deck (e.g., Banish All Shadows). [VRD, 26 November 2000] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 144

Rules Q&A

• Q: Assuming that you can't search your deck for a Gifts and Favors while Uona Sensei is in play, can you search only the face-down cards in your provinces for said Gifts and Favors?
  A: Yes. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 2 September 2003", 3 Sep 2003
• Q: While using Uona Sensei, can you use Aid of the Grand Master.
  A: Yes. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 30 August 2003, Part 2", 30 Aug 2003
• Q: Can I draw a card from under Kyuden Hitomi while using Uona Sensei?
  A: Yes.
  Zen Faulkes! * Crab Clan Scholar * Unaligned Deputy Rules Guy Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 29 August 2003", 30 Aug 2003
• Q: In particular in relation to Uona Sensei (only affects the opponent if they have her)and Quiet Tombs (affects both players)
  A: These will both prevent the Action card from being retrieved. Jeff Alexander, "post for 24 March 2003", 25 Mar 2003
• Q: I just have a quickie question today: The rules archive on Uona Sensei says that Banish All Shadows may be used. I'd just like to confirm, can I use The Endless Well under Uona Sensei too?
  A: Banish All Shadows is allowed because it puts cards in your hand by way of drawing, not searching or retrieval. The Endless Well does not give you draws. It won't work under that Sensei. Jeff Alexander, "post for 7 Oct. 2002", 8 Oct 2002
• Q: Huh. I just checked the rulings, and the most relevant ruling is this:
  "You may get multiple cards from the top of your deck (e.g., Banish All Shadows). [VRD, 26 November 2000]"
  This isn't the clearest way of putting it. Vaughn, please clarify. Do you mean that you can choose to take any of the four cards with Banish, even under Uona Sensei? If so, why? Doesn't "top" mean the top card only? Shoudn't we rethink both this ruling and the related Otomo Sensei ruling?
  A: I don't think so. Because Banish uses the word draw, it implies a very specific effect. Drawing is taking the top card of your deck and putting it into your hand, nothing else. What happens to those cards after they are drawn is irrelevant, but for the fact that they were drawn, not searched for and retrieved. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for February 2nd", 3 Feb 2001
• Q: 3. Can you retrieve Path of Wisdom from your discard pile when you are using Uona Sensei? Can you use Augury and cards like it to set the top card of your deck?
  A: No, and no. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for November 27th", 27 Nov 2000
• Q: * Uona Sensei: does it prevent Banish All Shadows from working? Banish says to "draw the top four cards"; I suppose it still works fully, but would like confirmation.
  A: Uona doesn't care about Banish all Shadows. Banish takes four cards off of your deck, one at a time, and that's just fine by Uona. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for November 26th", 26 Nov 2000
• Q: Uona Sensei You cannot get cards from your discard piles or from anywhere in your decks except the top. Limited: Once per turn, look at your Dynasty or Fate deck's top card. You may discard the card.
  If I am not going first, does having this sensei prevent me from getting a Legacy holding before the game starts?
  A: Yes, Uona Sensei would prevent you from getting a Legacy Holding.
  Sensei are put into play before you would get your Legacy Holding for going second. And a trait starts "working" as soon as it's in play (not just once the game starts); if it didn't, a Crane going second using Kyuden Kyotei couldn't get a Marketplace. Brook Cunningham, "Uona Sensei and Legacy Holdings", 17 May 2008