Vengeful Dead

Legend of the Five Rings card from The Fall of Otosan Uchi

Card Type

Event

Keywords

Unique

Card Text

After you reveal cards in your Provinces at the start of your turn, if this Event is face-up in one of them, choose a dead Personality in your discard pile who was destroyed by another player's Ninja, Kolat, or Assassin action and remove it from the game; if you did, choose a Personality in play and destroy him. Whether or not you chose any Personalities, you may shuffle this Event into your deck instead of discarding it after this trait resolves.

Legality

Four Winds (Gold), Rain of Blood (Diamond)

Erratum

Text changed from "another player's card effect" to instead read "another player's Ninja, Kolat, or Assassin action" via errata 26 Feb 2003.

Deck

Dynasty

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: "Another player's card effect" should read, "another player's Ninja, Kolat, or Assassin action." [Erratum, JA, 26 February 2003] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 77
• May be reshuffled if it did not destroy a Personality. [JA, 4 December 2002] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 77
• Does not resolve if turned over and revealed outside the the Events phase. [JA, 14 January 2003] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 77
• Erratum: Vengeful Dead: The phrase "another player's card effect" in the first sentence should instead read, "another player's Kolat, Ninja, or Assassin action". [errata] Legend of the Five Rings FAQ, April 26, 2004, p. 16
• Q: Vengeful Dead says, "This Event resolves each time it's revealed, for all players." Does that mean every player gets to kill a Personality each time the Event appears anywhere? A: No. That line only clarifies that Vengeful Dead does not follow the rule that each Event can resolve only once per game. Legend of the Five Rings FAQ, April 26, 2004, p. 12

Rules Q&A

• Q: * I suppose I have printing delays to blame for this, but to not find the erratum to Vengeful Dead was also a disappointment.
  A: Production delays are always going to cause problems like this, unfortunately. Jeff Alexander, "post for 1 May 2003", 2 May 2003
• Q: If I play a to do what we must and a unit that has a Kolat/ninja/Assasin card in it does that trigger Vengeful Dead?
  A: No. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 14 April 2003, Part 1", 14 Apr 2003
• Q: Sender: L5r-ccg-admin@alderac.com
  One more (and hopefully last) question concerning the proper effect of Vengeful Dead that was raised in my playgroup today. According to the Accumulated Rulings, the "for all players" clause only means it resolves regardless of who owns it. Assuming both Player A and Player B have already killed one of the other's Personalities with a Kolat Assassin prior to Vengeful Dead hitting the table for the first time, is the proper interpretation:
  A) When it turns up for Player A, he resolves it and gets to kill a Personality. When it turns up for Player B, he also gets to resolve it and gets to kill a Personality.
  - or -
  B) When it turns up for either Player A or Player B, *both* players get to kill a Personality at the same time.
  A: A). Jeff Alexander, "post for 10 March 2003", 11 Mar 2003
• Q: One other question -- am I correct in saying that shuffling the event back into your Dynasty deck is optional since the word "may" is used?
  A: You are correct. Jeff Alexander, "post for 10 March 2003", 11 Mar 2003
• Q: this is why it's great that jeff makes himself available to us "lesser people" at cons. we talk to him and he acts!
  A: Just to prevent people from getting the wrong impression, many more factors influenced this decision than one or two conversations at one convention. We've been watching the progress of this card and its effect on the environment since it released. Jeff Alexander, "post for 26 February 2003", 27 Feb 2003
• Q: 1) Excluding any independent card effect that would redirect the effect, is there any way that your own Vengeful Dead (the one in your deck) could ever kill one of your personalities? The way it reads, I think "no."
  A: You are forced to destroy a Personality, if you can, when Vengeful Dead resolves. It can be one of your own. If you're the only one with Personalities, you are forced to kill one. Jeff Alexander, "post for 25 February 2003", 26 Feb 2003
• Q: 1. Just to be absolutely Sure, the use of Yu is a RULEBOOK effect (particularly in terms of Vengeful Dead) right?
  A: Right. [archive] Jeff Alexander, "post for 11 February 2003", 12 Feb 2003
• Q: I just don't understand why dueling results are not considered rule book effects like 0 chi effects caused by other card actions[.]
  A: Members of the Rules Junta have previously stated their reasons. Please search through the list Archives at: "Vengeful Faulkes" (!) pulled up my summary post on the matter from 10 January 2003.
  Zen Faulkes! * Crab Clan Scholar * Veteran * http://l5r.shorturl.com Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 9 February 2003", 9 Feb 2003
• Q: In a recent tournament, I had to draw a questionable ruling on Vengeful Dead. If your opponent has killed one of your characters, and he has no one left on the board, when it shows up does it kill one of your personalities.
  A: Yes. Its effect is mandatory if you can pay the cost and it is not restricted to destroying only other players' Personalities. [card text] Jeff Alexander, "post for 7 February 2003 (rather short)", 8 Feb 2003
• Q: Another one: Someone Iaijutsu Challenges me, I refuse and commit sepukku. Will this dead personality be targeteable by Vengeful Dead?
  A: No. Jeff Alexander, "post for 4 February 2003", 5 Feb 2003
• Q: Since Vengeful Dead is getting a lot of play lately, I have a question for everyone: With Show of Good Faith, if I borrow someone and kill them, they do go to my dead pile - do they return to their original controller's dead pile at the end of the turn?
  A: No. [archive] Jeff Alexander, "post for 4 February 2003", 5 Feb 2003
• Q: Does the Quiet Tombs region from Spirit Wars "have enough time" to remove an opponent's Vengeful Dead from the game, or does its remove effect happen simultaneously with the event reshuffling, making it the choice of the active player as to what happens to the event?
  A: Vengeful Dead's player chooses whether to discard it or reshuffle it after it resolves. Only if she chooses to discard it would Quiet Tombs remove it from the game instead. Jeff Alexander, "post for 29 January 2003", 30 Jan 2003
• Q: A pair of questions
  * Can an Asako Towers player cancel Vengeful Dead bowing his stronghold or one of his shugenja, depending on which class of personality was the target ?
  A: No. The Asako Towers can only cancel actions. [text] Jeff Alexander, "post for 21 January 2003", 22 Jan 2003
• Q: I Kolat Master my opponent's Moto Kadu-Kai, and then attack. During the battle, I use Kadu-Kai to kill one of my opponent's units with his ability ("Battle: Bow and destroy Kadu-Kai to destroy an opposing Personality with equal or lower Force").
  In my opponent's next Events Phase, he resolves Vengeful Dead. Does the Personality who I destroyed with my opponent's Kadu-kai trigger VD?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 15 January 2003", 16 Jan 2003
• Q: Maybe I'm just dense, but I don't think that answered my question. Though it does bring up a point I wish to argue in a moment.
  My orginal question (what I meant to ask at any rate): If Vengeful Dead is turned up when used with Akodo Kaneka, will it *have* to go to the discard pile, or can you choose to reshuffle it into your Dynasty deck?
  A: It must go into your discard pile. The option to reshuffle it is one of its effects. If it does not resolve, you don't get that choice. Jeff Alexander, "post for 15 January 2003", 16 Jan 2003
• Q: How exactly does Vengeful Dead work?
  A: Just like the card says, of course! ;) The "for all players" clause means that it resolves again regardless of who owns it. That's all. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 1 January 2003", 1 Jan 2003
• Q: Does the death of a Personality due to Vengeful Dead itself count as death from a card effect that could trigger a later use of Vengeful Dead by your opponent?
  A: Vengeful Dead is a card. Yes. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 1 January 2003", 1 Jan 2003
• Q: Vengeful Dead: What counts as destroyed by card effect?
  A: Generally, something that was in play that was destroyed after a card was played that had "Destroy the Personality" (or something equivalent) printed on it. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 30-31 December 2002", 31 Dec 2002
• Q: With regards to Vengeful Dead: If I have Hitomi Akuai Experienced in play when my opponent resolves Vengeful Dead and my opponent chooses to negate all of the events effects rather than giving Akuai the +2/+2, can my opponent still choose to re-shuffle the event?
  A: No. That is an effect of the Event resolving. (The sentence about the Event resolving every time it appears, however, is not.) Jeff Alexander, "post for 13 December 2002", 14 Dec 2002
• Q: I'm a bit slow on the errata, but I wanted to re-ask it.
  You have ruled the following...
  May be reshuffled if it did not destroy a Personality. [JA, 4 December 2002]
  Why is it going this route? Besides the english wording which I could interpert one way vs another, is this really the way this card should be used?
  A: The Rules Team found that to be the more natural reading of the card. Simple as that. Jeff Alexander, "post for 11 December 2002", 12 Dec 2002