Well Prepared

Legend of the Five Rings card from Emperor Edition, Lotus Edition, Samurai Edition, Winds of Change, Promotional–Samurai, Emperor Edition Demo Decks, Onyx Edition, Shattered Empire, Three Dynasties

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Card Text

Battle: If you control a Terrain, target a card in a unit: Bow or straighten the target.

Focus Value

3

Legality

Age of Conquest (Emperor), Age of Enlightenment (Lotus), Four Winds (Gold), Race for the Throne (Samurai), Rain of Blood (Diamond), Shattered Empire, Three Dynasties, War of the Seals (Onyx Edition)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Reads, "Well Prepared 0G 3FV Battle: If you control a Terrain: Bow or straighten a target card at the current battlefield." [MRP, Samurai Edition, 25 July 2007] Comprehensive Rules, Samurai Edition, with specific card rulings, final version, May 2009, p. 169

Rules Q&A

• Q: 2) Could my opponent bow my Region with Well Prepared?
  A: Yes. Martin Lund, "Rules for 30 November 2004", 3 Dec 2004
• Q: Hello,
  <<I have a Utaku Tarako and Shinjo Yushiro in play. I have a Region attached to my Province A (blank text). The enemy leader has a Kuon Exp. 3 in play, with no cards attached. << <<The enemy leader declares an attack against me. Assigns Kuon to Province B. I assign Tarako to defend this Province B. Yushiro defends Province A. << <<The enemy leader starts the battle in Province A. Now I want as my first battle action: << <<- To use the Tarako's battle action. Destroy Region attached to Province A.Target Kuon. Destroy Kuon. << <<Is it legal?
  (remainder) Tarako WoL
  You have a unit in the current battle, so you have Presence.
  You are targeting a card in the current battle (since costs target as well), so you have Relevance.
  Then, does this mean that Regions are considered to be cards in the Battlefield, or in the battle, at the Province they are attached to? I suppose your answer will be YES.
  Could be a Region bowed by a Well Prepared (suppose I have played a Terrain before and remains in play)?
  It sounds strange to me, because Regions are attached to Provinces, but I have never seen a rule that they are on the battlefield in the same way as units, Terrains or Formations.
  Please, Could you confirm this point?
  A) Regions are considered in the battlefield whenever are battles in the Provinces they are attached to B) Regions are never in the battlefield
  A: A). (But they are not in the defending army and are not opposing any attacking cards.) Martin Lund, "Rules for 30 November 2004", 3 Dec 2004
• Q: Real quickly, if my ooponent plays a terrain (doesn't matter which) and I use my forward observer to switch it to my side, can I then play Well Prepared?
  A: No. Forward Observer says that the TERRAIN produces effects as if you control it. This has no impact on how other cards produce their effects. Well Prepared (and every other card, stronghold, or effect other than the Terrain) still sees that the Terrain is really under the control of another player. Martin Lund, "Rules for 10 August 2004", 13 Aug 2004
• Q: If I play Scrutiny's Sweet Sting on a shugenja to remove the "Shugenja" trait. SSS is redirected to Danjuro and nothing happens? I don't even get to remove the Samurai trait from him?
  A: No. You don't. You already made your bed when you declared you would use Scrutiny's Sweet Sting to remove the "shugenja" trait back in the "Declaration Step." You don't get a do-over now that the target has changed. Martin Lund, "Rules for 2 July 2004", 2 Jul 2004
• Q: And just to clarify with respect to Well Prepared --
  If Danjuro is bowed, and I play Well Prepared on a shugenja in Danjuro's army, can Danjuro redirect the Well Prepared to himself to straighten himself?
  A: No for two reasons:
  1 - If Danjuro is already bowed, how is he redirecting the Well Prepared?
  2 - You choose "bow" or "straighten" during the "Declaration Step" for Well Prepared. If you choose "bow" and it resolves against a bowed personality, it fails to affect him. If you choose "straighten" and it resolves against an unbowed personality, it fails to affect him. Martin Lund, "Rules for 2 July 2004", 2 Jul 2004
• Q: Does this allow you to use other cards, such as Well Prepared after targeting the Terrain with Forward Observer?
  A: My copy of Forward Observer says that the - Terrain - produces effects as if I had legally played it. This only impacts the effects of the Terrain, and won't have any impact on Well Prepared. I Well Prepared my opponent's Battlefield of Shallow Graves, he's still the player that can drop Well Prepared, not me. Martin Lund, "Rules for 2 June 2004", 6 Jun 2004
• Q: I may have missed the answer to this, but the ruling on Well Prepared + Danjuro has gotten a lot of attention, and I wanted to see if this is the same.
  If I play Scrutiny's Sweet Sting to remove the Shugenja trait from one of my opponent's personalities, what does Danjuro do about it?
  A: Hey redirects it to himself. The player of S.S.S. can remove the Shugenja, Courtier, or Samurai trait from Danjuro when the effect resolves. Martin Lund, "Rules for 24 May 2004", 27 May 2004
• Q: How is the choice about wether Well Prepared bows or straightens made ? I mean, when a players declares he's using WP, does he has to say "i want to bow/straighten a card ; i then choose card X that is unbowed/bowed and therefore a legal target, as the target of WP" ? Or is it more "I choose card X as the target of WP ; as it is bowed/unbowed, WP straightens/bows it" ?
  I ask this because of redirection ; in the second above case, if i redirect WP from an unbowed personality to a bowed one, it will give me a huge advantage.
  A: When Well Prepared's effects resolve, the controller can either bow or straighten the target card.
  However, the decision you make seems to be restricted. I can't ignore the Accumulate Rulings about decisions:
  "If a card effects forces you to make a decision, you may not choose an option that is known in advance will fail. You may, however, immediately respond with a voluntary effect that negates or cancels the action or effect you chose. [Summary of other rulings]" (Accumulated Rulings, "Decisions")
  Bowing a bowed card will fail.
  Straightening an unbowed card will fail.
  This would indicate to me that in most cases Well Prepared forces you to either bow or straighten the target based on the target's status as bowed or unbowed. Martin Lund, "Rules for 19 May 2004", 22 May 2004
• Q: If I use a Well-Prepared on one of my bowed personalities to unbow him, can my opponent use Misdirection to redirect the action to one of his unbowed personalities?
  A: Well, Well Prepared says: Martin Lund, "Suitengu's Uncertainty and Battle Resolution", 10 Mar 2005