Beginning Arbitration

Legend of the Five Rings card from The Truest Test

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Keywords

Political

Card Text

Battle: Your non-Weapon Items have +2F while at the current battlefield.

Focus Value

3

Legality

Age of Enlightenment (Lotus), Race for the Throne (Samurai)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=85754
  Card text: Political Battle: Your non-Weapon Items have +2F while at the current battlefield.
  The effect of this ability is to create a game state change with a condition. "Ongoing effects that affect all things of a certain kind (such as, “Battle: Your Samurai have +1F”) or that meet a condition (such as, "Battle: Your opposed Personalities have +1F") change the game state." The effect is to give your non-Weapon Items +2f. The condition is "while at the current battlefield." No duration is stated, so the ongoing effect exists until the end of the turn.
  I have units with non-weapon items at each battlefield and in my home. The ability is played during the battle at province A. That battle is resolved, and I choose to resolve the battle at province B next. We engage. Is my non-weapon item currently located at province B at the current battlefield?
  A: Is my non-weapon item currently located at province B at the current battlefield?
  Yes, but that's not the battlefield that was "the current battlefield" when Beginning Arbitration was played. Beginning Arbitration's bonuses only apply at one battlefield: the one that was the current battlefield when it was played. Alex Jones, "Beginning Arbitration and 'current battlefield'", 13 Aug 2010
• Q: Card text: Political Battle: Your non-Weapon Items have +2F while at the current battlefield.
  http://rules.l5r.com/CE_Effects#Ongoing_effects "Ongoing effects may be thought of as “virtual” effects because they are not officially recorded with a physical game element; for example, giving stat bonuses or penalties, granting keywords, or putting a condition on a card such as “may not assign.” Unlike continuous effects, ongoing effects start and end at definite times stated by the effect itself and do not end if the card they came from leaves play.
  Ongoing effects last until the end of the turn in which they were applied unless otherwise indicated. Example: “permanent” or “until” a certain game time are phrases that override the default "end of turn" duration. " Further in Ongoing Effects: "An ongoing effect that is applied “while” some condition is true ends when that condition is no longer true, and takes effect again if the condition becomes true within the stated duration of the effect. Nevertheless, a conditional ongoing effect is a single effect, regardless of how many times it is reapplied." "Ongoing effects that affect all things of a certain kind (such as, “Battle: Your Samurai have +1F”) or that meet a condition (such as, "Battle: Your opposed Personalities have +1F") change the game state. They affect all things in play of that kind throughout their duration, even ones not in play or not meeting the condition at the time the effect took place."
  What is the stated duration of Beginning Arbitration? If it is 'while at the current battlefield', does that mean that non-weapon items lose the 2F bonus when removed from the current battlefield and are not able to regain that bonus by moving back in to the current battlefield? And that non-weapon items that are not present at the current battlefield when Beginning Arbitration is played are not granted a 2F bonus at any point?
  A: The duration of Beginning Arbitration is, like all other ongoing effects with no stated duration, until the end of turn. However, since the current battlefield disappears after the battle during which it was played, no cards can be at that battlefield, so no cards will get a bonus from it after the battle.
  For the second question, I think you've answered that yourself: An ongoing effect that is applied “while” some condition is true ends when that condition is no longer true, and takes effect again if the condition becomes true within the stated duration of the effect. Alex Jones, "Beginning Arbitration and 'current battlefield'", 13 Aug 2010
• Q: While resolving battlefield B, do my non-Weapon Items also have +2F, as they are at what is now (but not when Beginning Arbitration was played) the current battlefield?
  A: EDIT: Thought this one over a bit, talked on it with my esteemed colleague Alex, and I have reconsidered.
  Answer:
  No. The ongoing effect only assesses what is the "current battlefield" once, at the time it's activated. Later on, since other battlefields are not that battlefield, the bonus is not applied. Brook Cunningham, "Beginning Arbitration and 'current battlefield'", 12 Aug 2010