Berserkers

Legend of the Five Rings card from Celestial Edition, Battle of Kyuden Tonbo, Lotus Edition, Samurai Edition, Time of the Void, Promotional–Twenty Festivals, Shattered Empire, Path of Hope, Promotional–Samurai

Card Type

Follower

Force

2

Chi

0

Gold Cost

4

Keywords

Berserker

Card Text

Battle: Give this Follower +2F. After the current battle ends, destroy this Follower if it was at the battlefield in resolution and its side's total Force was not greater than twice the opposing side's.

Focus Value

1

Legality

A Brother's Destiny (Twenty Festivals), Age of Enlightenment (Lotus), Clan Wars (Imperial), Destroyer War (Celestial), Race for the Throne (Samurai), Shattered Empire, War of the Seals (Onyx Edition)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rulings

• Only check for self-destruction if their ability has been used. [DW, l5rinfo, 4/9/98] Accumulated Rulings, February 8, 2000, p. 18
• Erratum: Reads, "Berserkers 2F 0HR 4G 1FV Berserker. Battle: Once per battle: Give this card +2F. When Force is compared in this battle's resolution, if this card is in your current army and that army's total Force is not greater than twice the enemy side's, destroy this card after the battle ends." [MRP, Celestial Edition, 29 June 2009] Comprehensive Rules, Celestial Edition, with specific card rulings, final version, February 2012, p. 123
• Erratum: Reads, "Berserkers 2F/0C 0HR 4G –PH 1FV Berserker. Battle: Once per battle: Give this card +2F. After the current battle ends, destroy this card if it was at the battlefield in resolution and its side’s total Force was not greater than twice the opposing side’s." [MRP, Samurai Edition, 25 July 2007] Comprehensive Rules, Samurai Edition, with specific card rulings, final version, May 2009, p. 125

Rules Q&A

• Q: The text of the card says "That the Berserkers force becomes equal to twice his or her printed Force until the battle ends". Can this be cancelled with a In Seach of the Future?
  A: If it's a bonus, yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 20 September 2002", 21 Sep 2002
• Q: I thought that the official ruling was that an action that refered to an 'opposing army' could oly be taken if there was one or more units in the opposing army - i.e., the opposing army exists. If there is no opposing army, you can't take the action. So you can't crushing attack an empty province, Mukami can't produce range attacks targeting no-ono to move province, Berserker's can't gain their 2F, and a crab with Dead Eyes cannot use their ability in an empty province.
  A: Not quite. Dead Eyes and Berserkers both generate actions that don't care about the presence of an opposing army for legality. However, they both also have effects that trigger off of the opposing army's force total, and those effects are worded similarly to Crushing Attack. That's the confusion.
  BTW - Neither ruling will be changing. Crushing Attack is still not playable vs. an empty army, and Berserkers (and all the others) will not destroy themselves in absolute rage if no one shows up to fight them. More information will be forthcoming later, but for right now just consider it clarification of intent. It's an unfortunate circumstance that both sets of cards have the exact same wording, but those words were meant to mean completely different things in each case.
  English. Gotta love it. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for November 26th", 26 Nov 2000
• Q: Halls of the Forgotten: Reaction: After another player's Battle action targets your Berserker: Delay its effects on him until after this battle ends.
  No Way Out: After this battle resolves, if its Province was not destroyed, destroy the targets of this card's action. Battle: Destroy a Terrain (if able). Put this Terrain into play. Target zero to two attacking cards.
  I have two Berserkers at the battle and my opponent plays No Way out targeting both of them. If I use Halls of the Forgotten to delay No Way Out's targeting until after the battle ends, will No Way Out still kill him?
  Essentially, does the "After this battle resolves" part happen before or after the battle ends?
  A: "After this battle resolves" happens before "after this battle ends."
  As described in the CR entry for Battles (http://rules.l5r.com/EE_Battles#Battles), the Resolution Segment happens as part C of a Battle, where the Final Steps (and the official end of the battle) happens as part D. Ben Higgins, "No Way Out + Halls of the Forgotten", 20 Jun 2013
• Q: Text Berserker Battle: Once per battle: Give this card +2F. When Force is compared in this battle's resolution, if this card is in your current army and that army's total Force is not greater than twice the enemy side's, destroy this card after the battle ends.
  Is the "Once per battle" clause there to overwrite the fact that abilities are usually only used once per turn? Say I was defending and I used the Berserker's ability to give him +2F. If he survived that battle and I moved his unit into another battle, could I use his ability again to give him a total of +4F?
  A: Yes.
  The "Once per battle" clause overrides the default "Once per turn" restriction in the rulebook. Dan Jacobson, "Beserkers follower ability", 19 Apr 2010
• Q: For Future Questions on the same ruling [ Yaehiko Sensei ] and duration of the trait [your opposed Berserkers bowed by other players' Fear actions have -2F and Elite]
  This ruling is using the version of Yaehiko Sensei as of October 24, 2023
  A: However, her wording will be clarified soon, and before the cards enter the Oracle. 🙂 Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 24 Oct 2023