Bitter Lies Student

Legend of the Five Rings card from Empire at War

Card Type

Follower

Force

0

Chi

0

Honor Requirement

0

Gold Cost

1

Personal Honor

-

Keywords

Bitter Lies

Card Text

Enters play paying 1 less Gold if you are a Scorpion Clan player.
Battle/Open: Remove this card from the game: Search your discard pile, then Fate deck, for a non-Unique Weapon. You may target your Personality and attach it to him.

Focus Value

3

Legality

Destroyer War (Celestial)

Deck

Fate

Story

2009 Name a Follower: Toulouse - Laurent Simon

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: I see on April 6th it was changed
  A: I understand that we are not obligated to follow this rule until 30 days after April 6th? Or will it effect tomorrow's kotei?
  B: What about searching for a card with a specific keyword. For example, Bitter Lies Student searches the fate deck for a non-unique weapon. neither 'non-unique' nor 'weapon' are card types as defined on http://rules.l5r.com/EE_Card_types, nor is it a specific card. Weapon and unique are keywords.
  C: Does this also apply to really broad card types such as searching for 'a fate card'. So if I got to search for 'a fate card' and put it into my hand, would I be forced to reveal it? (walking the way I guess say search the fate deck for 'a card' but I still want to be sure)
  A: A: I understand that we are not obligated to follow this rule until 30 days after April 6th? Or will it effect tomorrow's kotei? Rules changes are effective immediately.
  B: What about searching for a card with a specific keyword. For example, Bitter Lies Student searches the fate deck for a non-unique weapon. neither 'non-unique' nor 'weapon' are card types as defined on http://rules.l5r.com/EE_Card_types, nor is it a specific card. Weapon and unique are keywords. If there are conditions on the card searched for, then the card must be shown to demonstrate that it meets the conditions of the search.
  C: Does this also apply to really broad card types such as searching for 'a fate card'. So if I got to search for 'a fate card' and put it into my hand, would I be forced to reveal it? (walking the way I guess say search the fate deck for 'a card' but I still want to be sure) Walking the Way specifies the deck that must be searched, but puts no conditions on the card. You need not show the card that you have retrieved with Walking the Way. Alex Jones, "searching for 'card type' follow up.", 8 Apr 2012
• Q: If I choose not to attach, what happens? Can I opt not to attach the item and take it into my hand?
  Bitter Lies Student Battle/Open: Remove this card from the game: Search your discard pile, then your Fate deck, for a non-Unique Weapon. You may attach it to your target Personality.
  A: The attachment is optional, so if you choose not attach it, it returns whence it came.
  See Glossary, Search: All effects that search decks for cards also shuffle the deck after the found card (if any) leaves the deck. ... If a card is found, but is not required to leave the deck after due to some optional effect, the deck and found card are shuffled after the optional effect resolves. Alex Jones, "Bitter Lies Student", 11 May 2011
• Q: Isn't the problem purely hypothetical, seeing how Bitter Lies Student action is an Battle/Open and thus can't actually be played during the end phase?
  A: No, that is not a problem, because it's an interaction with Inheriting an Heirloom, which creates a condition that checks throughout the turn and then provides an option in the end phase.
  It's hypothetical because Bitter Lies Student does not fulfill the requirements for Inheriting an Heirloom - as was previously noted. Zen Faulkes, "Bitter Lies Student & Inheriting an Heirloom", 13 Dec 2010
• Q: So here's the deal : After Inheriting an Heirloom has resolved, my opponent uses Bitter Lies student to fetch a non-unique equipment and then attaches said weapon to a personality. At the end of his turn, does he get to draw the additional card off the event or not? In other words, does the from the Bitter Lies Student put the fetched weapon in your hand before attaching it or does it attach it directly?
  Relevant text :
  Bitter Lies Student : Battle/Open: Remove this card from the game: Search your discard pile, then your Fate deck, for a non-Unique Weapon. You may attach it to your target Personality.
  Inheriting an Heirloom: Until the game ends, during each player's End Phase, he may draw an additional card if he put any Weapons or Armors into play from his hand that turn.
  A: Bitter Lies Student attaches a card from the discard pile or fate deck, not from your hand. Alex Jones, "Bitter Lies Student & Inheriting an Heirloom", 13 Dec 2010
• Q: Regarding this topic
  The update of Rule Glossary about "Search" now states that "the deck is still shuffled immediately after searching" as a mechanical consequence of the effect "Search your discard pile, then your Fate deck, for a non-Unique Weapon" from Bitter Lies Student (according that the card has been chosen in the Fate Deck).
  So, how could the optional effect be solved, since the chosen card is now in a shuffled fate deck?
  Why should we delay the shuffling of the Fate Deck after the resolution of the Optional Effect "You may attach it to your target Personality.", when the rule say "immediately after searching"?
  Of course, if the player decided at the point of searching if he will activate the optional effect (or not), the card could simply be removed from the deck (or left inside). But why should he take the choice before the normal timing?
  Thank you for clarifying theses aspects.
  A: Let's see if this wording withstands the magnifying glass, then.
  "If a card is found, but is not required to leave the deck after due to some optional effect, the deck and found card is shuffled after the optional effect resolves." Zen Faulkes, "Shuffle and Searching", 4 Dec 2010
• Q: If I have a card effect (let's say Bitter Lies Student) that lets me search the discard and then the fate for a specific card. I look through my discards, nothing there. I look through my fate deck and find something. Next turn, I use another search effect(.) Does this phrasing mean that once I go through the discard pile and choose to pick from fate that any further "discard, then fate" choices are automatically made for me?
  A: No, that isn't what it means.
  The glossary entry for search (http://rules.l5r.com/CE_Glossary_S#Search) says nothing about being prevented from searching because you failed to find a card in one area. It says what happens when you select nothing at all (which was the situation described in the previous answer: "if you do so, and you find no non-Unique Weapon there..."). Zen Faulkes, "Bitter Lies Student", 19 Oct 2010
• Q: That I can never ever pull from the discard pile unless it's "discard pile only", even if it's a completely different card looking for something else entirely?
  A: No, that isn't what it means.
  The glossary entry for search that was linked to says: "If a player searches for a particular description of card and does not select any, the search effect fails, with special consequences. For the rest of the game, any of his or her further attempts to search for that description of card will fail, even if a card matching that description re-enters the deck or other searched area" (emphasis added). Zen Faulkes, "Bitter Lies Student", 19 Oct 2010