CE Glossary S

Same

Special rules on keywords cover what is meant by "the same" keywords on cards.

Samurai

Samurai is a keyword showing training in the noble warrior arts.

Samurai Personalities can commit seppuku through a rulebook Reaction. See Glossary, Seppuku.

Search

To inspect a deck, or all cards in another area, in order to select one or more cards from it.

A player searching an area looks at the faces of all cards in it, keeping them as they were (face-up or face-down). He or she may look at all cards before deciding which ones to select, unless otherwise instructed by text (such as, "Put the first Ring you find into play.").

All effects that search decks for cards also shuffle the deck after the found card (if any) leaves the deck. If the card is not found, the deck is still shuffled immediately after searching. 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. Such shuffling is not an effect, but a mechanical requirement of the search process; for example, it cannot be negated.

If an effect directs a player to search for a card and do something with it (such as play it or put it into the hand), and that thing fails, the card is discarded instead. [EXPANDED 8 August 2011]

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.

Searching multiple areas

If an effect instructs a player to search two different game areas:

• If the first area consists of face-up cards (such as a discard pile), and the player finds and selects what he or she was searching for in that area, the second area is not searched. Once the second area starts to be searched, cards in the face-up area may not be selected any more.

• If the first area consists of face-down cards (such as a deck), the second area may be searched regardless of whether anything was found or selected in the first area.

• A deck only needs to be shuffled if it was actually searched.

Seppuku

An act of ritual suicide. If an effect directs a Personality to commit seppuku, apply the following effects: “Rehonor the Personality, then destroy him; these effects will not be negated.”

Additionally, all players have a Reaction ability relevant to seppuku (see Player Abilities).

Seppuku counts as destruction and rehonoring, from the action or trait that created the seppuku, for purposes of things that check whether these effects have happened. [ADDED 8 Sep 2011]

Show

To momentarily turn a face-down card face-up, so that all players can see it; then it is turned face-down again.

All players are entitled to inspect a shown card before it is turned face-down.

When a card in a face-down area is shown, and something about it (such as Focus Value) is then checked, the last face-up state of the card is what is actually checked.

Shugenja

A person skilled in the magic of Rokugan. Only Shugenja Personalities may attach Spells and perform actions on Spells. See Card types, Spells.

Side

A sub-area of a battlefield where either attacking or defending units are located. A side need not contain any units.

Singular

A card with the Singular keyword can not enter play or become controlled by a player if that player already controls a Singular card with the same title.

If the Singular card is in a unit that would change control to a player who already controls a Singular card with that title, the entire unit fails to change control. [Added 4 Oct 2009]

Straighten

To change from the bowed to the unbowed state.

Stronghold

A card type that starts in play and determines your Clan alignment, if any.

Substitution

“X instead (of Y)” refers to the substitution of an old targeting, effect, choice, cost, or other game element (Y) with a new one (X). The following rules refer to any use of "instead" or "instead of."
EXCEPTION: Effects “instead of focusing” in a duel follow special rules, not the rules in this section. See Challenges and Duels.

• If the old Y is prevented or fails before the substitution is applied, the new X doesn't happen.
  

Example: In “you may bow a personality instead of losing Honor,” you cannot use this to bow a Personality if an existing trait says that you do not gain or lose Honor.

• If the new X is prevented or fails, the old Y doesn’t happen.
  

Example: In “a target enemy unit adds Force to your army instead of the enemy army,” if you have no army (i.e. no units) then the new adding Force fails, and your unit does not add Force to the enemy army.

EXCEPTION: In effects that substitute targeting, if the new target has to be a "legal" target, then failure to find a new legal target means the original targeting happens normally.

Example: In "The action instead targets another of your legal Personalities with the same Clan alignment," if you control no Personality with the same Clan alignment who also satisfies the targeting requirements of the original action, the original targeting happens normally.

The rules on duration and scope of prevention effects should be followed to determine the scope and duration of substitution effects. However, substitution is not itself prevention or negation.

See also Glossary, Instead.

Successful

A successful action or other occurrence is one whose effects produced one or more actual changes in the game state.
Example: An Action card being discarded, an Event leaving its Province, or the fact that an ability on a Personality has been used, all do not count toward success.

Effects that are negated, that do not occur, or that had a one-time effect but failed to affect anything, are not actual changes in the game state.
Example: "Bow all Shugenja" when no Shugenja are in play is not a successful action.

Ongoing changes to the general conditions of the game do change the game state even if there is currently nothing they affect.
Example: "Until the end of the game, all Shugenja have -1F" when no Shugenja are in play is a successful action.

Effects that prevent a specific kind of occurrence within a specific action do not count toward success if those effects cannot be produced by the action’s text, and if nothing happens to make the action itself produce those effects.
Example: “Reaction: Before another player’s action’s resolution: Negate its effects that bow Personalities” is not successful if the action has no effects that bow Personalities. It is successful, however, if a substitution effect causes the action to bow instead of destroy a Personality.

Effects that negate a specific kind of effect within a specific action are still successful if those effects could be produced by the action’s text, but fail, are not chosen, or are substituted.
Example: “Reaction: Before another player’s action’s resolution: Negate its effects that bow Personalities” is still successful even if another effect in the game already negates all bowing of Personalities.

Switch

To swap the game area two or more cards are in. This may involve movement if units are switched between two locations.

If the area change of any one card is negated or fails, all other area changes from that switching also fail. This is an exception to the rule that effects are independent.

If more than two cards are being switched, any rearrangement of cards is acceptable as long as it is different from the original arrangement and keeps the same number of relevant cards at the same areas.

Example: Personalities A and B are at home, C is at battlefield 1 and D is at battlefield 2. If an effect lets you switch all four Personalities, you could for example move C home, A to battlefield 2 and D to battlefield 1, because this would leave you with two Personalities at home and one at each battlefield, just as you started out. You could not move A and B to battlefield 1 and D home, because that would leave you with three Personalities at battlefield 1, one at home and none at battlefield 2, which is different from the original number of Personalities at those locations.

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