EE Physically marked card states
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In play and out of play
Whether a card is in or out of play is determined by the game area it is in.
Implications of in and out of play
Cards that are not in play or in a resolution, entering-play or focusing area have the following limitations:
- They may not be targeted or perform actions.
- Abilities on them may not be used, and triggered traits on them are not triggered.
- They may not be used or changed to pay costs, unless the cost inherently takes them out of an out-of-play area (for example, discarding a Fate card from hand).
- Their continuous traits do not produce effects on anything but the card itself.
- They are not affected by effects.
- EXCEPTION: A delayed effect can affect a card out of play if it was in play when the effect was activated. See Effects in and out of play.
The above limitations are overridden by a reference to cards in an out-of-play area, or to an card that would normally be put in an out-of-play area by an effect being referred to.
Examples: “Target a discarded card”; “Your Samurai enter play paying 1 less Gold”; “After one of your cards is destroyed”; “All Samurai in and out of play.”
Each of the limitations must be overridden separately, and is overridden only for the specific area or areas mentioned or implied.
Example: “After a target card is discarded: Put it in your hand” specifically targets a discarded card, and specifically tells you to put it in another out-of-play area (your hand), so both effects work. It does not allow you to use an ability on the card while it is out of play, or to have it produce effects.
See also Effects, Effects in and out of play and Timing, Leaving and entering play.
Bowed and unbowed
Some effects and costs turn a card 90° clockwise to indicate a state of unreadiness. This state is known as “bowed” and cards not in this state are “unbowed.” See also “may remain bowed” in the Glossary.
When a card goes from unbowed to bowed, the card “bows”. When a card goes from bowed to unbowed, the card “straightens.”
Only cards in play can bow or straighten, or have the bowed or unbowed state.
Cards, other than Holdings, enter play in the unbowed state.
When a card enters play bowed, it is not considered to bow, because it was not in play as an unbowed card.
Abilities on a bowed card can not be used, bowed Personalities can not assign, but bowed cards in a unit affect the calculation of total unit Force.
Honorable and dishonorable
A Personality card is sometimes turned 180° upside down to indicate a state of disgrace (or exposure, in the case of Personalities with no concept of honor). This state is known as “dishonorable” and Personalities not in this state are “honorable.” A personality who is both dishonorable and bowed should have the top of his or her card facing left instead of right, indicating the 90° turn of bowing plus the 180° turn of dishonorable status.
Only Personalities can be honorable or dishonorable. Personalities are normally honorable unless a cost or effect has made them dishonorable.
When a personality goes from honorable to dishonorable, he or she is “dishonored.” When a personality goes from dishonorable to honorable, he or she is “rehonored.”
A face-up Personality out of play can be dishonorable or honorable. Leaving or entering play does not change a Personality’s dishonorable or honorable status.
Dishonorable Personalities have a maximum Personal Honor of zero.
After a dishonorable Personality is destroyed, the player who controlled him or her loses Honor equal to the Personality's base Personal Honor. This is a rulebook effect, not a card effect.
There are a number of ways to rehonor dishonorable Personalities.
- Before a player gains one or more points of Honor from an action or trait that targeted, came from, or was performed by one or more of his or her dishonorable Personalities, if rehonoring the Personalities is not one of that action or trait’s effects, the dishonorable Personalities' rehonoring is substituted for the Honor gain; that is, the Honor gain does not occur and the Personality or Personalities are rehonored. (Dishonorable status is checked when the Personality is targeted, etc. For more details, see References).
- Before a player gains Honor from attaching a card to one of his or her dishonorable Personalities, the Personality's rehonoring is substituted for the Honor gain.
- Before a player with one or more dishonorable Personalities in his or her army gains Honor from destroying enemy cards in battle resolution, all such dishonorable Personalities are rehonored, an effect that substitutes for the Honor gain. In a tied battle, all dishonorable Personalities in an army are rehonored before being destroyed, in substitution for their army's leader's Honor gain.
If, during one of these effects, the rehonoring is negated or otherwise fails, the Honor is still not gained.
Dead
“Dead” is a special state that only applies to some Personalities in the discard pile. See Discard piles.
Locations
Cards in play have a location – the home or a battlefield. Areas out of play are not locations.
Cards enter play in their controller’s home.
Cards that are not in a unit can only be in a player’s home while in play.
EXCEPTION: Terrains, and Regions attached to a battlefield’s associated province, are in play at their battlefield.
When a unit goes from one location to another, it moves.
EXCEPTION: The following changes of location are not movement: assigning to a battlefield, entering a player’s home or other area due to change of control, returning home after a battle, and returning home due to a battlefield ceasing to exist.
When a unit “moves home” it moves to its controller’s home.
When a unit "moves to attack” it moves into the attacking side of a battlefield. Specifically, moving to attack also includes moving between two battlefields on the attacking side. "Move to defend" has a parallel meaning involving the defending side.
See the section on the Combat Segment for rules on whether a given unit can move into a battlefield and what army it moves into.
Card control
Cards come in play controlled by the player who brought them into play.
EXCEPTIONS: An attached card in a unit is controlled by the unit’s Personality’s controller. A Region or other card attached to a province is controlled by the player whose province it is.
A card’s text (such as, “Lose 3 Honor” or “You may not take Political actions”) is to be read from the perspective of its controller while the card is in play. See also Glossary, Your.
Only the controller of a card may use its abilities or use it to pay costs.
When a non-attachment card changes control, it goes to its new controller’s home, or to its new controller’s side of the battlefield if it was at a battlefield before changing control. This is not considered movement.
Changing control is instantaneous and does not have a duration.
Control of a unit is determined by who controls its Personality, even if cards in the unit have different controllers.
Card ownership
A card is owned by the player whose play deck it was originally in, or the player who brought it into play if the card was created or brought in from outside the play deck. A card’s ownership can not change.
A card’s text is to be read from the perspective of its owner while the card is out of play. See also Your.
Face up and face down
A card, in or out of play, is either face up or face down.
Physical destruction of cards
An effect may call for the physical destruction of a card (for example, "tear this card in half"). A card that has been physically destroyed is removed from the game, is no longer part of its owner's decks, and may not be included in decks in any future game.
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