We had this come up at a Conflict Tournament and just wanted to confirm the ruling on the field:

My opponent's Togashi Tadakatsu forced me into declaring a Water conflict, so I choose Political and am about to choose my Guest of Honor as the attacker, but he wants to play Mantra of Water to ready Togashi Mitsu to defend. Does the declaration of a conflict involve all of selecting a type, element, and attackers; or is is a piecemeal process? Can he react with Mantra of Water once Tadakatsu decides it's going to be a Water conflict before I decide who is attacking?

7 minutes ago, Kakita Shiro said:

We had this come up at a Conflict Tournament and just wanted to confirm the ruling on the field:

My opponent's Togashi Tadakatsu forced me into declaring a Water conflict, so I choose Political and am about to choose my Guest of Honor as the attacker, but he wants to play Mantra of Water to ready Togashi Mitsu to defend. Does the declaration of a conflict involve all of selecting a type, element, and attackers; or is is a piecemeal process? Can he react with Mantra of Water once Tadakatsu decides it's going to be a Water conflict before I decide who is attacking?

That's fun. From the RR, under 3.2. Declare conflict , page 22:

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In order to declare a conflict, the attacking player must:

• ◊◊ Declare the type and element of the conflict to be initiated. This is indicated by selecting a ring from the unclaimed ring pool (this ring is known as the contested ring, and defines the element of the conflict), and placing it on an opponent’s eligible unbroken province (this indicates which province is being attacked) with either the military side or the political side faceup (the faceup side of the contested ring defines the type of the conflict).
• If a player selects an unclaimed ring with fate on it to become the contested ring, that fate is moved from the ring to the attacking player’s fate pool.
• ◊◊ Declare which ready characters (under his or her control) are being committed as attackers. The attacking player may declare any number of eligible characters under his or her control as attackers. Slide these characters toward the center of the play area, away from the attacking player’s home area. At least one character must be declared as an attacker at this time in order to initiate a conflict. If any of the attackers have the covert keyword, the targets for covert are chosen at this time. 

Each of the above items are considered to be performed simultaneously. If any of the above cannot be completed, the conflict cannot be initiated.

If the province being attacked is facedown, turn it faceup as soon as a conflict is successfully declared against it. This occurs before any reactions to the process of conflict declaration may be triggered. 

The reaction window for Mantras is after the simultaneous selection of MIL/POL, Element, Province, Attackers. The window is before the province is turned faceup (if applicable) which is before declare defenders.

The reaction step remains the same if Togashi Tadakatsu is in play. His ability forces the choosing of the ring (Element) before initiating the other steps of the conflict. Those steps (including choosing the element) are still considered  simultaneous even though the element is chosen before.

RR, Participating & Cannot Participate, page 12, first line:

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Any character that has been declared as an attacker or defender for a conflict is considered participating in that conflict through its resolution, unless it is removed by an ability or game effect.

So, after Guest of Honor has been declared, she is participating. Therefore, it is as follows:

The simultaneous act of choosing Ring (element and type), Attackers, and Province happens (with Guest of Honor being chosen). Then, the reaction window for Mantra of Water. Because the Guest of Honor is participating, your opponent cannot play her Mantra as it is an event.

The reason Tadakatsu forces the element to be chosen in advance of the rest of the declaration is to give the attacker the agency of choosing attackers, ring type, and province with the information of element. It helps the player from being blindsided by assigning their character that is best during Air conflicts in an Earth conflict. The reason it is necessary for the full simultaneous act of conflict initiation before the mantra can be triggered, is to allow the attacker to renege on the attack or declare attackers like Guest of Honor after learning the conflict's element, unless Tadakatsu is not in play in which case they could change the element as soon as you declare you're playing a mantra.

This is the solution we arrived at.

@Duciris The rules don't allow reneging on a conflict declaration.

On 8/29/2018 at 1:04 AM, Khudzlin said:

@Duciris The rules don't allow reneging  on a conflict declaration.

You’re saying that once an opponent has said they will attack and you tell them what element, they have to attack?

That is correct. When Tadakatsu is in play your opponent is locked into attacking with someone, somewhere once they've told you to choose an element and you do so.

1 hour ago, Duciris said:

Your saying that once an opponent has said they will attack and you tell them what element, they have to attack?

Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. Even without an effect like Tadakatsu's, you're committed to declaring a conflict as soon as you announce you're going to (though I would let an opponent go back on that if I haven't revealed new information to them - province or defenders).

Really while Tadakatsu is in play you should always be declaring assuming that the least optimal ring for your board state is the one that will be selected.

31 minutes ago, Khudzlin said:

Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. Even without an effect like Tadakatsu's, you're committed to declaring a conflict as soon as you announce you're going to (though I would let an opponent go back on that if I haven't revealed new information to them - province or defenders).

Sure. We play casually, and I can't remember him reneging, but I never show my proverbial hand until after he has made chosen all of his attackers & sundry. Dang, though. That changes the landscape. I like it!

In casual, once you've selected all of your attack declaration, then we play it without take-backs. However, we both like playing in tournaments, so it's great to learn this now.

Announcing the ring is giving information, so no take backs after that.