So I thought I understood how these worked but after noticing something in the rules reference I'm not so sure. If you use Soresu and Djem So and they add the surge to your chart is that change permanent? I have always assumed it was during that defence you got that surge and you need to spend a dodge each defence in order to get it.

But now I've noticed deflect has different wording and doesn't add it to the surge chart:

So does the change to the chart carry past that defence?

No, it doesnt in eother case. The initial cost of the dodge spend that triggers the ability, so if you dont spend the dodge you cant block on a surge(unless you natively do already) and you cant cause damage to your opponent either since the blocking isnt active.if you dont

The newest RRG is filled with typos and inconsistencies this is probably just another inconsistency. As of right now, I wouldn't take any weird work around in the rules as purposeful at all until they fix it