splahes

[Matrim]

I am trying to decide which clan to splash for full play. My top 3 are currently

Crab - for watch commander, my decks seem to do a good job at keeping peoples honour low and this increases that pressure

Phoenix for the pacifism attachment. I like the thought of making their 2fate military powerhouse stay at home from their preferred conflict.

Scorpion for I can swim and the neg 2 attachment. The attachment helps fights and I can swim can be brilliant when combined with odd high bid for draw or duel.

Of the 3 the scorpion requires the most setup, the phoenix is conditional on the opponent having a beast char and the crab is more a background pressure.

What do people think?

[Kakita Shiro]

I like Dragon and Scorpion. Phoenix is good in a three-core environment. Haven't put a lot of thought into Crab, but that sounds reasonable (though I hate the thought of putting Crab cards with Crane cards).

[Kakita Onimaru]

I dont know if there are any bad splashes. Depending on your play style any of them can be great.

Scorpion - Forged Edict double you cancellation power and Fiery Madness make our stupid box work

Crab - All of their card are good and require little set-up. Watch Commander is amazing, Mountain does not fall is great of defense, and Stoic Gunso can generate a LOT of MIL

Phoenix - Pacifism is nice, but Magnificent Kimono helps set-up Noble Sacrifice and Voice of Honor and display of power steal rings.

Dragon - Lets go is clearly good and the monk gives out covert. Also, the Ancestral Daisho keeps coming back to your hand, ensuring you have a mjor force bonus late game

Lion - The honored blade is a much needed force bonus and puts you on the honor map. Stand your ground helps you keep people on the board

Unicorn - Spyglass is amazing, and their movement options negate rout/outwit. Iuchi Wayfinder is great at scouting prvinces

[Dare]

Current "projects" with 3 core constructed:

Crane/Phoenix - Focus on honouring dudes and levering it, using 3 Display of Power and 3 Kimono.

Crane/Crab - Using Watch Commander, and Reprieve (though Reprieve could be any 1 inf card tbh), pressuring dishonour pretty hard.

Crane/Dragon - Focus is almost entirely proactive actions, and a little bit of reactions. No "funny stuff" in this deck, just every card that helps win a battle and nothing else. Let Go, Mirumoto's Fury.

Crane/Scorpion - A bit of a sleeper combo I feel, there's a lot of great stuff to dip into here, but none of it directly works towards a win condition. Mr Bounce, Fiery Madness, Counterspell, Attachment Steal, Scorpion Frog... all are good additions.

[Kakita Shiro]

[Matrim]

I did some testing with phoenix against crab and unicorn yesterday (because they are both military centric with some large peeps) and though I drew pacifism a lot and was able to pacify kisada, Moto horde etc and won it did not flow.

Against crab due to the kimono I managed to honour out but it still felt bumpy. Unicorn was far harder mainly due to the insane card draw spyglass can give

I may try crab , scorpion and dragon against the same to see how the deck rolls.

A final note is i love our duelling dude, I particularly like defending with him and watching the oppo furiously spending cards to break the province then firing his duel to and losing to send him him home. Any honor gained I a bonus.

Final , final note is if our shugenja is worth it? I am short courtiers sometimes so am considering switching her for the whisperer.

[Kakita Shiro]

[Dare]

[Matrim]

I would use her except I find the lack of courtier causes difficulty sometimes which is why i may replace with whisperer just for the extra chance of having one around.

I do have some concerns about the 4 cost guys. I would probably run Guest of Honor instead of storyteller but both seem to make my dynasty stumble as I seem to prefer smaller peeps.

On a similar issue is Political Rival worth it as a conflict card? That 3 makes me wince especially as it is a 4 is you want to take advantage of the covert(without using unbow to get it out same turn). I have (at most recent count) 13 cost 1 cards in Conflict and dont fancy more. The defensive advantage of suddenly dropping a 6 political defender is certainly useful but that cost...


Finally! has anyone any opinion on the Hotaru rules query on the FFG site? People are arguing that she cant use her ability on defence (due to rings effects specifically referencing attackers and the Phoenix champion card saying 'resolve ring effect as if you were the attacker). I dont think I've ever managed to use her on defence yet and the logic to the rules argument seems at least reasonable (same for Toturi)

[Doji Makoto]

Whisperer is an auto-include I think.

Guest of Honor is great, particulary against Scorpion. I am running both 4-costers x2.

I don't know anyone who plays Political Rival. Too expensive.

That argument is complete nonsense. Reiga used Hotaru in that way on both semi and final during GenCon in front of judges and designers. It would make both champions even more useless.