Topic: So I picked up a deck... (Read 1060 times)

Asahina_Jiro · « **on:** July 09, 2012, 07:14:51 PM »

I haven't played L5R in about 8 years, and after considering things for a few months I went out and bought a Crane and a Phoenix box, then proceeded to start tryin to build a deck this evening. A few things I've learned and/or have questions about:

1) It seems that a dueling deck isn't quite viable for Crane right now. Nobody has a duel action except the champion, and there are no duel creators except on the champion and on one of the strongholds.

2) Courtier with Shugenja support seems to be the way to go, using the Fate deck to try and shoot for 40 honor ASAP.

3) Gaining honor isn't going to happen too fast. If I remember correctly, you can only gain honor for one personality per turn now, correct? There will be no more 20 honor by turn 4 in this setting it seems.

4) There are a few more terms to learn. I'm still trying to figure out what a recon action is.

5) There are a lot more specialty cards these days, and I don't have much diversity in the cards that came in the Crane set.

Enlightened Courtier · « **Reply #1 on:** July 09, 2012, 07:23:55 PM »

I'd try to answer the questions:
"1) It seems that a dueling deck isn't quite viable for Crane right now. Nobody has a duel action except the champion, and there are no duel creators except on the champion and on one of the strongholds."
- Currently I still really like dueling [and my opponents hate it], but the effects of duels are mostly negated/delayed these days.
"2) Courtier with Shugenja support seems to be the way to go, using the Fate deck to try and shoot for 40 honor ASAP."
- I agree with this. Asahina shugenja honor is really fast
"3) Gaining honor isn't going to happen too fast. If I remember correctly, you can only gain honor for one personality per turn now, correct? There will be no more 20 honor by turn 4 in this setting it seems."
- Yes this is correct. you can only gain honor from 1 personality in the dynasty phase, and it's now a reaction called 'proclaim'. About the 20 honor... mileage may vary

"4) There are a few more terms to learn. I'm still trying to figure out what a recon action is."
It's just a flavor for the action. Much like ninja action, it doesn't do anything by itself.

DAIDOJI PINUKIPAI · « **Reply #2 on:** July 09, 2012, 07:31:40 PM »

What you got in the starters doesn't really show the strengths or weaknesses of the current environment.

That said, welcome back to the game!

Miya Kane · « **Reply #3 on:** July 09, 2012, 07:46:08 PM »

Welcome,
I originally played from imperial to jade edition, so I know what your feeling right now.
The clans now each have 4-5 strongholds, each with very specific support towards their win condition. Honor is very tough to play out of the box, with nearly all honor generating fate cards being rare. Crane is basically unplayable out of the starter, too many themes and too few non-rare cards to support them.

Competitive honor decks will cross 40 by turn 5, honor generation is very fast right now but, most of it comes from fate side honor gains.

A recon action is one that creates reconnaissance at the battlefield(s) and is essential for many of the abilities of scout deck, especially crane.

Crane still is mostly an honor focused clan, with the exception of the scout stronghold which is pure military. Additionally the magistrate stronghold, the one with the duel on it, can also do dishonor but, not as fast as a pure dishonor deck.
As for dueling, if you mean just out of the starter, then no neither dueling nor anything else is really viable. Now if your talking about dueling in general... I'll let someone else argue about that.

Good luck and welcome back.

Asahina_Jiro · « **Reply #4 on:** July 10, 2012, 07:29:26 AM »

okay, so what can I buy to get the most bang for my buck and put me on track to have a fun, playable deck?

Kakita Shiro · « **Reply #5 on:** July 10, 2012, 07:31:30 AM »

Forgotten Legacy is a strong choice as it contains many powerful cards, including two staple cards (A Game of Dice and Creating Order).

Kakita Kizuku · « **Reply #6 on:** July 10, 2012, 07:41:24 AM »

Quote from: Kakita_Shiro on July 10, 2012, 07:31:30 AM

Forgotten Legacy is a strong choice as it contains many powerful cards, including two staple cards (A Game of Dice and Creating Order).

Not to mention all of the other "staple cards" for whatever you do decide to play.

Forgotten Legacy at the moment can improve your cardpool the most in a one-shot buy scenario IMO

Asahina_Jiro · « **Reply #7 on:** July 10, 2012, 08:11:38 AM »

Hmm, that "Forgotten Legacy" set you mention, it's a limited set, much like "Dawn of the Empire" was, yes? I'll have to look into it. As I played around with my experimental deck last night, I came to realize that I need a good balance between shugenja (for their abilities) and courtiers (for Favor control). It's quite different from any Crane deck I've ever built before, even from the old Mai control deck I played in early Diamond. I'm not used to having spells potentially in my fate deck and having so few duelists (with or without the new keyword

makes me a bit nervous.

Overall, how different are the other clans? As I recall, the Crane were dueling honor and control limited honor, Crab were flat out smash, Dragon were movement smash and occasionally either battle honor or enlightenment, the Lion was either tactician smash or battle honor, Phoenix were almost pure control honor, Scorps were control dishonor or control smash, Shadowlands were control smash or dueling smash, and the Unicorns were just fighting where you weren't, and then they built a gigantic army and tossed in Kamoko's charge in the end.

The Crane deck I built is largely control honor, which feels familiar (and I know I have a poor deck at the moment with my card selection) but it's just different enough to make me feel a bit of concern as to how I'll manage playing in such an environment.

Kakita Shiro · « **Reply #8 on:** July 10, 2012, 08:19:46 AM »

Quote from: Asahina_Jiro on July 10, 2012, 08:11:38 AM

Overall, how different are the other clans? As I recall, the Crane were dueling honor and control limited honor, Crab were flat out smash, Dragon were movement smash and occasionally either battle honor or enlightenment, the Lion was either tactician smash or battle honor, Phoenix were almost pure control honor, Scorps were control dishonor or control smash, Shadowlands were control smash or dueling smash, and the Unicorns were just fighting where you weren't, and then they built a gigantic army and tossed in Kamoko's charge in the end.

It's different right now, but it's not. Just add control dishonor to Crab. Mantis are mostly Naval Smash variations, and an Animal Friends honor deck. Spider are all some variation of military.

Kakita Jun · « **Reply #9 on:** July 10, 2012, 09:52:26 AM »

Yeah, where would one buy a complete Forgotten Legacy set? My playgroup plays a modified Legacy ruleset and I'm unlikely ever to play competitively, so I'm not too bothered, but I can't see it available anywhere...I'm not looking hard enough I guess.

Kakita Shiro · « **Reply #10 on:** July 10, 2012, 09:55:36 AM »

Here.

Kakita Jun · « **Reply #11 on:** July 10, 2012, 10:05:50 AM »

How did I miss that? I've looked at AEG's store before...pardon my early onset dementia.

Asahina_Jiro · « **Reply #12 on:** July 10, 2012, 11:52:12 AM »

What are the Kami cards for? Do they get treated like the old Sensei cards? Are they a part of the Dynasty deck?

Kakita Shiro · « **Reply #13 on:** July 10, 2012, 12:00:13 PM »

Quote from: Asahina_Jiro on July 10, 2012, 11:52:12 AM

What are the Kami cards for? Do they get treated like the old Sensei cards? Are they a part of the Dynasty deck?

Kami is a keyword on certain Celestial cards (the broad classification also includes Fortunes and Daigotsu's Guidance). They are part of the Dynasty deck and enter play as soon as they are revealed in a province. Specific rules can be found here.

As to any similarities with the old Sensei cards, I can't say because I have no experience with them.

ryzouken · « **Reply #14 on:** July 10, 2012, 01:42:32 PM »

They are totally different from the old Sensei cards.

For those curious: Old Sensei cards were cards you played during set up, much like our current Border Keep. They typically had a restriction as to which clans they'd work for, and modified your stronghold's starting stats (FH, Gold production, PS) as well as provided neat new abilities. Example: Gozoku Sensei

Celestials, on the other hand, work much akin to Events, though they actually stick around in play and can resolve outside of the Events Phase, should they be show up in Border Keep or Second City type flip. They start in your Dynasty Deck, and must be drawn into.

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Author Topic: So I picked up a deck... (Read 1060 times)