Alexfrog's Way of the Lion

Decklist:
https://fiveringsdb....1ccf16fca4/view


Deck Philosophy:
My main philosophy is L5R is that passing first is very very very very VERY good, as its a free 2 fate swing. Often the cost of passing first is only that you didn't put out a 1-2 cost guy with 0-1 fate on him, and instead you put more fate on your important character, resulting in it lasting for the entire game instead of going away in the second half.

My philosophy is also that having more fate on your characters is extremely good, and puts the onus on your opponent to win fast or lose the game. Even 1-2 cost characters would actually love to have 1-2 fate on them if it wasn't for assassinate. I put a minimum of 3 fate on my key character. Sometimes I place 4. This seems insane to people who have been taught to play 0 fate on small characters and 2 on large ones, but it results in my character still being on the board late when yours dies. It results in my character having so much fate that many opponents don't even try to use the Void ring to make it leave play earlier, leaving me the Void ring to accelerate their character's demise.

I don't play Lion as a swarm/aggro deck, at least early on. I want to pass first and get an advantage in Fate, and have more Fate on my characters. As long as you have this you just need to avoid being blown out quickly. The Lion swarm can happen later and result in an unstoppable lategame push to break provinces, after board control is achieved.

Lion strategy rests on two pillars. Lions Pride Brawler bowing characters to control the board, and Kitsu Spiritcaller recurring characters to provide power, combat tricks, and versatility. If you can draw these characters, get them out, and put enough fate on them, while surviving the early game, you should win the game.

These two cards are SO far above the power curve that they should be the bedrock of Lion strategy for the entire life of the game. They could cost 4 instead and they would still be the two best cards in your deck. My entire strategy is build around these characters. Find them fast, play them with lots of fate, support them, abuse their power. This is the heart of the Lion deck.

In general at the end of every turn I discard all remaining dynasty cards into my discard pile. You want to fill your discard pile with things to recur, and you want to find more Lions Pride Brawlers. I will not discard Lions Pride Brawlers however, I'd rather just get more.

I play more balanced between military and political. There is no need to go all in on one type and weaken your deck's versatility.

Mulligan hard for Lions Pride Brawler, you want it turn 1 with lots of fate. (Vs Crab, or Unicorn with their champion available, you have to have a small guy too).

Lion is NOT dumb aggro. In fact, I'm usually bidding 1 and playing from behind early, often ceding at least 1 province on turn 1 (hopefully just one). But very soon my opponents board evaporates, Brawler will bow what is left, and the tables will turn.

Dynasty Deck choices:
Ikoma Eiji is not worth the price, and is not great to charge out / recur with spiritcaller, so you shouldn't play it.

Beiona is a trap and shouldn't be played (or if you do, max of 1). You do not want to fall into the trap strategy of overloading on Bushi and only being good in military challenges. Your deck gets better when you cut it.

Akodo Toturi is a spell, not a creature (in MtG terms). I Almost never pay full cost for him, except in a case where I have many fate left over and then I drew nothing else to play. He is a very good character to charge into a conflict and/or recur with Spiritcaller! This should be your plan with him 90% of the time. Consider a charge to be a 1 cost super Banzai with upside.

Honored General is also a spell most of the time, and is an excellent one. You gain a free Honor when you charge or recur him, and this has saved my from dishonor loss vs Scorpion.


Miya Mystic is a great tech card that wins certain matchups, such as anything with crab (Watch Commander) or Unicorn (Spyglass) as a splash. You might think those a re weak factions (and they aren't in the top 4 of Lion/Dragon/Crane/Scorpion), however they get splashed in strong factions, such as Scorpion/Crab dishonor deck which uses Watch Commanders, or Dragon/Unicorn which uses Spyglass to draw.

Additionally, Miya Mystic destroys Cloud the Mind, a key counter-tech card against Lion which shuts down your LPB or Spiritcaller. I have played a number of games where my opponent was like: "Lion? Its okay, I have the anti Lion tech card of Cloud the Mind, so I am in good shape". And then you just nuke it with Miya Mystics. This happens a lot in Phoenix matches (since they have lots of Shugenja), and some others. Miya Mystic is probably the main reason why I have no problem at all crushing Phoenix.

Against Scorpion or Scorpion splashes, my Brawlers often get Poisoned, which is very painful for a character I usually invest 6 in (3 cost + 3 fate), even if they still do some work, and removing the poison helps a lot.

People will complain that Miya Mystic "clogs your dynasty deck". It doesn't. Throw it away at end of turn, if you didn't have a must kill target for it that justified bringing it out. The key to Mystic in this deck is that it can be recurred with Spiritcaller at will to destroy attachments. This doesn't even result it in going onto the bottom of your deck!

If you don't play against an attachment heavy meta you could play just 2 Mystic.


Don't fall into the trap that you need to be playing 3-4 dudes each turn off your dynasty deck to play Lion. You dont. One Lions Pride Brawler or Spiritcaller with 3 fate, plus a small dork with 0-1 fate is usually better, and if I dont need the small character and it lets me pass first, I'll skip that too. Passing first is a 2 fate swing. At some point your opponent will pass first to stop this play, and then is the time when you can play out several characters. (But of course, always keep a small character vs Crab, or against a Unicorn who has Altansarnai in play, in provinces, or in discard, since they will charge or recur him).


Staging Ground is a strong card, it can help you to find Brawler faster, find more Storehouses, and find more free or cheap value guys like Obstinate Recruit or Steadfast Samurai. Its annoying to get two at once however, so you could be justified going down to 2 copies. Once more cards are printed I expect to cut this to 2 copies quickly.

Note: the only time I use this during the Dynasty phase is if the opponent passes quickly. Otherwise, I want to pass first, and then use it in the combat phase. Sometimes it finds Storehouses for card draw or Keepers to recur. Sometimes it finds someone to Charge out. And sometimes it just cycles through more things like Miya Mystic or Honored General that I want to get in my discard to recur, but without me having to suffer through a Dynasty phase with these cards on my provinces limiting my play options. The speedup in cycling through your deck is very valuable given how I want to hard-discard almost anything at end of turn anyway to hunt for Brawler (or second Brawler) or Spiritcaller.

I have found Obstinate Recruit and Steadfast Samurai to be great cards (much better than things like Matsu Berserker). I am pretty much always ahead on honor, and I bid 1 on turn 1 of the game to ensure this. As Lion, your Dynasty deck is way above the curve and your Conflict deck is below it, so you would prefer if both players drew less Conflict cards. Bidding 1 helps make this happen, since your opponent will quickly run low on honor and have to reduce their bidding. I tend to continue bidding 1 a lot, but not always. It is critical to maintain the honor lead as Lion, especially given the cards in this deck. Note that if you do get way ahead on Honor, Steadfast Samurai can be a good character to put Katana or Fan on.

Ikoma Prodigy is probably the best Lion 1 drop. Courtier, free Honor (put 1 fate on her), covers our weaker conflict. Venerable Historian is also strong, and is a good spiritcaller target, giving 4 strength and a free honor (like an Honored general but for Political only).

Seekers are strong in this deck. You find them faster with Staging Ground and with the strategy to discard lots of cards at end of turn. Your stronghold pump makes them more relevant.

Akodo Gunso is probably the most cuttable card in this deck. He is gone as soon as more good cards exist to play. Matsu Berserker might be the second most cuttable card, but does at least provide value in military punches (though its sometimes overkill).


Conflict deck choices:
Assassinate is important, even in a deck that wants the Honor lead. Often I find that I bid 1 vs opponent 5 to start, and one of the main ways I survive the early onslaught is to assassinate their best small drop. Also, later on, honor total are often something like 12 to 4, and you can freely play an assassinate without the honor change mattering. I would definitely play 3x. There are certain small characters like Border Rider that are worth so much value that you just have to be able to kill them. You cannot risk letting an opponent put multiple fate on them because they know you don't run enough assassinate.

Charge is great in this deck, and we have two big targets: Toturi and Honored General. They also end up in our discard ready to be Spiritcalled.

Fallen in Battle is often a blowout. For example, I attack with Lions Pride Brawler. Opponent blocks with their main character, because if they don't, I will bow it anyway. We fight a pumping war of Katanas/Banzais, etc, because my opponent is trying to prevent the bow effect, but I get ahead and then use brawler to bow their character. Now the strength is about 8 to 0, and Fallen in Battle triggers, killing their big character. The can be a blowout resulting in instant win.

Additionally, with the ability to Charge out a Toturi or Honored General, Spiritcall, use Way of the Lion to double a Toturi, etc, there are many ways to win a military conflict by 5 or more. If your opponent doesn't play around this card, sometimes it just wins the game. If they do play around it, it means they never block your military conflict with anyone important.

Finally, it works on defense as well. They attack with their big character, you defend, fight a pumping battle with Banzai's etc, and then after your opponent commits a ton of resources in this way, you bow their big character with Mirumoto's Fury, winning the fight, and then win the game as well with Fallen in Battle!


For Shame should be 3x, even if you think we don't have enough Courtiers. Its too strong.

For Greater Glory is strong even in my version where you haven't overbuilt your deck around it. You can use it to keep a charged Toturi or Honored General out for longer, as well as make your LPB last forever, and make your small 0 fate guys stick around an extra turn. This card supports our strategy of a board presence which never dies.

Ready for Battle counters strong effects like LPB in mirror, Mirumoto's Fury, etc. Easy 3x.

Note that two Way of the Lion results in a 4x multiplier. Toturi becomes 24 strength.


Some cards I'm not playing:
Strength in Numbers is weak imo, its worse than Rout, and I even cut Rout. Playing a 1 cost event that is hard countered for 0 by a neutral holding seems poor imo. Send Home is just a much weaker effect than Bow.

Rout is similarly weak in my experience.

Stand your Ground is worth considering but its not there yet imo. We need more automatic honoring characters to use it with. Our main one is Honored general, but I usually just spiritcall him.

I like Good Omen in many decks (especially good in combo with Charge), but in this deck I have had it be useless after getting into a 1 bid lock with my opponent who is low on honor. Also, we have For Greater Glory to perform a similar but stronger effect instead.

This deck really wishes it had more combat characters. They support the 'pass early' plan. But options are very limited right now. Master of the Spear is expensive and is most helpful later in a game for closing. Vengeful Oathkeeper is weak in Lion itself, and you cant put fate on him if you play him for free, and he is overcosted if you pay 2. More combat characters will help this deck when they are printed (Goblin Sneak!!)


Province Choices:
I put Entrenched Position on Stronghold 100% of the time. Note that I'm using the military +5 not political, even as Lion. Why? Its just a lot easier to boost military up high. You're much more at risk of a loss as a result of an opponent breaking province 3 and having one more dork left over who attacks your stronghold when you cant block and plays a Bonzai, than that your opponent surprises you with 7 political attack left over. Also, I am playing a more balanced Lion with more political and less military than most.

Shameful Display is the best neutral province, imo, and often is a blowout. When your opponent hasn't found it yet, you usually want to try and keep a blocker available in case they do. I've had many games be done on turn 1 when my opponent runs their important character into Shameful Display. Pilgrimage is a good province for sure, and has a higher floor, but it doesn't compare to the free wins that this card gives you. Also, since I am bidding 1 on turn 1, often I am ceding a lot of early attack pressure to my opponent. If they run into this, they will often lose the conflict as a result and that early pressure just vanishes.

Fertile Fields vs Manicured Garden could go either way. For most decks I prefer Manicured Garden for the fate, however, in this deck I am bidding 1 and trying to pass first, and often I find that I need more cards more than I need fate.

Meditations on the Tao is far better than Night Raid and is the clear choice imo. I've had many games where my opponent plays a big character with 2 fate (which is what most people seem to do - I play 3-4!), then they run it into Tao and lose 1, and then I counterattack on the Void ring and take off the other. Their big guy dies at end of turn and then on turn 2 they are starting again with almost no board (just a small dork or something, maybe), against my Brawler with 2 fate left. The game is already almost won.

The Art of War is a province you are really hoping your opponent will attack into with at least 3 strength. Just let them break it. Suddenly you wont be behind on cards anymore.





Splashes:
After testing Unicorn, Scorpion, Crane, Phoenix, and Dragon splashes, my ranking for best splash in Lion is:


1) Dragon. Mirumoto's Fury and Let Go are amazing. Fury saves your provinces. It allows Fallen in Battle on defense to kill their big character. Let Go counters a lot of cards that cost more than it. 'Dies to Let Go' is the L5R equivalent of 'dies to removal'. Attachments that cost more than 1 are very questionable as a result. I also like the versatility of Tattooed Wanderer. You could cut a Wandered ro two and paly More Let Go/Fury if you want.


2) Crane. Steward of Law is the best Crane card for you to splash. Its extremely powerful, and turns For Shame into a 0 cost Mirumoto's Fury! Voice of Honor is often playable since we have cards like Historian, Honored General, etc. One political Rival is a good choice to give us a huge political blocker. Finally, Noble Sacrifice is an excellent surprise which combos very well with a spiritcalled Historian or Honored General. I would play something like 3 Steward, 2-3 Voice of Honor, 1-2 Noble Sacrifice, 0-1 Political Rival. Admit defeat and Duelist Training are also worth considering.

3) Unicorn. Captive Audience is great for us to counteract conflict type switching provinces. Unfortunately, Spyglass doesn't work well in Lion, we don't have ways to trigger it more than once. Iuchi Wayfinder is the second best splash card, its nice to have combat characters, and to hunt for that ruinous Shameful display. I'd play something like: 3 Captive Audience, 3 Iuchi Wayfinder, 1 Favored Mount.

4) Scorpion. I found Calling in Favors less ideal than Let Go for this deck, especially as it isn't good against Cloud the Mind or Poison, two big anti-Brawler cards that I care about. I also found Forged Edict more difficult to use than Voice of Honor.

Phoenix didn't seem worth it. Display of Power costs a lot to use and requires you to not block to use it, so you cannot use it as a backup plan, you have to commit to using it. Kimono was the best phoenix splash card, but isn't as good as Mirumoto's/Let Go.

Maybe Crab for Watch commander is okay, but it doesn't seem wort hit compared to what Dragon gets you.



Summary:
* Lion is very strong. Lion is NOT dumb aggro. Lion is very oppressive aggro-control, and if played in a manner to stay ahead on amount of fate of characters on board, your opponent can feel trapped between needing to win fast, but being unable to achieve this due to having their guys bowed by Brawlers.
* Mulligan HARD for Brawler. Usually discard 4 if no Brawler, but not against Crab/Unicorn (you want one 0-1 cost guy against them)
* Try to pass first. Really try. Don't pass because you're out of things to do, pass earlier than that. Your opponent might try to punish this by sticking several more guys out with no fate on them. He'll have one good turn, and then after that you'll be ahead on the board forever. This is part of why I don't care if my provinces are full of holdings, seekers, mystics, etc. As long as I have 1 impactful play (Brawler/Spiritcaller) and can put a bunch of fate on it, I'm fine doing that and then passing. Its also really nice to play 1 big guy with fate and pass first if you have a conflict character in hand!
* Play lots of fate on Brawler and Spiritcaller. More than you think you should. 95% of players of this game aren't putting enough fate on their important characters imo.
* Don't spend your fate buying Toturi or Honored General unless its the only play. Charge/recur them.
* Cycle your dynasty deck as fast as possible, throw away almost anything at end of turn.
* Bid 1 turn 1. Usually keep bidding 1 most of the time. Stay ahead on Honor. Make
* Dragon splash is best in my testing, Crane also promising.
* Miya Mystic is very good in Lion decks, don't believe the hate. Discard her from your provinces most of the time but have the option to recur when needed.
* Strength in Numbers supports your game plan of a board that outlasts your opponent. Because your plan is to make your board outlast your opponent, you shouldn't be afraid of the game going longer. Your opponent is the ones with the onus to aggro and end the game before his board dies! If it goes long, your board remains, and you win.