L5R Dynasty Pack Review: Tears of Amaterasu

And we're back! It's time for six packs six weeks, and now we have six reviewers as well to help bring more takes on those packs to you.

Our review board:

• benjoewoo: Old5r player, coming back and excited to see this game revive.
• Kingsley: Kingsley is pretty into card games sometimes. He made Dragon Hatamoto and placed third overall at Winter Court World Championships 2017. All complaints about the lateness of this article should be directed at him.
• nyxnyxnyx: nyxnyxnyx is a competitive player from Singapore who has played Netrunner, Conquest, and AGOT 2.0.
• I Fight Dragons: Travis is an avid card game player who has played Magic, Netrunner, and Conquest competitively and L5R casually in the past. For the L5R LCG, Travis went 5-0 in the 704 person Kiku Matsuri and became one of the first Phoenix Hatamoto, then placed in the top 8 for the following 256 person inaugural tournament at Gencon 2017. Travis was the top Phoenix player in the 2017 World Championship, making top 16 to be knocked out by the eventual world champion. He hosts a podcast focused on competitive play and being a better player called The Winter Court Podcast.
• Grendel: Grendel has around twenty years of card game experience. At one time he was the worst rated player on DCI in the state of Tennessee. He has played several games to varying degrees of competitive success locally. For FFG’s LCG line, he has only played Conquest competitively, in which he achieved second place in a 50+ OCTGN league, second and fifth place in two regional events, second in a store championship, and took home several game night kits. Beyond just playing a game, Grendel enjoys discussing theory, strategy, and tactics for said game.
• Chutêreve: Chutêreve is a card game enthusiast and played the old L5R CCG casually. He’s a Crane loyalist but also enjoy trying others clans in a non-competitive setting. Semi-finalist of the first discord league.

On to the reviews!


Blood of Onnotangu (average score: 2.1667)

Benjoewoo - 3/5
This can be an immensely powerful surprise control piece and is a fire province, so its competition is really meditations on the tao. But, the restriction applies to both players, so you have to already be winning with on board abilities and stats to want to be attacked here. This could easily spell doom for you if your opponent is in a better position on board, since you won’t be playing anything that costs fate, which most clans will rely on to defend themselves. The incredibly poor potential timing of hitting this province keeps this from being a 4/5 or 5/5 right now. Funnily being seeker of fire doesn’t necessarily make this better, as it denies you the ability to spend the fate you gain.

Kingsley - 2/5
I might be dense, but I don’t understand what this is for. Its ability seems not only worse than other Fire provinces, but this also has low province strength and is restricted to Seeker roles. If this only hit your opponent it would be great, but disabling your own defensive tricks seems weak.

nyxnyxnyx - 2/5
Low province strength, has a chance to be absolutely useless if already at 0 fate in the first place, or with a hand full of 0-fate cards anyway. Incredibly low lows, not even that high of a high.

I Fight Dragons – 2/5
This card is probably quite good in a few very specific decks and even worth giving up Meditations on the Tao for. With this you don’t have to worry about offensive Charges, a lot of Move Home/Bow effects, Conflict characters, and a good deal of attachments. If you combine this province with a defending Guest of Honor or some event cancels, then your opponent is basically only able to play 0 cost attachments and that seems pretty solid. For most decks, though, this turns off some of the best defensive tools like Fury and Harmonize that are powerful control effects; and that is a bit of a death knell for a 3 Str province.

Grendel - 2/5
3 strength and a niche ability is a recipe for disaster. It might have some niche use in specific builds, but a canny play can crack a 3 strength province quite easily. Fire also has some other strong provinces available to it that give this some very stiff competition.

Chuterêve – 2/5
A strong effect but too situational and 3 strength is crippling. You need to tweak your conflict deck with 0 cost cards to really benefit from it.


Tears of Amaterasu (average score: 3.1667)

Benjoewoo—4/5
Gaining multiplicative fate for someone attacking you is great. Fate is the most precious resource usually, so this is very strong. However, the once per game ability, barring Dragon’s Yaruma, makes this a farmable province compared to Shameful Display. The 4PS is a huge boon, but the farmable potential keeps this from being a 5/5 compared to Pilgrimage Shameful, both relatively non-farmable provinces.

Kingsley - 3/5
Tears of Amaterasu is a strong card sadly marred by being in an extremely competitive province slot. Some decks might play it, but even those that don’t like Shameful Display probably like Pilgrimage more than this.

nyxnyxnyx - 4/5
Actually a pretty good effect that will at least net 1 and possibly 2-3. Problem is that it’s Void, the most competitive province element thus far. It’s also a when-revealed effect with some potential to be played around with Cautious Scout / Iuchi Wayfinder effects.

I Fight Dragons – 2/5
Tears of Amaterasu is not at all a bad province, but suffers from being in the most competitive element of all provinces. This province is competing with the likes of Shameful Display, Pilgrimage, and Kuroi Mori. While good, I don’t think it’s good enough to replace any of those provinces outside of maybe a specific build that requires a large income of fate to work.

Grendel - 3/5
A decent on reveal ability that can be quite advantageous especially in line ups that make an opponent want to attack with multiple characters(endless plains), it is however a void province and competing with Pilgrimage or Shameful Display is an easy way to get sidelined.

Chuterêve – 3/5
Not as good as it seems because:
1) We already have two very good void province choices (shameful display and pilgrimage)
2) province with effects only on reveal can be frustrating because your opponent can just go here again and again without penalty until they break it.
3) Most of the time, it will trigger when your opponent has only one or two attacking characters, which is good but not outright better than something like Manicured gardens.


Staunch Hida (average score: 3.5)


Benjoewoo—5/5
Crab have a number of sub-optimal personalities they have to play right now, and this is one of the few characters that can get ring effects on defense. The – stat doesn’t matter so much because she’s usually defending, so rally is unlikely to matter for her, and with the SH she’s 2 fate for a 3 military force. Solid.

Kingsley - 3/5
Staunch Hida is solidly decent, but suffers from strong competition in the two-cost slot for Crab. If she had 0 political instead of a dash she’d be much better, but as it stands I think this is a bit too straightforwardly played around to be really strong

nyxnyxnyx - 3/5
It’s like a Hotaru/Toturi that works on defence! 2 for 2/- is pretty alright, since you want to win the defence to trigger her ability anyway (and Crab is good at MIL).

I Fight Dragons – 3/5
Really poor stats for a 2 drop, but I think the ability acts as a good enough deterrent that this card sees some amount of play. Your opponent will do everything in their power to either guarantee a win on military or simply not declare a military (which can cause honor loss thanks to Intimidating Hida) in order to make absolutely sure this effect does not trigger.

Grendel - 4/5
Stonewalling an opponent’s ability to launch mil attacks into crab is very strong as crab can put military numbers up that rival both Lion and Dragon. If he was a 0 pol, he would be superb. His biggest downside is that crabs 2 drop line up is very strong as is.

Chuterêve – 3/5
Somewhat lackluster stats but defend the wall on a character is no joke. However, you will still need to win the conflict as a defender to trigger the effect and it is not very likely that your opponent will swing military if he thinks that he can’t win. Even then, the only presence of this card on the board can force to play around it.


Karada District (average score: 4.5)


Benjoewoo—4/5
The 1x limit per deck keeps this from being a 5/5, because there’s no way to accelerate dynasty for crab to ensure this comes up. But, 1 fate to take control of any attachment is strong.
The option to use 1 fate to just destroy the attachment is also very strong.

Kingsley - 5/5
While I don’t like one-per-deck as a design concept, this card is extremely powerful and will likely feature in almost all competitive Crab decks for a while. Works very well with Rebuild.

nyxnyxnyx - 5/5
Realllyyy good. This will be an easy 1-of for a long time to come. Pretty much 2 fate and a dynasty slot to take any attachment you like. In practice, your opponent will likely hold back his valuable attachments till this holding is removed or you’ve used it for the turn, which should suit you just fine. Rebuild also means the threat of this forever looms as long as it’s in the discard pile.

I Fight Dragons – 4/5
The cost of this holding seems high, but Crab has the most fate generation of all clans thanks to a large number of cheap dudes and cards like Kaiu Envoy and the upcoming Yasuki Taka. Being able to steal an attachment whenever you want, repeatedly, is a powerful effect not to be underestimated. By being limit 1 per deck, I see few reasons not to find a slot for this card in almost all Crab decks.

Grendel - 5/5
Extremely powerful holding. 1 fate is a steep cost, but with defend the wall and staunch hida, this can create a very tough environment for your opponent. A big downside to this card and it’s a common theme with Crab is if/when crab falls behind on the board/economy this effect becomes almost unmanageable. If Crab is ahead, it seals the deal that much more.

Chuterêve – 4/5
The price for this holding’s action can be steep but Crab will definitively include it in their decks because there are so many attachments out there. A solid addition to Crab’s holdings.


Doji Representative (average score: 3.5)

Benjoewoo—4/5
Courtier is nice. Non-assassinate fodder is good. 2 Glory in a clan that regularly honors 1-2 people per turn is great. An ability to eject after securing an objective is awesome. Competing with Doji Challenger is terribly hard. Crane aren’t generally lacking on courtiers, though, and putting this person in will significantly raise cost curve in tempo crane, arguably Crane’s strongest deck. Probably best for an honor dedicated deck, but may see play in tempo crane as an alternative to the neutrals. Combos well with Disdainful remark.

Kingsley - 4/5
Doji Representative doesn’t quite have the exciting stats or overwhelming ability to make the grade on 5/5, but moving home is nevertheless very strong. As we know from the learn to play guide, Kakita Asami failed in her mission; perhaps it is time for Crane players to replace her with a new representative?

nyxnyxnyx - 3/5
3 for 1/3 , pretty underwhelming but 3-cost is a good spot anyway. A flexible move home option is pretty good. Easy way to get extra value out of Spyglass and Watch Commander.

I Fight Dragons – 4/5
Could easily replace Asami in most tempo builds, as this is a fantastic card for feinting attacks or forcing cards out of your opponent. Combined alongside Doji Challenger, Crane seems to have a large number of outmaneuvering effects in their repertoire. It’s really sad that Crane seem to do what Unicorn want to do, but better.

Grendel - 3/5
Acceptable stats, decent glory which tends to be more of a upside then downside in crane, powerful courtier keyword. Ability is a card advantage generator. It makes Cranicorn that much more appealing. I won’t say it’s strictly stronger then Asami but a decent alternative and I think the card advantage this card can generate combined with Asami/Kaezen + spyglass makes some very interesting low bid styles for crane.

Chuterêve - 3/5
A very interesting character thanks to his ability, but Crane already runs 3 different 3-cost characters. This will probably be played instead of Asami in a fair number of decks with the downside that it’s not a unique card.


Kitsuki Yaruma (average score: 3.1667)

Benjoewoo—4/5
Depending on how this person’s ability works with charge or similar put into play effects during conflicts, he could easily be a 5/5. Even assuming the ability doesn’t work to double province effect during conflict, this person makes For Shame! a valid consideration consistency wise, has a boatload of political stats, and can reset provinces between turns at the very least. The no poison attachments ability isn’t particularly relevant now, but is nice for the scorpion match up and could become more relevant. Viable voltron alternative to niten master, raitsugu, ascetic, and yokuni is great. And make him fairly solid for dragon’s usual plan of investing into higher quality targets rather than a series of smaller targets.

Kingsley - 3/5
Yaruma isn’t amazing, but offers solid value and enables some tricky plays. If we see more strong on-reveal provinces in the future, this guy could become a real powerhouse. Note that now that Dragon has a Seeker role, you can sometimes use him to gain fate from :standard” provinces, and even if you don’t have an on-reveal effect or Seeker fate to gain he can still help your Mirumoto’s Fury have a bit more reach.

nyxnyxnyx - 2/5
Rather tricky to evaluate. Based purely on stats he’s a 4 for 2/4/2 that kinda refunds you 1 fate at the end of his lifetime (which is not ideal for a big character you usually invest fate in). Ideally you would cheat him in using Charge!, but that’s not ideal since he’s only 2 in MIL, though you do get 1 fate which is cool. His reaction means you get to reuse an on-reveal province, but your opponent now knows exactly what it is so its value is way diminished. At least he’s immune to Poison, I guess?

I Fight Dragons – 3/5
This is an interesting card, especially combined with Charge. If you Charge him in while an “On Reveal” province of yours is being attacked, you can flip it back face down with his reaction, then it immediately flips back up and triggers it’s on reveal effect again which can be really sweet with either of the water provinces or Night Raid. Additionally, he has courtesy and can potentially get you more fate from a Seeker role, so that Charge effectively turns into an economy card. Outside of charge, he’s a lackluster 4 drop but at least is a Courtier which Dragon can use more of.

Grendel - 3/5
I think this is a very interesting card and I think he has a ton of room to grow. 4 cost is quite steep, but he is courteous enough to recognize that. 4 pol is a very nice number, and courtier is a relevant trait. All of this is superficial compared to his reaction. If even not currently playable he can create entire new line up opportunities by recharging on reveal provinces. Yes, it ruins the surprise factor, but I think the on reveal surprise factor provinces are quite underwhelming to begin with. The real kicker is on ones that are independently good like Restoration of Balance, and while the number of on reveal provinces that are good are quite low currently, overtime as more of these provinces become available the stock in this character increases considerably, especially if it possible to run a mostly on reveal line up. And in the province line ups dedicated to him, he becomes even more valuable.

Chuterêve - 4/5
A much needed additional Courtier for Dragon, allowing the option to use For Shame reliably. The no poison clause is a nice, minor upside and the fate gain is still interesting even if a little strange on a high cost character that you will probably want to stay in play as longer as possible. Turning an unbroken province face down is the real deal here even if I don’t expect it to be useful every game because it will probably only be on Restauration of Balance or Rally to the Cause/Elemental Fury.


Gifted Tactician (average score: 4.333)


Benjoewoo—5/5
Card draw on a guy who triggers off doing what Lion does best. Easily replaces Ikoma Prodigy or Venerable Historian for decks that want even more focus on military and don’t find the courtier options worth it.

Kingsley - 4/5
Like Asako Diplomat or Blackmail Artist, this guy has a powerful ability but requires you to win a conflict with his weak stats to trigger it; unlike Asako Diplomat or Blackmail Artist, he has a ton of faction synergy behind him, making that win more reliable than one might think at first glance.

nyxnyxnyx - 4/5
Simple workhorse 2-cost character that just fits right in to the Bushi/win-MIL thing Lion currently has going on and draws you a card for your efforts.

I Fight Dragons – 5/5
Auto-include for a good long time. Card draw for doing what Lion wants to do is exactly what they needed to be an even crazier deck than they already are. Helps Lion draw into their disgusting combos and stat buffs even more consistently and doesn’t even have very weak stats for an effect that is so good.

Grendel - 5/5
Bushi, Commander (which is already looking to be relevant due to Toshiro), and a strong ability. This also helps enable a honorable lion or a switch style.dec Drawing into FGG with this character is like a thing. I usually rate characters that require winning a conflict lower, but let us be real Lion doesn’t have a problem winning military conflicts.

Chuterêve - 3/5
A good effect for the Clan it’s in. Winning military in Lion is fairly easy and it allows for more honor pressure by bidding low. It will probably replace higher cost characters like Beiona in a lot of decks or even maybe the lower cost Steadfast Samurai.


Hito District (consensus score: 1)


Benjoewoo – 1/5
The holding risks taking up a character slot, and while lion have ways to mitigate holding clogs, it’s unlikely worth the opportunity cost in most situations. The best you can hope for is forcing the opponent to attack into a nearly unbreakable Entrench Position, but then what’s under the SH? Without something else to make this work, seems very wonky given Lion has good military, but not particularly so on defense.

Kingsley - 1/5
Unless I am missing something this is one of the worst cards in the game. What’s to prevent your opponent from just doing their military attack there, or for that matter just going somewhere else? The dream scenario is that you Rebuild this onto an Entrenched Position, but come on.

nyxnyxnyx - 1/5
You can’t even choose where this province goes, and it only protects it from one side of the equation (POL) so I honestly don’t know when you would ever want to use this.
I Fight Dragons – 1/5
What a terrible holding. For starters, if it shows up on a broken province then you completely lost a Dynasty draw for no effect. For closers, it’s just not that powerful of an effect and if your opponent can’t deal with it, they just attack somewhere else.

Grendel - 1/5
Trash.

Chuterêve - 1/5
A terrible card. Even if you’re not going to flip this on a broken province, your opponent is just going to declare his political conflict somewhere else. The only interesting thing about it is the synergy with rebuild, in this case the card could jump to a 2/5.


Isawa Kaede (average score: 4.833)


Kingsley - 5/5
Kaede is extremely strong. Immunity to ring effects is a Big Deal in this game, and she couples it with adding what’s often the best ring effect to a bunch of your other challenges. I don’t think the Seeker of Knowledge combo is as good as people think, but Kaede doesn’t need any combos to be a powerhouse - she’s amazing on her own.

nyxnyxnyx - 5/5
Really good card and is something Phoenix desperately needed. Of importance is that she provides the third link in the chain that allows Phoenix to run Charge! (Tsukune, Atsuko, and now Kaede). Great value with Seeker of Knowledge and other future element-adding effects, and is just a solid character anyhow, with some immunity to boot. She absolutely hates getting her mind clouded, though.

I Fight Dragons – 5/5
Kaede actually has the potential to outright replace Tsukune, who is one of the best champions in the core set. Void is one of the best general ring effects and being able to get it alongside another ring on attack is very powerful. She’s also immune to ring effects from your opponent to boot which means she can’t be dishonored by fire, bowed by water, or have fate removed by void which is way powerful. Combine her with some movement and unbow effects such as Against the Waves or Favorable Ground and you suddenly can get multiple void rings a turn. Her stats are lower than the average 5 drop, but not by enough for her to not be an absolute truck.

Grendel - 5/5
Best 5 cost character in the game. She protects herself by being immune to ring effects(WHY?) and is double ring effect like Toturi/Hotaru, but one of them is always void, she is also shugenja traited which comes with a ton of bonuses. This is a character that will take over a game in short order if not answered and she is quite hard to answer with her text and the Yojimbo. Cloud the Mind or bust.

Chuterêve - 4/5
As impressive as a 5 cost character should be. The stats are a little on the weak side and her second ability needs you to win the conflict first but if you can make it work and keep her in the game for several turns (which should be possible because she can’t be targeted by void, fire or water) you’re on the right path to win the game. Also, unlike Tsukune she’s a Shugenja, which can be extremely relevant, especially with Against the Waves.


Swift Magistrate (average score: 3.667)

Benjoewoo—3/5
This card basically screams for Unicorn to keep playing blitz swarm and run For Greater Glory and Charge. Not necessarily a bad thing, but forcing Unicorn’s already poor standing to continue doing something that’s very inconsistent seems poor. With better future personalities this is more of a control piece, so could see a rise in rating, but that’s a lot of ifs.

Kingsley - 4/5
Want to combo even harder with Cavalry Reserves + For Greater Glory? Swift Magistrate has your back. Want to just pressure opponents with aggressive plays? She’s strong there too. While her effect can definitely be double-edged, Unicorn has the tools to maneuver around that weakness, at least much of the time.

nyxnyxnyx - 4/5
Interesting effect that works very well as a threat in tandem with movement effects, though its symmetrical so be careful. She doesn’t have to be ready for her constant effect to be switched on, so feel free to drag her unconscious body to multiple battles for maximum value. Extremely cute with Good Omen.

I Fight Dragons – 4/5
Thank Hantei this card doesn’t also have Cavalry, but that is fairly easily rectified with a Favored Mount. Being able to move this card in mid conflict will make combat math a headache for a defending opponent, to the point they might not even consider defending with any of their big bombs with fate. It’s stats are technically weak, but the threat alone makes this card a solid 3-drop for Unicorn for a good while.

Grendel - 4/5
An aggressive 3 cost character that has some internal synergy with Unicorn mechanics(I Am Ready, and Cavalry Reserves) will be quite the deal for them in winning conflicts.

Chuterêve - 3/5
Sadly, it lacks the cavalry keyword despite the picture. The ability is certainly strong, but your opponent can generally play around it when he sees this card flipped in your dynasty.


Windswept Yurt (average score: 4)

Benjoewoo—5/5
Unicorn need help. This prevents an auto-loss to dishonor, as the ponies are likely higher number bidders to mitigate their lack of proactive on board actions. Additionally, the option to get fate can help them turn tides, especially since cavalry reserves is really expensive.

Kingsley - 3/5
While I really liked this card at first, the negative tempo accrued by using it during the dynasty phase has dampened my enthusiasm somewhat. Still quite playable, but a bit awkward at times. If Unicorn ever gets an honor deck this could be really annoying, though.

nyxnyxnyx - 5/5
Very dangerous card with strong potential for use in a degenerate combo down the line. The symmetrical honor gain choice is interesting, since current Honor strategies don’t have a good way to utilize the opponent being so low on honor, so something like Yurt’s symmetrical honor gain is perfect for that. Maybe not super powerful right now, but keep Yurt eye on it.

I Fight Dragons – 4/5
The first clan holding for Unicorn, Windswept Yurt has some great utility to bring to the faction. Both extra fate and extra honor are fantastic for Unicorn to help build a board state or keep their card draw afloat. It also refills after use so you effectively draw a Dynasty card to boot. Not bad.

Grendel - 3/5
Cycling Dynasty is a nice effect and gaining a bunch of fate for a endgame push/event is handy, but the symmetrical nature of the effect leaves something to be desired. I won’t say the card is bad, but it requires skill in its execution to create advantageous scenarios for yourself while limiting them for your opponent. One of those ways is obviously pulling the burst fate income for Cavalry Reserves or being able to aggressively bid for more cards if an opponent is trying to choke you on honor. The engineering required behind these situations is not something that will allow me to highly rate this card, even if those situations it is quite strong.

Chuterêve - 4/5
Unicorn finally get a clan holding and what a holding! This kind of symmetrical effect can usually be used at your advantage and I can see both options being viable. The support for honor victory is not quite there yet but I should point out that with Rebuild, this holding is a good start to do it.


Seal of the Crane (average score: 1.833)

Benjoewoo—2/5
The Crane alignment basically only matters to Crane for their way of card to hit a neutral, which may matter more to them and make this card better. The more “universal” buffs are the duelist trait and +1 political skill. The former will have 1 card of support at least by end of the cycle, in a relatively marginal way, and the latter is nice, though in a clan that focuses political, may not be particularly strong.

Kingsley - 2/5
Very weak at present. If we see more Duelist or Crane Clan synergy in the future this might be cool, but I’m not holding my breath.

nyxnyxnyx - 2/5
Incredibly useless right now, since the Duelist trait does nothing except for the upcoming Test of Skill which isn’t that great anyway. All of the other Crane-synergy options are all locked to Crane anyway, and Crane probably doesn’t want to run this so it’s pretty terrible.

I Fight Dragons – 2/5
With how tight the Crane conflict deck is right now, I have a hard time seeing this fit into a slot unless a dedicated dueling deck comes out that requires the duelist trait. There are no cards that rely on the duelist trait besides Test of Skill. It does make Test of Skill a bit better more consistently but that’s not enough to bring this card out of the binder.

Grendel - 2/5
A free pol boost, enables crane specific cards, and the duelist trait. Has room to grow, but current synergy for duelist is quite low.

Chuterêve - 1/5
As far as we know, this is only half a fan with some very minor synergies (Allowing Way of the Crane on neutral/splashed characters, and allowing to reveal more cards with the upcoming Test of Skill). However, seal cards are hard to judge without knowing the entire cycle so it can possibly end up as a 2/5.


Disdainful Remark (average score: 4)

Benjoewoo—5/5
Punishing your player for bidding high is great, especially if your own hand size and bid is irrelevant. Crane aren’t hurting for the trait requirement, so this will often go off. Crane are likely to want a keeper role for a while, and this will see play in honor decks, and has merit in military oriented decks.

Kingsley - 4/5
While the Courtier requirement makes this card a bit awkward at times, it will often make it extremely difficult for the opponent to break your province, given the sorts of hand sizes that we are commonly seeing in this game. Currently, the clan best poised to run this is probably Phoenix - the question becomes whether they’d rather use this or Mirumoto’s Fury as your powerful defensive trick of the day.

nyxnyxnyx - 4/5
Will be incredibly punishing and annoying for decks aiming to break provinces and draw lots of cards. Requirement is easy to fulfill, and should give you easily 4+ STR most of the time. Based on current role choices, only Phoenix, Unicorn, Lion and Crab have access to this and Crab only has a single Courtier right now so it’s not even great there. Will be interesting if people splash Crane for access to this (it’s only 1 influence!)

I Fight Dragons – 3/5
This is a solid defensive card that is great for secondary win condition decks that usually have inevitability should the game go long enough. It doesn’t help you win conflicts, only prevent breaks, but that is enough for this to be a solid card that finds a home in some decks.

Grendel - 5/5
Wow. Absolutely Insane, even +3 to province strength is quite strong and can be all the difference in the world. With the time rules as is, I think this is a very competitive card and will be a force in the meta that is largely neglected because of the lack of clans that could run it best being seeker. Phoenix, if not caught up in Guard Duty, should strongly look at the blowout potential of this card.

Chuterêve - 3/5
In a lot of situations this will prevent a break, but in low bid games your opponent will probably have not enough cards in his hand to make this event efficient enough. The courtier requirement can also be hard to work with. Crane being Seeker of air, this card is not an option for them, but I can see Phoenix splashing it.


Jade Masterpiece (average score: 2.833)

Benjoewoo—3/5
The 1 fate cost is heavy for an attachment that doesn’t give +2 in a stat like the ancestral attachments. Not being a weapon makes it a tough consideration in light of niten master being so good. The political buff is nice, but doesn’t override the fairly situational ability to move fate around that may or may not result in you capitalizing on fate for taking the ring. This can be very powerful to move fate placed on rings at the end of the turn to a more desirable ring, and create pain choices with dragon’s cards that manipulate or want the opponent to take rings with fate, e.g. Enlightened Warrior, but that doesn’t seem particularly powerful and may not see play until more support comes out to capitalize.

Kingsley - 4/5
This is basically an economy card with added upside in that it often lets you gain fate that your opponent would otherwise have been able to claim. The +1 Political is nice as well - however, note that this card is unique, which means running many copies may be dubious. Still makes a great 1x, and I’m considering even bumping it up to 2x.

nyxnyxnyx - 3/5
Pseudo-econ attachment. Let’s say there are 2 rings with 1 fate on them, and a 3rd ring with no fate but a desirable effect. You move the 1 fate to the better choice between the 3rd ring, and the other ring with fate. If you chose the ring with fate, you are now able to take the better of the 2 rings with 2 fate on it, while denying that 1 fate from your opponent’s counterattack (though from this you have to subtract the opportunity cost of letting your opponent pick the better ring for its effect > fate). TL;DR It kinda earns you money, it’s pretty neat.

I Fight Dragons – 2/5
This card is pure, unadulterated jank. It’s stats are very low for the 1 cost, so you really want to get leverage out of the ability in order for it to be worth a card slot. That said, you can usually get 1 fate back right away by moving fate to a ring and immediately attacking with that ring; but you need to get two or more triggers for this to be any real sort of economy and Embrace the Void seems like the better attachment for that sort of thing.

Grendel - 2/5
Cute fate manipulation, that can incentivize your opponent to take a sub optimal ring choice or punish them for taking the optimal one. It can also do the reverse for yourself. However, I think having no impact turn 1, and competitively being a 4 turn game due to time rules will strongly limit the potential of this card and not give it enough for such a small incremental effect to be advantageous.

Chuterêve - 3/5
You mainly want to use this ability to move more fate to a ring that you will claim, but you can also deny fate on a critical ring for you opponent too. In the ideal case, you will be able to refund the 1 fate investment of this card immediately and starting to have some bonus economy the turns after that. Sadly, the fact that the card is unique probably hurts it.


Time for War (average score: 2.667)

Benjoewoo—2/5
I don’t think Lion will really care much about weapons barring crab becomes a very popular splash for them and the meta favors honored blade. Better as a splash for other clans, but if they’re splashing Lion, this fetches Honored Blade, Fine Katana, and any in clan weapons.

Kingsley - 3/5
This card isn’t as bad as people think and provides a good way to get powerful attachments back, allowing you to run them with less fear of Let Go. The problem is that big Weapon attachments right now aren’t amazing (and Calling in Favors is a huge problem for them with or without this), but that could easily change.

nyxnyxnyx - 2/5
Awkward card to use for a rather narrow effect. There aren’t that many big Weapons you want to equip on Bushis right after losing a POL conflict, and it necessitates playing them in your deck in the first place.

I Fight Dragons – 3/5
I think this card gets a bad rap right now when it’s decidedly okay. What will make this card great is if Lion gets or imports some bigger weapons from other factions. Plus, this card helps mitigate the influence of Let Go, which is A-OK in my book.

Grendel - 4/5
I think it is easy to devalue this card, but you will lose pol conflicts. Being able to recur a weapon for free, or even generate large amounts of virtual income by playing it for free from your hand gives this card a lot of flexibility, with the minor drawback of being for bushi. Even if not immediately playable, more weapons will come and this card will be waiting.

Chuterêve - 2/5
The power of this card will depend on how many weapons that are good and can be cheated into play at a discount. Lion being Keeper of Fire, they can’t play this and right now, and it’s not worth splashing for it.


Embrace the Void (average score: 3.5)

Benjoewoo—3/5
With publicly known cards, this card is cute. Gaining a fate instead of straight losing it can be great, especially if your most viable attack is into meditations with a character with fate on it or just the fate phase. But, that seems rather cute right now, and Goblin Sneak mitigates the utility of this attachment fairly intensely. Also, being once per turn hurts the utility of the card.

Kingsley - 3/5
Econ is pretty good, but this card has a very delayed payoff. While that means it compares unfavorably to Jade Masterpiece or Daimyo’s Favor (which have immediate payoffs and other upsides), Embrace the Void is still a reasonable play, and future Spell synergy might make it even stronger.

nyxnyxnyx - 4/5
Econ card! You pretty much attach this on any character with a lot of fate and get at least 1 fate per turn from it. Two effects exist now that allow you to get more than one fate out of it. The first is any leaves-play/discard effect like Assassination or I Can Swim, letting you take the whole stack of fate on the character. The other is Jade Tetsubo’s action, which is a lot more controlled and lets you take the fate to your pool instead of returning it to your opponent’s - pure evil!

I Fight Dragons – 4/5
If you play this card at the end of the conflict phase, then it effectively gets you 1 fate now and then 1 fate every turn that character stays in play which is really good for a clan like Phoenix who build tall rather than wide and could use as much fate as they can get. In the average case, this card turns a conflict card into about 2 fate over a turn, which is a trade I’m very willing to make.

Grendel - 3/5
Refunding fate with Consumed by Five Fires, Assassination, Jade Tetsubo, I Can Swim, is a thing. I think the once per a turn play is a little too slow for this game, but any type of combo play is something to watch out for and is worth experimenting with.

Chuterêve - 4/5
Without any synergy, this is an outright good card that is going to get you 1 fate per turn until the attached character leaves play, which is already a pretty good investment. With synergy cards like Jade Tetsubo, you can get a lot more from it, but it can be pretty tricky to make it work.


Meek Informant (average score: 3.833)

Benjoewoo –4/5
Viewing your opponent’s hand is incredibly strong—you can play out the entire battle and possibly the turn depending on the contested rings and the like. Combos with Frosty Ninja and has a political stat. As a conflict character this effectively reads “pay 1 fate to view your opponent’s hand” at worst, and 1 fate to do the same and gain +1 political force otherwise.

Kingsley - 4/5
Seeing your opponent’s hand is pretty great - these stats and traits aren’t, but that’s really not why you put this in your deck. However, decks that can already see the opponent’s hand through other means probably won’t rate this card much.

nyxnyxnyx - 5/5
Play Meek Informant, make good choices! Conflict characters are great and I would gladly play one that lets me get perfect information of my opponent’s options. Especially good as a splash for POL-light clans, letting you use these to block unopposed or poke on POL. Only 1 influence, too!

I Fight Dragons – 3/5
1 Cost conflict characters have proven to be very good just for the ability to jump a surprise poke on your opponent at the end of the conflict phase. Meek Informant has a really nice utility ability that gives perfect information for at least one turn. Unfortunately, due to the nature of card draw in this game, that information can change drastically in just one turn. He’s also got a dash in military so his ability to surprise poke is less than other conflict characters. Still, his ability is useful and the Shinobi trait likely is going to be important this cycle.

Grendel - 4/5
1 cost conflict character, with an ability that’s probably worth 1 fate on its own. Any type of synergy is going to be bonus. Miyako is one of my favorite characters and a relatively easy enabler for her is quite nice.

Chuterêve - 3/5
1 cost conflict characters are nothing to laugh at, even with fairly bad stats. Looking at a player’s hand in this game is also very valuable and it will certainly involve memorization skills in formats where taking note is not authorized. The card also works well for cheap Miyako triggers.


Smoke and Mirrors (average score: 3.333)

Benjoewoo—4/5
It’s hard not to see this card as beyond 2/5 with only the first pack and core, but this card will get better as more shinobi come out. Also, assuming the Scorpion seal grants the shinobi trait, this will get much better—Shoju with shinobi makes this card significantly better.

Kingsley - 3/5
Move out is very powerful - much more so than moving in. While costing one hurts, it’s still a strong ability and once we see more Shinobi it might become quite a trick. I wish this had been printed for Unicorn with the Cavalry keyword!

nyxnyxnyx - 2/5
Way too few Shinobi for this to really be a thing, and honestly a different stand/bow effect for 1 fate is probably going to be more consistent and powerful than this. (See: Against the Waves for Shugenja)

I Fight Dragons – 3/5
Scorpion already have a decent base of Shinobi and that will only grow as the game goes on. In a deck that runs a large number of ninja friends, this card effectively allows you to all in on a conflict, judge your opponent’s response, and then pull back accordingly which is very powerful for outmaneuvering your opponent and generating advantage with the minimal amount of commitment necessary.

Grendel - 5/5
It’s not there yet, but it will be. Eventually there will be enough shinobi that this card starts to train wreck people on do or die plays and overcommitted feints.

Chuterêve - 3/5
The effect by itself is strong. Right now, Scorpion have 4 Shinobi and they are all good (Shoshuro Miyako, Shoshuro Actress in the dynasty deck and, Adept of Shadows and Meek Informant in the conflict deck). This is probably not enough to run this card efficiently but it’s getting close.


Goblin Sneak (average score: 4.1667)

Benjoewoo—5/5
The first clan that can field 10 worthwhile conflict characters is likely a strong contender competitively by virtue of that fact alone. This guy gives everyone +3. Also can mitigate an opponent passing aggressively for dynasty passing fate. Also makes passing aggressively more powerful as it can be seen as a 1 fate cost action to deny 1 fate from the opponent and ensure the sneak stays around as a multi-turn annoyance.

Kingsley - 4/5
Goblin Sneak does something that no other card does - reliably steal fate from the opponent - and that makes it worthy of consideration as a denial element. Not every deck can run this presently, but those that can will really appreciate it under the right circumstances.

nyxnyxnyx - 5/5
They stole it from us...sneaky little goblinses! Comes in, steals your fate, pokes you in the face, sticks around to poke you again. Annoying and efficient, what’s not to like? Potential Shadowlands synergy in the future, too.

I Fight Dragons – 3/5
I don’t know exactly where I stand with this card, but I feel it will either be a meta card like Assassination, where it’s common enough to warp how people play the game; or it won’t be common enough at all due to the lackluster stats. Being a conflict character makes this way better as you can choose when to snipe the fate and it rewards good knowledge and reads on your opponent’s deck. Time will tell just how good this card really is.

Grendel - 5/5
I could be missing the mark on this card completely. I doubt it. I don’t think it is for every deck, but I think it will be an absolute monster in the decks where it works. Keeping your opponent off one fate can completely train wreck them.

Chuterêve - 3/5
Not having honor loss for playing a shadowlands card is a major flavor fail. Other than that, this appears to be a strong card for fate choke, but we have no deck that can fully benefit from it right now. Still, denying the last fate in your opponent’s pool can suddenly make his whole conflict plan fail.


Finger of Jade (average score: 3.333)

Benjoewoo—3/5
Seems more of a cute trick to stop assassinate or make assassinate a two card combo. But, it gives no buffs and won’t do so outside of dragon. 1 fate isn’t terribly high cost, but makes it relatively niche use. Could see play for dragon because of the current SH and long haul/control decks.

Kingsley - 4/5
Finger of Jade is a great answer to many effects and is strong both in Voltron-style decks and to protect cheap but powerful “Assassination bait” characters like Border Rider or Niten Adept. Keep in mind that this is nonmandatory, so you don’t have to use it on a weak effect but can save it for something more important. Watch out for attachment control, though!

nyxnyxnyx - 3/5
Another protection attachment in the vein of Above Question, though this one has slightly broader applications beyond just events. In general, it’s not worth it to play telegraphed, preemptive protection that doesn’t even catch everything, so this probably goes in the binder until we get a ridiculous design-mistake-OP level character that warrants this type of protection.

I Fight Dragons – 3/5
1 Cost is a fair price to pay to protect a lynchpin character from your opponent’s removal or crippling effects. For those who played Game of Thrones, this card is pretty much the L5R version of Bodyguard. You get to choose when to use its effect too, so your opponent can’t even reliable knock it off with a poking ability first. Great to put on 2 cost characters with strong abilities to protect them from Assassination, or slap on a big guy to stop an I Can Swim or Noble Sacrifice.

Grendel - 5/5
I don’t think it’s a problem to start any deck construction with 3x finger of jade. Offering protection from any single effect, your choice, is very strong when it comes to delivering a threat into an opponent’s face or preventing some of their strongest blow out plays.

Chuterêve - 2/5
This cycle has so many cards with the jade keyword that I will be surprised if we got nothing that worked with the jade trait. At 0 cost, this card would have been pretty good but at 1 cost, it’s not worth running it in normal circumstances. Some decks with big characters may be able to run this as a last choice card in the right meta one day.