Should Crab Bother Trying to Win on Defense?

Hey Joe, you seem pretty hyped about the L5R. I seem to draw some parallels between this and GOT2.0. Is it that much better than GOT2.0? I'm a bit hesitant in trying the L5R. Or is it a separate article in itself?

Hey Joe, you seem pretty hyped about the L5R. I seem to draw some parallels between this and GOT2.0. Is it that much better than GOT2.0? I'm a bit hesitant in trying the L5R. Or is it a separate article in itself?

There's a few main reasons why I am so excited about L5R:

1. I was a player of Old L5R, the CCG, and it was how I got into competitive gaming in the first place. It was the first time I was part of a gaming community and it will always hold a spot in my heart for that. 

2. My local "core group" of friends quit Thrones a long time ago and are now playing L5R, so it's really fun to be playing with them again.

3. Thrones' meta of reset heavy decks and "wombo combo" decks isn't all that fun right now and I'm having trouble coming up with any kind of new or fun ideas to combat it. There hasn't been a new idea in NW since the builders deck, which I've come to despise, and the new cards we've gotten aren't all that exciting or really all that deck archetype defining.

4. I find the L5R Fate system revolutionary and a nearly perfect answer to the age old question of how to balance character relevance and how to make big characters good but not oppressive without introducing infinite resets and kill effects (which then make big characters too risky).

5.  I love the clan loyalty emphasis of L5R because that's always been one of my favorite aspects of games like this (obviously).

6. The OP was on point at Gencon and FFG is putting a lot of effort into promoting and pumping out content for the game right now.

7. I really love the aspect of story telling that goes on with the game and the potential to impact the story has always been one of the most engaging parts of the L5R experience.

8. It's the new game and that always comes with a bit of hype, as smaller card pools capture the imagination of those embroiled in the game.

I don't think it's that much better than GOT because I still enjoy GOT, I'm just patiently waiting for the meta to change, as I don't find it all that fun at the moment. The mechanics of the game are great. The decks people are playing to abuse those mechanics aren't as great . I think FFG learned some good lessons from their experience with GOT that they were able to install into L5R (There were no Tyrions or Tywins in the core set, as far as I could tell), but it is a separate game and I think people will enjoy one or the other for several reasons, chief among them how they feel about the Fate system and the story aspect of the two games.

If you're unsure, you could always try it online at Jigoku.online

It's the Iron Throne of L5R and it's completely free.

Or if you have no interest, that's perfectly fine too .

Damn, you're good at selling L5R

I will give it a try, it's just I know myself and if I get hooked I will "have" to buy 3 cores, all expansions, etc. Aaaand knowing FFG (I see they are pretty fast with expansions on L5R already), the pool of cards will be massive in relatively short amount of time. Such a money drain...

But thanks for finding the time to answer. Much appreciated!

If the leaked Elightenment win condition is true, that may favor winning defensively... or also favor turtling, timing and avoid attacking. We will see.

Damn, you're good at selling L5R

I will give it a try, it's just I know myself and if I get hooked I will "have" to buy 3 cores, all expansions, etc. Aaaand knowing FFG (I see they are pretty fast with expansions on L5R already), the pool of cards will be massive in relatively short amount of time. Such a money drain...

But thanks for finding the time to answer. Much appreciated!

Haha, I try to get people hyped about the games I want to play.

Yea, the 6 packs in 6 weeks will make the card pool expensive relatively quickly. But, at the same time, that also means it will be more diverse quicker, so there's a trade off. Expensive but engaging .

If the leaked Elightenment win condition is true, that may favor winning defensively... or also favor turtling, timing and avoid attacking. We will see.

True. If that's true, defending to win may become relevant. We'll have to wait and see .