Just now, JJ48 said:

I seem to recall Assassination only affecting characters with low printed cost.

Ahhhhh, dammit. I think you are correct. Where are the few remaining 'honorless' ninja when you need them...???

*looks over toward the Scorpion Clan members* ?

29 minutes ago, Joe From Cincinnati said:

I'm sure Lion will be given cards with text like "if you win a military conflict by X strength, do this devastating effect."

And I believe we have a neutral card along that vein. Win by 4 or 5, kill an enemy character.

This guy is amazing and I'm really glad they're showing us heavily political and heavily military Clans first to establish a baseline.

Looks like Lion will romp on Military but with such weak political that will be an issue.

In the Crane / Lion match it seems whoever can get an off-strength break first would win in a victory by SH.

30 minutes ago, Iuchi Toshimo said:

Lion is already a ridiculous Military powerhouse, do they really need a 4-cost that is basically extra +Mil numbers?

I mean, the Crane 4-costers actually do other stuff.

Is this a win more card?

I think it basically comes down to card-efficiency. In a one-card package, he has good value in both military and politics conflicts, while also ticking you closer to honor victory. If players are generally capping at around 3-5 guys in play, a guy who can throw in a big number in any of the 4 conflicts has real value. I wouldn't really want to see him turn 1, and I don't think I would invest too much extra fate in him. But he's a very valuable one-turn card after you've built up a reserve of fate and aren't emptying your pool to pay for him.

49 minutes ago, LordBlunt said:

Ahhhhh, dammit. I think you are correct. Where are the few remaining 'honorless' ninja when you need them...???

*looks over toward the Scorpion Clan members* ?

You can cross fingers for the eventuals Geisha Assassin, Kolat Assassin, Ninja Assassin,...

We also have an Honored Blade now...

(from Podcast of Five Rings https://www.facebook.com/P5RPodcast/photos/a.1439552569419272.1073741828.1420700267971169/1529102407130954/?type=3)

3 hours ago, Gamedog said:

Dain Ironfoot!

Makes sense given that the Lion Clan was designed by Caleb Grace, who does a ton of work on Lord of the Rings: LCG.

4 hours ago, Gamedog said:

Dain Ironfoot!

Except he still gives a bonus while bowed...

(double post)

Looks like the top of the curve for the Lion swarm decks but will he fit into other Lion variants? The decent stats after glory and the cip Honored stats might suggest that he will be in the honor runner decks. He does really want to have a few friends around to maximize his ability so it might be tougher for a mid-ranged Lion deck. That's if these two variants are even viable in the game.

Absolute monster, no doubt about that.

I think that in reality he's going to sit at the very top end of the Lion curve though, and may actually be too expensive given how much they may be spunking guys onto the board.

12 hours ago, Iuchi Toshimo said:

Lion is already a ridiculous Military powerhouse, do they really need a 4-cost that is basically extra +Mil numbers?

I mean, the Crane 4-costers actually do other stuff.

Is this a win more card?

I don't think it's win-more so much as something that will just make people scoop.

Also, I'm worried about Lions power level come day one. Just saying. The guy that doesn't go away, Lions Pride Brawler, Staging Ground, The guy the speeds up the dynasty more and now this cat. Brutal numbers, quickly. Pure math, bad sign.

11 hours ago, LordBlunt said:

Ahhhhh, dammit. I think you are correct. Where are the few remaining 'honorless' ninja when you need them...???

*looks over toward the Scorpion Clan members* ?

Well, there's 'I Can Swim' a one influence cost Scorpion card that flat-out 'kills' a dishonored personality, but it will probably be rather tricky to get the General dishonored.

I feel like he's a bit better than the 4 fate Cranes we've seen. Blanket force bumps tend to be strong. I hear Well-Defended Farm was pretty good.

6 minutes ago, Daigotsu Steve said:

Also, I'm worried about Lions power level come day one. Just saying. The guy that doesn't go away, Lions Pride Brawler, Staging Ground, The guy the speeds up the dynasty more and now this cat. Brutal numbers, quickly. Pure math, bad sign.

Yeah, but how long is any of that going to be around for? If you're buying 4+ guys a turn how much extra fate are you going to be able to put on them? Especially if you want to be able to play actions.

Plus, most Lion stuff is geared toward Military and with you only getting one Military attack per turn I expect we'll see some sort of swarm meta, like an Encircled Terrain equivalent.

Well, even with Lion's many tricks to pump out more characters than most decks will be able to, it seems somewhat unlikely that swarm will be anywhere near as crazy as it gets in some CCGs (including certain Old5R decks), due mainly to the 'mono no aware' mechanic.

3 minutes ago, shineyorkboy said:

Plus, most Lion stuff is geared toward Military and with you only getting one Military attack per turn I expect we'll see some sort of swarm meta, like an Encircled Terrain equivalent.

Yeah, I'll be surprised if their isn't something similar. Crane already have Keizen, and if you can honor him and put a cheap sword on him, he can stop a swarm handily.

13 hours ago, Joe From Cincinnati said:

I'm sure Lion will be given cards with text like "if you win a military conflict by X strength, do this devastating effect."

Fallen in Battle (event) comes to mind: win by 5> military and cut down a character. Interestingly this could be one of your own characters so if any have a reaction that triggers on discard you could win the battle and trigger that ability.

5 hours ago, shineyorkboy said:

Yeah, but how long is any of that going to be around for? If you're buying 4+ guys a turn how much extra fate are you going to be able to put on them? Especially if you want to be able to play actions.

Plus, most Lion stuff is geared toward Military and with you only getting one Military attack per turn I expect we'll see some sort of swarm meta, like an Encircled Terrain equivalent.

Indeed. The question is will any of that actually matter if you can just bang off a different province for the first 4 rounds of the game and then win. But we will see. I still think they'll be the ones to beat for a while though. A lot of clans to go to be fair!

18 hours ago, Iuchi Toshimo said:

Lion is already a ridiculous Military powerhouse, do they really need a 4-cost that is basically extra +Mil numbers?

I mean, the Crane 4-costers actually do other stuff.

Is this a win more card?

Changes are they won't need this character for military against Crane and Scorpion although the 3pol and being honored will be quite handy in those matchups. We still have the other 2 military clans and we haven't got a clue what their 4 costs look like.

Although Lion looks very strong when on the military offensive they will need to break a province with political if they want to win before turn 4. The same goes for Crane as a political clan.

13 minutes ago, Mig el Pig said:

Changes are they won't need this character for military against Crane and Scorpion although the 3pol and being honored will be quite handy in those matchups. We still have the other 2 military clans and we haven't got a clue what their 4 costs look like.

Although Lion looks very strong when on the military offensive they will need to break a province with political if they want to win before turn 4. The same goes for Crane as a political clan.

Well maybe Lion players will have to splash in a Phoenix card that allows you to change the conflict type to win before turn 4.

The only card that does that is a province atm so can't be included.

20 hours ago, Ide Yoshiya said:

Is anyone else seeing a slight discrepancy between the orientation of the Lion mon in the template versus the textual icon? It's only like ten degrees or so, if indeed my eyes aren't simply playing tricks on me.

The textual symbol looks like Pac Man to me....

2 minutes ago, Vlad3theImpaler said:

The textual symbol looks like Pac Man to me....

Hona-hona-hona-hona-hona-hona...

18 hours ago, williamobrien said:

I think it basically comes down to card-efficiency. In a one-card package, he has good value in both military and politics conflicts, while also ticking you closer to honor victory. If players are generally capping at around 3-5 guys in play, a guy who can throw in a big number in any of the 4 conflicts has real value. I wouldn't really want to see him turn 1, and I don't think I would invest too much extra fate in him. But he's a very valuable one-turn card after you've built up a reserve of fate and aren't emptying your pool to pay for him.

I would potentially play him turn 1. That's a big threat early - equip a sword and he's immediately at Mil 7, Mil 8 if you tap the Stronghold. With Fallen in Battle in hand if your opponent defends with anything 3 Mil or less and you could remove a character. Depending upon order of play your opponent would need to consider fronting up more defenders or risk an early province loss. Add in Banzai! And our General is potentially swinging for 12 Mil for 5 Fate. That would still leave 2 Fate spare for another character, or events in subsequent rounds or even to stick the General on the field for a little longer.

6 minutes ago, Tam Palso said:

I would potentially play him turn 1. That's a big threat early - equip a sword and he's immediately at Mil 7, Mil 8 if you tap the Stronghold. With Fallen in Battle in hand if your opponent defends with anything 3 Mil or less and you could remove a character. Depending upon order of play your opponent would need to consider fronting up more defenders or risk an early province loss. Add in Banzai! And our General is potentially swinging for 12 Mil for 5 Fate. That would still leave 2 Fate spare for another character, or events in subsequent rounds or even to stick the General on the field for a little longer.

True. Meanwhile I play Dojo Whispered and the 1-fate shugenja. 6 political for 2 fate. You have no diplomacy defense and I also pop a province - for less resources.

Of course this all depends on board state and what your opponent seems to be doing. I'm excited for this game!

43 minutes ago, JJ48 said:

Hona-hona-hona-hona-hona-hona...

I only see the googly-eyed lion on that.