What will the contents of an L5R pack look like? Unlike most LCGs, you are building two complete, fully-functioning 40 card decks. That's a lot of cards to distribute. There is only room for 60 cards in a pack -- as has been established for years. So is two cards per clan per pack feasible for building the card pool up quickly? That's two different cards (6 cards x 7 clans) per clan and 3 different neutral cards per pack. Is that enough cards to inject diversity into the meta?

Maybe they will do it like Star Wars and leave a clan out of each pack? It just doesn't seem like one Dynasty Card and one Conflict card is enough to build up a deck very quickly.

Thoughts?

Two cards per faction is standard for Game of Thrones, with the rest being taken up by neutrals.

It does add up over time, but, no, it's not fast.

With only seven clans compared to eight factions in Thrones, there's actually more room for them to add more neutrals, or perhaps give a third card to a clan or two every pack. (For those new to LCGs, the packs will come in a series of six, roughly once a month, and will have 3 copies of 20 cards. So 14 clan-aligned cards per month, and we can presume an average of one dynasty and one conflict per clan).

Should be fine. You build (at least) two decks for A:NR, too: corp and runner. You don't play em at the same time like you do for L5R. As long as a bunch of the new Fate deck (can't remember what it's called now) is neutral, it should be fine.

Plus you've got deluxe boxes. Those add a bunch of cards.

LCGs are a very slow leak of cards. It can be irritating at times, especially when the cards for your clan are bad or designed for a theme or strategy that is either not your play style or not developed enough to be viable.

I imagine it'll be different in each pack. I doubt they'd do 1 conflict and 1 dynasty per clan per pack. It'll probably be cases where you get 2 dynasty cards. Other times 2 conflict cards.

In theory, it isn't all that dissimilar to Thrones in that you may really want a new character but they give you an event and a location.

Yes, you need 80 cards for this game and only 60 for Thrones but if you're expecting to change every deck after each chapter pack, you'll inevitably be disappointed. There will be clans that can essentially skip certain packs at the time of their release. And there will be clans that change drastically after one pack by finally getting that missing piece that unlocks the ability to run 4 other cards that they've received in prior packs but were not yet playable.

I know this is sacrilege here but in AGoTv2 I play three banners so I can find something in most Chapter Packs. If you are willing to look actively at more than on Clan you will find playable cards almost every month.

[Why are you piling kindle at my feet and where did that stake come from?]

AGoT packs have 1 character and 1 non-character card for each faction almost all the time (2 packs out of 15 have a faction with 2 non-character cards). And the same goes for non-featured factions in deluxe boxes (1 out of 3 has a faction with 2 non-character cards). The anomalous packs are both in the 1st cycle and the anomalous box is the 1st one (the factions are all different, too).

Bad experiences with Star Wars: Destiny have reminded me why I love the LCG model so much, so I'll take a couple of cards per clan per release gladly.

My only hope is that the releases happen in a timely fashion and on a regular schedule, with good simultaneous worldwide release. I really don't like it much when FFG hits those "on the boat" lulls where you end up waiting an extra month or three for the next pack to arrive.

3 minutes ago, Prepare for War said:

Bad experiences with Star Wars: Destiny have reminded me why I love the LCG model so much, so I'll take a couple of cards per clan per release gladly.

My only hope is that the releases happen in a timely fashion and on a regular schedule, with good simultaneous worldwide release. I really don't like it much when FFG hits those "on the boat" lulls where you end up waiting an extra month or three for the next pack to arrive.

In Thrones, the releases have been relatively regular. There was a delay between the first and second cycle and there was a case where the shipping company FFG was using went out of business while the product was still at sea or something like that.

The problem has always been shipping the product to certain areas. In America, the pack was available on the release day or shortly thereafter. In England/Germany/Spain/France/Italy I don't recall seeing any issues with delivery times.

But some of my friends in Eastern Europe and Australia complained that they received product sometimes weeks late.

For sure. While FFG makes better games than WOTC, they've never been quite as good at logistics.

Hasbro (WoTC) is magnitudes larger than FFG and can afford to consolidate and send numerous containers to several locations every month. With FFG now part of Asmodee and ANA now owning its own distribution in the EU and Canada I think will see slow improvements as they use these new resources to better control their logistics.

5 hours ago, Prepare for War said:

Bad experiences with Star Wars: Destiny have reminded me why I love the LCG model so much, so I'll take a couple of cards per clan per release gladly.

My only hope is that the releases happen in a timely fashion and on a regular schedule, with good simultaneous worldwide release. I really don't like it much when FFG hits those "on the boat" lulls where you end up waiting an extra month or three for the next pack to arrive.

Playing a lot of SW: Destiny has me feeling more and more hate for the LCG model. Bigger expansions is way better than this trickle release that LCGs have.

13 minutes ago, Sparks Duh said:

Playing a lot of SW: Destiny has me feeling more and more hate for the LCG model. Bigger expansions is way better than this trickle release that LCGs have.

I see no reason they couldn't do bigger releases in an LCG. If we look at each cycle as a single expansion (which it has roughly the same amount of cards as AEG's expansions). Then we get 2 expansions a year to the 3-4 we got with AEG (I think AEG released a set every 3 months). If FFG decided to to do 30 card dynasty packs and 4 month cycles or 40 card dynasty packs and 3 month cycles you get the exact same amount of new cards in the same amount of time.

13 minutes ago, JRosen9 said:

I see no reason they couldn't do bigger releases in an LCG. If we look at each cycle as a single expansion (which it has roughly the same amount of cards as AEG's expansions). Then we get 2 expansions a year to the 3-4 we got with AEG (I think AEG released a set every 3 months). If FFG decided to to do 30 card dynasty packs and 4 month cycles or 40 card dynasty packs and 3 month cycles you get the exact same amount of new cards in the same amount of time.

Sure, but they won't.

6 minutes ago, Sparks Duh said:

Sure, but they won't.

Didn't say they would, just pointing out that your hate isn't for the LCG model, its for the small dynasty packs. I assume you'd have the same issues with the CCG model if they only released 2 expansions a year

2 minutes ago, JRosen9 said:

Didn't say they would, just pointing out that your hate isn't for the LCG model, its for the small dynasty packs. I assume you'd have the same issues with the CCG model if they only released 2 expansions a year

My hate is with the lcg model BECAUSE of their distribution process. ccgs don't have that distribution process, therefore, ccg is better... and cheaper, imo.

I would never say a CCG is cheaper than an LCG. If you compare the price of obtaining a years worth of LCG cards to a CCG, the rare hunt alone will kill tour bank account.

Also, FFG has been using the same expansion pack format since forever, it feels. It isnt broke so dont expect them to change it. Star Wars LCG was a little tough in the beginning if you played Scum/Smugglers but they addressed those slowly through the pack and more so with a deluxe expansion. I am sure a bunch will throw a complete S-storm once the first deluxe since those tend to focus mainly on usually 2-3 factions.

16 minutes ago, Sparks Duh said:

My hate is with the lcg model BECAUSE of their distribution process. ccgs don't have that distribution process, therefore, ccg is better... and cheaper, imo.

I can tell you're on a podcast called Troll5R because you just said CCGs are cheaper than LCGs haha.

16 minutes ago, Sparks Duh said:

My hate is with the lcg model BECAUSE of their distribution process. ccgs don't have that distribution process, therefore, ccg is better... and cheaper, imo.

Seems unlikely that this game is going to abandon the LCG model, so I'd vote with your wallet from the outset, I guess. It all depends where you find and perceive value.

I think it'll be 2 cards per clan, then 6 neutrals. It'll average 1 conflict and 1 dynasty I imagine.

Meaning if you like the cards for your faction you could put all 3 cards in one deck or the other.

As I understand it you'll be able to add as many neutrals as you want, so those 18 cards could split between your 2 decks too.

This would mean on average each pack could replace 12 cards in both of your decks for a change of over 25% to your overall cards.

My hope is that the nuetral cards include minor faction personalities and strats.

IMO, compared to the CCG model, it feels like the meta shifts excruciatingly slowly in an LCG. But, when it shifts, it shifts very quickly, much like a CCG.

I've found it better to play multiple factions in an LCG. If your favorite faction is getting boring, then make a fun deck out of another faction. I'm not sure it needs to be said: This practice will expand your card knowledge and help you get into the decision making process of your opponents. It also keeps things fresh. Even if Pony is getting garbage in the next pack, maybe you'll be excited by that shiny new Crab.

The case of Night's Watch from AGoT2 chills me. They were pretty 'meh' in the core set and didn't get very much for the entire first cycle. The problem was that their loyal cards were/felt underpowered, so they were lacking as the primary house, but they made a decent splash into other decks.

If something similar happens in l5r, it will truly test clan loyalty.

16 hours ago, Joe From Cincinnati said:

And there will be clans that change drastically after one pack by finally getting that missing piece that unlocks the ability to run 4 other cards that they've received in prior packs but were not yet playable.

Yeah, this, for me, is one of the worst parts of the LCG model. Sometimes it takes 5 months to flesh out a certain theme or deck that they introduced at the beginning of the cycle.

Somthing no one has pointed out yet is the new deluxe policy of letting them drop as soon as the product is ready and not waiting until the end of a cycle. We could see three deluxes of two clans each within 6 months of the core launch and stretching the first cycle to 9 months instead of 6 if FFG wants to push the meta that fast. In AGoT the first deluxe was at the end of cycle one bit the second dropped in the middle of cycle 2 and the third just 2 packs into Cycle 3.

9 minutes ago, Mig el Pig said:

Yeah, this, for me, is one of the worst parts of the LCG model. Sometimes it takes 5 months to flesh out a certain theme or deck that they introduced at the beginning of the cycle.

Heh, in Thrones there was a card introduced on January 26th 2016 that relied on having a lot of "builder" characters to create an economic advantage.

We didn't get our 4th builder character until December 1, 2016.

We didn't get enough builders to make it actually useful until April 6, 2017 when the deluxe box arrived.

Now, 15 months later, it finally has made it into one single deck haha.

Pretty sure the Stark expansion hit just before the fourth or fifth CP of the first cycle.

AGOT expansions are just coming out at the start of quarters 2 and 4, at least until the eight factions have their own expansions. I imagine they may revisit the frequency after that milestone.