So my friend and I just proxied the lion and crane clans and built decks. We have only gotten one game in so far, but plan on another one tomorrow. The lion are really hampered against crane as soon as they get ahead on honor. (Later that might not be the case, but there are not enough cards in the core set to avoid having the characters that require higher honor.) Against most clans I don't see it being an issue, but crane has more honor options than most other clans. I would not say that they are hard counters to each other, but the crane's honor is a problem for the lion and Lion's military strength is a problem for the crane duelist.

It ended up being much closer than I expected. I think it was turn seven when the game finally ended. I we both had three provinces destroyed (mine on turn 5 his on six). I held off his stronghold attack on turn six and counterattacked just to get the void ring and take the last token off of Doji Hotaru. The next turn it actually came down to who got to go first. He was the first player and did won. If i could have lasted to my first attack i would have won in military.

The game was really balanced, and once a few rules get clarified it will be smoother and much better. Once we get to the real clans it will be great.