1 hour ago, Kuni Katsuyoshi said:

His name is George. He's a Sagittarius,& loves long walks on the beach, eating Crabs & virgins. ??

Wait, he loves virgins, or he loves eating virgins?

This is why I like the Oxford comma...

5 minutes ago, Vlad3theImpaler said:

Wait, he loves virgins, or he loves eating virgins?

This is why I like the Oxford comma...

Who says it can't be both??

9 minutes ago, Vlad3theImpaler said:

Wait, he loves virgins, or he loves eating virgins?

This is why I like the Oxford comma...

I thought this was a PG13 forum....

4 minutes ago, Isawa Tasatu said:

I thought this was a PG13 forum....

Is it the virgins or the cannibalisim that gives you pause??

9 minutes ago, Kuni Katsuyoshi said:

Is it the virgins or the cannibalisim that gives you pause??

I was not thinking about cannibalism... but I shall stop now before I do get into trouble!

I think the usefulness of spells are going to be dependant on how reliably you can get shugensas out and kept on the board. We haven't seen many basic shugenja characters from Phoenix yet.

I am highly anticipating next week's reveals!

I really like this card. Love the artwork, a potentially cool effect too, and makes me look Ishiken Initiate in a more favourable light.

Sadly though it won't have any effect on Charge or Spiritcaller's abilities, which are probably the ones I'd mostly want to prevent.

39 minutes ago, SoulKick said:

I think the usefulness of spells are going to be dependant on how reliably you can get shugensas out and kept on the board. We haven't seen many basic shugenja characters from Phoenix yet.

I am highly anticipating next week's reveals!

I'd point out that we've seen a total of 10 Shugenja so far. With the very few Phoenix spoiled, 4 of those shugenja are in-clan and 1 is neutral. I expect we'll have plenty.

2 hours ago, Isawa Tasatu said:

I just hope that Phoenix gets lots of additional draw and/or fetch.

Well, their Holding draws a card, as far as I can tell, so that's a good start.

55 minutes ago, Caldera said:

I really like this card. Love the artwork, a potentially cool effect too, and makes me look Ishiken Initiate in a more favourable light.

Sadly though it won't have any effect on Charge or Spiritcaller's abilities, which are probably the ones I'd mostly want to prevent.

Do we know if there's any language defining "move" in game terms? It's my only pause when saying this ability won't work on the examples provided. Would moving a character from a province into a battle through the Charge card not be considered moving?

I've only had a cursory interaction with other LCGs to see if there's a common ruling on these kinds of abilities.

Only 1 influence, too. This is probably going to make it into a lot of decks - Kitsu Spiritcaller being the first one that comes to my mind.

Comparing this to Watch Commander, it seems that "+1/+1 for 1 with a kickass ability" is the standard for attachments.

I should think it would prevent a Charge...seems thematically like it would?

Works well potentially with Crane who have a few "deny" effects available to them. Possibly with Dragon? Dragon ? prefer 1v1 conflicts so could help them?

It definitely points to Unicorn having a number of move effects which suggests it's a card to help out Phoenix who might be great with 'known' board states but a bit vulnerable to sudden reinforcements.

i also wonder if we will see another Phoenix spell or ability that really punishes an opponent if they can't reinforce a conflict? "If no new characters enter this conflict then..." type of effect.

21 minutes ago, Tam Palso said:

I should think it would prevent a Charge...seems thematically like it would?

Thematically? Yeah, I can see that.

However, nothing in the rules of the game shown so far (and we've seen most of them, most likely) would allow this card to stop Charge. Charge, as far as I know uses wording something like "put the chosen character into play into this conflict". Putting something from a Province into play is probably not going to be considered "moving to" the conflict. That also means this card can't stop Kitsu Spiritcaller's ability.

It is unlikely that bring in to play and movement will be considered the same, in all the card games I have played in many years I cannot think of one where the to were not clearly distinct effects. Hence the statement can not be played from hand for conflict characters.

As others have pointed out, this card won't necessarily be too useful against a single movement, unless you go first or we get a card effect like, "During a conflict, play a card from your hand. You may take an additional action."

However, I think this card will be quite useful against decks that rely on a lot of movement in a single battle. At the very least, if I see my opponent play this, I'll then have to consider whether I want to play one more movement before it gets activated or whether I need to change my strategy for the turn.

Its use may also increase if Phoenix get access to abilities to send opposing characters home. Stopping them from coming back could be very useful, indeed.

9 hours ago, Suzume Tomonori said:

If playing from a province is considered mechanically to be "played from hand," yes, but if those are distinct it looks like a strict reading of the spell still might allow Charge to bring a personality in, as the spell only limits movement and "play from hand" effects. Incidentally, it looks like Kitsu Spiritcaller gets around this, as well? I feel like both plays are against the intention of the card, but if that's how the rules are set up then...

It is still "moving into a battle".

9 hours ago, Daidoji Obaran said:

Actually doesn't block Charge at all, since it's not moving into the battle a la Doji Challenger or coming out of your hand!

And it doesn't specify how a character moves into battle.

On 7/21/2017 at 2:23 AM, Tam Palso said:

Works well potentially with Crane who have a few "deny" effects available to them.

It definitely points to Unicorn having a number of move effects which suggests it's a card to help out Phoenix who might be great with 'known' board states but a bit vulnerable to sudden reinforcements.

This card made me think about Crane "denial effects" as well. Splash Grasp of Earth, include Miya Mystic, Cloud the Mind, Above Question, Voice of Honour, Guest of Honour etc... It can be trait heavy, but there's a viable deck there, IMO.

Although the effects of this card can be mitigated by playing around it, forcing your opponent to play around reveals its strength. I find it interesting that the effect of surprise is valued, but those effects that reveal or prevent surprise are not valued (Especially if said prevention can target multiple Conflict Cards).

As to Grasp the Earth itself:

- This is the type of design that has me thinking that FFG could get Spells and Shugenja right. Something AEG could never do. To cost Spells as Items... To make them almost like Items... it's a revelation.

- Now, if Shugenja stats are not curtailed like they were in the CCG, then the FFG LCG will truly be a rebirth for the Phoenix.

- I like that there are two effects built into this card. It's a card meant to shore up weaknesses.

- (Edit: Maybe) Blocks Charge! As Shu2Jack has already pointed out. Charge! will be played in many decks, if not all.

I think this would be fantastic question for the next L5R Live!

The quality of this card I think hinges on does it stop effects like Charge and Kitsu Spiritcaller. If it does as I think it is intended, but not worded probably to do so, then the value of the card is much higher. If all it does is stop Shinjo Outrider and conflict characters, which would just be played during the pre-conflict phase anyway, then the value is much less and may just not make the cut right now for the decks.

14 minutes ago, Shu2jack said:

It is still "moving into a battle".

And it doesn't specify how a character moves into battle.

It's the semantic bit of is putting into play the same as moving into battle? Intuitively I'd say yes. But that doesn't mean it works that way.

14 hours ago, Ragudaddy said:

Do bowed attachments still contribute their skill bonus?

Yes, was confirmed in an L5RLive I believe, or by Brad on Discord, one of the two.

I don't think it blocks Charge! The wording of Charge! is "Action: During a conflict, choose a face-up character in one of your provinces – put that character into play, participating in the conflict."

Just based on how other card games work, putting a character into play shouldn't be the same as moving a character. As others have suggested, it may be a good idea to ask them to clarify, but the wording suggests that Charge! is unaffected.

IIRC, L5R CCG treated a personality entering play in an army differently from a personality already in play moving into an army: the former required presence, but the latter did not. Also, FFG is quite consistent in drawing a distinction between "play" and "put into play".

10 hours ago, Shu2jack said:

Seems like a decent counter to "Charge".

Only if you get to use the action first...........and your opponent's Kisada isn't in play.

That's if it even stops charge at all.

7 minutes ago, Khudzlin said:

IIRC, L5R CCG treated a personality entering play in an army differently from a personality already in play moving into an army: the former required presence, but the latter did not.

It depends on edition. In last ruleset (Ivory/20F) playing Personality into battle (from any non-play area like Province/Discard/etc.) and moving into battle required Presence or Absent designator.

Just now, kempy said:

In last ruleset (Ivory/20F)

I stopped playing just before Ivory, so that explains why I didn't know. Though on principle, I like the standardization.