Just now, Sometimes Y said:

Would the horde be a legal target for Hirue? Can a character with a dash be moved into a conflict they're not eligible to participate in? The rules say "If a character has a dash (–) for a skill value, that character cannot participate in conflicts of that type", but

it also says that if they find themselves in that conflict type they are sent home bowed. Maybe that's just for when the conflict type changes, but I'm not sure I've seen anything that says one way or another if they can't be pulled in

4 minutes ago, Taki said:

Dragon, as they bring bowing and attachment removal and covert out of hand, Lion for anti bowing and vengeful oath weirdos out of your hand, and unicorn for spy glass, hand characters, and mounts.

Dragon has some appeal, for sure. Spy glass from Uni seems decent, and Favored Mount never feels out of place, but I'm not sure that is enough to make it a compelling pairing. Lion... I see where you are getting at, and it shores up their lack of dudes/military shortcomings. I really want Scorpion/Phoenix to be a relevant pairing but, until the Scorps get more Shugenja, that just won't work out at all... maybe a few dynasty packs from now it could be fun.

Funnily enough, I feel like Scorpion are going to be one of the clans most likely to pick the Air ring, and possible one of the LEAST likely to be able to pull off Assassination. They're the clan that uses honor as a resource more than any other clan: bidding high, dishonoring your own characters, and paying honor for effects. I really don't know if you can afford to run too many Assassinations in the deck when you're running that low on honor. The stronghold helps, but it's still only one a turn. Might be interesting when considering splashes; Honored Blade might actually be really good for them, provided they can win Mil conflicts. Levy might be another good choice.

Fiery Madness....with Shoju. Don't even need to dishonor.

Add: Or even that with dishonor gives Shoju a pretty wide range.

21 minutes ago, Sometimes Y said:

Would the horde be a legal target for Hirue? Can a character with a dash be moved into a conflict they're not eligible to participate in? The rules say "If a character has a dash (–) for a skill value, that character cannot participate in conflicts of that type", but I don't know if Hirue's ability supersedes that.

No, they would not be a legal target. Both Hirue and Doji Challenger cannot move characters with a - skill to a conflict of that type.

4 minutes ago, phillos said:

Fiery Madness....with Shoju. Don't even need to dishonor.

Add: Or even that with dishonor gives Shoju a pretty wide range.

Yeah with a heavy combo Shoju has the potential to kill every character in the game that has any POL.

15 minutes ago, shosuko said:

Yeah with a heavy combo Shoju has the potential to kill every character in the game that has any POL.

Shoju, Cloud the Mind target #1

What I keep seeing is the stats on the Scorpion characters don't tell the story, but almost all of these characters have killer abilities.

49 minutes ago, Shu2jack said:

Ha! The joke is on you, for this is actually a dance battle!

I want a duel card about dance battles.

Oh my wooooooord these cards are sick! I said time ago that I was fixing to take Scorpion clan as high as I could, and their previews did NOT disappoint. So many of these cards are exactly my favourite kind of ***** to play. Hard negation, hand disruption, disrupting the opponents plays, hand searching stuff. TOO DELICIOUS.

I read Edict and I was like nah.

37 minutes ago, Casanunda said:

Funnily enough, I feel like Scorpion are going to be one of the clans most likely to pick the Air ring, and possible one of the LEAST likely to be able to pull off Assassination. They're the clan that uses honor as a resource more than any other clan: bidding high, dishonoring your own characters, and paying honor for effects. I really don't know if you can afford to run too many Assassinations in the deck when you're running that low on honor. The stronghold helps, but it's still only one a turn. Might be interesting when considering splashes; Honored Blade might actually be really good for them, provided they can win Mil conflicts. Levy might be another good choice.

I think you have a point. My own thinking for all this is that Seeker Of Knowledge and Magnificent Kimono would be really good splashes for a Scorpion looking to go heavy into Dishonor effects and not find they've inadvertently played themselves into a corner. It's a powerful but dangerous dance that the Scorpion weaves, and one must be careful.

A cornered Scorpion stings itself to death...

Indeed, Its why I'm thinking that Phoenix could easily cripple an ambitious scorpion by attacking for air so reliably and forcing scorpion to be afraid to use their tech.

Plus, thanks to the Asako, you ant dishonor an already dishonored personality, so scorpion could find a hand with unusable abilities.

20 minutes ago, TheItsyBitsySpider said:

Indeed, Its why I'm thinking that Phoenix could easily cripple an ambitious scorpion by attacking for air so reliably and forcing scorpion to be afraid to use their tech.

Plus, thanks to the Asako, you ant dishonor an already dishonored personality, so scorpion could find a hand with unusable abilities.

Not sure I can get behind this. Scorpion doesn't tilt. They knew the possibility before you did most likely. They have plans within plans within plans... Not saying you can't beat them just saying that there are some clans that are more aggro. Scorpion looks to be (and generally always has been) more about the submission.

Just remember, Scorpions don't lose, they learn.

8 minutes ago, Strange1 said:

They have plans within plans within plans...

That's why I always like to think that everybody else in the Empire is a Shosuro Actor/Actress. They won centuries ago and they are just keeping up a charade.

18 minutes ago, Wintersong said:

That's why I always like to think that everybody else in the Empire is a Shosuro Actor/Actress. They won centuries ago and they are just keeping up a charade.

Yeah, there isn't even a Dragon clan anymore - just a bunch of Shosuro actors with bald caps. Yokuni? He's literally a puppet, made him out of an old suit of armor, 2 mops, and duct tape

4 minutes ago, shosuko said:

Yeah, there isn't even a Dragon clan anymore - just a bunch of Shosuro actors with bald caps. Yokuni? He's literally a puppet, made him out of an old suit of armor, 2 mops, and duct tape

You had me at 'bald caps'??

I'm going to choose that the show is purely for the fish-out-of-water ponies who couldn't know any better

5 minutes ago, Kuni Katsuyoshi said:

You had me at 'bald caps'??

Like all Shosuro - the actors don't actually shave. Its a little known symbol of our alliance with the Utaku Battle Maidens that we always bear our hair with them.

Scorpion with Phoenix splash appears to be a nice combination. Having 3 sets of Shugenjas (I'm assuming Sinister Soshi is one), Cloud the Mind, Pacifism, and Fiery Madness will make sure your opponents will have a little less characters to work with. Dropping Seeker of Knowledge on a winning conflict means you can trigger Air Ring 2x a turn or once when your opponent tried to claim it first (or maybe throw Display of Power to take it from them). Looks like my deck is built.

No direct honor hit makes me sad though. Gonna have to make do with the plethora of ways to hand out dishonored status.

So, my NEXT absurd mad science hank will be Twintime- 'cause some sort of Scorp/Phoenix dishonor insanity beckons...

I went to the Ninja Convention. I didn't see anyone, so I assume it was a good convention.

12 minutes ago, Mirith said:

I went to the Ninja Convention. I didn't see anyone, so I assume it was a good convention.

A new take on the "have you seen my camouflage pants" joke. Well done.??

So the Scorpion Dynasty cards are:

Bayushi Liar, Bayushi Manipulator, Sinister Soshi, Blackmail Artist, Soshi Illusionist, Yogo Outcast, Young Rumormonger, Favored Niece, Shosuro Actress, Shosuro Miyako, Bayushi Yunako, Yogo Hiroue, Bayushi Shoju, City of Lies

The Conflict cards are:

Adept of Shadows, Unassuming Yōjimbō, Court Mask, Fiery Madness, Forged Edict, Way of the Scorpion, Calling in Favors, I Can Swim, Ambush, Blackmail

Are all of these fully spoiled now?

3 hours ago, phillos said:

Fiery Madness....with Shoju. Don't even need to dishonor.

Add: Or even that with dishonor gives Shoju a pretty wide range.

Fiery Madness really helps the Crane Stronghold hit better targets as well.

I'm impressed by the design of City of the Open Hand. A Ring of Air while the Scorpion are lower. Which immediately causes a 2 honour shift one the first turn. A powerful ability that will almost always see use. That's a bit different when compared to more limited use Strongholds such as Isawa Mori Seido, Shizuka Toshi and Shiro No Yojin.

11 minutes ago, Anemura said:

Fiery Madness really helps the Crane Stronghold hit better targets as well.

I'm impressed by the design of City of the Open Hand. A Ring of Air while the Scorpion are lower. Which immediately causes a 2 honour shift one the first turn. A powerful ability that will almost always see use. That's a bit different when compared to more limited use Strongholds such as Isawa Mori Seido, Shizuka Toshi and Shiro No Yojin.

I wouldn't call Shizuka Toshi a limited stronghold - the ability won't get used much, but you won't see any 1 POL blocker using conflict card shenanigans either.

58 minutes ago, Kuni Katsuyoshi said:

A new take on the "have you seen my camouflage pants" joke. Well done.??

To be fair, I did go to a ninja panel at a convention, and we saw no one. We assumed it was a good panel.