A samurai's loyalty to their clan and dedication to duty is never in question. However it is necessary to study one's adversary in order to better serve our lords.

What clans do you look forward to studying (playing) the most, ranked?

(As a quick note - thus far I think all the clans have been well done in terms of fiction and clan design. A clan I pick last isn't because I dislike or think it is the weakest, it is merely because it "speaks" to me the least. To each their own!)

For me:

1. Crab - I identify heavily with Kisada. I was a Dragon guy until I read the clan fiction. The clan focus on impenetrable defense and pragmatism fits my style whether it is playing games or combat sports.

2. Dragon - The Dragon seem to fit me in terms of beliefs, personality, and the focus on cultivating individual growth. The Clan isn't as straight forward to play as some other clans and requires a level of planning to properly set up your Voltron personalities.

3. Scorpion - My zodiac sign being the Scorpion, I have to take a look at this clan. I can see the parallel between the Crab's focus on duty and the Scorpion willing to do what ever it takes to fulfill theirs. I appreciate Shoju's approach to guiding/protecting the empire and in terms of game play the clan looks like a blast to play.

4. Unicorn - Some days the answer is to just flip out and go at a problem fast and hard. When I feel the need. The need for speed, the Unicorn will be there. They also echo the Dragon theme of individualism and progress. Though the Unicorn's progress is more on a cultural level.

5. Crane - Nothing irritates me more than disrespect. There are social rules, follow them. I've gone out of my way to give you that courtesy. I can also appreciate the Clan's focus on perfection and dueling.

6. Lion - On one hand, you have angry meat heads. On the other, warriors who desire to win honor and glory in battle. I like Toturi, but many of the Lion don't seem to like him. I like the clan, but it is time to leave the party past a certain time.

7. Phoenix - I like the Phoenix fiction and their champ. One of the things I feel FFG did well put forth strong fiction that establishes clan theme and interesting game play mechanics that separate the clans from each other. There is nothing wrong with the Phoenix, just not my brand of Mountain Dew.

I generally like to play agressively or do some sort of weird combo that people think can't work. Since there is no official Shadowlands faction in the core set, something I'm actually happy about, I'll likely play every clan, but, spend the most time playing whatever clan gets tagged as the weakest. I like the underdogs.

If Shadowlands characters show up at some point, I'll play whatever clan allows me to fit them in the best, until some sort of Shadowlands faction gets released. Based on the fictions it seems like they are playing up the Unicorn as the outsiders a bit more then AEG did in Old5R. I'll probably end up starting with them, but, if they end up being the top clan I'll ditch them immediately, even if I somehow managed to secure hatamoto status.

Mechanically I like Dragon. They felt flexible and fun to play. Crab is my favorite clan, but if I managed to win a Hatamoto title for Dragon I wouldn't be upset about staying loyal to them. I am very curious to try Scorpion. They seem brutal. I like what they are doing with Phoenix both in the story and in the game. I tried to proxy play them and it just wasn't clicking for me.

Toss up between crab, unicorn, and dragon. These to me have some fun shenanigans that interest me more than the other clans, but will try the others.

on a side note I want to have a side project to build a full neutral deck. It may take a few sets, but that would be hilarious to run.

Similarly only personal preference as I can see any clan working but this is my own order of interest.

1) Scorpion: This did not surprise either me or my friends. I've always been more of the combo player and a fan of underhanded tricks so obviously Scorpion would speak to me mechanically. The fact that I can get behind them philosophically also helps.

2) Phoenix: This one did surprise me a bit. None of my friends are fans of Phoenix and none of them talked them up so I was surprised when their preview came and I was so drawn to them. I play a lot of spell heavy decks in MtG and also love having people who also have interesting effects so maybe it shouldn't have been such a surprise in the end that they are the faction I'm almost certainly going to be making my second deck with.

3) Unicorn: What's not to love about all those movement shenanigans.

4) Crab: I've also shown a penchant for more durdly decks and their defensive fronts are really interesting.

5) Crane: I'm not against them but nothing really made me want to go for them.

6) Lion: Not a huge fan of horde strats.

7) Dragon: Ironically one of the ones I was most interested before the reveal left me the least interested in playing after. I've never been a fan of the all your eggs in one basket approach and Dragon seem very likely to suffer tie wildest swings between wins and losses depending on how well someone can answer.

11 minutes ago, Spawnod said:

Toss up between crab, unicorn, and dragon. These to me have some fun shenanigans that interest me more than the other clans, but will try the others.

on a side note I want to have a side project to build a full neutral deck. It may take a few sets, but that would be hilarious to run.

og yoritomo's alliance - just use unaligned characters.