Semifinals:

So the Scorpion pushed Lion close to dishonor, Lion declared an illegal attack and then forfeited the game to preserve their honor .

On the other match Crane snatched the win by making a backbreaking play with Hotaru activating double Void ring to kill a monstrous 3 attachment, 2 fate Yokuni. The Dragon could not recover from that. #shehasherbowboys #justcranethings

Finals: (Will edit soon)

Decks:

Crane deck has a Scorpion Splash and is Keeper of Fire (Roles not in effect today). Do not remember what the Scorpion had.

Round 1:

Bold bid by Crane loses a lot of honor to Scorpion.

Crane opens with 2 fate Hotaru and Doji Whisperer, Scorpion opens with 2 fate Illusionist and a Manipulator.

Scorpion swings political, wins and with Air pushes Crane to 5 honor. Crane breaks a province, double Fire by Hotaru plus a Keeper.

End of the first round Crane 5 honor but with 2 honored characters, Scorpion 16. Crane leads in broken provinces 1-0.

Round 2:

Bad flip for Scorpion, all neutrals and holdings.

Hotaru swings with a Keeper for the Fire ring again, Way of Scorpion to dishonor Ηotaru, to Court Games to re-honor her, to Court Games to dishonor her, to Voice of Honor for the counter. Assassination on Keeper does not change much, Hotaru claims Fire and breaks the province.

Double Keepers get into play for Crane and the Scorpion player concedes.

CRANE WINS!!! Hotaru proves she is her father's daughter and claims a flawless victory.

Both players very happy, chat about their previous games and how luck is a major factor in this format. GGWP

Courtesy of Trevor Cuba, from the L5R Facebook group.

#TsuruchiHotaruConfirmed

18 minutes ago, blackheartz said:

On the other match Crane snatched the win by making a backbreaking play with Hotaru activating double Void ring to kill a monstrous 3 attachment, 2 fate Yokuni. The Dragon could not recover from that. #shehasherbowboys #justcranethings

1

If this does not get a story then I will rage.

Scorpion loses due to a terrible flop second round. Anticlimactic.

And people think Hotaru is a lackluster champion. Truly underrated.

The real story is scorpion winning every game with dishonor (he has it also in the forfeited match).

So will there be a collection of all the games somewhere soon?

1 hour ago, blackheartz said:

Courtesy of Trevor Cuba, from the L5R Facebook group.

Needs more bow

Needs more DECAPITATED CRANE LITTERING THE COUNTRYSIDE, THEIR MISERABLE CLAN CONSIGNED TO OBLIVION, UNMOURNED BY ANYONE OF VALUE!

*cough*

I, uh, I mean, uh, congratulations to the victor!

6 minutes ago, Shiba Gunichi said:

Needs more DECAPITATED CRANE LITTERING THE COUNTRYSIDE, THEIR MISERABLE CLAN CONSIGNED TO OBLIVION, UNMOURNED BY ANYONE OF VALUE!

*cough*

I, uh, I mean, uh, congratulations to the victor!

While the Crane are...well the Crane, I cannot be more excited that Scorpion didn't win. How you feel about Crane I feel about Scorpion.

*Hateraide high five*

Congratulations to the Crane.

Story needs more Crab.

I Can see the Unicorn having trouble - not many calvary neutrals and they don't have a lot of their cards to combo.

But my Crab?

1 hour ago, Isawa Kioshi said:

*Hateraide high five*

Hateraide: It's what's for dinner.

53 minutes ago, Shu2jack said:

Story needs more Crab.

I Can see the Unicorn having trouble - not many calvary neutrals and they don't have a lot of their cards to combo.

But my Crab?

It's the nature of the 1x core set format so I wouldn't worry about either clan.

Also, L5R LCG just started. There will be more Crab, more Lion, more Dragon...

If I were Shoju I would be outraged. So much so that I would read some scrolls about how I could ensure that I was never beaten by the Crane again.

Now where to find such a thing.......what was Junzo talking about again?

yeah I'm not surprised. Crab have a lot going on in the core and 1x core means you can't specialize your deck at all to try and concentrate on any one of those aspects. Other clans also have this problem, but Crab and Unicorn in particular really suffer I think in this format. Taking one of each Crab card right now makes a pretty confused deck build. Also I don't think the suggested starter deck for Crab is all that good. Not sure splashing Scorpion is the way to go for them. I think I would have gone Dragon in a 1x core build personally.

6 minutes ago, Ishi Tonu said:

If I were Shoju I would be

Pleased? The world, a stage?

It was in his plan to lose to the Crane. He needs the Crane to feel like they are superior.

1 minute ago, phillos said:

It was in his plan to lose to the Crane. He needs the Crane to feel like they are superior.

confirmed, Shoju will try to move the clan to the shadows and Kachiko will devise a plot to have him killed in order to retain their power in the Empire, and she'll frame someone else for it..

4 hours ago, blackheartz said:

Both players very happy, chat about their previous games and how luck is a major factor in this format. GGWP

This more than anything. To have several games with Hotaru coming out when she is a 1 off in a deck of 30 cards... This player got lucky and they knew it. Not that they weren't also skilled, but any 1 core tournament is going to be kinda swingy. This is why I detest the deck building limits of "1 per deck" because its less about overall tactics, and more about tutoring or getting lucky...

I'll enjoy the launch tournament, and I think there is 1 other 1-core tournament scheduled, but the sooner we get to "full deck building options legal" the better.

3 minutes ago, Zesu Shadaban said:

confirmed, Shoju will try to move the clan to the shadows and Kachiko will devise a plot to have him killed in order to retain their power in the Empire, and she'll frame someone else for it..

Maybe by drugging him and holding elaborate plays in his bedroom at night to make him believe he is viewing evil portents if he doesn't act, and only HE can act to save the world! He just has to kill the only person between Kachiko the Daimyo's Wife and Kachiko the New Emperor's Wife. It won't matter who the next Emperor is, because both the current Emperor, and Shoju will be dead so both her and the new Emperor will be conveniently single and she is ready to mingle...

Saw the game video right now.

I don´t like that it ends so soon. Round 2. Really? is the game soooo fast? bad news then. In a card game, the faster the worst, as luck becomes a defining factor.

I liked that it all goes around Hotaru honor. Should she be dishoroned, things would have been so diferent. But when she took the case to the emperor she was well prepared, ready to do some court games and with the help of an ally, ready to take any shame in her place.

Seems to me Scorpions concede too easily. Does anyone share this impression?

I mean, he could have tried further, as not all was completely lost. Being Scorpion, well, there must be something incoming in this decission.

Hotaru still had a turn of absolute dominance in her. The Scorp had nothing in his provinces, and he had already spent a lot of gas accomplishing absolutely nothing, while the Crane had spent fewer cards and got more done. If it came down to a grind, the Crane certainly would have won. I think that there's a reason both of those players got to the Grand Finals, and it's not because they have a habit of conceding too early.

He conceded out of courtesy, we could have played it out but the challenge where we exchanged a bunch of cards really depleted his hand and he didn't have a board to fall back on.

I got very lucky, he didn't. We both played to our outs with few mistakes and I just had more gas.

Speaking of gas - this is why I bid 5 turn 1, I knew I needed gas to protect Hotaru and hopefully keep her honored. The only way I lose there is by Hotaru staying dishonored.

Despite how short it was it was a great game strategically for the one core format and I just got a better draw in both hand and provinces. Flip the script and I'd have lost too - Matt played to his only outs beautifully.

1 hour ago, phillos said:

yeah I'm not surprised. Crab have a lot going on in the core and 1x core means you can't specialize your deck at all to try and concentrate on any one of those aspects. Other clans also have this problem, but Crab and Unicorn in particular really suffer I think in this format. Taking one of each Crab card right now makes a pretty confused deck build. Also I don't think the suggested starter deck for Crab is all that good. Not sure splashing Scorpion is the way to go for them. I think I would have gone Dragon in a 1x core build personally.

I'm a little surprised given the clan distribution for Kiku Matsuri. The Crane finished 2nd to last in Hatamoto numbers. The Dragon had 8 players become Hatamoto, the most of any faction. The Phoenix had 5, I believe. Fast forward to Friday's top32, and the breakdown was as follows (posted by Benjoewoo from Discord):

Crab: 6

Crane: 4

Dragon: 4

Lion: 5

Phoenix: 5

Scorpion: 7

Unicorn: 2

Only the Scorpion bettered the Crab in frequency. The issue was converting that advantage into the top8 elimination round. Here's the breakdown of the top8 (per Asako Kaze of Discord) :

3 Phoenix.

1 crane.

2 Dragon.

1 scorpion.

1 lion

So to get to the top4, the Crane, Scorpion and Lion had to buck the odds. They all did, while the Phoenix had all three players exit. To summarize, Crab seemed to do well enough to get to the top32, but like the Phoenix, failed to push that advantage into the top4.

5 minutes ago, Reiga said:

He conceded out of courtesy, we could have played it out but the challenge where we exchanged a bunch of cards really depleted his hand and he didn't have a board to fall back on.

I got very lucky, he didn't. We both played to our outs with few mistakes and I just had more gas.

Speaking of gas - this is why I bid 5 turn 1, I knew I needed gas to protect Hotaru and hopefully keep her honored. The only way I lose there is by Hotaru staying dishonored.

Despite how short it was it was a great game strategically for the one core format and I just got a better draw in both hand and provinces. Flip the script and I'd have lost too - Matt played to his only outs beautifully.

Grats man.