I was able to acquire 2 cores from Gencon, and I'm really glad because no one else around me (that I know of) was able to get any, so this lets me play with some of my friends. For this reason, and because the launch tournament is 1 core decks, I'm looking at what I can do with it. The options are kinda limited but there is some flexibility.

You'll typically have all of your clan cards and all but 4 neutral cards (2 of either seeker / keeper depending on which role you lack, and 2 other neutral cards.) Because Scorpion took Seeker of Air, and the *Seeker Initiate is an absolutely horrid card... I'm on the fence as to weather I include it or just go 3x wandering ronin, it doesn't matter as I wouldn't buy either unless I was forced to... What neutral cards are you excluding in your decks? There aren't a lot of options lol

For the Conflict there is a bit more flexibility as you can add another faction's cards in. I've been playing Scorpion + Crab with Reprieve, Hiruma Ambusher, Rebuild, Watch Commander, and The Mountain Does Not Fall. For Neutral cards I decided to focus on free ones, because drawing a bunch of cards is worthless if you can't afford to play them. Assassination, Banzai, Cloud the Mind, Court Games, Fine Katana, For Shame, Ornate Fan, and Spies at Court are what I put in (Cloud the Mind is my 1x.) After playing this, I think Spies at Court might be one to dump for either Rout or Outwit. I am cautious of these for the potential to give my opponent an unbowed character at home, even if I take the province this could let them take one of mine, and I have to pay a fate to buy the trade... At the same time Spies at Court was not always a good play with the dishonor cost. My buddy mentioned to me that rout and outwit are grand for a finally attack on the stronghold though, so I think I'll make the switch for one of them, not sure which yet.

For provinces I used Entrenched Position under my Stronghold, and then used Secret Cache, Fertile Fields, Shameful Display, and Meditations on the Tao. My reasoning for this was to have multiple-use provinces which favor my decision to not trade via rout or outwit, but rather to drag the game out through repeated conflicts that defend provinces, even if they win rings. Secret Cache and Fertile Fields are super good with such a cheap conflict deck. Secret Cache is golden, the extra card picked from the top 5 is a major power swing. Fertile Fields is great because my deck is so cheap, but my deck is so cheap partly because I'm building on just the core. In a full deck Manicured Garden might be better. Meditations on the Tao was chosen over Night Raid because most games aren't swarming with characters, and I wouldn't expect a player who is swarming with characters to rush into a province blind unless it was the stronghold. Letting my opponent discard 1 card by choice on first reveal feels a bit paltry compared to sapping away 1 fate from an attacker which repeats each conflict / turn. Shameful Display is just so much win for Scorpion, I think that choice is obvious. Neither Air province is on my stronghold. I think Secret Cache could be a great stronghold defender as the card you gain from it is very powerful, but I decided the ultimate MIL defense might be more important if it came to that, while the Secret Cache is a great way to turn the tides before provinces sink. This does mean my opponent could try to play around it, but with all of my provinces being repeatable abilities they'll have to choose something lol

I decided to use the seeker role to ditch a water province. Both water aren't very appealing to me, they are both only on first reveal, and they can both bite back. You might not want to switch the ring, and you might not want to switch the conflict type. I lost a conflict pretty bad playing with the "suggested 1 core" deck and my opponent got 2 MIL conflicts trashing me. When the roles change, I'll probably take the ring swap as it has the least potential to totally screw me, and might effect my opponent's motivation to win that conflict at all if they don't see a path to breaking it. Either one is a weakness in a deck that would drag out conflicts rather than trade provinces since its an easy target once its popped.

So what are you doing with the 1 core? Or are you even playing it? I can't wait to get a 3rd core so I don't have to stoop so low, playing 1 core is kinda annoying. The Conflict deck is okay, not reliable but not bad. The Dynasty is where you really suffer. Getting a Wandering Ronin or Seeker Initiate is bad bad news. Miya Mystic is situational at best, and with mono no aware the removal is not nearly as important. The seppun cards are .. eh.. they aren't as bad as Wandering Ronin or Seeker Initiate but they aren't as great as any of the clan characters. I feel the luck of the Dynasty flop has been a major factor the games I've played using just 1 core set.

*I don't really think Seeker Initiate is absolutely horrible. The ability is great! But you have to over spend 2 fate for 1/1 stats and then win the specific ring that may not be a good ring choice at the time. It just puts you so far behind to get that ability that I question its value. In a fully constructed deck it might not be so bad - because I would have 3x Sinister Soshi, 3x fiery Madness, 3x Ambush, ect that might offset the cost of going 2 for a 1/1. As a note - if your opponent discards a Seeker Initiate using a Shosuro Actress to copy it and go for the ring would be a smart play!

I am not completely sure, but I read that you are not bound to the role of your clan in the launch events.

Then, you could choose another one that fits you better.

Someone can confirm this point.

33 minutes ago, Koriume said:

I am not completely sure, but I read that you are not bound to the role of your clan in the launch events.

Then, you could choose another one that fits you better.

Someone can confirm this point.

From the Organized Play Roles web page :

Quote

Current Clan Roles

The very first Winter Court World Championship for Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game will take place at the Fantasy Flight Games Center during our 2017 World Championships, November 1st through November 5th. After the very first World Champion is crowned, the Roles of Rokugan ceremony will be held. The top finisher from each clan will choose which Keeper or Seeker role their clanmates around the world will include in their decks until the next year's Winter Court. Importantly, they cannot select a role another clan has already selected at this ceremony, and they must each select a different role from the one their clan held leading into this event!

Before that comes to pass, we must first determine which role each clan will use at the first Winter Court World Championship. After the Kiku Matsuri event on Thursday at Gen Con , Friday's tournament will stoke the fires of competition even before the official release of the game. Following the Swiss rounds of that tournament, the top player by standings from each clan will choose their clan's role for the 2017 Winter Court World Championship!

I would recommend running the absolute minimum possible Wandering Ronins. At Gencon, as soon as you buy that card, you've just decreased your chances of winning by at least 25%. It's a complete waste of fate and is, easily, the worst card in the entire game. The only time I could even think about justifying the purchase of it is if you are on the final turn and your flip up is Holding Holding Holding Wandering Ronin. And even then, I'd consider "Can I survive until next turn? Maybe I can just get the extra fate from passing and play from my hand this round."

I disagree. My only clear losses across both tournaments at GenCon (besides facing down a turn 1 Kisada) were from Wandering Ronin. They're a house in an environment where 66% of everyone's deck is unimpressive neutral cards.

My issue is that all it takes to shut down your juiced up with fate Wandering Ronin and make him a worthless 5-ish fate investment is one shugenja and a copy of Cloud the Mind. I mean, other than the fact that you would be dumping 5 fate into a one conflict 6/6 that then will be discarded...

18 minutes ago, Gaffa said:

I disagree. My only clear losses across both tournaments at GenCon (besides facing down a turn 1 Kisada) were from Wandering Ronin. They're a house in an environment where 66% of everyone's deck is unimpressive neutral cards.

How bad was your board state in those games though?

Because 5 fate for a 1 turn 6/6 (or a 1 turn 4/4 and a 1 turn 2/2) is an awful investment in nearly every case. Except, like I said, if they've already cracked three provinces and just need that inefficient fate to skill ratio needed to break the final stronghold province.

At Gencon, I didn't lose a single game to a person who actually spent fate on a Wandering Ronin.

I did, however, win 2 games against players who bought a Wandering Ronin when there were clearly better cards in their provinces (one game, the guy chose a suped up Ronin over Tsukune, despite having the fate necessary to play Tsukune with 2 fate on her.)

27 minutes ago, Joe From Cincinnati said:

How bad was your board state in those games though?

Because 5 fate for a 1 turn 6/6 (or a 1 turn 4/4 and a 1 turn 2/2) is an awful investment in nearly every case. Except, like I said, if they've already cracked three provinces and just need that inefficient fate to skill ratio needed to break the final stronghold province.

At Gencon, I didn't lose a single game to a person who actually spent fate on a Wandering Ronin.

I did, however, win 2 games against players who bought a Wandering Ronin when there were clearly better cards in their provinces (one game, the guy chose a suped up Ronin over Tsukune, despite having the fate necessary to play Tsukune with 2 fate on her.)

They were the games where I was unable to get anything bigger than my own tiny 1-2 drops, or the neutral Imperials. So it was a good buy for my opponent, and a smart play.

You need a regular supply of people in this very limited format, and you only get three copies of the ronin, the Miya Mystic, and the dash Imperials. Given the odds your opponent's flop every turn is probably going to be mainly the Imperials or the Mystic, ronins punch through those quite well.

5 fate for a 1 turn 6/6 is incredibly worth it, especially when your clan naturally leans one way. It's a province crusher you can play on turn 3 or 4 when you have a bit more fate stored up, that can threaten the conflict type you're naturally weaker with. It's especially good as a political attacker because of it's glory 0. It can soak up at least one card from your opponent becoming dishonored. That said, it is an expensive card, so try to only run 1 or 2, and avoid running it out first turn, obviously. You need a stable board before the ronin has a chance to shine.

I'm still going to have to hard disagree with the defense of Wandering Ronin. Here's a brief list of his counters (which all take place after you dump 5 fate into him):

• Cloud the Mind
• Rout/Outwit (when you commit him to a conflict but before you can action him up to higher stats)
• Hiruma Ambusher
• Jade Tetsubou
• Mirumoto's Fury
• Duelist Training
• Kakita Kaezin
• Niten Adept
• Mirumoto Raitsugu
• Solemn Scholar
• Radiant Orator

I realize all of these cards work on other big fate investment characters, but even one fate wasted on the Wandering Ronin neuters him completely. Sure if you can drop him and your opponent has no cards in hand and crap for flips he can crack almost anything solo, but in those conditions you won't have trouble breaking a province in the first place...

2 hours ago, Joe From Cincinnati said:

I would recommend running the absolute minimum possible Wandering Ronins. At Gencon, as soon as you buy that card, you've just decreased your chances of winning by at least 25%.

While I agree that WR is not one of the better cards, I would be careful when throwing numbers like this around without any actual statistical evidence to back it up.

Including and playing Wandering Ronin takes a little extra thought because dumping a bunch of fate on him and tossing him into a board where there are lots of ways to neutralize him is an easy way to lose the game. Within the confines of a 1 core format, you may need a 3 fate 2/2.

@shosuko I think most of the general tips for the 1 core format have been covered in various places, so are we trying to gather them all here, or was this supposed to be more geared towards Scorpion clan?

57 minutes ago, Ishi Tonu said:

While I agree that WR is not one of the better cards, I would be careful when throwing numbers like this around without any actual statistical evidence to back it up.

Including and playing Wandering Ronin takes a little extra thought because dumping a bunch of fate on him and tossing him into a board where there are lots of ways to neutralize him is an easy way to lose the game. Within the confines of a 1 core format, you may need a 3 fate 2/2.

@shosuko I think most of the general tips for the 1 core format have been covered in various places, so are we trying to gather them all here, or was this supposed to be more geared towards Scorpion clan?

JoefromCincinatti has a Crab mon in his profile. We cannot expect that his ideas on the Wandering Roning come in a balanced and precise use of the language. Not that he is not able. It just would take a time and focus he cannot afford. He has a wall to defend.

He has made clear his despise for the card. I do not share the idea that you are bound to lose just by playing WR. But I do agree that there are better options. Even considering his inmunity to assasination, I don´t like him. Too expensive and vulnerable.

EDIT: I would maybe consider him in a deck that is lacking bushi characters for some reason, like playing rout.

1 hour ago, Zetsubou said:

I'm still going to have to hard disagree with the defense of Wandering Ronin. Here's a brief list of his counters (which all take place after you dump 5 fate into him):

The only options from those that I had available to me as Lion were Cloud the Mind (which required me to not only have one of those in hand, but one of my only four Shugenja in play to use) and Rout/Outwit (only two of in each in your deck, requires an appropriate character in play to use, and I had cut the Outwits due to the ratio of bushi to courtiers available to me; I wasn't going to save 1 Fate to use a one-shot conflict trick when I couldn't guarantee a reasonable count of courtiers on the board). They also required me not to have used them on appropriate targets before the Wandering Ronins enter play.

All the other cards you listed are clan-aligned, which means there's only one in any deck in a single-core environment (and for the conflict cards among them, presuming you not only splashed the clan in question, you also chose that card with your influence and happen to have it in hand at that moment). While those cards do help deal with Wandering Ronins, it's not like the Wandering Ronins are the only cards your opponent will be threatening you with -- you'll not only have to be playing those singleton cards, you'll have to have found them in your deck, and have not used them before a fully charged Wandering Ronin shows up.

Meanwhile to your answers, an opponent can run three Wandering Ronins. Yes, they are expensive, but they can completely punch through the randomly lackadaisical defenses found in a single-core environment.

Single-core is inherently a highly variable environment. You only have one of all of your clan cards, regardless of what you splash. An early appearance by the Champions or other major characters from one player while the other can't find their big hitters can easily push the game to an early conclusion. The only characters you can reliably find in a 30 card deck are those you can have multiples of -- two of whatever role monk you're allowed, and three of the Imperial dash/2s, the Miya Mystic, and the Wandering Ronin. No matter what your opponent's board state is, it will probably contain a high proportion of neutral characters, because that's what the majority of their dynasty deck is made out of. Then the majority of their clan-aligned characters will average out to be the ones costing 1-2, because that's what most clans have.

With that being the nominative field you see on the board, Wandering Ronins crush through nearly all defenses if used correctly. You can see them reliably, so you can find them at multiple times in the game. They threaten huge hits on either conflict type (or huge defenses, if that's needed). In an environment literally defined by a random scattering of clan characters outnumbered 2:1 by small neutral characters by the sheer nature of deck construction, they are the only repeatable huge threats you can be facing.

By all means don't play them if they're not your style. Cards are not "wrong" or "right" to put in a deck -- it's how you play the cards you have included that is the question. But don't discount them just because you choose not to play them, if that's the case. They are the largest reliable heavy hitters you can find in a tournament style in which all your other big characters are limited to one per deck. That is a perfectly valid tactic for some players to take.

2 hours ago, Ishi Tonu said:

While I agree that WR is not one of the better cards, I would be careful when throwing numbers like this around without any actual statistical evidence to back it up.

Including and playing Wandering Ronin takes a little extra thought because dumping a bunch of fate on him and tossing him into a board where there are lots of ways to neutralize him is an easy way to lose the game. Within the confines of a 1 core format, you may need a 3 fate 2/2.

@shosuko I think most of the general tips for the 1 core format have been covered in various places, so are we trying to gather them all here, or was this supposed to be more geared towards Scorpion clan?

I would like to see all 1-core deckbuilding tips and opinions people have. I am 100% certain to play Scorpion, but I'm also a player that tends to help others build their decks too. It helps me improve the competitive scene, tests my skill against more optimal decks and plays, (and lets me know what I'll be facing )

I'm glad to see I can pick whatever role I want for the Launch event. I might switch to a Keeper role so I can take advantage of Keeper Initiate and the +3 Influence to buy another Crab card instead of Cloud the Mind.

The Wandering Ronin discussion here is a great discussion - I realize that he is certainly not the *worst card in the game, and here are the reasons why:
1) Charge! He can be a 2/2 for 1 if you charge him out. You will likely legitimately buy your clan cards, and avoid buying Wandering Ronin. This makes him a decent Charge candidate as he'll almost always be waiting for you in your dynasty.
2) Good Omen. This card is great, and you might not want to blow it on Wandering Ronin... but it does turn the card into the equivalent of a 0 cost +2/2 event. This can be useful to push you over the edge against your opponent.
3) Assassination proof - one thing about Core decks is that there aren't a lot of better options than Assassination. Honor running isn't really a thing, and a lot of the characters are cheaper characters. Wandering Ronin is a safe card to drop your swords, fans, banzais, and other boosts onto knowing he can't be negated by an assassination. This also defends using his own ability.

If I decide to use Charge! and Good Omen, I might decide to use Wandering Ronin 3x in place of either Imperial -/2 card depending on my strengths and weaknesses. This was a good read.

*for 1 core. In a full collection he is likely to go away quick. This may have been the intention, giving us a playset of something for 1 core without wasting any good cards in that spot.

Personally I think Scorpion with Dragon splash of the best pairing vs the field.

Keeper is generally superior to Seeker.

Dragon, Phoenix, and Scorpion make for the best influence splashes, in general.

I try to avoid specifics since everyone kind of has their own style of play but this is where I like to start when considering what approach to take.......

But I'm happy to elaborate and discuss more specifics when I'm off work. Lol

1 hour ago, Ishi Tonu said:

Personally I think Scorpion with Dragon splash of the best pairing vs the field.

Keeper is generally superior to Seeker.

Dragon, Phoenix, and Scorpion make for the best influence splashes, in general.

I try to avoid specifics since everyone kind of has their own style of play but this is where I like to start when considering what approach to take.......

But I'm happy to elaborate and discuss more specifics when I'm off work. Lol

Please elaborate for me, what cards do you think of the best splashed from each of the Clans for just one core play?

5 minutes ago, shosuko said:

Please elaborate for me, what cards do you think of the best splashed from each of the Clans for just one core play?

Depends what you want. Don't forget that these are all one-ofs in single-core, so their impact will be variable and random. Pick cards that you think will help out your clan against a random assortment of unfocused cards and largely neutral characters.

Crab offers:

• Hiruma Ambusher: a great defensive character who can shut off powerful abilities (Champions, uniques, Ronin Wanderers)
• Stoic Gunso: a moderate conflict character who can cash in one of your useless characters for a military boost
• Jade Tetsubo: a powerful weapon that can mess around with fate values on both sides
• Reprieve: great way to invest fate in a character after they're in play
• Watch Commander: great attachment that really messes with any deck relying heavily on conflict tricks
• Levy: low impact but free event that helps you punt in the Dynasty phase to see what they're up to
• Rebuild: low impact, but it could bring back a Favorable Ground to allow you a very powerful move ability in a vital combat
• The Mountain Does Not Fall: very potent card for a large character to fight in 2-3 conflicts this turn

Crane:

• Political Rival: an expensive character, but a near guarantee for a surprise political win on defense, and a powerful attacker as well
• Steward of Law: cheap body, but does mess around with the many dishonoring events everyone (not just Scorpion) are playing due to lack of in-clan options
• Above Question: the majority of all combat tricks in this format are events. This makes your most important character on the board immune to them.
• Duelist Training: A repeatable combat trick for any suitably militaristic character you plan to stick around for a turn or two.
• Height of Fashion: Can't be a surprise, but is capable of single-handedly crushing almost any province. Great for when you're second player and your second attack in politics.
• Admit Defeat: very powerful in a format where people usually only have one defender. Bow them and keep on going.
• Noble Sacrifice: even if you don't have any honoring synergies in your deck, there is a lot of events being played that dishonor characters (by you or your opponent) to make grabbing the Fire ring to blow someone up out of conflict very useful
• The Perfect Gift: a very low impact card. It does, however, give another good 0-cost punt action in Dynasty, and lets you dig a bit further for the cards you need. Yes, it gives your opponent a card. That's not all that relevant.
• Voice of Honor: very tough to play unless you have a lot of honoring synergies or you are planning on going heavy Fire. Great when it works, of course.

Dragon:

• Tattooed Wanderer: Great stats for cost, plus being able to give covert to your most powerful current character is very strong.
• Togashi Kazue: Expensive, but powerful effects for what you pay for. Don't be afraid to just play her as a 3/3 if that's what you need.
• Ancestral Daisho: This is a high-variance format. Being able to have a reusable +2 military boost is very good.
• Daimyo's Favor: Cheap and helps any other attachments you might be playing to be cheaper. Minor advantage of being a free soak against Kisada.
• Kitsuki's Method: This is a high-variance format. Being able to have a reusable +2 politics boost is very good.
• Indomitable Will: Anything that throws off your opponent's combat math after a conflict is always good, and this can keep a big character around for one more fight.
• Let Go: Free, destroys any attachment. Useful, but not amazing.
• Mirumoto's Fury: Great trick that can bow anyone on the first battle, and still a wide variety of characters if you end up defending your stronghold.
• Mantra of Fire: Not exactly useful in single-core, but I will note every clan can play 2 monks with their role monks, and since you're splashing Dragon you can pick up two more monks in your conflict.
• Tranquility: Very good against some decks (Scorpion, Crane, even Lion), not so good against others. Average to low general use overall.

Lion:

• Master of the Spear: Another expensive conflict character, but it has very balanced stats, and can close out a battle on attack very effectively.
• Vengeful Oathkeeper: Potentially free, and reasonable stats for a surprise play otherwise.
• Guidance of the Ancestors: A recurring +1/+1 is great in this very random environment: it's a trick you can always reach for no matter the current state of your hand.
• Honored Blade: a reasonable weapon. The honor gain is fine, but it's tough to capitalize on it in single-core; still it's never bad to get more honor.
• Sashimono: If your major characters are bushi, this is an awesome way to make them really nasty.
• For Greater Glory: Amazing tempo play for decks with lots of bushi. Useless otherwise.
• Ready for Battle: There's lots of ways to bow people in this format, and very few ways to straighten them. This one is free. You can lose entire games to this card.
• Stand Your Ground More useful to keep your honored people in play one more turn than to resist some unknown kill effect. Still great to get more value out of your high-cost characters.
• Strength in Numbers: A conflict trick that's nearly always useful, which is a good thing.

Phoenix:

• Seeker of Knowledge: A great way to sneak a courtier or shugenja into your board for the cards that require that. Otherwise, adding air to a ring might let you occasionally dishonor your opponent into dust or honor out, but that's going to be a much less regular effect of the card.
• Ishiken Initiate: Another sneak shugenja in case you have a Cloud the Mind in hand, and can get up to a 4/4 in the final conflict, which is very potent.
• Grasp of Earth: Outside of Unicorn, not many clans have ways to move characters into battle, but everyone has access to 2-4 conflict characters. More useful for the stat gains (as you won't see the characters your opponent cannot play into its battle)
• Magnificent Kimono: Great cost for stats, and can either help you with your honor game, or be placed on an opponent's heavily invested character who is about to lose a conflict to dishonor them and make them sad for a long period of time. Good use either way.
• Pacifism: Take their best military character out of the military game. Awesome.
• Against the Waves: Straighten a shugenja (depends how many you have) or bow a shugenja (randomly useful). Very situational in this environment except against Phoenix or Scorpion.
• Display of Power: Very expensive effect, but a very powerful effect. Can completely mess with conflict math for the entire turn, and get you an Imperial Favor you shouldn't have.
• Know the World: Wacky ring tech. Can be used to scoop up more fate, change a useless ring to something you want to use, deny your opponent a ring you don't want used... useful, but you need to be able to read your opponent well.
• Supernatural Storm: Very powerful in Scorpion or Phoenix. Possible +1/+1 for 0 in other clans (with rare chance of being larger).

Scorpion

• Adept of Shadows: Again, this is a very random format. Being able to recur a character, even at the cost of 1 honor and 2 fate, is quite potent.
• Unassuming Yojimbo: Dangerous character who will come out of nowhere and probably solo a province with a Fine Katana or Banzai!
• Court Mask: Amazing stats for price, and, again, a reusable effect which is very rare in this format, albeit at a delayed cost of 1 honor.
• Fiery Madness: Great thing to stick on someone they invested tons of fate on.
• Ambush: Not useful in a splash, as the odds of you having this, Adept of Shadows, and Unassuming Yojimbo in your hand at the same time are pretty slim.
• Blackmail: More useful for the bottom-tier honor clans, obviously. Expensive, but combat boosts and attachments are going to end up on 2-cost characters in this format, because it's full of them.
• Calling in Favors: Great attachment control, but at cost, as usual, of honor.
• I Can Swim: Requires you to have outbid your opponent (not always something that will happen when you want it), and them to have a dishonored character in a conflict you want to spend 2 fate on to kill. Powerful, but don't forget how situational it is.
• Forged Edict: Great if you have a reasonable density of Courtiers around to dishonor. There's lots of events to counter.

Unicorn:

• Ide Messenger: Good stats and a sneak appearance Courtier. Plus gives other clans access to movement tech.
• Iuchi Wayfinder: Sneak appearance shugenja, but peeking at an undiscovered province is well worth 1 fate attached to this body.
• Born in War: Nearly useless on the splash, as you're going to have to have either your Iuchi Wayfinder or Favored Steed in hand to have a legal target for this. Not worth the risk of being dead in hand IMO.
• Favored Mount: Gives cavalry (which is useless to you), but gives +1 military and a move ability, both of which are potent. Good, solid card.
• Spyglass: The mirror image to the Favored Mount. Gives card draw outside of the Draw phase, which is good. You could combo it with the Iuchi Wayfinder or Favored Mount for additional draws, but that will happen rarely.
• Breakthrough: Very good tempo card if you have the board state to push it. Trouble is, again, this is a high-variation format, and you may not get a reasonable board state to use it in with random characters.
• Captive Audience: Very powerful card to negate a lot of wacky effects, to say nothing of letting your warriors suddenly crush a province on your political attack.
• Cavalry Reserves: Useless in the splash. You will have absolutely zero cavalry characters in your dynasty discard.
• I Am Ready: Effectively useless in the splash, unless you invested extra fate on your Ide Messenger or Iuichi Wayfinder and really need to straighten them for some reason.

Thanks for your feedback @Gaffa I appreciate the detailed breakdown. It will make it easier for me to review.

I am still trying to decide what theme I would try to do with my deck. I feel that, in 1 core, the Scorpion have a chance at playing for dishonor. The Stronghold ability, with rout or outwit, dishonoring effects, and a smart 1 bid when your opponent thinks they need to bid 5 to keep up can really swing dishonor in the range of victory. I think this would be exceptionally effective against new players, but maybe not effective against players who know the game.

For players who know the game - I am almost wondering if Phoenix would be the good splash for Scorpion. Scorpion does have a decent supply of Shugenja, so Supernatural Storm is already decently playable. Add in Seeker of Knowledge and Ishiken Initiate and you could have several good times to play it. Ishiken Initiate is amazingly powerful if you can hold 2 fate for a 4th conflict. Display of Power could also play in line with trading conflicts - like rout to send them home, I win unopposed but have no defenders for their character. I could still take the ring from them if they can't break the province. It costs 2 fate... but it could mean a lot with ring of void or earth.

I think I'll try Phoenix splash next. I'm also going to build Dragon + Crane. idk, it seems like a good fit.

On Thursday, August 24, 2017 at 0:47 PM, Gaffa said:

Crab:

• Hiruma Ambusher:
• Reprieve:
• Watch Commander:
• The Mountain Does Not Fall:

Crane:

• Political Rival:
• Steward of Law:
• Duelist Training:
• Admit Defeat:
• Noble Sacrifice:

Dragon:

• Tattooed Wanderer:
• Togashi Kazue:
• Ancestral Daisho:
• Kitsuki's Method:
• Indomitable Will:
• Let Go:
• Mirumoto's Fury:
• Tranquility:

Lion:

• Master of the Spear:
• Guidance of the Ancestors:
• Honored Blade:
• Sashimono:
• For Greater Glory:
• Ready for Battle:
• Stand Your Ground:
• Strength in Numbers:

Phoenix:

• Seeker of Knowledge:
• Ishiken Initiate:
• Magnificent Kimono:
• Pacifism:
• Against the Waves:
• Display of Power:
• Know the World:
• Supernatural Storm:

Scorpion

• Adept of Shadows:
• Unassuming Yojimbo:
• Court Mask:
• Fiery Madness:
• Blackmail:
• Calling in Favors:
• I Can Swim:
• Forged Edict:

Unicorn: I would generally not splash them with any clan as there is very lttle to be gained. However, if I was playing a single core event where I knew there to be a large amount of Phoenix support, and I really wanted to play deck that was military focused, I would consider Unicorn a viable splash to gain access to Captive Audience.

I borrowed and edited Gaffas' list to reflect what I feel are the cards that deserve consideration when considering what to pick for your influence splash. If a card is not on here it doesn't mean it's bad. It may just not be a card that would be splashed very easily with most clans.

You don't dig rebuild? I kinda liked it for being able to drudge up the holdings, mostly for Favored Ground. I guess I've been taking that instead of Stoic Gunso. His ability is good, I'll try him out instead.

With Scorpion my most desired splashes so far are Crab and Phoenix. That covers me, but I have a friend who is almost certainly playing Crab, and another playing Dragon.

For Crab I think Dragon or Lion would be good. The extra attachments, and tattooed wanderer are great. Crab have a Keeper role so they get extra influence to help them reach further. This could give them 6 cards from Dragon. Getting Indomitable, Kitsuku Method, Let Go, Mirumoto's Fury, Tattoed Wanderer, and Ancestral Daisho in Crab would be pretty awesome!

For Dragon I'm partial to Crane, mostly for the synergy of more MIL attachment options, and Duelist Training. Above Question can also help protect a successful VOLTRON. Voice of Honor will require some set up, but the Dragon characters are nearly all worth honoring anyway so it isn't too far out of the way to prioritize Ring of Fire.

What do you think about Crab + Dragon and Dragon + Crane?

28 minutes ago, shosuko said:

You don't dig rebuild? I kinda liked it for being able to drudge up the holdings, mostly for Favored Ground. I guess I've been taking that instead of Stoic Gunso. His ability is good, I'll try him out instead.

I can understand Unicorn being slightly hesitant to splash it since they don't have any native holdings. Personally, it's just one more reason I want to try splashing Crab with my Phoenix. Getting back my Forgotten Library for a free draw at the beginning of each Draw Phase? For FREE? Yes, please!

I don't like Rebuild in a single core format, because it's extra work just to get a chance at a good card when you could just run a better card in its place. It's fine in constructed where you are in more control of your strategy and value card cycling more.

I updated my list and revised my position on Unicorn.