I notice that crab can be very hard to go up against and here is one reason.

WAY OF THE CRAB

so for this example say player one is crab and player two is a different clan (let’s say crane). at the beginning of the game player one gets eager scout and way of the crab. player two gets Hotaru. player one goes first and plays eager scout. player two plays Hotaru. player one then plays way of the crab and sacrifice eager scout and forces player two to discard Hotaru.

That is a BIG game changer and i can’t wait to use it

8 minutes ago, YellowJoker said:

I notice that crab can be very hard to go up against and here is one reason.

WAY OF THE CRAB

so for this example say player one is crab and player two is a different clan (let’s say crane). at the beginning of the game player one gets eager scout and way of the crab. player two gets Hotaru. player one goes first and plays eager scout. player two plays Hotaru. player one then plays way of the crab and sacrifice eager scout and forces player two to discard Hotaru.

That is a BIG game changer and i can’t wait to use it

It's a great play, very painful to be on the receiving end of.

Way of the Crab is easier to play around than you'd think. It's really abusive against bad players and never gets full value against good players.

But it does change how people play against you. There's a lot of value in simply affecting the gameplay of the other player. Crane has a similar effect via their stronghold. You'll probably only get 1 trigger a game from it, but it deters a lot of attacks because you can't just chump attack unopposed for a political challenge.

Generally people try to play around WotC and don't throw out big guys without something else to sacrifice. Of course that doesn't mean the Crab player can't just Assassinate your little dude and then WotC whatever is left.

However I have seen this play backfire on the Crab when done at the wrong time. My Crab opponent got greedy and did their Assassinate/WotC combo in the dynasty phase so I bid one to pressure them if they were going to bid high to recoup cards. They did, bid 5, and that knocked them down to 3 honor before they even got to the first conflict. They also made a mistake going after the earth ring to try and get hand advantage instead of building back their honor with air. I was able to play Iuchi Wayfinder from hand with a fate on him, defend at Shameful Display to dishonor their guy. Then I am ready unopposed battle for Air to steal 1 honor. They lost at the end of the turn when their dishonored character left play........so yeah it's strong but don't get silly with it.

4 minutes ago, Ishi Tonu said:

Generally people try to play around WotC and don't throw out big guys without something else to sacrifice. Of course that doesn't mean the Crab player can't just Assassinate your little dude and then WotC whatever is left.

However I have seen this play backfire on the Crab when done at the wrong time. My Crab opponent for greedy and did their Assassinate/WotC combo in the dynasty phase so I bid one to pressure them if they were going to bid high to recoup cards. They did and that knocked them down to 3 honor before they even for to the first conflict. I was able to play Iuchi Wayfinder from hand with a fate on him, defend at Shameful Display to dishonor their guy. Then I am ready unopposed battle for Air to steal 1 honor. They lost at the end of the turn when their dishonored character left play........so yeah it's strong but don't get silly with it.

You can't play Assassination during the dynasty phase, only during conflicts.

1 minute ago, shineyorkboy said:

You can't play Assassination during the dynasty phase, only during conflicts.

No reason you can't play Assassination during Dynasty. You can't play characters from hand during dynasty, actions from hand are still legal.

2 minutes ago, shineyorkboy said:

You can't play Assassination during the dynasty phase, only during conflicts.

Yeah we realized that after the launch too. Lol

So double lesson. Don't get silly and don't cheat.

5 minutes ago, RandomJC said:

No reason you can't play Assassination during Dynasty. You can't play characters from hand during dynasty, actions from hand are still legal.

Except for the troubling requirement that Assassination specifically states "During a conflict" as part of its cost

4 minutes ago, RandomJC said:

No reason you can't play Assassination during Dynasty. You can't play characters from hand during dynasty, actions from hand are still legal.

'Cept Assassination specifically says during a conflict. My opponent shouldn't have been able to play it and it's probably a bad example going forward.....but it was a funny thing that I thought helped illustrate the point that even though the card is strong it's not something you just run out there without any consequences.

2 minutes ago, Darguth said:

Except for the troubling requirement that Assassination specifically states "During a conflict" as part of its cost

Just now, Ishi Tonu said:

'Cept Assassination specifically says during a conflict. My opponent shouldn't have been able to play it and it's probably a bad example going forward.....but it was a funny thing that I thought helped illustrate the point that even though the card is strong it's not something you just run out there without any consequences.

Excuse me...I must have a foot in my mouth.

No worries. I felt pretty dumb for not reading the card that night......and I even played games with proxy cards prior to the launch. I was just kind of bouncing around the whole night teaching basics and answering questions that when my opponent Assassinated my guy I just discarded them knowing the WotC was coming.

It wasn't til my next game that I read the card when I was about to assassinate something.......doh! The other guy from the previous game noticed it at the same time as me and we laughed about it, but, I did feel a little bad because he likely wouldn't have gone that far down on his honor and I should have known better.

I did give him my Kisada promo though.

That sounds like my kind of idiot play.

You just wait for the Action Phase in the Regroup phase after characters go away...no one is putting extra fate on the schmo protecting champion first round so all you have to do is put one extra fate on a fodder character and bye,bye Champion. Yes you can play around Way of the Crab as a good player...but you can still play around that play as well. It's funny when that good player says...why did you put an extra fate on Eager Scout -> Regroup Phase..."Oh Crap".

8 minutes ago, Ishi Tonu said:

No worries....

I did give him my Kisada promo though.

Kisada does not do promos.

6 minutes ago, kraken78 said:

It's funny when that good player says...why did you put an extra fate on eager scout -> Regroup Phase..."Oh Crap".

XD i was in class when i saw that and i bursted our laughing.

2 minutes ago, YellowJoker said:

XD i was in class when i saw that and i bursted our laughing.

Seems like a perfect opportunity to teach your teacher and all your classmates L5R so they can be in on the joke!

Got to WoTC not one but 2 Kiau Envoys in the Dynasty phase... ****** my opponent up...lol

And I just realized you can't do that lol. But **** to see his face lol.

9 hours ago, kraken78 said:

why did you put an extra fate on Eager Scout -> Regroup Phase..."Oh Crap".

I like the psychological threat. "Eager Scout, One Fate...oh you know what's coming do you? Tick tock, tick tock, you better get good use out of your big character or else. Not going to load up on attachments because your big character it is going to die soon? Huh, I wouldn't either...Regroup, remove One Fate from Scout, next turn. What did you think was going to happen?" Of course the next time you do that, it should lead to "and Way of the Crab, I sacrifice the Scout, you sac your only character. Huh, a 3 Fate Champion. How did you not see that coming?" Keep them guessing.

13 hours ago, LordBlunt said:

Kisada does not do promos.

Well, his policy on that has recently changed. Don't judge. Crab gotta get dat koku somehow...

Pretty sure you're both wrong on that Assassinate thing, in that you can't play event cards during the dynasty phase, unless that's been rules elsewhere. See, during Dynasty phase 1.4:

Quote

With his or her opportunity to act, a player may do one of the
following:

• Play one character from his or her provinces.
• Trigger an eligible action ability.
• Discard a duplicate of a character from his or her hand or from one of his or her provinces to place 1 fate on a copy of that character under his or her control.
• Pass.

This describes what you may do, and playing an event, attachment, or character from hand, is not one of those options. The note after this text mentioning that players aren't permitted to play character or attachment cards fro hand it just a reminder, and the lack of mention for events doesn't mean that you can play evens during dynasty phase.

The first window for playing events is right after drawing cards.

You can trigger eligible action abilities so you can play events with action abilities.

17 minutes ago, Vertrucio said:

Pretty sure you're both wrong on that Assassinate thing, in that you can't play event cards during the dynasty phase, unless that's been rules elsewhere. See, during Dynasty phase 1.4:

This describes what you may do, and playing an event, attachment, or character from hand, is not one of those options. The note after this text mentioning that players aren't permitted to play character or attachment cards fro hand it just a reminder, and the lack of mention for events doesn't mean that you can play evens during dynasty phase.

The first window for playing events is right after drawing cards.

Nope.

You can absolutely play Events during the 'Special Action Window', i.e., the Dynasty Phase.

However, Assassinate specifically says you must play it 'during a conflict', so you can't play it during the Dynasty Phase.

My feelings on the topic:

https://www.wardensofthemidwest.com/play-crab-according-joe-cincinnati-part-1/

31 minutes ago, Joe From Cincinnati said:

My feelings on the topic:

https://www.wardensofthemidwest.com/play-crab-according-joe-cincinnati-part-1/

Both parts were very good reads.

Now do one for Unicorn.

41 minutes ago, Ishi Tonu said:

Both parts were very good reads.

Now do one for Unicorn.

Haha, what do I know about Unicorn?