Never seen this covered in a discussion but it occurred recently to me

All clans got their champion into the core set. These cards are supposed not to rotate out of the game, unless some core 2.0 Netrunner style decisions.

As L5R always relied heavily on the story line unfolding, having the champions in the core sets makes them nearly untouchables story wise, and I have the feeling we will not have any surprise death among their ranks, like in the CCG.

When I discovered the Game of Thrones books I though to myself, this is like Rokugan in European medieval setting and less deaths. So I feel having some characters, quite important ones set aside for nearly any risk of death could compromise the story line.

I understand why FFG wanted to include some important faces in the core set, but an overall mix of unamed characters would have made more sense, as no one is supposed to live forever, especially not in Rokugan.

I wonder what they will do to address the issue, I don't recall hearing anything about that for now

you think because a character has an active card that they cant be killed off story wise?

I don't recall THAT concept being stated either.

Tomonatsu has a card. She is dead.

We already have the Crab unique, Hida Tomanatsu, die in the first crab fiction before the core set was even released.

FFG have stated that the game does not canonically line up with the story. Characters are introduced as the story progresses, but they can die in-story but still be in the card game.

A champion can die and a new champion can rise up in story, the champion cards in the LCG are still legal though because it doesn't concern itself with the current plot but the history of the game as a whole.

28 minutes ago, Hellvlad said:

Never seen this covered in a discussion but it occurred recently to me

All clans got their champion into the core set. These cards are supposed not to rotate out of the game, unless some core 2.0 Netrunner style decisions.

As L5R always relied heavily on the story line unfolding, having the champions in the core sets makes them nearly untouchables story wise, and I have the feeling we will not have any surprise death among their ranks, like in the CCG.

When I discovered the Game of Thrones books I though to myself, this is like Rokugan in European medieval setting and less deaths. So I feel having some characters, quite important ones set aside for nearly any risk of death could compromise the story line.

I understand why FFG wanted to include some important faces in the core set, but an overall mix of unamed characters would have made more sense, as no one is supposed to live forever, especially not in Rokugan.

I wonder what they will do to address the issue, I don't recall hearing anything about that for now

As its been pointed out, a character can die and still have a card.

But look at other LCG's FFG does, we'll probably get multiple versions of the clan champions.

They cover this pretty early on in the #L5RLive chats. The summary of what I remember are that the cards are intended to be a snapshot in a moment of time. See what they did in GOT where characters get multiple printings.

14 minutes ago, Mirith said:

They cover this pretty early on in the #L5RLive chats. The summary of what I remember are that the cards are intended to be a snapshot in a moment of time. See what they did in GOT where characters get multiple printings.

I definitively missed that! Thanks all for the explanations

Its possible that they do a Revised Core like ANR got and remove older/dead Champions. It's really too early to tell.

Or a Restricted List. Like, DEAD Restricted.

Like.

I would be surprised if there wasn’t a new core set down the road similar to what Netrunner did. It keeps things fresh and allows rebalancing. Also evergreen cards are just really, really bad ideas from a balance POV.

My theory is that they will release new versions of the clan champs with different abilities as the story progresses. It would make the full-art promos usable in the future if their abilities ever change.

5 minutes ago, ElSuave said:

My theory is that they will release new versions of the clan champs with different abilities as the story progresses. It would make the full-art promos usable in the future if their abilities ever change.

But their stats wouldn't change?

I think this is certainly something that rotation is going to help.

So, for instance, in Old5R, the Lion went through about 4-5 different champions after Arasou in a small period of time (Toturi, Tsuko, Tsanuri, Motso).

What if the 7th cycle, right before rotation, the Champions were killed off and each booster had a new champ to add in?