I've recently picked up a pair of core boxes and the first dynasty pack, planning on grabbing the next dynasty as well. I don't really have an interest in 3 cores right now... but know I will need it in the future.

So far I'm liking the Phoenix clan the best in terms of lore and feel. The Champion seems really cool too. I'm trying to find something to splash with them. I tried Scorpion but feel that was a terrible idea. I'm now leaning towards Dragon or Crane, but I feel Dragon may not combo as well I am hoping...leading me to Crane as they seem to have some interesting tricks. Just playing casual right now with some of the others in our community until I can get a better feel for the game. Have a whole 2 games under my belt right now.

For me- Dragon is the most optimum choice right now. The splash doesn't necessarily have to combo well with Phoenix. Dragon in general has cards that just give you the edge to put your enemy at a disadvantage. The 3 strongest cards you will see are:

-Let Go
-Mirumoto's Fury
-Tattood Wanderer

Now that we are Keepers of Water we are allowed a total of 13 influence so you can play around with the variety. Once the rest of the Imperial cycle comes out you will probably want to test out Lion and Unicorn splashes. Lion has that new keeper attachment that honors the attached character if they are defending. Unicorn has the new Keeper attachment Talisman of the Sun that lets you move the conflict to a different province of your choice. Imagine using that to move battles onto shameful display. Unicorn also have 1-cost shugenja with a nice ability, spyglass and favored mount. For now I would suggest splashing Dragon since it is the easiest and strongest splash to use right out the gate. Then you can start looking into other clans once you get the game rules and mechanics down.

thank you. and just to confirm I can only splash one other faction correct?

14 minutes ago, Wiredin said:

thank you. and just to confirm I can only splash one other faction correct?

Yes.

Been joking about adding lion for sassimono kaede doing 2 attacks a turn adding void would be funny

2 minutes ago, starrius said:

Been joking about adding lion for sassimono kaede doing 2 attacks a turn adding void would be funny

Sashimono can only be attached to Bushi. Kaede is not a bushi.

Opps

Personally I think Crane is your best splash. It gives you the most help vs Scorpion which is Phoenix's toughest match up. Also having the ability to play both Disdainful Remark and Display of Power is really strong. Try it and I think you come around to the power of the Double D's.

6 minutes ago, Ishi Tonu said:

Personally I think Crane is your best splash. It gives you the most help vs Scorpion which is Phoenix's toughest match up. Also having the ability to play both Disdainful Remark and Display of Power is really strong. Try it and I think you come around to the power of the Double D's.

Makes me feel good to have Voice of Honor. Censure is next.

I've been splashing Unicorn for the extra shugenja and Spyglass. It seems to work pretty well so far.

1 hour ago, starrius said:

Been joking about adding lion for sassimono kaede doing 2 attacks a turn adding void would be funny

Indomitable Will.

I've currently got Lion in. Vengeful Oathkeeper, Ready for Battle and Ancestral Guidance.

I've managed to lose a conflict, Display of Power it and then bring out a free Vengeful Lion. Ancestral Guidance is just a way of slightly expanding your hand size, when bidding low all the time.

By coincidence, I've just recently read a story about a Lion-Phoenix alliance.

Doesn' disdainful remark require a participating courtier if so how are you displaying of power after that?

41 minutes ago, starrius said:

Doesn' disdainful remark require a participating courtier if so how are you displaying of power after that?

You could Disdainful into Favorable Ground to eject............but that's only going to come up if you get your opponent to overcommit on the attack.

You attack with 9 cards in hand. I defend with courtier and play disdainful to bump the province up to 13+ strength. No you as the attacker have a tough choice. do you play lots of cards to try and take that province? if you do and I have a way to move my courtier out of the battle, I can Display of Power to undo all that work. Or at the very least I get a bunch of cards out of your hand which you likely had to bid 4 or 5 to get and I can pressure your honor without being so far behind on cards.

Phoenix with Crane is a very solid counter puncher deck, that also improves it's game vs one of it's natural predators, Scorpion.

I also like to splash Unicorn for more Shungenjas (the brilliant Iuchi Wayfinder) + Spyglass + Favorable Mount

I've been going dragon since the start, haven't tried other clans. With Harmonize, I dropped Mirumoto's Fury and moved to 3x Let Go and 3x Tattooed Wanderer. Since Scorpion is our hardest matchup, I've been liking Wanderer a lot as an extra tagalong for military attacks. It helps guard against Court Games by giving you someone else to dishonor. Let Go's been ok, but it's kind of universally good, almost always being able to act as a +2 skill, when you're not dealing with more important stuff like Watch Commander.

I do like that Wayfinder, though. So many games lost from running head first into Shameful Display.

I feel that Test of Courage will be visiting my Phoenix/Lion deck as soon as I get my hands on Into the Forbidden City .

11 minutes ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

I feel that Test of Courage will be visiting my Phoenix/Lion deck as soon as I get my hands on Into the Forbidden City .

It's Lion Characters only, so you'll only be able to use it with your splash conflict characters, unfortunately.

However, Benten's Blessing will be coming soon, which should do good work for us too.

1 minute ago, AradonTemplar said:

It's Lion Characters only, so you'll only be able to use it with your splash conflict characters, unfortunately.

However, Benten's Blessing will be coming soon, which should do good work for us too.

Well, that's a shame, but I do have Vengeful Oathkeepers to go along with Displays of Power.

Seal of the Lion? :/

I've not yet found a splash I am happy with in Phoenix. Dragon feels a bit dull, Crane is underwhelming (works way better for me splashed out of Crab), Lion didn't really do anything special, and Scorpion backfired (my regular opponent plays mainly Scorpion as his main, so I probably should have known better).

I hadn't tried Unicorn, mainly out of spite (if we couldn't afford Wayfinder, Captive Audience AND Spyglass all at the same time then i wasn't going to settle for second best!), but now we have the Keeper role - and knowing that Gaijin Customs is on it's way - Unicorn splash feels like it will be the natural best-fit.

Also, following on from what someone else wisely mentioned above, my Phoenix characters get royally screwed up when running into Shameful Display (something that I am less bothered about when playing Crab), so Wayfinder would be the perfect tool for avoiding it.

thanks for all the insight!