Hi all,

I'm looking for advice in relation to how to play breakthrough. I haven't played it in my Lion deck since the launch but I remember really doing a number on myself as the first player by declaring a second attack which was undefended, bowing my remaining characters and allowing them to strike twice unnopposed at my provinces. Am I right in thinking it potentially allows a player three attacks per turn? Any and all detail as to how this card works and when to play it would be much appreciated.

When to play Breakthrough: Never?

There's only one good thing about Breakthrough, and that is your opponent doesn't have a chance to recover between conflicts. So if they wanted to straighten some characters, or draw some cards, or what-have-you before th next conflict, Breakthrough eliminates that opportunity by skipping over that particular Action Window.

Having said that, I think the downsides of having two conflicts in a row outweigh the potential benefits.

Hm...

Ok, maybe not never. If your first conflict broke their 3rd province, you can Breakthrough and immediately hit their Stronghold with whatever you've got left before they get a chance to catch their breath.

My experience with breakthrough is to leave it in my box and let it gather dust. Something has to keep wandering ronin company.

When you're playing Phoenix and have the combo to leave your opponent unable to touch the rings at all.

Break through is super situational. Pretty much the only time I've ever been successful with it is when playing a pure swarm deck, but, I don't know that sort of deck would even be viable. Lion just gets too much value from Charge and Spiritcaller and FGG and......etc. Unicorn just doesn't quite have the stats on their low cost characters to pull off an effective swarm. None of the other clans are really geared towards doing that. Maybe things will change after the first full cycle is released. I've found a little more success with Way of the Unicorn than Breakthrough, but, so far, neither have proven to be really worth a slot

46 minutes ago, Waywardpaladin said:

When you're playing Phoenix and have the combo to leave your opponent unable to touch the rings at all.

It's an interesting possibility .....however I'm not sure Unicorn is what Phoenix really wants to be splashing. There are certain synergies for sure, but, I think other splashes (Crane in particular) cover up Phoenix's weaknesses better.

Just now, Ishi Tonu said:

It's an interesting possibility .....however I'm not sure Unicorn is what Phoenix really wants to be splashing. There are certain synergies for sure, but, I think other splashes (Crane in particular) cover up Phoenix's weaknesses better.

Yes, mostly in jest. Unless you're certain you can have a turn of breaking 2 provinces with no counterattack I guess...

Funnily enough, it won me a game once, and I believe it was the only card that would have saved me. Picture this:

• I was at 1 honor. I top-decked Breakthrough that turn with my 1 bid.
• Doji Hotaru was on the the table on the other side. At this point we were playing with Hotaru/Toturi being able to trigger rings on defense (you know, the way they're supposed to work).
• I have the first conflict. If I take Air, I lose. Hotaru could defend successfully, even on Mil, and win the ring.
• I declare Fire instead. Opponent knows he can grab Air, so defends lightly. I dishonor Hotaru, break province, immediately declare Air with Breakthrough. Now with -3 skill on Hotaru, I can win the conflict. I win the ring to push up to 3 honor and go on to win the game.

Crazy, but true. It is very situational, though, so much so that it really shouldn't be played. The ability to snag two high-impact rings in a row should not be overlooked, though. Imagine Void -> Water on a beefy clan champ, for example.

For the record, Hotaru can only use her ability when in a political conflict, so you could have swung air military and be safe from the ring effects.

Thanks for the replies! Yeah I was having a hard time seeing how it could be usefull so your answers have helped me understand more about it. In relation to the Toturi/Hotaru abilities, when defending I understand that the ring effect only goes off but I've come across conflicting info as to who actually gets the ring effect, is it the losing attacker or the winning defender? I am inclined to think the winning defender but as I said, I've seen conflicting arguments and information about this.

It can also be useful to take the fate on two of the rings before your opponent can do anything about it.

5 minutes ago, Akodo Tetsuo said:

Thanks for the replies! Yeah I was having a hard time seeing how it could be usefull so your answers have helped me understand more about it. In relation to the Toturi/Hotaru abilities, when defending I understand that the ring effect only goes off but I've come across conflicting info as to who actually gets the ring effect, is it the losing attacker or the winning defender? I am inclined to think the winning defender but as I said, I've seen conflicting arguments and information about this.

When Hotaru successfully defends a political conflict, Hotaru can activate her ability to resolve the ring effect. Unfortunately, the ring effects are all built in with 'The attacker chooses' clauses, so the attacker is still making the relevant choices and most likely using the ring effect to their advantage, so you wouldn't want to activate Hotaru's ability. Stuff like Display of Power specifically say to resolve the ring as if you were the attacking player, and Toturi/Hotaru are both missing that important clause.

Yes, it's super counter-intuitive.

3 minutes ago, Akodo Tetsuo said:

Thanks for the replies! Yeah I was having a hard time seeing how it could be usefull so your answers have helped me understand more about it. In relation to the Toturi/Hotaru abilities, when defending I understand that the ring effect only goes off but I've come across conflicting info as to who actually gets the ring effect, is it the losing attacker or the winning defender? I am inclined to think the winning defender but as I said, I've seen conflicting arguments and information about this.

The winning defender can force the losing attacker to resolve the ring, but the losing attacker gets to make all relevant choices about how the ring resolves.

This is only useful in niche cases, for example if the losing attacker is the only player with a character with fate on it, the winning defender of a Void Ring conflict could force the losing attacker to remove a fate from a character. Other examples usually involve the Water Ring, or very occasionally the Fire Ring.