Hello all, first off: I have been a lifelong student of Japan and the Japanese flavor of this game appeals to me greatly.

I'm extremely interested in this game. After reading up on it over the past few weeks and watching a number of videos and listening to some podcasts, I grabbed 3 core sets and the 2 available Dynasty Packs a couple days ago.

I've NEVER played a CCG or LCG or anything like that. ( I have most of 40k Conquest and quite a bit of CoC but have never done anything with them)

How/where do I start? I'm sure there are gamer groups in my area but I want wrap my head around all of this before i dive in... I'm guessing a common response will be 'find people to play with and jump right in!' and I get that and want to... but before I do that: what should i do? What do I need to know about the meta of this LCG or LCGs in general? It feels like everything I come across assumes that you've been playing competitive card games since MTG first came out or somesuch.

I think that's enough to being with,

MV

This is why you should find a group and ask them for help. Most videos assume you have some sort of basic board game/card game knowledge. If you find a local group, you can ask "Hey, how do I play this game? I've never played anything like this before" and they will help you. In general the L5R community is quite welcoming to new players.

Even if you do figure out the rules, (And to be honest, the rulebook is adequate but not great), you still probably won't grasp 100% of them until you play with someone else.

And be prepared to lose. It takes a little bit to fully grasp this game, even once you understand the rules.

These guys have a lot of great info for a beginner.

As Mirith rightly pointed out, the manual and a few introductory videos like the one Krashwire posted are good starting points but your progression in skill doesn't really start until you are physically playing the game. For me, learning this game has been three-fold:

1) Learn how to play the deck that I've built (which in turn informs deckbuilding),

2) Learn how other people play their decks and improve through trial and error, getting beaten and afterwards looking to understand why, there's usually at least one thing you can do differently to improve your chances the next time round, and...

3) Learning the details and intricacies of the game itself. What the text on cards actually mean, the running order of turns (which seems really convoluted when you first play but becomes much easier and natural), how different cards interact with each other etc etc... a lot of the learning of this boils down to coming across one of a wide range of instances or occurances in the game whereby you are able to turn to an experienced player and say "how does this work?" The rules reference is good to have when your unsure of what the text of a card actually means. https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/00/10/00100fe1-5c8b-4e7f-9924-ec1fcf1575c0/l5c01-online_rulesreference_v10.pdf

Another thing I found to be helpful but requires a little bit of play to be relevant:

https://www.wardensofthemidwest.com/how-to-manage-your-fate/

All in all, don't delay. There is really no substitute for learning through play.

Also if you are completely unwilling to play people in person, you can play real people @ jigoku.online though you might want to inform your opponent that you don't know how to play. It automates stuff for you, which might not teach you much.

Welcome to the game!

I'm surprised to be the first person to say this, but start with the learn to play guide. Go over the rules, build the single core Lion and Crane recommended starter decks and find someone to play with using those. Get the basic concepts down before you dive into the intricate strategies.

If you want to find and watch videos I do recommend looking up Team Covenant on YouTube. They did a good job covering this game.

Check your local gaming stores and see if anyone is still doing a launch party event - probably not but it's worth a shot! FFG designed several progressive launch events around this game to help new players ease in. You should be able to find a local event to play at.

Don't worry about the meta. I will be bold to say this game feels very balanced right now among the clans - there are many paths to winning. I'd even say I think Unicorn are under-rated, but several will disagree with me and say they are bad. Ignore them and play what you want!

You'll find what you like in a deck over time. Play, adjust the decks as needed, play again, have fun. It's a process.