Multiple games, multiple *** kickings. Like breaking nothing and just getting destroyed. I know I'm new but this is getting hard to enjoy now.

Welcome to Rokugan!

Don't get discouraged. This happens a lot to new players. Most important thing is to learn all the cards and get really good at understanding the rules. Winning will come.

If you want a little jump start, why not post what deck you are playing with and what kinds of decks you typically play against. If you've come across any particularly bad beats, try describing what happened and I'm sure all of us armchair quarterbacks will be willing to help.

Have you played another other LCG or CCG in the past? Also what clan are you playing and the splash you use? Also are you using one core set vs a decks using three? Even a two core deck vs a three core deck is a huge difference.

6 minutes ago, migs6000 said:

Multiple games, multiple *** kickings. Like breaking nothing and just getting destroyed. I know I'm new but this is getting hard to enjoy now.

Try a different clan or look at a few of the recent worlds/kotei champ decks to get an idea of what makes a good deck. Are you currently playing with three full core sets of your clan and splash clan?

Also, coming from nearly 15 years of MTG of experience, this game is hard to learn quickly. The decision tree in this game is massive compared to CCG's and even other LCG's, it took me a solid few weeks to learn the rules and after the time it released to now I have finally gotten the hang of the game.

Don't get discouraged. I lost my first 9 games in a row, if I recall, and each time against a brand new or mostly-new player that I was teaching. It took a while for my deck to click with me, so the best thing to do is stick with it, watch other people play, ask questions, and make sure their advice is actually good for your style of deck.

Then figure out where your games went wrong. Was it simply due to bad cards showing up at the wrong time? If so, what could you have done differently to balance against that. Was it just falling behind on fate or the province race? Did you run out of conflict cards and were unable to draw more when you needed them?

There are a *lot* of decision points in this game, so it takes a while for all the pieces to fit together. And right now, some cards are just blow-outs. Running head-first into a Shameful Display as Phoenix can literally just end the game. Again, playing more will let you recognize those pitfalls and how to work around them. Just stick with it. As a deep game, it's also very rewarding.

I really only play X-Wing. Have all 3 cores, really love the game, the rules, the lore, everything. Just the last bunch of games I've been getting laid out. I've tried almost every clan once, I like Phoenix and lion. Been using decks off fiverings db. I'm just annoyed right now, kind if just venting I guess.

2 minutes ago, migs6000 said:

I really only play X-Wing. Have all 3 cores, really love the game, the rules, the lore, everything. Just the last bunch of games I've been getting laid out. I've tried almost every clan once, I like Phoenix and lion. Been using decks off fiverings db. I'm just annoyed right now, kind if just venting I guess.

Are you playing experienced players or other newer people?

1 minute ago, migs6000 said:

I really only play X-Wing. Have all 3 cores, really love the game, the rules, the lore, everything. Just the last bunch of games I've been getting laid out. I've tried almost every clan once, I like Phoenix and lion. Been using decks off fiverings db. I'm just annoyed right now, kind if just venting I guess.

What clans, strategies, or particular cards, seem to be giving you problems?

10 minutes ago, cforfar said:

Also, coming from nearly 15 years of MTG of experience, this game is hard to learn quickly. The decision tree in this game is massive compared to CCG's and even other LCG's, it took me a solid few weeks to learn the rules and after the time it released to now I have finally gotten the hang of the game.

I have 20 years of L5R CCG experience..............and that didn't count for squat when I was getting crushed in the L5R LCG.

Losing is learning and I get taken to school quite often.

Playing crane was bad, I think a lot if it has been bad cards. Playing Phoenix, my entire conflict hand was shugenja cards, didn't flip a shugenja until like turn 3. By then it was over.

12 minutes ago, Ishi Tonu said:

I have 20 years of L5R CCG experience..............and that didn't count for squat when I was getting crushed in the L5R LCG.

Losing is learning and I get taken to school quite often.

Yeah, it seems people with a huge background in other CCG's or LCG's still have a decent amount of learning to do for this game.

5 minutes ago, migs6000 said:

Playing crane was bad, I think a lot if it has been bad cards. Playing Phoenix, my entire conflict hand was shugenja cards, didn't flip a shugenja until like turn 3. By then it was over.

How many Shugenja characters are in your dynasty deck? Maybe you need to cut back on conflict deck cards requiring them or add more Shugenja to your Dynasty deck (if possible).

58 minutes ago, migs6000 said:

Multiple games, multiple *** kickings. Like breaking nothing and just getting destroyed. I know I'm new but this is getting hard to enjoy now.

I think I have won one. Tie breaker for once was in my favour. Helping other new players to correct their mistakes (or to make one Lion opponent reconsider conceding... just to be defeated by him two turns later) doesn't help my case.

Playing oL5R, it took me months to win my first game but it was back in Jade with Mantis and the gameplay is quite easy compared to the LCG, imho. I'm happy that I have people to play with sometimes and have a chance to keep trying to learn how to play (not the rules themselves but the nuances of playing). Unicorn may not be the best choice, right now, for a slowpoke like me but Clan loyalty is serious business so...

I think the biggest problem I see with players is that they look at the game wrong. Too many players focus on winning conflicts and maintaining honor. The best players I see focus on using their resources to acquire value and they let everything else sort itself out.

There's only 2 elements in this game that have value of any significance:

- Cards(in hand for tricks) and Cards(on the table to for position)

Everything you do should be aimed at obtaining a substantial advantage in those two areas. If you can do that; any win condition you choose(province breaks or dishonor) will become second nature.

There's many paths to the goal too. There's not a straight line path that is universal. Dishonor decks sacrifice early card advantage, but they use card draw engines that will eventually allow them to pull ahead in card advantage because of the honor choke to eventually break you leg. Aggro decks use early board advantage to acquire more rings and keep that on the table pressure going before slower decks can outvalue them. Control decks are all about card advantage. They go into conflicts with the simple goal of making an opponent use as many cards as possible to do nothing. If one player "won" a conflict but used 5 cards to 2......they lost the conflict. That applies even to aggro decks. You find that aggro decks win by just having more value over the course of the game because they have more early impact value than long game value. But value nonetheless.

1 hour ago, kiramode said:

I think the biggest problem I see with players is that they look at the game wrong. Too many players focus on winning conflicts and maintaining honor. The best players I see focus on using their resources to acquire value and they let everything else sort itself out.

There's only 2 elements in this game that have value of any significance:

- Cards(in hand for tricks) and Cards(on the table to for position)

Everything you do should be aimed at obtaining a substantial advantage in those two areas. If you can do that; any win condition you choose(province breaks or dishonor) will become second nature.

There's many paths to the goal too. There's not a straight line path that is universal. Dishonor decks sacrifice early card advantage, but they use card draw engines that will eventually allow them to pull ahead in card advantage because of the honor choke to eventually break you leg. Aggro decks use early board advantage to acquire more rings and keep that on the table pressure going before slower decks can outvalue them. Control decks are all about card advantage. They go into conflicts with the simple goal of making an opponent use as many cards as possible to do nothing. If one player "won" a conflict but used 5 cards to 2......they lost the conflict. That applies even to aggro decks. You find that aggro decks win by just having more value over the course of the game because they have more early impact value than long game value. But value nonetheless.

Hmmm interesting POV of the game. I do, right from the beginning, tend to focus on honor and cards in hand.

Here's the crane deck I used and got absolutely stomped by scorpion. I was not a fan...

https://fiveringsdb.com/decks/cbf6ab39-c40d-11e7-9e9b-8e1ccf16fca4/view

Here's the current Phoenix deck I'm playing that I like but I feel policy debate is not good...

https://fiveringsdb.com/decks/601c729e-cd83-11e7-9e9b-8e1ccf16fca4/view

The main factors to winning are universal to all clans: Fate management - knowing how much to spend and on what, and conflict management - knowing when to defend and when to attack.

The specific clan cards are the least important.

What I've found interesting about the games I've played is that it rarely feels like it's a hopeless cause. Each turn is an opportunity to turn it around and pull a "winning turn". I find more what causes me to lose are the decisions I made, not what my opponent played. I don't remember Old5R feeling that way. It was "buy buy buy, oh no I'm gold screwed or didn't get any characters". Now it feels like a total mistake to just buy everything you can each turn. So different, it still feels like L5R but maybe it shouldn't...? I like it anyway!

Won a game against my buddy. Phoenix vs Unicorn. Different deck. I just need more games. I do like the momentum swings in this game, it gets crazy.

1 hour ago, migs6000 said:

Won a game against my buddy. Phoenix vs Unicorn. Different deck. I just need more games. I do like the momentum swings in this game, it gets crazy.

Nice to break that losing streak and build some positive momentum. One thing you mentioned that I didn't see anyone mention to was that you were jumping from clan to clan with only a game or so played with each clan. I have found it takes a while to get to "know" a clan and how to play it.

When I want mix it up and play a new clan, the first couple games have a steep learning curve. Once you find a clan whose playstyle you enjoy, try sticking with it for a while to get a feel for how it plays. That will surely help you to make the right decisions more often throughout the game.. which will hopefully lead to more wins!

You could also shout out on discord or ringteki for someone to play you who is willing to give advice, might give more options and break any bad habits. I'm happy to do so though under the proviso that I am distinctly average...

The group of us played last night and I managed to get in three games total, one of which I actually won. My first match was against a Lion player and my opening dynasty cards were horrendous so I took a mulligan for three cards and got an even worse start. I was however able to come back from what is arguably the worst start I have ever had and gave an impressively good fight to stay in the game. The Lion player was not terribly happy when I kept using Earth Ring on my political conflicts and playing Spies at court to wreck his hand several times (which is what kept me in the game), in the end he managed to get a good draw just before the last conflict and he wiped out my stronghold.

My second game was a Scorpion mirror match, my opponent was a new Scorpion player who formally played Phoenix but switched. That game was seriously messed up and despite the two of us having very different conflict decks we both were equally matched.

I won my third against a Crane deck.

My point is that even though I lost 66 % of my matches the two I lost were incredibly good games and super close. I know you said you were getting kicked pretty hard but keep up playing. You will only get better by playing players above your level, even if it slow progress.

13 hours ago, caseycheesecake said:

The main factors to winning are universal to all clans: Fate management - knowing how much to spend and on what, and conflict management - knowing when to defend and when to attack.

The specific clan cards are the least important.

This right here. This game is a lot like Doomtown in that sense. If you think you have to participate in every single conflict with everything you've got, you're going to lose. Sometimes the best move is to accept the honor loss, let the province break, and have options for your conflicts and your opponent's second one.

13 hours ago, HirumaShigure said:

What I've found interesting about the games I've played is that it rarely feels like it's a hopeless cause. Each turn is an opportunity to turn it around and pull a "winning turn". I find more what causes me to lose are the decisions I made, not what my opponent played. I don't remember Old5R feeling that way. It was "buy buy buy, oh no I'm gold screwed or didn't get any characters". Now it feels like a total mistake to just buy everything you can each turn. So different, it still feels like L5R but maybe it shouldn't...? I like it anyway!

As someone just creeping this forum once in a while, not yet playing. I found this intriguing. So at the end of a turn all your characters (mostly) are whipped and you start new round almost fresh. This sounds like a good selling point, no or less snowballing.