Hey there everyone! I had been looking into this game a little and thinking about it and was wondering if it was very similar to magic or other games similar. I thought it looked like fun but it looked so similar to other games that I wasn't sure if it was worth buying, so I thought asking people who played what they thought if it was a good place to start. Is it worth buying? To similar to other games? Thoughts? Thanks guys!

Long before Urza and Mishra were born and fought their senseless magic battles, there were the Kamis....

..so yeah you will never go wrong with L5R.

P.S. "Similar" is an understatement. Anyway if you plan to play hardcore go buy 3 Cores. It is still cheaper than MtG because of its LCG concept though it was actually a CCG before similar to MtG.

I would say it shares some commonalities with all LCG/CCG card games, but I wouldn't say that it is too similar.

With MTG the cards are almost completely your decision maker. In L5R there are more decisions to make outside of the cards that actually has an impact on the game.

I am of the opinion that it is quite different altogether. Like what Kraken said, in MTG the cards that you get in your opening hand and the turns to come determine the game. With L5R, you can have a bad start and get crap cards and still be in a position to contend for the overall game next turn. There is also more to keep track, it can feel like a good mental workout at times!

I drafted MTG for the first time in a few months yesterday and to be honest, it reminded me why I am enjoying playing the new LCG more. L5R is a different kettle of fish, both in the game and the people who play it. I can't explain it but L5R players are and have always been really friendly.

No, I don't think it's similar at all. Cards come a lot easier than in Magic, combat is multi-staged rather than your-turn/their-turn, there is not much of a chain for responses to ability (short of interrupt effects), and losing in combat doesn't usually mean you characters die. There are a lot more decision points in L5R than in Magic. In Magic, I found that usually I want to run a certain sequence of plays with any given hand, but in L5R there are a lot more factors to consider and interaction with your opponent, so far at least.

There's a lot more anticipation and maneuvering, since there's no chain, so if you're a a blue player, you might appreciate the need to look ahead and anticipate your opponent.

Harthstone is similar to magic. You use mana to summon monsters which fight the ground game beneath spells, enchantments, and reactions. L5R only has a similarity in that they are card games.

In MtG you have a life pool - in L5R you have provinces. The more damage you can deal the quicker you can drain your opponent of life, including a turn 3 infinite damage combo. In L5R it doesn't matter how much you overkill a province it only destroys that one province. You still need to destroy the others.

In MtG you build up from cheap monsters to expensive ones, and often try to eclipse your opponent with monsters they can't hope to remove. In L5R you can buy your biggest champion turn 1, and they could be dealt with and leave play that turn...

There factors and more create a game with a very different play experience then probably any game you've played before. If you're interested in playing a game that isn't magic, definitely try L5R.

I truly think this game will win all the awards.

You should definitely try it ... fiveringsdb.com and jigoku.online are a good pair of websites to look into if you want to try it before buying it .

I think this entirely depends on the point of view.

To my wife, they are all the same: cards and tokens with strange names.

To my playgroup, they are quite different, as L5R has a full variety of details in the gameplay where MTG values pure simplicity. MTG is top on competitive play and card game 1 on 1 confrontation, L5R has a deep lore, and more complexity on the mechanics.

Here are some comparisons between Magic and L5R:

• Resource generation:
  • Magic: you start out with no mana. You play lands and other cards which generate mana. As the game goes on, the amount of mana you can generate each turn ramps up, so you can play bigger and bigger cards. Every deck has to dedicate a large number of cards just to generating mana.
  • L5R: you start out with 7 fate. You gain 7 more fate every round. So you can play big cards right away and don't have to worry about ramp up. There are cards that can generate extra fate, but not a lot of them. There are other game mechanics that reward you with Fate for various choices you can make. Your deck is mostly cards that actually do something.
• Win conditions:
  • Magic: you start with 20 life. You lose if you run out of life or cards in your deck. There are some other cards that provide alternate win conditions, but they're rare and hard to use.
  • L5R: you start with 10 to 12 Honor and 5 provinces, one of which is your stronghold. You win if you break 3 of your opponent's normal provinces and their one stronghold. You lose if you run out of honor. You win if you gain enough honor to hit 25 total. Honor/dishonor wins are rare-ish, but a valid strategy. Running out of cards in a deck makes you lose 5 honor and reshuffle your discards into a new deck. Alternate win condition cards don't exist yet.
• Decks:
  • Magic: one deck, made up of creatures, lands, spells, and artifacts.
  • L5R: two decks. Your Dynasty deck is made up mostly of characters, but can also have Holdings, which are defensive buffs to your provinces that also have triggered effects. Your Conflict deck is mostly made up of events and attachments, but can contain a limited number of characters as well.
• Creatures/characters:
  • Magic: creatures have offensive and defensive stats. They stay in play until destroyed by combat or other card effects. Most creatures have one set cost.
  • L5R: characters have military and political stats, which act as both offensive and defensive numbers depending on what type of conflict you're in. They only stay in play for one round by default. Every character has a base cost. For each Fate you pay beyond that base cost, the character stays in play for 1 additional round. Cards that destroy enemy characters are rare and often have steep costs or drawbacks.
• Turn order:
  • Magic: one player takes their full turn, casting spells, summoning creatures, and declaring combat, then the other player takes their full turn.
  • L5R: The round proceeds in phases, and both players act in each phase. First, players take turns summoning characters. Then both players draw cards. Then both players take turns declaring conflicts. Then both players do cleanup. There is a "first player" token that determines who acts first in each phase. At the end of each round, the first player token is passed to the other player.
• Card draw and hands:
  • Magic: One hand. Draw one card per turn. Cards that let you draw extra cards or search for other cards are common.
  • L5R: One hand of conflict cards and one pseudo-hand of Dynasty cards that are face-up on your provinces. Each round, the Dynasty cards you played the round before are replaced, so you always have a "hand" of 4 Dynasty cards. For Conflict cards, you get to choose how many cards to draw each round, from 1 to 5. If you draw more than your opponent does, you have to pay the difference to them in Honor, which can push one player closer to an Honor win or a Dishonor loss. Cards that let you draw extra cards are less common than in Magic. Cards that let you search for specific other cards are rare.
• Insta-win Combos:
  • Magic: insta-win combos are fairly common. Many decks are built around surviving until you get your big combo, then suddenly winning if your opponent can't stop you.
  • L5R: insta-win combos do not exist. Most decks are based around either attacking aggressively to try to win the game early with strong attacks, or playing defensively to build up long-term resource advantages before attacking.
• Combat:
  • Magic: you attack the other player to do damage to them. Their creatures can intervene by blocking your creatures. When creatures fight each other, the losers are often destroyed. Each player gets one chance to attack per turn.
  • L5R: you attack the other player's provinces to break them. Their characters can defend. Losing a fight does not do anything directly negative to your characters. Even if you didn't break a province, you still get a special action called a "ring effect" if you win an attack. Each round, there is the potential for up to 4 conflicts (2 attacks per player). Characters are bowed (tapped) after they participate in a conflict, so choosing which characters to use in each conflict is critical.

I could probably write more, but this should give you a good starting idea of just how different they are.

Both have cards that turn sideways to represent them being used for effect or having attacked. Other than that............not much.

The only thing I find enjoyable about MTG anymore is drafting and playing pauper decks. There is very little critical thinking in the game as the metagame is solved rather quickly and then it becomes a purely mathematical exercise.

Completely different, and in my opinion, a lot better.

A lot more skill based, a lot less luck based, and great players post very consistent results. Huge skill ceiling on the game. Way cheaper to play and be a part of. Much nicer community IRL. Great game to be part of.

On 11/25/2017 at 8:07 AM, RocketDarth said:

Hey there everyone! I had been looking into this game a little and thinking about it and was wondering if it was very similar to magic or other games similar. I thought it looked like fun but it looked so similar to other games that I wasn't sure if it was worth buying, so I thought asking people who played what they thought if it was a good place to start. Is it worth buying? To similar to other games? Thoughts? Thanks guys!

Magic is like checkers, L5R is like chess

16 hours ago, Fu Leng said:

Magic is like checkers, L5R is like chess

Exactly, growing up I played cards game such as Yugioh which in all honesty has no real strategy or too much critical thinking about how you play. Then I grew up and got into MTG because I love card games and found that MTG was far more "intelligent" of a game. There were lots of choices for deck building and strategy in game as well rather than here is my giant monster now I win. Flash forward 15 years after starting MTG and I am now playing L5R, my first LCG. In the start I thought MTG and L5R were very different in how the game play mechanics and deck building were but thought that figuring out strategy was essentially that same. I was horribly wrong, L5R is far more mentally taxing than MTG can ever be, the decision tree in this game is outstanding and often overwhelming. I have started to enjoy playing L5R so much more than MTG lately that I have essentially stopped playing MTG (not that I played much in recent years anyways).

3 hours ago, cforfar said:

Exactly, growing up I played cards game such as Yugioh which in all honesty has no real strategy or too much critical thinking about how you play. Then I grew up and got into MTG because I love card games and found that MTG was far more "intelligent" of a game. There were lots of choices for deck building and strategy in game as well rather than here is my giant monster now I win. Flash forward 15 years after starting MTG and I am now playing L5R, my first LCG. In the start I thought MTG and L5R were very different in how the game play mechanics and deck building were but thought that figuring out strategy was essentially that same. I was horribly wrong, L5R is far more mentally taxing than MTG can ever be, the decision tree in this game is outstanding and often overwhelming. I have started to enjoy playing L5R so much more than MTG lately that I have essentially stopped playing MTG (not that I played much in recent years anyways).

My son's say very similar things. I've got to be "on top of my game" as they say with L5R. If I play with any stress from the day still haunting me or not enough sleep, I loose. There are so many things going on for your own deck to work and to stay on top of what your opponent is doing?! It can be overwhelming!

I tried MTG years ago and it just didn't grab me. I'm old school. I started gaming in the 70's. We had war games that took hours just to set up. I need something to really intrigue me. L5R did, way back in the CCG days starting with the Battle of Beiden Pass. My sons and I were hooked. It was like legal crack 'cause we couldn't get enough of it! I'm glad it's back!

The only similarities are cosmetic. There are some really high level similarities you can make in terms of behavior (Things like "Aggro" and "Control"), but the execution of that behavior is pretty different. I've always felt like drawing comparisons between the two does a disservice to them. Given the example of checkers and chess (Which is pretty spot on, despite me not liking either game), where you can say both are board games, and use the same board, and have pieces that you move on the board in certain ways, but there the similarities end. You have cards, you draw them, you play them while trying to defeat your opponent. You have beings that do stuff for you (Creatures/Characters), and you have other stuff (Sorc/Instants/Events/etc), and you turn your cards sideways to indicate something important.

That being said, when talking to laypeople, I usually say "Its like Magic" since that is the most likely point of reference they know (You buy cards that aren't a normal playing card deck, build a deck and play against people).