Hello! I thought it would be fun to post my rankings on how useable I think the current Scorpion Dynasty cards are. I will give a little reasoning to each ranking and will try to not make this too long. I will post the Conflict side in a little bit. Let me know what you think! Disclaimer: This is my opinion and is based on how generally good they are, and not in regards to a specific deck.

Dynasty

Bayushi Liar (4/5) A 1-cost courtier who has 0 glory and draws you a card when he leaves. Really good for Scorpion but the - hurts him.

Bayushi Manipulator (4/5) A 1-cost courtier who gives you some flexibility when drawing cards. The fact that he can participate in military conflicts is another great plus.

Bayushi Shoju (5/5) Basically breaks any province politically and has a kill effect that is not that hard to achieve in Scorpion.

Bayushi Yojiro (2/5) An okay dynasty character. Helps greatly against Crane, but not really anywhere else.

Bayushi Yunako (3/5) A good dynasty character that is valuable as a Charge target and can mess with skills to either buff your guys or debuff an opponent's.

Blackmail Artist (2/5) A dynasty character that is good for dishonor, but not a whole lot else (he is a courtier I guess).

Favored Niece (2/5) Subpar stats for a good ability. However, Scorpion has better options to buy so I often pass on her no matter what.

Fawning Diplomat (3/5) A courtier that has 0 glory and an ability that has a value based on your meta or your deck.

Illustrious Plagiarist (IDK) To be honest I have not played with him yet, but I would tentatively rate him a 3/5 based on being a Shugenja and an ability that depends on your opponent.

Sake House Confidant (1/5) Right now it is not valuable. The stats are bad and the ability is often not worth what you give up for it. Plus, there are not a lot of Shinobi.

Shosuro Actress (3/5) Basically dead on turn 1, but its value goes up as you get further into the game. Also allows two conflicts for the price of 3 if played correctly.

Shosuro Miyako (2/5) Ok stats and an ability that depends on the style of deck that you are playing.

Sinister Shosi (3/5) A good ability that can hold off your opponent. A cheap Shugenja is always good and the 0 glory is a plus as well. However, having -/- is a hinderance and she does not contribute to you winning conflicts most of the time.

Soshi Illusionist (4/5) A political power for only 2 and the ability can absolutely wreck certain opponents or prevent you from dishonoring out. Plus, cheap Shugenja.

Yoga Hiroue (3/5) Good in a dishonor deck and for screwing with your opponent's plans. Makes a good Charge target, but I find myself passing on buying him more and more.

Yogo Outcast (4/5) Usually a 3/3 if you play well and is a cheap Shugenja.

Young Rumormonger (3/5) Decently statted and relatively cheap for what you get. The ability has the potential to seriously mess with your opponent. Plus, he is a courtier.

Back-Alley Hideaway (5/5) A super useful holding. You can even use its action after the fate phase to carry board state over to the next turn. Also combats Way of the Crab and Assassinate.

City of Lies (2/5) Decent holding that has a value based on how expensive your deck is.

Conflict

A Fate Worse Than Death (4/5) A powerful and often demoralizing card to face. You pay 1 for each effect and even getting off 3 is a good tradeoff. Just make sure it can't be canceled or have a cancel in hand.

Adept of Shadows (3/5) Recursion is good. It can help manipulate honor, but is vulnerable to being Assassinated. It is also not the most fate-efficient strategy, but can help with bad dynasty flops.

Ambush (2/5) Cool ability, but I find that many decks are cutting it.

Bayushi Kackiko (5/5) Arguably better than Shoju. Being a conflict character is a plus and if she is honored she is better stat-wise than Shoju. The ability is not that hard to trigger and can lead to unopposed conflicts.

Blackmail (1/5) Not good right now. The effect is marginal and you have to pay a lot to achieve relatively little. It is a good combo card, but good decks don't rely on combing to victory right now.

Calling in Favors (4/5) An incredible attachment hate card. Scorpion can handle dishonor and this card can wreck opponent's plans or swing conflicts in your favor. I have taken so many useful things with this card (Talisman of the Sun, Spyglass, etc...)

Court Mask (2/5) A decent card that gives a buff both militarily and politically. I am not a big fan of it however.

Cunning Magistrate (2/5) What can I say but that it is a Magistrate. 2/2 for 3 is the norm and the ability is ok. However, Scorpion has better options.

Fiery Madness (3/5) A good control card that enables Shoju and Kachiko. The fact that it is permanent is a plus, but it does not contribute to you breaking provinces most of the time.

Forged Edict (5/5) The best cancel in the game. Scorpion has a gazillion courtiers and their low glory is a huge plus. I think this card will be around for a long time.

I Can Swim (2/5) Decent kill card, but the ability can be hard to set up at times. It also encourages you to go out of your way to trigger it. I dropped it and replaced with A Fate Worse Than Death.

Meek Informant (2/5) This card basically lets you look at your opponent's hand. Having a - in military is a downside and cannot break alone unless you put Ornate Fans or Court Masks on it.

Misinformation (IDK) I have not played with this card yet, but I would tentatively rate it a 2/5. The effect varies in usefulness based on who your opponent is and the trigger is not the easiest to get.

Oni Mask (2/5) Okay control card. You pay 1 fate off a guy for a 1-turn Cloud the Mind.

Seal of the Scorpion (1/5) Scorpion is hurting for space in the Conflict deck and this card is not useful right now. There are not enough relevant Shinobi specific cards.

Smoke and Mirrors (1/5) Same reasoning as Seal of the Scorpion.

Unassuming Yojimbo (3/5) Costs 3 so can't be assassinated. Covert is a huge plus and can often break alone or with a buddy and be unopposed. I really like to drop her on my second conflict or if my opponent only has 1 defender. The fact that she has both military and political skill is awesome. Vulnerable to Mirumoto's Fury.

Way of the Scorpion (4/5) Not a 5/5 because it is almost useless in the mirror. Other than that, it is amazing.

Your ratings are very off. there are some very skilled Players over at carddb who rate cards as well and they are way more on point. I suggest you take a look at their ratings.

http://www.cardgamedb.com/index.php/index.html/_/articles/legend-of-the-five-rings-review-scorpion-clan-r2192

additionally the - on bayushi liar is not a liabilty, it is way better than having a 0. As he is, he is one of the best 1 drops in the game.

Thank you for the critiques. I would like to point out that the review is dated Oct. 1 and was based on the environment at the time (core only). The environment after 6 packs has changed dramatically and the review was also before Worlds. The game itself had only been out for a month or so in its entirety. With that in mind, the players may have been skilled with respect to card games, but not necessarily skilled in L5R. Although, Kingsley did make top 4 in Worlds. Furthermore, none of these players claim that they are Scorpion players. I would also like to ask that why you say that my ratings are off? You based that comment, it appears, off of other peoples ratings. They also rated Raitsugu higher than Niten Master and Vengeful Berserker higher than Borderlands Defender. They also only gave the Phoenix stronghold a score below 3, but many Phoenix players I am sure would argue that their stronghold is essential to helping them win conflicts right now. I am sure that many players would also agree that those ratings are incorrect in the current environment. In regards to your claim that having a - is not a liability and is better than 0, I believe that that statement is true if you are facing Hiroue, Challenger, Policy Debate, or a duel mechanic. Other than that, I think that the cons far outweigh the pros. Lets say that you flip 3x Bayushi Liar and 1 Holding and your opponent (who is also a Scorpion player) flips 2x Bayushi Liar, 1x Bayushi Manipulator, and 1 Holding. With the 3x Liar you have the potential to win 2 conflicts and only break 1 province. With the 2x Liar, 1x Manipulator you have the potential to win 3 conflicts and break 2 provinces (which a competitive environment favors). You will draw 3 cards from the Liars leaving play if you have 3 and only 2 cards if you have 2 Liars. However, if the card draw is enough of a problem you can most likely go Earth ring and make your opponent lose an honor and a card, and you get a card. Not to mention if you hit Rally to the Cause you lose an entire conflict.

I also tried to be liberal with giving 5/5 since it indicates an utterly insane card.

6 hours ago, malteme said:

additionally the - on bayushi liar is not a liabilty, it is way better than having a 0. As he is, he is one of the best 1 drops in the game.

I don't really agree, a military '-' is way worse than a political '-'. 0 in Mil still lets you break almost anything with a Banzai and there is no military Policy Debate to worry about.

I can't agree with some of these.

Shoju is a 4/5 because he never gets to use his ability. Its great that people don't even bother blocking against him BUT you can only break 1 province with POL so you will likely have other characters going to waste. Once there is a POL version of Captive Audience then Shoju will be 6/5.

Hiroue is 5/5 - It is one of the best control cards in the game. It can pull your own character or their character, and can be used in offence and defense. The effect this guy has on the table is always strong. The fact that he can dishonor someone is secondary to his ability to screw around with your opponent's plans.

Blackmail Artist 4/5 - If you are playing dishonor this guy is key. He's cheap and lets you begin honor loss on your opponent even while taking ring of earth or fire. He's one of the few low cost characters worth putting fate, if your opponent plays assassination on him its basically accepting his penalty now lol.

Besides these I think you're about right.

Yogo Hiroue is one of Scorpion's best dynasty cards, definitely a 5/5.

Bayushi Shoju is an amazing card but I prefer running Bayushi Kachiko over him.

Blackmail Artist is an incredibly strong 2 drop character. His presence is highly threating to most clans and I find that if you fate him up people willingly play assassinations on him. 4/5

Cunning Magistrate is an amazing conflict character, you can shut out any character in any type of conflict by playing him and using Way of the Scorpion. Even Kisada with 0 glory is dead in a conflict with this combo. 4/5

I would love to have been present at the design meeting for Kachiko.

Developer 1: Ok, now Kachiko's a rather iconic character, so we should give her a pretty good ability.

Developer 2: How about, "Action: Bow Kachiko to send another character home bowed"?

Developer 3: Hm...seems a bit open. What if we limit it to Political conflicts and make it only work on characters with lower Political strength in order to balance it out?

Developer 1: Makes sense to me. Of course, we'll give her the second-highest political strength in the game, so that she can break almost any province on her own.

Developers 2 & 3: Of course.

Developer 3: I also think she should be a Conflict character, so that she can be saved until you absolutely need her.

Developer 2: I like it! With Scorpion card draw, it practically guarantees that not only will she show up early, but also you'll have multiple copies to keep her around!

Developer 1: But you know, the more I think about it, does it really make sense for her to have to bow? All that does is force the player to have to weigh options and make a choice. It'd be better if she could use a powerful ability and break provinces on her own.

Developer 2: Let's also make the bowing of the target character optional, so that you can use it on your own characters without any trade-off.

Developers 1 & 3: Brilliant!

Developer 1: Ok, so next on the agenda, we may as well start thinking about Yoritomo.

Developer 3: How about, "Action: Bow Yoritomo. Collect every single card your opponent owns, from any card game ever made, and throw them into an incinerator. If your opponent complains at all, you win the game."?

Developer 2: I don't know; having to bow him makes it seem a bit underpowered to me.

Developer 1: Maybe we should include greeting cards too?

14 minutes ago, JJ48 said:

Developer 3: Hm...seems a bit open. What if we limit it to Political conflicts and make it only work on characters with lower Political strength in order to balance it out?

Developer 1: Makes sense to me.

Probably Developer 1 wasn't present during Lion Pride Brawler's design.