2 minutes ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the Elemental Cycle.

Anything in particular stand out to people?

A lot more elementally role-locked cards in this cycle. I'm aware that I'm in the minority on this, but I loved seeing them. This cycle was way more interesting to me than Imperial Cycle. And now that two cycles are out, I want to build decks in each faction of one kind or another. Each clan has cards in them that I want to play with, which wasn't the case with just the imperial cycle. I'm strongly considering buying another set of 3 cores just to have some redundancy for deck building. As it is, I have four decks together, want to build a crane deck, and don't know what to take apart for the pieces. I'd say that's a good sign, so the cycle's been very well received by me. Again, I might be in the minority though

Still looking for some themes I really like in Unicorn and Crab, though. They both got some good stuff, and Unicorn's definitely shaping up to be stronger, but I don't like their military-swarm theme, so I'll wait for something else.

5 minutes ago, AradonTemplar said:

Still looking for some themes I really like in Unicorn and Crab, though. They both got some good stuff, and Unicorn's definitely shaping up to be stronger, but I don't like their military-swarm theme, so I'll wait for something else.

Yeah, I'm still not sure what they're expecting us to do with Unicorn. Clearly there's a huge focus on Military conflicts, and this new push for outnumbering is ok I guess -- IF we can get enough bodies on the board to pull it off. It still seems like our characters are costed a little higher than other clans, which puts us at a Fate disadvantage, making it harder to flood. Cav Reserves is still easy to cancel, which puts you out 3 Fate. It just feels strained. Movement tricks are great, but only if I've got someone to move.

1 hour ago, AradonTemplar said:

Magistrate Station's pretty exciting too, but tricky. At first I thought it was a holding, along the lines of Unicorn's new Encampment, but as a province itself, it means you're going to need to get it flipped up, and then successfully defend it. I have a feeling a regrettable number of these are going to die on a productive first turn. But if it sticks around, suddenly you're getting double use out of your honored character every round, which is almost game-ending. I think dishonor and/or bow tech is going to be going up in value after this cycle.

I can see a bit of synergy with Asahina Takako in directing your opponent's attacks. Either leave a good character or Holding (Academy! Bonzai Garden!) around or potentially run into Magistrate Station.

Eager to see if Monk jank can actually work or if we're going to need to wait for a Dragon pack to come out to get the rest of our Kihos.

2 hours ago, Waywardpaladin said:

Eager to see if Monk jank can actually work or if we're going to need to wait for a Dragon pack to come out to get the rest of our Kihos.

If rest of our Kihōs you mean Mantras of Air and Void then probably yes but I am sure the Dragon pack will be more Mirumoto duelist oriented since that build isn't developed yet.

1 minute ago, BayushiFugu said:

If rest of our Kihōs you mean Mantras of Air and Void then probably yes but I am sure the Dragon pack will be more Mirumoto duelist oriented since that build isn't developed yet.

No, more Kihos like Hurricane Fist. Can't have half your conflict hand playable only on conflict declaration and then only one of them.

9 hours ago, twinstarbmc said:

Yeah, I'm still not sure what they're expecting us to do with Unicorn. Clearly there's a huge focus on Military conflicts, and this new push for outnumbering is ok I guess -- IF we can get enough bodies on the board to pull it off. It still seems like our characters are costed a little higher than other clans, which puts us at a Fate disadvantage, making it harder to flood. Cav Reserves is still easy to cancel, which puts you out 3 Fate. It just feels strained. Movement tricks are great, but only if I've got someone to move.

If only they'd thought of printing some kind of province that started the game face up that put a free fate on characters that came into play out of it to help Unicorn build up their board. But that'd be crazy. It'd make much more sense to make something like that and then lock it behind tournament results and then misbalance the clans so Unicorn could never get it.

10 hours ago, AradonTemplar said:

A lot more elementally role-locked cards in this cycle. I'm aware that I'm in the minority on this, but I loved seeing them.

Agreed

22 hours ago, twinstarbmc said:

Yeah, I'm still not sure what they're expecting us to do with Unicorn. Clearly there's a huge focus on Military conflicts, and this new push for outnumbering is ok I guess -- IF we can get enough bodies on the board to pull it off. It still seems like our characters are costed a little higher than other clans, which puts us at a Fate disadvantage, making it harder to flood. Cav Reserves is still easy to cancel, which puts you out 3 Fate. It just feels strained. Movement tricks are great, but only if I've got someone to move.

You won't need too many bodies on the board to pull off the new Uni SH ability, use movement shenanigans , conflict characters, covert and Force of the River. Don't forget you can trigger it on defence, and in a political with captive audience. To be honest, I almost feel bad for unicorn opponents, almost any conflict could trigger the SH

Still not sure how I feel about the direction of Unicorn. It seems like too many of the personalities are still just blank bodies with no proactive abilities. Move abilities are only so useful. Doesn't help that Unleash the Djinn isn't available to us (at least for now) which would have been immensely useful for the swarm build. Hopefully it comes together though.

On ‎7‎/‎27‎/‎2018 at 9:22 AM, AradonTemplar said:

Oh sweet, I was resigned to waiting until next week for those. It looks like Ethereal Dreamer was NOT the novice for Phoenix. At least a relevant type line for the clan, but I'm not a big fan. Being a 2/3 for 2 after the condition really doesn't impress me. If it were a conflict character, I'd be impressed (little too strong, I think, especially with Inquisitive Ishika), but at least it's a bit versatile.

A lot of interesting stuff for dragon here, though. Their Agasha shugenja is preeeetty strong as far as tutors go. Don't need favor? Sure, go get a Stone of Sorrows! And I can see some great use from Being and Becoming. There's usually always fate on rings, so at the least you can keep a character with a strong passive around. Mostly I'm thinking of Phoenix here (naturally), so a semi-permanent Shiba Tsukune, Isawa Tadaka, Isawa Atsuko, etc. And if you can ever snag two fate at once (or pitch a unique to add an extra fate) you can actually swing with them too. Or Against the Waves whenever you're ready. Pretty crazy, but also pretty expensive.

Magistrate Station's pretty exciting too, but tricky. At first I thought it was a holding, along the lines of Unicorn's new Encampment, but as a province itself, it means you're going to need to get it flipped up, and then successfully defend it. I have a feeling a regrettable number of these are going to die on a productive first turn. But if it sticks around, suddenly you're getting double use out of your honored character every round, which is almost game-ending. I think dishonor and/or bow tech is going to be going up in value after this cycle.

True but with Ancient Master around who needs rings to win the favour yeah?

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2018/8/15/the-scorpions-sting/

Because Scorpion needed more movement tricks and ways to cheat characters into play

23 minutes ago, Schmoozies said:

Because Scorpion needed more movement tricks and ways to cheat characters into play

It was too hard to pay for Kachiko and AFWTD, obviously.

I have updated the opening post somewhat.

48 minutes ago, Schmoozies said:

Because Scorpion needed more movement tricks and ways to cheat characters into play

Cry more ^^

3 minutes ago, Necrogoat said:

Cry more ^^

More observing that a stronger Scorpion deck is not healthy for the game, and that seems to be where these previews are leading at the moment. With Phoenix you had a weak deck that was getting propped up by the pack, here we have a strong deck that will only be improved by the additional tools that they are getting here.

Charge - Restricted.

From the Shadows - fair and balanced.

Both in the same environment - ..................

Enjoy my salty, salty Unicorn tears, my Scorpion friends.

From the Shadows only works with Shinobi, so I am not terribly worried about it. It doesn't work with Kachiko or Shoju. There are some good shinobi, and it plays very well with all of the wanting to be dishonored cards including the shinobi who adds glory to their skills. It could be a scary with Aaramoro as a cheap targeted kill.

It wotkd with aramoro though, which I think is better than shoju. He gives -2 in one go, and is military, so it complements kachiko who already deals with pol conflicts

33 minutes ago, RafaelNN said:

It wotkd with aramoro though, which I think is better than shoju. He gives -2 in one go, and is military, so it complements kachiko who already deals with pol conflicts

Aramoro needs to dishonor himself to use his ability, so if they bring him in with Into the Shadows he's just a body (barring "remove status token" or honor effects).

Ah, forgot that

8 hours ago, twinstarbmc said:

Charge - Restricted.

From the Shadows - fair and balanced.

Both in the same environment - ..................

Enjoy my salty, salty Unicorn tears, my Scorpion friends.

Charge is stronger than From the Shadows. The most expensive Shinobi we know so far is Aramoro and he comes as a blank 3/0 with FtS.

Really no need for sault.

Yeah, this preview was pretty underwhelming compared to what we've seen before. Alibi Artist is probably the best of this group since it's just Shrewd Yasuki but better since Courtier is more relevant in Scorpion than Crab.

Liar's Mask is also nice since it can trigger every turn, even if it is a tempting Calling in Favors target since it can just get rid of the dishonored status.

Yea, people tend to lose their minds whenever we see a Scorpion preview, these cards are not that good.

Having said that, I think Liar's Mask and Opium Wastrel are best among them. Wastrel is a cheap conflict character and helps with high glory honored enemys or your dishonored characters.

Im waiting to see what/who Bayushi's Whisperrers are, maybe From the Shadows will work with them but in general I dont like that dishonoring part. Some shinobi actions (like Discourage Pursuit) requier dishonoring, which From the Shadows blocks