1 minute ago, Ishi Tonu said:

The Scissors of Fu Leng.

Just don't run with them.

20 minutes ago, Schmoozies said:

Just don't run with them.

I find them most effective when dual wield them, running and screaming.

1 hour ago, Duciris said:

The coolest thing Emperor Edition did for Old5R, was that it gave each clan 4 strongholds out of the box. This was huge, as no clan had ever had more than 1 legal stronghold before. Some clans (my knowledge gets fuzzy here) never even had a different stronghold. And Emperor Edition came out 17 years after the game launched. Each stronghold played differently, and each clan could then build decks with at least a second (not secondary, second) win condition. Previously, clans were fairly predictable. Each clan still moved and grew in their given two directions. It changed the game.

The two non-core strongholds we've seen do the exact same thing. You can't take a deck built for one stronghold, switch that stronghold, and still have a good deck. I like that.

I know for a fact that from Gold onward each clan started with two strongholds in the box. For example, Unicorn had the Northern Provinces of the Moto and the Utaku Palaces in the Gold edition starter.

30 minutes ago, DGLaderoute said:

Given the lead time required not just to design cards, commission art, get them print-ready, get them printed, etc. but also the lead time required to write a 30K word novella, get it edited, etc. I can guarantee you that the decision for the second "Clan Pack" to be Scorpion was made a LONG time ago. In fact, it's safe to say that the order of release of all of the various "Clan Packs" was made a LONG time ago, without much opportunity for change (except maybe for the very last two or three.)

Those are some really good points, thanks for those insights!

How significant do you think the title Whispers of Shadow and Steel is?

21 minutes ago, Swordbreaker said:

How significant do you think the title Whispers of Shadow and Steel is?

Moderately? I would not be surprised if there is an implication that the Shadow is behind the circumstances of the novel. It involves an investigation in Ryoko Owari, and those of us with the City of Lies boxed set have an idea of what some of this might be about.

2 hours ago, DGLaderoute said:

Given the lead time required not just to design cards, commission art, get them print-ready, get them printed, etc. but also the lead time required to write a 30K word novella, get it edited, etc. I can guarantee you that the decision for the second "Clan Pack" to be Scorpion was made a LONG time ago. In fact, it's safe to say that the order of release of all of the various "Clan Packs" was made a LONG time ago, without much opportunity for change (except maybe for the very last two or three.)

I thank you for posting this, I say this with all sincerity. However, FFG should have been wiser and realized the power dynamic of Scorpion among the other Clans during the various cycles of playtesting. This is why this upcoming release of Scorpion, prior to the releases of Unicorn and Lion and Dragon, seem tone deaf in regard. ??‍♂️

I keep being nothing but negative on this thread. That’s not my intention, in all honesty. (I’m going to stop posting on these new release threads and keep to the multiplayer forums from now on) But someone, I think, should make an attempt to point out the power levels of a few builds that are dominating the gaming scene (tournaments, casual play, everything in between) and suffocating the gaming experience. I hope it’s just me who is the idiot when playing this game, but too many indicators (and various posters) say otherwise.

I hope and wish nothing but success for FFG and for this ( MY beloved) game. The news of this Scorpion release and its accompanying cards, however, are worrisome in my opinion. That’s all.

2 hours ago, Ishi Tonu said:

I'm just going to go ahead and say that Scorpion will not win worlds this year.

I’ll also go ahead and say that Unicorn won’t win worlds, neither. ?

5 minutes ago, Tabris2k said:

I’ll also go ahead and say that Unicorn won’t win worlds, neither. ?

Ah ha............you didn't say which worlds so nah nah nah nah. I'm so going to win worlds with Unicorn..............5 years from now and make you eat those words.

If I somehow manage to win the Seattle Kotei, I've already committed myself to playing Unicorn at worlds this year.............so yeah you're safe.........this year!

New Spoilers from the Twitch stream:

And also

These certainly help Scorpion not to lose too quickly by dishonor with the new SH. Although Duty, being Limit 1 per deck, I believe it won’t see too much play. (Unless card recursion for scorpion comes in play somehow)

2 hours ago, DGLaderoute said:

Given the lead time required not just to design cards, commission art, get them print-ready, get them printed, etc. but also the lead time required to write a 30K word novella, get it edited, etc. I can guarantee you that the decision for the second "Clan Pack" to be Scorpion was made a LONG time ago. In fact, it's safe to say that the order of release of all of the various "Clan Packs" was made a LONG time ago, without much opportunity for change (except maybe for the very last two or three.)

I have tried explaining this to people in the past, and I am glad when I see it backed by someone very much in the know. For those unaware, DGLaderoute is a former brand manager for L5R, during its time at AEG and Imperial Herald editor. If there was an expert opinion on these matters, his is one.

Wow just wow. Scorpion next clan pack? Using a sporting analogy, when a team wins a season, the next season they get the last draft picks and not the top draft picks like FFG have done with Scorpion.

I am so disappointed. I find my games against Scorpion to be unfun and a npe. Come October, even more people will play Scorpion with even more "tricks" to watch out for.

Its good timing that X Wing 2.0 is coming out in September, I can focus on that and give this game a long break.

Is the honor bid a framework step?

8 minutes ago, Ishi Tonu said:

Is the honor bid a framework step?

The honor transfer is the framework step:

II. Draw Phase

[...]

2.4 - Trasfer honor.

Also applies to honor loss from Unopposed conflicts

In the RRD, every box in the appendix tables (page 19) is a framework step.

The only thing that actually concerns me about this release, is that we are going to get Strongholds at a really SLOW pace. And don't think that that would be good for the game.

22 minutes ago, Ishi Tonu said:

Ah ha............you didn't say which worlds so nah nah nah nah. I'm so going to win worlds with Unicorn..............5 years from now and make you eat those words.

If I somehow manage to win the Seattle Kotei, I've already committed myself to playing Unicorn at worlds this year.............so yeah you're safe.........this year!

Only way Unicorn is winning Worlds is if they make their own Worlds, only Unicorn players allowed.

10 minutes ago, Barbacuo said:

The only thing that actually concerns me about this release, is that we are going to get Strongholds at a really SLOW pace. And don't think that that would be good for the game.

There’s also a new stronghold in the Elemental Cycle, so if that becomes the norm, we can be looking at 4-6 New SH per year. Not too bad

13 minutes ago, Tabris2k said:

Only way Unicorn is winning Worlds is if they make their own Worlds, only Unicorn players allowed.

That could be kinda fun, actually. I mean, it'd have to be held virtually, because I doubt people would gather from around the world to play in person. You could give it some Unicorn-themed name, like Gaijin Festival, or Festival of the Plains. Or maybe even go with Day of Brother Horse to tie it back into something lore-specific. Question is would you ban out of clan splash for the event, or allow players to keep splash to "flavor" the deck towards their particular playstyle?

Call it "the Toilet Bowl" maybe? Sorry, couldn't resist!

2 hours ago, Tabris2k said:

The honor transfer is the framework step:

II. Draw Phase

[...]

2.4 - Trasfer honor.

Also applies to honor loss from Unopposed conflicts

In the RRD, every box in the appendix tables (page 19) is a framework step.

So I'm at 4 honor playing the new stronghold. I bid 5 and my opponent bids 1. I react by playing Duty. What is my honor? 1 or 5?

The transfer of 4 honor caused me to lose my last honor and Duty cancels the effects so I'm at 5 right?

Also, this card is named Doodie.....heheh

1 minute ago, Ishi Tonu said:

So I'm at 4 honor playing the new stronghold. I bid 5 and my opponent bids 1. I react by playing Duty. What is my honor? 1 or 5?

The transfer of 4 honor caused me to lose my last honor and Duty cancels the effects so I'm at 5 right?

Also, this card is named Doodie.....heheh

Right, you'd be at 5. Duty cancels the effect, so no honor is lost, and then also gives you 1 honor.

3 hours ago, LordBlunt said:

I thank you for posting this, I say this with all sincerity. However, FFG should have been wiser and realized the power dynamic of Scorpion among the other Clans during the various cycles of playtesting. This is why this upcoming release of Scorpion, prior to the releases of Unicorn and Lion and Dragon, seem tone deaf in regard. ??‍♂️

I keep being nothing but negative on this thread. That’s not my intention, in all honesty. (I’m going to stop posting on these new release threads and keep to the multiplayer forums from now on) But someone, I think, should make an attempt to point out the power levels of a few builds that are dominating the gaming scene (tournaments, casual play, everything in between) and suffocating the gaming experience. I hope it’s just me who is the idiot when playing this game, but too many indicators (and various posters) say otherwise.

I hope and wish nothing but success for FFG and for this ( MY beloved) game. The news of this Scorpion release and its accompanying cards, however, are worrisome in my opinion. That’s all.

I'm not saying you're wrong about the current state of the game regarding balance among the clans. All I'm saying is, is that this schedule of releases was undoubtedly determined a long time ago...probably before the Core Set even released last year. Fast forward to now, and Scorpion is very strong. Perhaps that should have been foreseen, but that's a different discussion. It apparently wasn't, but that release schedule doesn't care; it's in motion and that can't be changed.

I absolutely admit it SEEMS tone deaf...which is why it's even more important that the message "the state of the game and the release schedule are completely separate things" gets out there!

1 hour ago, Kaito Kikaze said:

Right, you'd be at 5. Duty cancels the effect, so no honor is lost, and then also gives you 1 honor.

Yeah this will probably end up being what I start playing until there is a proper Shadowlands stronghold. I'm really liking how the new stronghold looks. The core stronghold isn't really my style.

If this creates a Scorpion build that is less of a NPE, I struggle to see how that would be a bad thing.

That's a big if, of course.

2 hours ago, Kaito Kikaze said:

Right, you'd be at 5. Duty cancels the effect, so no honor is lost, and then also gives you 1 honor.

I'm not sure that's correct because in the Rules Reference under Honor it says,

Quote

Each time a player loses honor, that honor is taken from the player’s honor pool and returned to the general token pool.

But in Appendix I it says,

Quote

2.4. Transfer honor

The player with the higher honor bid must give an amount of honor to the player with the lower honor bid that is equal to the difference between the two bids. If the bids are equal, no honor is transferred during this step.

So I think an honor transfer might be different from an honor loss. Since a loss has honor go from the player's pool to the general pool, whereas a transfer has the honor go from one player's pool to the other player's pool.

Also, does Duty not work on dishonored characters leaving play or is the card ability or framework effect that made them leave play considered the source of the honor loss?