So how are each of the clans feeling about their Low-cost low Mil/low Pol/get +2/+2 if you have X or X ring cards? (Third Tower Guard, Battle Maiden Recruit, Ethereal Dreamer, Ikoma Reservist, Impulsive Novice).

Third Tower Guard (Crab); 1 Fate, 1M/1P/0G; This Card gets +2 Mil while you have claimed the (Earth) or (Water) ring.

Third Tower Guard seems good; Crab need a good balance of cheap bodies they can sac, and Earth and Water are cards that they would reliably be seeking in an average game. The bottom line is, Earth always a reliably solid Ring to go after in basically any circumstance, making Third Tower Guard a fairly reliable 1-fate 3/1. That's pretty slick if you ask me.

Battle Maiden Recruit (Unicorn); 0 Fate, 0M/0P/0G; This Card gets +2 Mil while you have claimed the (Water) or (Void) ring.

Not sure about Battle Maiden Recruit; while having a zero cost is neat (especially as they shift the focus on having more bodies in your conflict than your opponent), Unicorn (in my novice mind; I've never played Unicorn, only against) seemed to not really be lacking in reliable, cheap personalities (Meishodo Wielder, Moto Youth, Utaku Infantry). Any Pony mains care to chime in as to whether or not this card seems to be what you all need?

Ethereal Dreamer (Phoenix); 1 Fate, 1M/1P/0G; Reaction: After the Conflict Phase begins, choose a ring- until the end of the phase, this character gets +2 Mil/+2 Pol while the ring is being contested.

Ethereal Dreamer seems pretty solid. Given that the Phoenix have a variety of ways to focus their deck on honing in on certain rings, the fact that 90% of the time it seems like you'll be paying 1 fate for a 3/3 seems gravy, especially given that, the further into the conflict phase you go, the more predictable the ring is going to be (if only water and fire are left, for example, and there's no one to hit with Water, you basically have a guaranteed 3/3). That isn't to say I feel that Ethereal Dreamer alone justifies using some of the more janky Ring manipulation cards (Know the World, Wholeness of the World, etc.) for her alone, but I think that she definitely adds a neat wrinkle to Phoenix. That being said, there is the chance that you just make rubbish calls and that Ethereal Dreamer never does a thing for you.

Impulsive Novice (Dragon): 2 Fate, 2M/2P/0G; This character gets +1 Mil/+1 Pol while you have claimed the (Fire) or (Void) ring.

I've got mixed feelings on Impulsive Novice; 2-2/2 isn't bad, but both of his rings are more conditional choices on a given conflict, and I can't see you seeking out a ring without the effect just to give one of your bodies +1/+1. Maybe if his stat spread was more like Third Tower Guard, but I'm not a fan, especially with Doomed Shugenja and Togashi Initiate seeing three copies in most every competitive Dragon Deck. I do, however, like that he has Zero glory, making it slightly less likely that your opponent would try to grab Fire.

Ikoma Reservist (Lion): 1 Fate, 1M/2P/0G; This character gets +2 Mil while you have claimed the (Fire) or (Water) ring.

I like Ikoma Reservist a lot. One, it's got the super good stat spread of Third Tower Guard (who I currently rank just below Ethereal Dreamer as the top of the bunch), while also having two ring effects that are not unrealistic as far as claimants go. Water and Fire, while both conditional, are still a bit easier to work around a random board state (as opposed to Void, which is literally has an effect or doesn't; Water almost has the same problem, but happens on a less likely basis). So, like Third Tower Guard, a fairly reliable 1-fate 3/3. I suppose the big weakness of this girl is that Lion obviously has no shortage of cheap, stat-effective characters. Will this be a likely replacement for, say, Miwaku Kabe Guard? I doubt it, but I also don't see it not ever seeing play.

What does everyone think? Will people be finding space in their deck for these guys? What's the overall consensus?

54 minutes ago, Ikoma Sencha said:

Ikoma Reservist (Lion): 1 Fate, 1M/2P/0G; This character gets +2 Mil while you have claimed the (Fire) or (Water) ring.

I like Ikoma Reservist a lot. One, it's got the super good stat spread of Third Tower Guard (who I currently rank just below Ethereal Dreamer as the top of the bunch), while also having two ring effects that are not unrealistic as far as claimants go. Water and Fire, while both conditional, are still a bit easier to work around a random board state (as opposed to Void, which is literally has an effect or doesn't; Water almost has the same problem, but happens on a less likely basis). So, like Third Tower Guard, a fairly reliable 1-fate 3/3. I suppose the big weakness of this girl is that Lion obviously has no shortage of cheap, stat-effective characters. Will this be a likely replacement for, say, Miwaku Kabe Guard? I doubt it, but I also don't see it not ever seeing play.

What does everyone think? Will people be finding space in their deck for these guys? What's the overall consensus?

I agree on most of the rest, but this is a conflict character don't forget so you can almost guarantee she will be a 3/1 body when she drops so I'd rate her far better (Likely 2nd behind the Phoneix who is just super good)

2 minutes ago, Schmoozies said:

I agree on most of the rest, but this is a conflict character don't forget so you can almost guarantee she will be a 3/1 body when she drops so I'd rate her far better (Likely 2nd behind the Phoneix who is just super good)

I... did not realize she was conflict, and now I have to swallow my words. She might be the best of the bunch imho now, given that Lion conflict characters are either overpriced (Spearmaster is good, but near impossible to put out) or come with an unreasonable condition (sorry Oathkeeper, getting an extra 2 military doesn't sooth the pain of possibly having lost a province). I see her alongside the Crone as being one of the only Lion conflict characters to see serious play.

The thing I like about Battle Maiden Recruit is that the 0 cost means she's a free extra cavalry body for Cavalry Reserves, which only has a total printed fate cost limit (no limit to how many bodies you can grab with it). If you're playing with Shono, that makes each copy participating a free +1 body. If Uni get a fire role for Djinn, they're set to 3 skill bodies. And of course there's her actual ability for +2 MIL.

2 minutes ago, Ikoma Sencha said:

I... did not realize she was conflict, and now I have to swallow my words. She might be the best of the bunch imho now, given that Lion conflict characters are either overpriced (Spearmaster is good, but near impossible to put out) or come with an unreasonable condition (sorry Oathkeeper, getting an extra 2 military doesn't sooth the pain of possibly having lost a province). I see her alongside the Crone as being one of the only Lion conflict characters to see serious play.

She is definitely up there but I still think the fact that the Phoenix will essentially always be a 3/3 for the conflict you want to use her in that turn makes her better.

3 minutes ago, Schmoozies said:

She is definitely up there but I still think the fact that the Phoenix will essentially always be a 3/3 for the conflict you want to use her in that turn makes her better.

I don't know if she'll always be a 3/3. A large part of how good she is boils down to your decisions weighed against your opponents. To me, that makes her a little harder to predict and less reliable.

5 minutes ago, Kaito Kikaze said:

The thing I like about Battle Maiden Recruit is that the 0 cost means she's a free extra cavalry body for Cavalry Reserves, which only has a total printed fate cost limit (no limit to how many bodies you can grab with it). If you're playing with Shono, that makes each copy participating a free +1 body. If Uni get a fire role for Djinn, they're set to 3 skill bodies. And of course there's her actual ability for +2 MIL.

See, now this just shows that I know absolute nothing about Uni; I've played against Cavalry Reserves, and it still didn't come to mind when looking at BMR.

1 minute ago, Kaito Kikaze said:

The thing I like about Battle Maiden Recruit is that the 0 cost means she's a free extra cavalry body for Cavalry Reserves, which only has a total printed fate cost limit (no limit to how many bodies you can grab with it). If you're playing with Shono, that makes each copy participating a free +1 body. If Uni get a fire role for Djinn, they're set to 3 skill bodies. And of course there's her actual ability for +2 MIL.

I do and don't agree. She is could be a wasted flip the turn she does show up as she is either costing you the passing first fate or the possibility that she may have been your only bodies when you did flip her. Since she doesn't win conflicts on her own she becomes a card that needs support to work and without that support she could be a better resource that you didn't see.

3 minutes ago, Ikoma Sencha said:

I don't know if she'll always be a 3/3. A large part of how good she is boils down to your decisions weighed against your opponents. To me, that makes her a little harder to predict and less reliable.

It will in that you should be using her with the plan I need to take this Ring this turn or I need to force my opponent to take it so that I can put him at a disadvantage. A perfect example would be if you have no fate on characters you set her to void, now your opponent is in the position do they try and claim it against you to deny the pump to her or do they let you take it with your first conflict and hope they can win to claim it themselves and risk you having the 3/3 body for defense or your own second conflict swing back. You will force your opponent to treat her like that 3/3 body with every ring conflict they consider.

BMR is easily the worst of the bunch. Phoenix is clearly the best. Everyhing in between is pretty meh. The Lion getting a cheap conflict character is a nice little bump.

Other than the Phoenix, I don't suspect these will see a ton of play

I don't believe the Phoenix is part of the cycle.

The Scorpion is excellent for decks that want a cheap body, as is the Lion, whilst the Crab is solid. The Dragon will likely see play due to the Monk keyword alone. The Unicorn will depend on how important passing first vs outnumbering the opponent becomes. The Crane is trash, being 2f means it doesn't have the utility of cheapness most of the others have, and is lacking the keyword rarity that will help out the Dragon.

It would be a bit strange if Phoenix were to get another cheap character with a buff based on specific rings (or ring, in Dreamer's case). I think it is part of this grouping, just given a significantly different ability because "reasons".

The Scorpion one is really only good because of the 0 Glory, it might replace some manipulators if you want to bid low

What about the crane one? +2POL with air and fire

3 hours ago, RafaelNN said:

What about the crane one? +2POL with air and fire

2 Fate pretty much makes it nearly unplayable.

T1: Lion, Phoenix

Both have traits that are really important for the clan. It is very easy to turn on the Phoenix one, but the lion one is a conflict character and both rings are really important for Lion (especially with the new SH). Lion furthermore doesn't really have competition in the conflict slot.

They will be staples for a long time (possibly until Rotation).

T2: Unicorn, Scorpion, Crab

While they lack the power of T1, they pretty much fill a hole for the clan. If the leaks for the Unicorn SH are true it will be mendatory for Unicorn to swarm. A 0cost Cavalary character with conditional +2/+2 fits the bill very well. The Crab one is good, because they only have one good 1 coster and they need Sac fodder for Way of the Crab. And the Scorpion one is really good for enabling Forged Edict because of 0 glory and For Shame because of 1 mil.

I can see them being replaced when better cards are released, but for now I think that they are good additions.

T3: Dragon

The stat line ist a joke, but the monk trait ist really usefull right now. I think that Dragon won't be playing full Monk competitivly, because their best Dynasty cards are not monks.

I really doubt that it will see play competitivly, but is decent in janky Monk decks.

T4: Crane

This card is pure jank and a joke compare to the Scorpion one.

1 hour ago, Ignithas said:

T1: Lion, Phoenix

Both have traits that are really important for the clan. It is very easy to turn on the Phoenix one, but the lion one is a conflict character and both rings are really important for Lion (especially with the new SH). Lion furthermore doesn't really have competition in the conflict slot.

They will be staples for a long time (possibly until Rotation).

T2: Unicorn, Scorpion, Crab

While they lack the power of T1, they pretty much fill a hole for the clan. If the leaks for the Unicorn SH are true it will be mendatory for Unicorn to swarm. A 0cost Cavalary character with conditional +2/+2 fits the bill very well. The Crab one is good, because they only have one good 1 coster and they need Sac fodder for Way of the Crab. And the Scorpion one is really good for enabling Forged Edict because of 0 glory and For Shame because of 1 mil.

I can see them being replaced when better cards are released, but for now I think that they are good additions.

T3: Dragon

The stat line ist a joke, but the monk trait ist really usefull right now. I think that Dragon won't be playing full Monk competitivly, because their best Dynasty cards are not monks.

I really doubt that it will see play competitivly, but is decent in janky Monk decks.

T4: Crane

This card is pure jank and a joke compare to the Scorpion one.

The Dragon one definitely seems more like filler for the inevitable Dragon Monk deck that should more fully coalesce at the end of the cycle, but 2 fate for a 2/2 or potential 3/3 is still mediocre compared to just having a 1 fate 3/3.

I could be wrong, but I don't think the Ethereal Dreamer is part of the student cycle, mainly because the students trigger their buff off holding the ring, not contesting. But I guess we'll find out eventually. I definitely agree that the Dreamer is the best of the bunch, though. Crane's costing 2 is a bit harsh for getting just 1 more political skill.

I like the dragon one, monks needed a decent 2 cost monk. Also, I think comparing him to the doomed shugenja is rather unfair, considering doomed is flat broken, and they make no secret of the fact that they put better stuff in the core set on purpose to make it easier on newcomers to the game after lots of stuff is out. An important thing to keep in mind, is that he's got better printed stats than every other 2 cost we have in clan, which are a 1/1, a 1/2, and 2 2/1s (I could be recalling the itinerant philosopher backwards, he was either a 2/1 or a 1/2), only one of those has a legitimately *good* ability (the swordsmith), one of them is hot garbage (the philosopher), one of them looks way better on paper than he is in practice (the adept), and the last is only good in a very specific and hard to pull off variant of the monk deck, and in a more standard monk deck she's only kinda decent situationally (the seeker of enlightenment). Sure the novice is rather boring in comparison to all of those, his stats are in fact rather good compared to our other 2 costers, and we needed a decent 2 coster to fill a slot, especially in the monk deck. I definitely think he'll see play at least until we get a better 2 coster to fill that slot, and at this point that seems like it's rather a long ways off considering the design of the rest of our 2 costers.

2 fate characters absolutely need to be busted to be playable simply because Assassination is so ubiquitous and useful. You barely get any stats benefit from them over playing most 1 drops and if you actually want the 2 drop to stay around you are looking at 3+ fate investment which makes Assassination even more of a blowout against you that turn.

Most times your better off just playing a 1 drop with a fate and then maybe an attachment which gives you basically the same amount of stats as the 2 drop.

Roundabout way of saying the Dragon monk is aggressively mediocre.

I think Im missing something. Why is the crane one so bad? She becomes a 4 pol with fire and air, which are rings crane seems to be aiming for with this cycle. And if you claim fore and honor her, shes a 5 pol for 2 fate. If you splash phoeix you can get the air or fire ring by switching for them and automatically buff her if you need raw stats. Why is it so bad?

Because you listed a bunch of things you can do to try make a 2 cost character in Crane decent. Crane already have amazing 2 cost characters that don't need the effort put in, and she's not going to force any of them out, especially as they just got a 1 cost Courtier in the same cycle.

The abilities on these cards aren't a real ability, they're a thing that comes up once a tournament and is a nice bonus.

Alternatively, they're cards that are better in a multiplayer environment: once they're on, they're on.

15 hours ago, RafaelNN said:

I think Im missing something. Why is the crane one so bad? She becomes a 4 pol with fire and air, which are rings crane seems to be aiming for with this cycle. And if you claim fore and honor her, shes a 5 pol for 2 fate. If you splash phoeix you can get the air or fire ring by switching for them and automatically buff her if you need raw stats. Why is it so bad?

2 Fate characters are bad unless their ability is busted. Crane have plenty of better 2 fate characters as well and don't really need the Pol boost in the form of a character you have to "turn on" to be worth that 2 fate investment.

Maybe in the honor deck it's a decent defensive card, but it's competing in the same space as Brash Samurai, Cautious Scout, Nerishma, and Savy Politician.

Seems like @Evilgm and @AradonTemplar were right, and Ethereal Dreamer isn’t part of the cycle.

The Phoenix spot got covered by:

Reader of Omens

2 Fate

2 MIL/0 POL/1 Glory

Shugenja. Void.

This character gets +3[Politics] while you have claimed the [Air] or [Void] ring.