I know there are not a lot of Mantis Clan Cards yet available, but we do have four that we know of, and three that can be fielded within the same deck build. So while it is not a lot to go off of they do have a recurring theme, which is Fate growth for a price. Honestly it could be a fun design space to play with, but with the current game what cards best enhance that theme, or build alongside it. I'm inclined to look to either the Dragon Clan with their fate manipulation (which keeps me to just two Mantis at the moment), Phoenix Clan (three and shugenja friendly), or perhaps Crane (again three, but instead more bushi). I'm not sure which would work best, but I feel that Crab would be the best splash for any of them, or perhaps scorpion as a splash.

So I suppose I'm asking for thoughts, deck concepts, and how you would play the Mantis Clan as they are currently.

Unicorn with Crab splash. Charge as your Restricted List card. Reprieve and Rebuild. Recycle Yurts. Make Yoritomo huge. Shioteme and Gaijin Customs to get him into multiple conflicts each round.

For pure theme, it has to be Crab/Lion or Lion/Crab.

Decks that can hoard fate and have ways to unbow are going to make the best use of Yoritomo. Unicorn having ways to do this and a General lack of strong 5 drops kinda makes them the default home for now.

However I'm sure there will be Yoritomo decks popping up like crazy

Ah, so there are a few actual Mantis cards? Is there any rumor about a clan release?

On 8/23/2018 at 8:50 AM, HenrySpock said:

Ah, so there are a few actual Mantis cards? Is there any rumor about a clan release?

Not only are there only 4 Mantis clan cards (all character cards), but two of them are mutually exclusive as on requires Water role and the other requires Air role.

I think to build a full Mantis Clan deck, you would need 13 dynasty characters and 2 holdings and maybe at least 2 conflict characters. And since 2 of the dynasty characters in existence already conflict, you won't be able to do it until you have 14 dynasty characters.

It is weird to see the Mantis being worse off than the Imperials. During the CCG era, Mantis was an actual faction and there were never enough Imperial Family members legal at the same time to build a deck from them (even when there was a stronghold that allowed it! Only possible in the "modern" format)

And, really, in general there have been less neutral characters made than there have been of any single clan. 30 or so for each clan, only 18 total neutral characters covering Mantis Clan, Shadowlands, Imperial and even a couple that aren't any of those.

And everything Mantis Clan currently has is set to cycle out eventually.

Now that we have a glimpse of the new Unicorn stronghold, I'd be hard-pressed to find a better combination for a Mantis deck than Unicorn with Seeker of Water. You get to run most of the Mantis characters and the new Unicorn stronghold will be great with Yoritomo. Just have to be patient and let that sweet Unicorn clan pack drop.

I just found out that I live in the Mantis' Island (Shikoku), and so I became more interested in this topic.

There is a list of the Mantis clan cards?

7 hours ago, Victarion13 said:

I just found out that I live in the Mantis' Island (Shikoku), and so I became more interested in this topic.

There is a list of the Mantis clan cards?

Right now just the 4
Yoritomo
Kudaka
Mantis Tenkinja (water role locked)
Mantis Sailor (air role locked)

There is a fifth coming in Children - Aspirant Challenger

12 hours ago, Victarion13 said:

I just found out that I live in the Mantis' Island (Shikoku), and so I became more interested in this topic.

There is a list of the Mantis clan cards?

due to the distance and small cultural differencies, i'd say the Islands of Silk and Spice are more akin to Ryukyu Islands than "mainland" Shikoku.

9 hours ago, Nitenman said:

due to the distance and small cultural differencies, i'd say the Islands of Silk and Spice are more akin to Ryukyu Islands than "mainland" Shikoku.

Maybe, but there are no many history of pirates from Ryukyu (Okinawa). And it was mostly know for how pacific they were: big culture difference, but can't relate to Mantis clan (at least for me).

In Shikoku I found out they had the Murakami pirates, and that the Momotaro legend and the Island of Oni are legend made for fear pirates and the Island around Shikoku (Oni Islands is in Kagawa prefecture). There are also some museum dedicated to Murakami Kaizoku (pirates).

I just suppose it anyway, because I just found out this interesting stories recently and did not get deeply in all details.

Makes good sense.

My view is also biased I guess from my appreciation of the Character of Mugen from anime Samurai Champloo being from Ryuku Islands, and my fav rpg player portraying a Silk and Spice born ronin inspired by him.

On 1/18/2019 at 4:04 AM, Nitenman said:

due to the distance and small cultural differencies, i'd say the Islands of Silk and Spice are more akin to Ryukyu Islands than "mainland" Shikoku.

I would say the Mantis Clan would have more in common with Nagasaki, really. Or, if we were to say Rokugan relates to China, Taiwan.

Nagasaki was considered a kind of wild place in Japan with lots of foreign influence that was known for trading with foreign nations and even adopting foreign religions even though both were outlawed.