Wrong fandom, I know...but it’s wildly accurate.

My wife and I survived our first tournament in Sheffield, it was great fun and the crowd was very welcoming and gave us both lots of great help/tips/and grace when we made little mistakes. It was a great advertisement for the L5R community that a non-gamer a universe away from her comfort zone now can’t wait for the next event to attend. She even got a trophy for being voted most honourable player. Her husband, meanwhile...

...first off, I actually thought about posting a thread asking for a last minute check-list of noob mistakes to avoid in a tournament. Instead I can just write my own now.

I showed up with both our decks neatly packed and sleeved...only to be told clear sleeves were not tournament legal. 😳 . Here I thought I was maintaining the beautiful original art...

...even worse, my first opponent mentioned near the end of our game (a hard-won Victory) I needed to check with the judge because he was sure Iron Mine and Charge were an illegal combo. Even more embarrassed, I sheepishly approached the judge and felt a huge sigh of relief when he handed me a list and Iron Mine was nowhere to be found! Sadly, I happened to glance at the list briefly and see Rebuild was, I just by pure chance hadn’t drawn it in our first game.

Twice a cheater. I was stripped of my victory (and quite right too) and allowed to continue only if I removed either all three Rebuild or all three Charge (and quite right too - generous, in fact).

Thankfully (in hindsight) I lost all the rest of my games soundly, because today when I took out my deck to rework it and try to learn from some of my mistakes the first thing I did was get a copy of the restricted list to have in front of me at all times and realised that Pathfinder’s Blade is on there too.

So I confess all my crimes, and await the communities judgement. Quite possibly death by beheading.

Dear new L5R players...read the restricted list carefully and buy coloured sleeves.

One thing I didn’t get was that apparently clear sleeves aren’t allowed because the intricate designs on the cards can be marked to allow cheating...but can’t intricately designed cardsleeves also be marked? There were lots of people using sleeves that weren’t monochrome.

I believe the issue with clear sleeves is more that promo cards, from playing in tournaments, are usually slightly off-tone and glossier stock, so they are readily visible from the side and above, automatically marking them. A discerning player could see the effect even through clear sleeves. So, it's not that they are possible to mark and cheat with, it's that many decks are automatically marked, and therefore need to have opaque sleeves.

At least you showed up with the right role selected, though. Last time I went to a tournament, I was running an out of date role and had to switch my entire clan splash 😕

1 hour ago, AradonTemplar said:

I believe the issue with clear sleeves is more that promo cards, from playing in tournaments, are usually slightly off-tone and glossier stock, so they are readily visible from the side and above, automatically marking them. A discerning player could see the effect even through clear sleeves. So, it's not that they are possible to mark and cheat with, it's that many decks are automatically marked, and therefore need to have opaque sleeves.

At least you showed up with the right role selected, though. Last time I went to a tournament, I was running an out of date role and had to switch my entire clan splash 😕

You know...that makes perfect sense, I just realised the back of my Imperial Palace participation prize is a province back, not a dynasty back. Ok it all makes sense now!

Lol, I guess your fate depends on which Clan you belong to.

The Lion would have you publicly beheaded.

The Crane would pretend you never existed.

The Dragon would encourage you to learn from it.

The Crab would just be disappointed you got caught.

24 minutes ago, Green Raven said:

Lol, I guess your fate depends on which Clan you belong to.

The Lion would have you publicly beheaded.

The Crane would pretend you never existed.

The Dragon would encourage you to learn from it.

The Crab would just be disappointed you got caught.

I got off easy then...I knew Lord Hida was merciful.

Phoenix are also pretty lenient, probably just have you officially retire to a monastery. I mean, when the Elemental Master of Water accidentally caused a tsunami that flooded a huge portion of Crane lands, that's all that happened to her...

...but you didn't hear that from me. 😉

2 hours ago, Kaito Kikaze said:

Phoenix are also pretty lenient, probably just have you officially retire to a monastery. I mean, when the Elemental Master of Water accidentally caused a tsunami that flooded a huge portion of Crane lands, that's all that happened to her...

...but you didn't hear that from me. 😉

I'm pretty sure that wasn't minuted...

To be honest, this game's design is probably far more complicated than it should be and the way the company has decided to errata and restrict cards is maybe not the absolute best way possible (granted, I have seen worse). It really isn't terribly surprising that new players are getting tripped up like this and breaking so many rules accidentally. In fact, and given how difficult it can be to find opponents since our playerbase is so small and the fact that the restricted list is being updated constantly, I guess "new" would more or less extend over the majority of the playerbase.

Not much we can really do about is besides just be as lenient as possible with one another. Which isn't always the easiest thing given the fundamentally competitive nature of the game. But, in the very least, we should all try to avoid becoming like the MtG players where the primary strategy for winning is to either cheat or constantly call the judge on the opponent for every pedantic thing you can imagine with the hopes the judge will accept one of those as an excuse to disqualify someone.

Good on you for giving it a go and at an EC for a tournament as well..

It does get easier and the more you play the better you will get.

Some of the promos are a different size too!

Also, your first opponent should have also checked the restricted list as well. Crab got Rebuild and Iron Mine switched on it. I believe everyone got hit though, in some way, except maybe Dragon, so they may have also had a problematic deck.

They could also add "Restricted List Card" to the deck sheet too. I've had TO's ask us to mark it on there, and I think that is prudent.

Edit: I forgot about Void Fist

52 minutes ago, Mirith said:

Some of the promos are a different size too!

Also, your first opponent should have also checked the restricted list as well. Crab got Rebuild and Iron Mine switched on it. I believe everyone got hit though, in some way, except maybe Dragon, so they may have also had a problematic deck.

They could also add "Restricted List Card" to the deck sheet too. I've had TO's ask us to mark it on there, and I think that is prudent.

Actually one of the best tools I've seen in a while is Bushi Builder (https://bushibuilder.com/) which has a great output feature that will print decks in the same Format as the FFG deck sheets and marks all restricted cards and tracks your influence for you. Its always handy to throw your deck up in there in advance to make sure everything is legal.

59 minutes ago, Schmoozies said:

Actually one of the best tools I've seen in a while is Bushi Builder (https://bushibuilder.com/) which has a great output feature that will print decks in the same Format as the FFG deck sheets and marks all restricted cards and tracks your influence for you. Its always handy to throw your deck up in there in advance to make sure everything is legal.

Indeed an excellent resource. If only FFG could maintain as good of a deck builder for the community. CGDB's builder (owned by FFG) isn't terrible, per se, but it doesn't have any options to enforce OP roles and doesn't check the restricted list.

2 hours ago, Mirith said:

I believe everyone got hit though, in some way, except maybe Dragon, so they may have also had a problematic deck.

Dragon had Niten Master and Void Fist added to the RL after the 2018 Winter Court. That was a huge hit. Those two being added definitely gave Dragon some hard choices in deck construction. Though an argument could be made that Against the Waves coming off has helped them. I suspect the next big update will add AtW back on without taking Tadaka off. That might happen after FFG examines the first Elemental season and the Koteis so far.

Lion (one RL card) and Unicorn (no RL cards) basically haven't been affected much since the initial hit of the RL being made. Feast or Famine affected Unicorn but their Fire role goes away next month.

Agreed that adding a Restricted List box for the deck lists is a great idea for visibility. Especially if they update the sheets to have it printed on the back or something. A few koteis I have been to requested we circled our RL card. That helped but making it more visible is only a good thing.

Assuming they follow pattern, I wouldn't expect an update to the RL before June. That should also get the Unicorn and Crane clan packs out in the wild before deciding on what changes should be made. I assume Phoenix will still be seen as too strong because of Tadaka, but Unicorn may make some waves of their own...enough to possibly warrant one of their own cards added to the RL. Who knows, maybe with the right Unicorn card(s) added to the RL, For Greater Glory can finally come off to give Lion a much needed boost.