The third pack in the inheritance cycle. Thoughts?

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2019/4/4/justice-for-satsume/

Personally, I was hoping to see a crane entry and acrds in the article, given the name of the pack and all...

New Shinjo 2-drop is another good combo for Disguise value Get a real 2-drop from your deck, and later convert your 1/`1`` into an advance payment on a real body. Always the chance of whiffing on the reaction, though, and I think that'll probably kill it, even if we see Unicorn play disguised characters.

5 minutes ago, AradonTemplar said:

New Shinjo 2-drop is another good combo for Disguise value Get a real 2-drop from your deck, and later convert your 1/`1`` into an advance payment on a real body. Always the chance of whiffing on the reaction, though, and I think that'll probably kill it, even if we see Unicorn play disguised characters.

It will just see play in a specific swarm style deck. Unicorn is already leaning towards a build with this approach but it's not quite there yet so it needs something like this to give players a variety of play styles and present a real choice between strongholds.

This makes Lion splash and the return to FGG as the RL card choice much more appealing as it fuels the discard for Cav Reserves/FGG combos.

More flavors of purple

Does that Crane Clan art imply a Hotaru v Kuwanan duel at some point? Are they supporting different heirs on top of everything else?

I think they just dont get along in general. Also, they could be training

1 hour ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

Does that Crane Clan art imply a Hotaru v Kuwanan duel at some point? Are they supporting different heirs on top of everything else?

One can only hope.

Crane civil war

Unicorn civil war

Torturi about to be set up, leaving Tsuko in charge

Tadaka heading out to get some bro' time with Yori

Shoju and Kachiko about to lock pincers

PLS growing

Mitsu finally found a comfortable pair of pants...……………….

All great things to make Fu Leng's return much easier.

Kaiu Envoy into Miyako will be pretty nice, but I think Keeper Initiate into Miyako will be even better.

Also, Into the Forbidden City looks like a good rival for Meditations on the Tao.

10 hours ago, Ishi Tonu said:

It will just see play in a specific swarm style deck. Unicorn is already leaning towards a build with this approach but it's not quite there yet so it needs something like this to give players a variety of play styles and present a real choice between strongholds.

This makes Lion splash and the return to FGG as the RL card choice much more appealing as it fuels the discard for Cav Reserves/FGG combos.

More flavors of purple

I just hope not too many option for a swarm deck... I hate swarm deck. I like the Unicorn Mobility, but now I am feeling the only one who is using that strategy, lol.

Anyway, I hope Doji Hotaru wins the duel

I love the Unicorn secret cache type body, excited to pick this up

16 hours ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

Does that Crane Clan art imply a Hotaru v Kuwanan duel at some point? Are they supporting different heirs on top of everything else?

The Crane Discord has done some CSI on the two pieces of artwork, and they actually fit better together if they are fighting back to back. Considering all the dead Crane on the background of that artwork? It looks like things in the capital are about to get... dangerous.

Still, though. Seriously. Direct pre-order bonuses that you cannot get through your FLGS are a jerk move on FFG's part, but at least they are realizing that "province backers" are a thing people like.

And here are my hot takes on the cards. Get them while they are spicy?

Into the Forbidden City - I think the real winner on this province is its 5 Province Strength. I expect this to become a go-to Fire province for Keeper of Water Crab, and definitely has some synergy with anyone going Keeper row for Unicorn splash (and thus Talisman). My only sadness about this is that it specifies "attacking character". I can't use it to clear a Cloud the Mind.

Matsu Swiftspear - I never did like that art. The card is okay. If it was not a Lion, I think this would be considered genuinely bad, but compared to other Lion 2 Fate characters, she is alright. Compare her trait to Shinjo Trailblazer, for example. I think the "less cards in hand" is going to be solid mechanic for the Lion, but they need something more than this to make it good.

Steward of the Rich Frog - See, now THIS is a better card with that mechanic. "Cannot receive dishonored status tokens" is going to be an interesting wording over "cannot be dishonored", which makes me wonder if there is going to be more effects which move the status tokens. The real power of this card? Turns off the downside of Pride.

Sharpen the Mind - Free attachment that gives +3 M / +3 Pol as an action? I like this, because once you trigger the attachment, removing it won't change the bonus, meaning that it is very tasty Hand to Hand bait. Not sure how good it will be to splash into other Clans, though.

Shinjo Gunso - Huh. HUH. I... I genuinely do not know if I like this card or not. 2 Fate for a 1/1/1 is really bad BUT it's more like 2 Fate for a choice of one of my top 5 cards off my Conflict deck, along with a free buddy and seeding my Dynasty Discard with some Cavalry Reserves. The problem is, I don't know what I would take out to fit them in, but maybe this might see the beginning of a non-unique, low cost Purple Swarm FGG deck.

Wayfarer's Camp - Hey, the Lion called. Staging Ground wants to know why everything is better with a purple paint job. Though, seriously, this is a BETTER holding than Staging Ground because passing Fate is a major part of this game.

Ujik Tactics - For those saying that this is a Unicorn Supernatural Storms, I hate to break it to you that this, most definitely, is not nearly that good. First, it is military only. Second, it spreads the boost around, rather than focuses it on a single target (which is substantially easier to defend). Third, this requires participation to contribute its boost. I think this is going to be a nice companion card to Force of the River once the Unicorn lose their Fire Role (and thus Unleash the Djinn), and might, MIGHT see some play in a weird deck desperate for Military pumps. But yeah, no. Not a good card.

Shosuro Miyako - ... This card will make Scorpion one of the best splashes in the game, single-bloody-handedly. To explain, Scorpion Clan already have Attachment control (Bayushi Collector) which synergizes with her. She is a 3 Mil, 2 Pol who drops a Dishonor token with the only downside that it has to go on a non-Unique. In a faction where you can also splash I Can Swim. A character played by Disguise enters ready, so this can also seriously boost that in efficiency as well, and she has the most open Disguise trait so far. She will never see play in Scorpion, but that is fine. This is a card that is going to taking Disguise to the level of power it needs to be to overwhelm the game. I'm just glad to see that it is going to be the Scorpion who can't use it.

48 minutes ago, sndwurks said:

The Crane Discord has done some CSI on the two pieces of artwork, and they actually fit better together if they are fighting back to back.

Stoopid Crane don't even know how to duel properly. You're supposed to face each other, not duel back to back. See how many of your clansmen for when you do it wrong......

7 minutes ago, Ishi Tonu said:

Stoopid Crane don't even know how to duel properly. You're supposed to face each other, not duel back to back. See how many of your clansmen for when you do it wrong......

But if they are dueling back to back, Kuwanon could stab himself through his chest to also stab Hotaru, and then they both die! Flawless Victory!

43 minutes ago, sndwurks said:

But if they are dueling back to back, Kuwanon could stab himself through his chest to also stab Hotaru, and then they both die! Flawless Victory!

Yeah Kuwanon...…….get on with it already.

If they are truly fighting back to back...……….why are they fighting their own clansmen? Or are they dead Scorpions disguised as Crane? Or maybe the Crane just fainted from embarrassment when they saw their champ and her brother dueling back to back?

Thought a little more on the Unicorn dude. With a swarm-style deck, odds of whiffing are pretty low, so he'll probably be great. 2 fate for a simple 1/1 and 2/2 is acceptable, and there's a lot more upside going on (with dumping Keepers into the discard, potentialy great 2-drops or Outskirt Sentry, Utaku Infantry, etc), so I think he'll become a staple in any deck that's running a decent density of low dudes.

That Lion attachment's really interesting to me. A lot of people are dismissing it, but I think it's got a lot of potential. I already liked Yumino's ability, so upgrading it to +3/+3 is great. Sure, Banzai exists (and in theory costs you another card in honor-tight games), but you can't Banzai political, and if you use it 2 or 3 turns, your expected value is just insane. The best part though is the ability to convert more specialized or situational cards into immediate value. Can't seem to grab that favor for Censure? Ditch it for value and turn the game around. That Voice of Honor just not activating? Get some value. Playing Taryu Jiai and your opponent has no shugenja? All the value! And, if you're too tight on money to play those expensive cards, this is literally free. I might be biased as a Phoenix that can just reuse all their spells, though. But that just means I've played Supernatural Storm, and am quite happy to turn any card in my hand into another Storm once a turn.

19 minutes ago, AradonTemplar said:

That Lion attachment's really interesting to me. A lot of people are dismissing it, but I think it's got a lot of potential. I already liked Yumino's ability, so upgrading it to +3/+3 is great. Sure, Banzai exists (and in theory costs you another card in honor-tight games), but you can't Banzai political, and if you use it 2 or 3 turns, your expected value is just insane. The best part though is the ability to convert more specialized or situational cards into immediate value. Can't seem to grab that favor for Censure? Ditch it for value and turn the game around. That Voice of Honor just not activating? Get some value. Playing Taryu Jiai and your opponent has no shugenja? All the value! And, if you're too tight on money to play those expensive cards, this is literally free. I might be biased as a Phoenix that can just reuse all their spells, though. But that just means I've played Supernatural Storm, and am quite happy to turn any card in my hand into another Storm once a turn.

This is honestly the best way to look at this card. It is great in Lion as the Political pump is something that is naturally lacked. Not sure its worth the splash in other clans as you are taking away from other options like Ready for Battle and Hand to Hand or for Phoenix My Ancestor's Strength, but in Lion this is a godsend. You also can't downplay how good this is against event denial effects like Tadaka and Guest of Honor as all those dead cards in hand suddenly have a new life. I'm personally looking forward to this and the options it will open for Lion.