Hello All,
So after a lot of thought and bouncing ideas off others who play L5R I have come to the conclusion that the Restricted List in its current form is a problem. The main issue is that the current RL punishes clans for the actions of others. But for the sake of transparency I will state that I mostly play scorpion and this does affect my views on how the game is played so take that at what you will. Anyway I look forward to hearing what others have to say about this.
First and foremost I (and many many many others) feel that Tadaka (dynasty) needs to be banned. I have yet to encounter a single person at a tournament that says Tadaka is fair or fun. Every card game has some power cards that turn out to be way too powerful. It is important for the health of the game that such cards are noted quickly and remedied. But Tadaka's issue is more than it is just powerful, he is a massive negative play experience that can literally win games by himself by making it nearly impossible for your opponent to play anything. Any card (and yes this includes Guest of Honor) that prevents your opponent from doing something without a price to be paid is bad design. I feel like I should be providing examples but honestly I feel like after a year of players having to deal with him few can argue he is well designed. Now to be fair I fully understand that the current top tier Phoenix deck probably will hit very hard by his banning but I don't think too many people will complain when I hear stories of how the Phoenix v Phoenix matchup is "a race to draw Tadaka and keep his effect on." I will say I am very bias on this but I also feel Guest of Honor should be banned just because it effect is similar to Tadaka's but that probably is just the scorpion player in me and may not be warranted but it is the only crane card on the RL.
Second, each clan needs to have its own RL. The Restricted List punishes all clans for the problems of the others. Pathfinders blade is only on the RL because Niten Master exists. In most others clans pathfinders blade is not part of some crazy combo it is just a +1 mil for 0 cost with a cool effect. For greater glory is only a problems in Lion and probably Unicorn. Against the Waves was only a problem in Phoenix which is why they took it off so that other clans could use it (still don't think I have seen any other clan use it but details). Mirimoto's fury was put on the list because every single clan was running it with Let Go (honestly I would say that makes it a contender for being Banned but that is a different discussion). Rebuild is only a problem in Crab because of the focus they have on holdings. If you narrow down the RL so that each Clan has their own list, you can free up some of the cards that never see play anymore because in an attempt to limit the problematic combos you also effectively soft banned other cards. The RL is supposed to make players choose. However, as it turns out it resulted mostly in the soft ban of most of the RL. Most clans have an option between 2 maybe 3 cards. For scorpion the choice is Forged Edict or Fate Worse than Death. For Dragon they just mostly dropped Niten and Mirimoto's for Void fist and called it a day. Crane usually run Guest of Honor. I should note I am not trying to solve the RL problem of clans just picking the better or two options. I am trying to free up some of the card pool for clans that would otherwise never look at something. No Scorpion is going to choose Pathfinders blade over Forged Edict or Fate Worse than Death. No Dragon is going to pick Rebuild over Void Fist. No Crab is going to pick Policy Debate over just about anything else on the list. It therefore makes little sense in my mind that these cards should be banned from those clans.
You can make the argument that giving each clan there own RL would make it a lot more difficult for players to remember what is and is not on the RL. I would say but you don't need to RL 16 cards for each clan. Most clans only really choose between 2 or 3 cards. Now it is possible that if at such a time each Clan does need to have 16 cards on their personal RLs I would say that something went horribly wrong in the card design process. However, based on how the last few packs have been I don't really see that as being the case. I trust FFG figured out what should and should not be printed.
Anyway interested in hearing feed back.
Thanks,
Randre