5 hours ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

Can I ask what your opinion of today's card announcement is?

I'm slightly excited... I mean, we get a bunch of maho and pictures of people doing maho-y things... what's not to like? I wonder about the card named "ki alignment"... . Shouldn't it be "chi" instead? Honest question: I thought chi and ki were different "real world" spellings of the same concept, but it may be wrong and this may be different in Rokugan. Beautiful card layout, as usual, but you don't get a sense of plot advancement (other than the maho bit in Shahai; more of that, please) for instance, Togashi Kazue: this is an older, more experienced (pun intended) version of the one we got in the basic set years ago now? Or you could switch them around and the story wouldn't be affected the least bit by that? I really thing that is the second.

6 hours ago, Mon no Oni said:

I'm slightly excited... I mean, we get a bunch of maho and pictures of people doing maho-y things... what's not to like? I wonder about the card named "ki alignment"... . Shouldn't it be "chi" instead? Honest question: I thought chi and ki were different "real world" spellings of the same concept, but it may be wrong and this may be different in Rokugan. Beautiful card layout, as usual, but you don't get a sense of plot advancement (other than the maho bit in Shahai; more of that, please) for instance, Togashi Kazue: this is an older, more experienced (pun intended) version of the one we got in the basic set years ago now? Or you could switch them around and the story wouldn't be affected the least bit by that? I really thing that is the second.

chi or qi are Chinese concepts for a pseudoscientific life force.

ki is the Japanese spelling of the same concept. The kanji for ki is used quite commonly. For example, the way of saying one is fine is "genki" which is made up of the kanji for former and spirit. Air is Kuuki which uses the same ki kanji.

Oddly enough, in Japanese chi means blood, and can also be the kanji for knowledge. I think it is pretty easy to imagine how "life energy that flows around your body" can be linked to the concept of blood, but I don't know the history behind that.

Well I like that all the named characters in the announcement got flavor text. So if we can't get some flavor on all the cards I think they are prioritizing it correctly. I love that we have a Kaito Mai card. Tetsubo of Blood seems pretty crazy.

I think Mon no Oni has a valid criticism that the new version of Kazue and Shahai don't feel like different versions of the characters all that much. Not in the way that Hotaru and Toturi's second versions felt like they were a plot advanced version of those characters. The art on both Kazue and Shahai's new cards look good, but also fairly similar to their previous depictions. So they don't tell us anything new about the characters that I can see. I kinda wish unique characters had thematic subtitles or something to set their different versions apart.

3 minutes ago, phillos said:

I think Mon no Oni has a valid criticism that the new version of Kazue and Shahai don't feel like different versions of the characters all that much.

I dunno.

Original Shahai

New Shahai

The art does feel different enough to me - Shahai looks superficially similar, but the change to homespun robes and a lack of cosmetics shows. Plus, the maple leaves give a different feel to the rose petals.

Plus....you know....explicitly adding the Maho keyword to her abilities feels like a pretty big clue to the way the character is likely to go!

8 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

The art does feel different enough to me - Shahai looks superficially similar, but the change to homespun robes and a lack of cosmetics shows. Plus, the maple leaves give a different feel to the rose petals.

Plus....you know....explicitly adding the Maho keyword to her abilities feels like a pretty big clue to the way the character is likely to go!

And mechanically they are actually pretty different. Old one was an engine to pay for your Meishodo. New version is a "persistent" character that will potentially hemorrhage you honor if you aren't careful and seems like she would have a home in a tower deck.

It may be a bit more subtle, but Shahai's flavor text also hints at some progression in her relationship with the prince. Maybe not independently, but in light of the fiction we've had so far. Note that both quotes are addressing the prince, presumably Daisetsu. First she talks about her broken heart and how it was locked away and left behind. Now she's reaching out to offer her assistance to the prince, possibly in light of their budding romance.

Mechanically both Kazue and Shahai are definitely very different. I like that Kazue is another cheap monk.

Yeah I agree now that I study it more there are differences on Shahai's card thematically, but they are pretty subtle. Kazue's art is almost the same scene from a slightly different angle. She does have some flavor text on her this time which is nice. Though I'm having a hard time deciding whether this is before or after the events of her novella. I'm guessing both cards are after the novella since they both show the knot tattoo activating while she meditates.

25 minutes ago, phillos said:

Mechanically both Kazue and Shahai are definitely very different. I like that Kazue is another cheap monk.

Yeah I agree now that I study it more there are differences on Shahai's card thematically, but they are pretty subtle. Kazue's art is almost the same scene from a slightly different angle. She does have some flavor text on her this time which is nice. Though I'm having a hard time deciding whether this is before or after the events of her novella. I'm guessing both cards are after the novella since they both show the knot tattoo activating while she meditates.

I would assume its post Novella considering the Novella was set several years before the start of the game.

Looking beyond game mechanics and card power levels, old Kazue can only affect one person, and even then only when attached to another character (she can't do it alone). New Kazue functions on her own, and affects her controller's entire board. I'd say that suggests she has grown more powerful, again in subtle ways rather than "so and so added 3 more traits and has badass armor compared to their lame outfit before".

I'll say that Shahai *does* feel like an evolution of the character. Same cost/stars, similar art (now with redder hues, if you catch my meaning). Now with possible maho for a little more umph. That. Was. Well. Done!!! Problem, for me, is that these kind of situations are the exception rather than the rule. For instance, Kazue:

6 hours ago, Asako Michi said:

Looking beyond game mechanics and card power levels, old Kazue can only affect one person, and even then only when attached to another character (she can't do it alone). New Kazue functions on her own, and affects her controller's entire board. I'd say that suggests she has grown more powerful, again in subtle ways rather than "so and so added 3 more traits and has badass armor compared to their lame outfit before".

I mean, you can devise some explanation of your own for the "evolution". If you switched them around you could tell me the story that just out of the temple she just was able to support other characters from afar, but the new one (more expensive, and with bigger stats), is more experienced and far along in the road of enlightenment so she can choose to either stand on her how or mentor another characters for the good of her clan and the Empire. Your story is as good as mine, but we both pulled it from our own posteriors. In either case is you (and me) who are telling the story, not the cards. Which is my point all along.

I'd like more Shahai, less Shizue.

Well, now I admit something interesting happened in the story, at least. Yogo Junzo made his appearance! Also, the illustration seems to point to a non-Undead Junzo card. Wheeeee!

30 minutes ago, Mon no Oni said:

Well, now I admit something interesting happened in the story, at least. Yogo Junzo made his appearance! Also, the illustration seems to point to a non-Undead Junzo card. Wheeeee!

A righteous Yogo Junzo, Supreme Wardmaster!

He seems to be a Preserver instead of Wardmaster.

9 minutes ago, Diogo Salazar said:

He seems to be a Preserver instead of Wardmaster.

Why not both?