This week FFG released a new restricted list for L5R. The day before I had just finished my first draft of this article which concluded FFG weren’t going to release one and didn’t need to anyway. I present it today with a minor addendum discussing the changes they did make.
Welcome to the new environment! This is the first big tournament with the Disciples of the Void Phoenix clan pack legal. While this did have a few minor changes for most clans it was a big change for the Phoenix. The common opinion is that Phoenix are now a top clan along with Scorpion and Dragon. Düsseldorf is where we get to see it in action.
Okay, I’m a little late on this. We didn’t have a stream, the tournament was under 100 people, and it was the last tournament in the pre-disciples tournament. I’ve also yet to see decklists for it. So I didn’t think it was that important.
After discussing with some of the players at Düsseldorf however, I’m going back to make sure I have the info for Warsaw. The reason is: Poland is dominating Europe right now. Out of the 5 major events Madrid, Cork, Paris, Warsaw, and Düsseldorf; Polish players have come second at Cork, won Paris, won Warsaw, and won Düsseldorf. So maybe we should go back to see what happened in Warsaw.
Check out our review of the Phoenix pack below. You can also check out our YouTube channel, where we talk our way through the pack (link at the end).
Although for many of us the L5R LCG is still new and shiny, getting into the game has already become quite challenging. The core set released in October of 2017, nearly half a year ago, but the accelerated release cycle means we already saw a full cycle and are now eagerly await the first clan pack. To be fully competitive, a player needs to pick up 3 core sets, all 6 packs from the Imperial cycle, and soon the Phoenix clan pack. That is an impressive amount to spent to just try out a game. Especially if you find out you don’t enjoy the game after spending all of that. The goal of this article is to propose a tiered entry point into the game. A slower pace rather than diving headlong in, allowing new players to enjoy the game without being overwhelmed by it.
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The Paris Grand Kotei was the final tournament before the release of the upcoming Phoenix clan pack. At PAX South, the new Scorpion Dynasty-Go deck was unveiled. At Cork, despite meta cards added, players just weren’t ready for it. Paris, then, was the first real chance for the clans to challenge this powerful Scorpion deck. In the end, the Scorpion played by Jakub Irzyk remained victorious and undefeated, but is there more to the story? We look at the numbers and have some comments by Jakub himself.
The Paris Grand Kotei is in progress as we speak. Updates are being posted on the Facebook L5R group and on Discord. There are also streams running in both French and English. We’ve provided a summary below.
This is a Guest article by Akodo Hato who I had the pleasure to meet during the Cork Kotei. – Bazleebub
As the dust settles from the glorious fights of the previous days, katanas as sheathed, fans are folded and Bushi, Shugenja, and Courtiers leave exhausted but content after the amazingly organised Cork Kotei of 2018.
The clan breakdown was somewhat unexpected, but the results were not. Taking into account the contemporary state of the game, the unshakeable master of the meta is – and will continue to be – the Scorpion Clan. …
The Irish Kotei gave us a unique opportunity to have an in-depth look at the Imperial Environment in action. After the event, we checked with the organizers and managed to get details of the pairings and winners. That let us work out some of the clan percentages to give an idea how the various clans are performing against each other. This included the main event, the proving grounds, and the final rounds on day 2 but not the skirmish events.
