Samurai of Rokugan,
It has been quite a year thus far, and now we are gearing up for Ivory Edition, which is poised to usher in a new era of greatness for L5R. Before Ivory Edition rolls out, however, we have a Winter Court season of CCG events that we want to ensure provides players with the best gaming environment possible. After many long discussions with top level players, we have decided that banning a few more cards will be necessary in order to achieve this.
Effective Friday, September 20th, the following cards are banned from Emperor Edition constructed tournaments. You may continue to play these cards in any other format, of course, as well as casual play.
Kalani’s Landing
The Kalani’s Landing decks have epitomized the phrase Negative Play Experience (NPE) to many players worldwide. We looked at the issues presented by this Stronghold from every conceivable angle and ultimately felt the only way to address them was to ban the Stronghold itself. This was not a decision that we took lightly. However, its combination of gold acceleration and gold cost reduction for powerful cards, such as Kitsuki Judgment, was simply too much for the environment to reasonably handle. We feel with Kalani’s Landing gone, the environment will be improved, and the road will be paved for more deck building creativity from Mantis players themselves.
Quelsa
A key component of the “Lizard Wizards” deck, Quelsa was, simply put, too much in one package. Effectively 8 Force for only 7 Gold, he also improved your economy by attaching Spells for two less. This single card had devastating effects on the game, both competitively and casually. The Dark Naga will have to find a way to continue his war without this powerful minion.
Charter of the Legion of Two Thousand
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Charter did not make a single, incredibly powerful unit for cheap; rather, it made a swarm of cheap bodies that was difficult to deal with and led to many abusive decks, including the very unpopular “Harlem Shake” decks, a blitz deck that usually had no Personalities in it.
Duty of the Crab
For centuries the Crab have manned the Wall. Now, and for time being, their duty has come to end—at least in constructed Emperor Edition tournaments. Crab are tough, resilient and generally quite hard to deal with, and this is before they brought in reinforcements with Duty of the Crab. Then they became practically impossible to stop, and their results at this year’s GenCon showed that, taking half of the World Championship’s Top 4 placings and winning the Second Chance event with a Berserker blitz deck. A deck that came at you fast and hard and if you were able to somehow defeat its forces, it would just bring in yet another with Duty of the Crab.
Caught Unawares
Originally designed to help stop blitz decks, Caught Unawares became a tool used in some of the most degenerate decks in the environment. We all know the impact it had in Faceless Honor decks. However, it was also a large problem in Faceless blitz decks. It would bow out defenders, then create Personalities (or, in times past, summon them from their deck via Kali-Ma’s Wrath) and attack without opposition. It is a perfectly fair card when used as intended. However, it has become an incredibly degenerate card when used to support these decks.
Asako Karachu (basic)
Karachu epitomized another NPE for many players. Whether used in a Henshin blitz deck, an Enlightenment deck, or just a regular Phoenix deck, his ability to waive a very important cost—bowing—was something we had finally had enough of and felt we had to do something about.
Frozen in Place
While not a significant problem now, our environmental analysis of the game after these bans and after the Gates of Chaos expansion enters the environment led us to decide to act preemptively. Chi death decks are one of the greatest NPEs in the game’s history. When Chi death moves away from a strategy to deal with, say, a single, problematic Personality and instead becomes a deck’s main path towards victory, we have a definite NPE.
Seppun Jiramu
Like Frozen in Place, Seppun Jiramu is a preemptive strike based on our analysis of how the environment will play out once the dust settles. The decks that used Jiramu to rocket their way to 40 honor were already rather powerful before the bans, and with the removal of most of the decks it once competed with, we believe these decks would emerge as environmental bullies, something no one wants to see.
The Wall is Breached
While not a problem in any particular deck, The Wall is Breached creates a game swinging effect that we really disliked in the environment. The worst situation, and the one that occurs most frequently, is when one player is trying to mount a comeback from an early tempo deficit only to have his opponent resolve The Wall is Breached. This destroys any meaningful chance of a comeback and what could have been a fun and interesting game for both players.
Oblivious
Last, but not least, is Oblivious. While on paper is seems like it may be costed appropriately, in reality it rarely was. When combined with other environmental factors such as Jurojin’s Blessing, Ageless Shrine and Creating Order, just to name a few, it was often an effectively free, action phase kill card that could destroy three, and sometimes as many as five Personalities per game. This is a situation that clearly needed addressing.
We realize that this is a lot to absorb, and perhaps the card you wanted to see banned is not on this list, but we strongly feel these are the right changes to make the most dynamic, fun and balanced Winter Court environment we can for you, the players. Combining these bans with the entry of cards in the Gates of Chaos expansion, we believe we are poised to see a brand new environment that is both different and much better than the one in which we’ve been playing.
To help evaluate some of what can be expected from this brand new environment, we reached out to top L5R players from around the world. Over the next two weeks, we’ll be posting their thoughts on how this new environment will be shaking out for their particular clan, finished off with an overall environmental analysis. Keep checking back daily to L5R.com to see their articles.
We are excited for the changes coming for this Winter Court season, what the above bans plus the addition of Gates of Chaos will bring, and we can’t wait to see what creativity you, the players, will bring to the remaining Emperor Edition events!
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In blackest day or brightest night, watermelon, cantaloupe, yadda-e-yadda,erm..., superstitious and cowardly lot, with liberty and justice for all !
Lun 2 Sep - 22:38
