With the L5R Honored event last weekend, we saw an end to the competitive side of the single core environment. With that in mind, this article will look at the upcoming events and what the early environment might look like. Along with this, we have a starting decklist for each clan, to give a flavor of what might be.

In early October the game will finally release, and we can start looking getting stuck into the game proper. The Launch program will be split into three events. The Launch Party, probably on the weekend after the official release on the 5th. There all attendees can get their L5R Lanyard, Badge, and a stick for the Badge. A random participant will get an extended art Clan champion. This will be single core, but winning isn’t important. The next event Imperial Summons, probably in late October or early November, will be a tournament with full 40/40 decks built with 3 core sets. If you grab the imperial favor during the tournament, you will get a special promo version of the favor. You will have to pick a Clan for this one, and a random member of each clan will get their Clan champion promo. Again winning isn’t important, just turning up and having fun.

November will be Worlds held at the FFG headquarters. We don’t know a lot of details, but we do know one player will be walking away with the title of Shogun. That is a lot of marbles. The top of each Clan will also be choosing a new role for the Clans. All official tournaments from then onwards will require players to stick to the role chosen.

The last of the launch events is the Way of the Rings with attendees getting a commemorative pin of the 5 rings and the top of each Clan getting a champion promo (if there is more than 1 then it will be random between those top players). This will most likely happen in December and will be the final event for 2017. We should see the first dynasty pack, Ameratsu’s tears, released in that month.

So, what does this new environment look like? Compared to the single core we are going to see a lot more consistency. Although decks are larger at 40, players will have the option to include 3 of their clan cards rather than just hoping to draw that 1 copy. Clan decks will be focused on their strengths, and there will be a greater distinction between the Clans. We can make a few assumptions based on this, it’s not going to be a crystal clear image of the final table at Worlds, but it will give us a baseline to start from.

Overview of the 3-core

From the single core environment, it does look like Scorpion and Crab are going to have the most influence on the overall metagame. Both decks have access to card draw and dishonor effects. This allows them to apply a choke on their opponent by always bidding 1 during card draw. To survive this match-up, decks will need to invest in card draw themselves. The Unicorn attachment Spyglass is likely to be splashed into both Dragon and Lion while the holding Imperial Storehouse will appear in most decks. The Phoenix clan who have access to Forgotten Library for card draw are less likely to suffer in this lock and can use their ring manipulation, especially Display of Power, to trigger Air and Earth. Indeed, Display of Power may be popular for Scorpion and Crab.

Now we are out of the single core environment, the Unicorn have access to 3 copies of Captive Audience which will let them play by their own rules. The Lion are likely to splash at least two copies themselves, making it a common enough feature in the environment that other clans will need to account for it. Due to these powerful event cards, the Crane are almost certainly going to be splashing Scorpion to play Forged Edict along with Voice of Honor and Honored Guest for a pastel blue version of a counterspell deck. Unlike the days of old, the Crane won’t be honoring up with fantastic gardens. Instead, they’ll be using those honorable Samurai to crush provinces. This Crane deck may push Dragon even further into an attachment focus, possibly abandoning all event cards. With Spyglass so prevalent we can expect to see those with access to play the Scorpion Calling in Favors and the Dragon Let Go events.