Time for my review of the second set of the Imperial Cycle. I hope you enjoyed the first article. Well there really is not much more to say so lets dive right into the cards.

Riot in the Streets 4/5

There really are only 2 clans that would be interested in Riot. Crab and Lion. Art of War is very important to Lion as that allows them to draw 3 cards and so we are left with Crab. Why such a high rating though?

Simply put I believe this will be the new go to stronghold province for crab. Currently Crab is using one of the other water provinces for their stronghold which is always risky as having a scout trigger it makes the province useless. Riot provides Crab with a recurring action which allows them to take out the biggest attacker.

Frostbitten Crossing 3/5

As things stand the only clan that will run this is Crane but it does seem like a solid addition to their province lineup. They currently have 2 viable options. Fertile Fields and Manicured Garden. Manicured Garden seems like it is there to stay but with the amount of honor effects Crane has access to they can run Crossing instead of fields.

Not only do they mess with Dragons and other clans Crane has difficulty with the province can also remove Cloud the Mind and other negative attachments.

Shinjo Saddle 3/5

This is… not as bad as it looks. When Unicorn players first saw this card there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Lets compare this to something like fine katana. Katana gives you +2 to one personality for 0 fate but it only lasts for 1-2 turns. Shinjo saddle costs 1 and if you think about it gives you +1 to 2 personalities and lasts forever. You attach it to one guy first on the attack then attach it to another one on the defense. It also offers greater flexibility as you can transfer the +1 in case one of your characters gets bowed or sent home.

Ide Tadaji 1/5

This is as bad as it looks. Not only do you have to target two two cost characters they both have to be ready as well. To make matters worse he is in an incredibly light body for a 4 drop. There is also some anti synergy as he is a political body and the Unicorn characters he brings in would most likely be military ones.

Policy Debate 5/5

This is going to be a meta defining card. Not only does it enable you to see your opponents hand it also allows you to mess with the honor dials giving you another opportunity to play I Can Swim or other bid dependent cards. This is going to be another Banzai that you see in every deck.

Miwaku Kabe 1/5

This suffers from the same problem as Hito district and the Crane district that blocks military attacks. It protects the province at the cost of drawing one less Dynasty card a turn. Like the other holdings your opponent will just attack elsewhere or will farm this province for Rings.

I may be undervaluing this as I value drawing dynasty cards a lot.

Seal of the Scorpion 2/5

Another pack another seal. Just like the one with Crane there does not seem to be much use for it. I am sure that it will change in the future but as of right now there is not much I can say about it.

Bayushi Yojiro 0/5

Scorpion players will be surprised at how low I rate this person but hear me out. In theory he is supposed to protect Scorpion from their own dishonor tricks. Scorpion likes to dishonor themselves and he is supposed to let them ignore that. The main issue is that Scorpion already has inbuilt ways to do this particularly having the lowest glory stats across the board.

On the other hand Scorpion also tends to like to dishonor their opponents, most of whom will have higher glory than the Scorpion player. Your opponent gets to ignore this as well which means that Yojiro provides greater benefits to them than to you.

Stoic Magistrate 5/5

This is my new favorite card for Crab. Crab punishes your opponent for playing tall with various combinations of Ring of the Void, Assassinate, and of course Way of the Crab. The Magistrate completes the circle by punishing your opponent for playing wide as well.

With Favorable ground you can shut down multiple conflicts per turn.

Raise The Alarm 3/5

Some Crabs love this card others hate it. I am in the camp that thinks it’s too conditional for such a random effect. Deck space is already tight in most clans right now and I would just recommend running Charge over this.

Enough Crabs like it that I am willing to give it a 3 though.

Pathfinders Blade 5/5

Another meta defining card and Crab can’t even use it. Well the worst clan in worlds cannot really be too picky in their role. They would have had to be Seeker of Water or Earth to use this which is just terrible.

With the infusion of nasty provinces like Feast or Famine I would expect any Seeker clan splashing Crab to use this. 3x Repreive 3x Blade 1x Watch Commander. The deck practically writes itself.

Northern Wall Sensei 1/5

Theres not a lot of point reviewing a card that can’t even be used. For the record I think it costs too much for what it does and when used on the attack provides a window for your opponent to use events before she can get her protection up which pretty much invalidates her.

High Kick 4/5

With the exception of one or two characters it looks like all of the current monks are very small encouraging you to run a very wide board. High Kick allows you to bow the biggest threat with one of your weenies and it works on both ends of the board.

Once the 6×6 cycle is complete I think we will see some Dragon splash Phoenix Monk decks operational.

Kabuki Hero 1/5

For one fate you can get a 2/2 or even a 4/4 if you invest a fan into him. In the same slot you have the scout which blanks the opposing province or the Brash Samurai which is essentially a 4/3 for nothing which also provides you an honor token for various things.

It just requires too many things to work.

Kakita Blade 2/5

This is a slightly better Honored Blade. In theory it is supposed to help you win political duels like Policy Debate. In practice you are Crane. If you need help winning political duels then something has already gone wrong.

Ikoma Ujiaki 5/5

Lol. How do Lion keep getting these cards? A lot of other clans would sweat at running 6 5 cost cards. Lion doesn’t even care.

Kamayari 1/5

In theory the ability is a good one. In practice it is very restrictive. Kamiyari is something you want to drop in the middle of a conflict after the opponent has already committed his characters but it costs too much to do that. Not to mention there is a ton of item removal out there and Lion does not carry very many other items to take the heat off Kamayari.

Shrine Maiden 5/5

I have been waiting for so long for Phoenix to get a one cost 1/1 conflict character. Now we get one which draws 1-3 cards from the deck! The only thing that could have made it more perfect is to make it a shugenja.

I can’t wait for Backhand to try and remake my dishonor deck.

Harmonize 3/5

Phoenix players have been waiting for this card for a long time. In fact one of the reasons why Keeper was picked was just to use this card.

For the record I am not sold on it. There is just so much movement going around now with Test of Courage, Drop Bears, Favorable Ground, and others that this card can very easily backfire on you causing unopposed losses.

Magnificent Lighthouse 2/5

A lot of people will be surprised by my rating of this card. Again I value drawing dynasty cards highly. In theory you should not have any useless cards in your deck either. (This is also the reason I do not like perfect gift).

Let us go thru this card. If you use it on their dynasty deck then your opponent can still draw 4 cards on their next turn. 1 card will be the “useless” one while the other 3 will be random ones. In return you are drawing one less card. He is drawing 4 with one “useless” one while you are drawing 3.

If you use it on the conflict deck then your opponent can still draw more than one card. In theory if you want to use it on the current turn then you have to use it on your dynasty phase which makes it very likely your opponent will pass first for extra fate. Seems like quite a lot of effort for not much return.

Well we are done with the second pack. Four more to go! Leave your comments below or ask me to go over any of the other cards in more detail. Banzai!