Celestial Edition Previews

[Daidoji Ryushi]

It's that time again! I'll use this thread as a place to post a few previews of CE, as the come available to me. Enjoy! -Ben

Celestial Edition Themes - Crab

Primary Themes
Commanders
Crab Commanders will be the heavy infantry of the Crab Clan. They will be the heavy hitters, which will make them slightly slower than Scouts, but more durable. As Commanders, they will focus heavily on manipulating their other troops, whether they are Personalities or Followers. Where Crab will differentiate from other Clans is their resistances. Crab Commanders will be good at keeping themselves and other troops in their army alive, well, and in fighting shape.
Crab Commander’s main focus for victory will be military.

Scouts
Where Commanders will be the heavy infantry of the Crab Clan, the Scout will be the light infantry. They will be quick, more agile, and more maneuverable. What this will mean is the Scouts will tend to have lower Force and gold cost than their Crab Commander brethrens. Like all Scouts, Crab Scouts will rely heavily on knowing the lay of the land by doing good reconnaissance work. Where they will differentiate themselves is what they do after they know the land. Crab Scouts will tend to use their knowledge of the land to keep themselves safe, as well as using guerilla tactics, getting access to strong battle actions.
Crab Scout’s main focus for victory will be military.

Secondary Themes
Heroes
Crab Heroes are one-man armies. Where the Berserkers tend to kill as many as they can before they die, the Crab Hero refuses to die. This is where Crab will differentiate themselves from other clans Heroes. While all Heroes are good at taking on armies, a Crab can do it without giving any ground, and are just as good defending as they are attacking.
Crab Hero’s main focus for victory will be military.

Berserkers
Berserkers are the brutes. They will be the biggest troops Crab has to offer, and as such they will have some unique cards available to them. Where a Hero refuses to die, a Berserker knows he will die, he just tries to take as many with him as he can.
Crab Berserker’s main focus for victory will be military.

[Daidoji Ryushi]

New Holding!

[Jadin]

Some card draw for a time where card draw is going to be rare in this new edition. Hmm, this write up on Crab makes me want to try out a Commander deck. Must stay Phoenix. Must heed Kami...Must burninate...

[RiedDogg]

The wall calls. I hope the card pool works out the way they hope as all four of these themes are what I love about Crab.

Now here's to hoping Mantis keeps it's Magistrate focus with a seasoning of range attacks.
EDIT - See below for AEG's quick response to my thoughts.

[RiedDogg]

Mantis

Primary Themes

Scouts

Where Commanders represent the weight and strength of the Mantis Clan, the Scouts are like the lightning that always accompanies Thunder. They are fast and deadly, whether it be through the Tsuruchi Archers on the land or the Naval Yoritomo searching out and securing a beachhead from the sea. Like most Scouts they will tend to have lower Force and gold cost and will rely heavily on knowing the lay of the land by doing good reconnaissance work – by land or by sea. Where they will differentiate themselves is that they use this knowledge to speedily put more and more troops on the battlefield and overwhelm opponents before they are ready, using archers and a magnificent navy.

Mantis Scout’s main focus for victory will be military.

Commanders

Like all other Commanders, Mantis will focus heavily on manipulating the other troops in their army. Where they will differentiate from other Clans is that their skills focus around getting the very best out of their followers. This may be represented through the ability of their navy to deploy and use troops effectively, or through their ability to simply work more effectively with followers. These units represent the power of the Mantis, the hard-bitten and dominating will of Yoritomo himself to bind others into a single effective fighting force.

Mantis Commander’s main focus for victory will be military.

Secondary Themes

Thunder

The Mantis are so in tune with the Kami of Thunder and the clan’s founder Fortune – Yoritomo - that Thunder is almost like a sixth element for them. It represents power, aggression and speed. In game terms this translates to tempo advantage in battles and ranged attacks. Although many of the Mantis Shugenja will have the Thunder keyword, it may appear on any profession or caste within the clan. In some ways it resembles the element of Fire functionally.

Mantis Thunder’s main focus for victory will be military. With the focus on Shugenja, Enlightenment might also be a possible, albeit difficult, victory condition to achieve.

Economic Warfare

For many years the Mantis have been masters of trade using their islands, ports and the silk trade to establish an economic power base. With their control of the position of Imperial Treasurer now established, the Mantis are now using Gold as a mechanism to support their military ambitions. This is expressed in the way Mantis use gold cost as a mechanism to suppress, manipulate and defeat opposing units. Through manipulation, taxation, and blackmail, the Mantis will be good at controlling their opponents. The Mantis Magistrates will be a large part of this control through taxation system.

Mantis’s Economic Warfare’s main focus for victory will be military.

[Jadin]

I am disappointed as their primary themes are the same as the Crab. They will just go about it differently. Mantis's cool theme seem to be the naval scouts with a dash of economic warfare thrown in.

[Daidoji Ryushi]

Action... some of you Gold Edition players may get a sense of deja vu...

[RiedDogg]

Is there a reason the didn't just reprint it as Superior Tactics? Gonna iritate a lot of older players if you can't use the old cards, which was one of the old draws of the game.

[Daidoji Ryushi]

Is there a reason the didn't just reprint it as Superior Tactics? Gonna iritate a lot of older players if you can't use the old cards, which was one of the old draws of the game.

Basically from what I have gathered, this is slightly less powerful than SupTac, as it is no longer unopposed movement. In addition to that major change, this movement is usable on defense, as well as offense, where as with SupTac, you had to be attacking to province jump. It also brings the ability wording into line with the Samurai/Celestial standard. For those newer players who'd like to see the original version of this card, click here.

EDIT: PS- It being a common means we shouldn't have to worry about not having copies to play with. I do know for a fact the Rare reprints will be 100% reprints, not tweaks of older cards.

[Emperors_pride]

So it technically is a different card from sup tacs if you read it word for word. They could have just changed the wording and kept the same title allowing us older players to break out the old copies. I guess if they are going to make it common, its not a big deal. However, if they do this to rare cards like hmmm, say arrow knows the way, I will use older copies of arrow knows the way if it shares the same action same focus value but diff title. No one will have a problem with this as I will cut them down where they stand if they voice they're objection to this. even in a tourny. it should be allowed

[Moto Gaheris]

sup tacs was usable in defense and offense positions. it was the ultimate card for battle decks.
the fact that movment now needs opposition is lame. i thought they were trying to speed the game up.

[Jadin]

They wanted to speed the game up by taking out the first two turns.

[Jadin]

Ok, so they leaked all the themes except Unicorn on the L5R podcast, Roku-Cast. It is run by the guy who runs Roku-mart, and his friend who is apparently a Crane clan fan. It's a very good podcast, despite the Crane player going off on some of his rants (a few of which I agree with).

On to the themes:
Phoenix
Major Themes:
Shugenja Spell Military
Shugenja Spell Honor

Minor Themes:
Yojimbo Duelist Military
Inquisitor/Magistrate Honor

Dragon
Major Themes:
Monk Military
Kensai Military

Minor Themes:
Duelist
Magistrate Honor

Crane
Major Themes:
Courtier Honor
Crane Scout Switch

Minor Themes:
Artisans
Duelists

Lion
Major Themes:
Paragon
Tactician

Minor Themes:
Hero
Commander

Scorpion:
Major Themes:
Magistrate Dishonor/Military
Ninja Military

Minor Themes:
Courtier Dishonor
Kensai Military

Spider:
Major Themes:
Breeder
?

Minor Themes:
Monk Kensai
?

Not sure on the other two Spider Themes, but I heard Paragon and Undead maybe?

"Design will put out 1 card for each theme in every set. The major themes will be fully supported at the start of Celestial Ed. The Minor themes will not be fully supported until mid arc." - From the podcast.

[Emperors_pride]

Hey Jadin nice work on the info. I think for the next arc I'll be collecting Crane, dragon and either spider or scorpion. By the way fearless leader.... is there going to be another store event on a weekend soon? are we going to hold or go to a pre-release for Cel. Ed? if so count me in.

[Jadin]

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1292

Events are here Kevin my friend.

I think I have finally decided on my Celestial Ed themes and clans. Spell Military out of Phoenix and Dragon Kensai Military. Scorpion is just becoming too popular of a clan to interest me, and I would rather use it to nullify Crane in the courts through dishonor rather than Ninja or Flashlight Cop Military/Dishonor switch. For the record though, Scorpion Kensai are cool, especially out of the Bitter Lies Dojo. Mirumoto Kei is too awesome not to play with. Basically, a Force 7 Chi 6 Cavalry Tactician Duelist for 12g, yikes.