And so the last set of Emperor Edition begins. With the power
drop from Emperor to Ivory, and our focus on Accessibility for the game
as a whole, we knew many people would see this as the game being “dumbed
down”, or somehow losing the core essence of L5R. Behind the scenes we
know this is not true, but that is because we know where the game is
going, and we have played Ivory Edition. We know the game is not losing
any of its complexity, only its unneeded complication. We also know, and
knew at the time, that no matter how many times we expressed this to
players, there would be non-believers out there. There would be
skeptics, and this is perfectly acceptable. Not only acceptable, but we
encourage the skepticism. We don’t want you to take our word for it when
we say L5R is going to be better than ever; that it is retaining its
deep blend of strategy and tactics to provide you with the unique game
experience you know and love.
It is up to us to prove to you that we embrace this in L5R. Prove it with actions, not only with words. So this was our goal when we sat down with Aftermath. What were we going to do to prove to players that we are not backing away from what makes L5R great? This was the question, and we answered it in many ways. Two of the loudest answers we had are our two new keywords; Discipline and Reserve.
Discipline is a new keyword that affects Strategies. It gives the Strategy the ability to be played a second time, straight from the discard pile, for an amount of Gold listed on the card. After being played, the Strategy is removed from the game. Pro Tip: All abilities are only usable once per turn, and this holds true for Strategies as well. You cannot use the same ability on a Discipline twice in a single turn.
Let’s look at two of those Discipline cards now: Lost in Transit and Two Steady Breaths.
First we have Lost in Transit. A relatively simple action, it certainly will have its uses in Ivory Edition, and is posed to be a power player in Draft. Then, on top of the normal strength it has in those formats, it also has Discipline 1. So for 1 Gold, on a later turn, you can use it again. This provides you with some valuable defense via bowing a powerful attachment before your opponent attacks you with it, as well as some valuable offense by bowing that attachment during a battle to try and destroy the enemy army. And it does this a second time, on a future turn, without even costing you a card from your hand. Especially in a limited format such as draft, being able to bow an opponent’s key attachment without using a card from your hand can give you the card advantage needed to bring home victory.
Speaking of card advantage, let’s move on to Two Steady Breaths. On its own, it is a 4 Focus Value card that cycles itself for 1 Gold, thinning your deck. This alone has merit that could justify its inclusion in several decks. However, Two Steady Breaths also has Discipline 2, meaning the following turn you can play it again for an additional 2 Gold. This time you are not using a card from your hand, yet you are getting Destined out of the deal, so this is pure card advantage. Any competitive CCG player knows the power of card advantage. Two Steady Breaths thins your deck on its first play, and nets you a card on its second play, making this a powerful card that I would expect to see a lot of love.
And this illustrates the power of Discipline. When you get a second use out of one card, you immediately tap into the power of card advantage, similar to the power of an increased hand size (and the cards to fill that hand size with).
The second keyword we added with Aftermath was Reserve. Reserve is a keyword that lets you purchase a Personality from your Province, or an attachment from your hand, if it would be opposed, as an Absent Battle action. Like Discipline, this is allowing you to use your money in new ways to get extra advantages you didn’t have before. To examine the power of Reserve, let’s look at Bayushi Wateru and Utaku Sakiko.
Wateru is a Scorpion Ninja Samurai who hops out of the shadows into the middle of a battle, immediately taking an action, having caught his opponent off guard. Having bodies is both powerful and important to succeed in battle. Being able to purchase them in the middle of battle is even stronger, allowing you to bring in your reserves only if you need them, or saving them for the defense if you don’t. The versatility in the Reserve keyword is spectacular, effectively allowing the card to attack one turn earlier than it normally would. It also allows us to couple the keyword with other, interesting abilities, such as Wateru’s “take an additional action” ability, or Sakiko’s Destined keyword.
Utaku Sakiko is another powerful Personality, and combines Reserve with possibly its most powerful ally: Destined. Sakiko not only comes into play in the middle of the battle, just like Wateru does, she also brings a Fate card with her! She combines two key components, bodies in play and Fate cards in hand, into one powerful combination that shall surely continue some player’s hatred of Unicorn for the time.
Reserve was the second of the two ways we on the Design Team wanted to show you the players that we are serious when we say, “Ivory Edition will continue to have the deep and rich game play you have come to know and love.” Combined with Discipline, they join a team of interesting mechanics that we continue adding into our repertoire. They will enhance the natural strengths of L5R, while merging with those strengths in new and exciting ways, bringing you a new suite of tools with which to crush your opponents.
It is up to us to prove to you that we embrace this in L5R. Prove it with actions, not only with words. So this was our goal when we sat down with Aftermath. What were we going to do to prove to players that we are not backing away from what makes L5R great? This was the question, and we answered it in many ways. Two of the loudest answers we had are our two new keywords; Discipline and Reserve.
Discipline is a new keyword that affects Strategies. It gives the Strategy the ability to be played a second time, straight from the discard pile, for an amount of Gold listed on the card. After being played, the Strategy is removed from the game. Pro Tip: All abilities are only usable once per turn, and this holds true for Strategies as well. You cannot use the same ability on a Discipline twice in a single turn.
Let’s look at two of those Discipline cards now: Lost in Transit and Two Steady Breaths.
First we have Lost in Transit. A relatively simple action, it certainly will have its uses in Ivory Edition, and is posed to be a power player in Draft. Then, on top of the normal strength it has in those formats, it also has Discipline 1. So for 1 Gold, on a later turn, you can use it again. This provides you with some valuable defense via bowing a powerful attachment before your opponent attacks you with it, as well as some valuable offense by bowing that attachment during a battle to try and destroy the enemy army. And it does this a second time, on a future turn, without even costing you a card from your hand. Especially in a limited format such as draft, being able to bow an opponent’s key attachment without using a card from your hand can give you the card advantage needed to bring home victory.
Speaking of card advantage, let’s move on to Two Steady Breaths. On its own, it is a 4 Focus Value card that cycles itself for 1 Gold, thinning your deck. This alone has merit that could justify its inclusion in several decks. However, Two Steady Breaths also has Discipline 2, meaning the following turn you can play it again for an additional 2 Gold. This time you are not using a card from your hand, yet you are getting Destined out of the deal, so this is pure card advantage. Any competitive CCG player knows the power of card advantage. Two Steady Breaths thins your deck on its first play, and nets you a card on its second play, making this a powerful card that I would expect to see a lot of love.
And this illustrates the power of Discipline. When you get a second use out of one card, you immediately tap into the power of card advantage, similar to the power of an increased hand size (and the cards to fill that hand size with).
The second keyword we added with Aftermath was Reserve. Reserve is a keyword that lets you purchase a Personality from your Province, or an attachment from your hand, if it would be opposed, as an Absent Battle action. Like Discipline, this is allowing you to use your money in new ways to get extra advantages you didn’t have before. To examine the power of Reserve, let’s look at Bayushi Wateru and Utaku Sakiko.
Wateru is a Scorpion Ninja Samurai who hops out of the shadows into the middle of a battle, immediately taking an action, having caught his opponent off guard. Having bodies is both powerful and important to succeed in battle. Being able to purchase them in the middle of battle is even stronger, allowing you to bring in your reserves only if you need them, or saving them for the defense if you don’t. The versatility in the Reserve keyword is spectacular, effectively allowing the card to attack one turn earlier than it normally would. It also allows us to couple the keyword with other, interesting abilities, such as Wateru’s “take an additional action” ability, or Sakiko’s Destined keyword.
Utaku Sakiko is another powerful Personality, and combines Reserve with possibly its most powerful ally: Destined. Sakiko not only comes into play in the middle of the battle, just like Wateru does, she also brings a Fate card with her! She combines two key components, bodies in play and Fate cards in hand, into one powerful combination that shall surely continue some player’s hatred of Unicorn for the time.
Reserve was the second of the two ways we on the Design Team wanted to show you the players that we are serious when we say, “Ivory Edition will continue to have the deep and rich game play you have come to know and love.” Combined with Discipline, they join a team of interesting mechanics that we continue adding into our repertoire. They will enhance the natural strengths of L5R, while merging with those strengths in new and exciting ways, bringing you a new suite of tools with which to crush your opponents.
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