The leaves are beginning to change, and the air grows cold. As the samurai of Rokugan begin to prepare for winter, the laws of the Empire have once again been reassessed and some changes are soon to be implemented. The Rules Reference (37 MB), Imperial Law (3 MB), and Draft Rules (36 MB) for Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game have all received updates, changes which primarily affect the Stronghold, Skirmish, and Draft formats. This update is intended to address the primary offenders from the Dominion cycle, now that the final pack is about to be released.

A Change for All Formats

The updates to the Rules Reference may be minor, but they are important. As they affect all formats, these updates go first.

There are no rules changes in this update. Most of the changes to the Rules Reference in this update are added clarifications based on the contents of the final three packs of the Dominion cycle. There are, however, two cards receiving errata.

Butcher of the Fallen (Spreading Shadows, 31), due to its use of the word “printed,” has proven to be a powerhouse for the Crab Clan that cannot be stopped by almost any other character in the game. This would not be quite so egregious if it did not also have rally, which takes away most of the opportunity cost of including it in your deck. Therefore, to bring the card back into the design space that rally is intended to operate (situational card abilities), the card has received an erratum making it so that only characters with lower military skill than the number of unbroken provinces cannot defend against the Butcher. This removes both the words “printed” and “equal to,” bringing it more in line with the other balanced rally cards in the cycle.

Unbridled Ambition (Atonement, 116) cannot be a stronghold province. This is a simple change that will address issues that appeared with the card after it had already been printed, but before it released.

Restricting Rally

In addition to Butcher of the Fallen, three other cards with the rally keyword have proven to be too strong. These three cards have been either banned or restricted in their respective formats so that they cannot be played with impunity.

Lost Papers (In Pursuit of Truth, 61), while intended to be a metagame pressure to discourage loading lots of fate on a single character, has proven to be equally punishing to characters with one or no fate, if they still qualify as “the character with the most fate.” Thus, it has wildly overperformed its intended role, and to such a degree that restricting it would not be enough to rein the card in. For this reason, Lost Papers has been banned in both the Stronghold and Skirmish formats.

Ikoma Tsanuri (Campaigns of Conquest, 79) has achieved a conflux of powerful conditions: she is a cheap character, with the highly-desired Commander trait, the rally keyword, and a very powerful offensive constant ability. While the power level of story-prominent characters is usually pushed, she has proven to be too good for her cost. Therefore, she has been added to the restricted list so that she cannot be played alongside Tactical Ingenuity (The Emperor’s Legion, 21), the most effective Commander payoff card. This should make Lion opponents’ provinces a little bit safer, while still allowing her to exist in the metagame without Lion’s most powerful card advantage engine.

Contested Countryside (As Honor Demands, 106), much like Lost Papers, was intended to be a metagame pressure against provinces with powerful abilities. However, because it has the rally keyword it has proven to be too effective at that role, as it can seamlessly slot into any deck. In order to curb some of the ubiquity of this card, as well as not completely punish players for playing with some of their favorite province abilities, it has been added to the restricted list. It can still be chosen as a silver bullet against powerful provinces, but now it carries the additional cost of preventing a player from using any other restricted card.

Skirmishing for Resources

Now that the Skirmish format has been out for six months, it has become increasingly clear that two cards are generating too much value in the format and must be banned.

Spyglass (Core Set, 193) has been banned for too easily drawing cards in a format where card draw is more limited. It was initially left off the list due to the tighter fate and character economy in skirmish, as well as the reduced number of conflicts, but it has become clear that even with the fewer resources that Skirmish offers, Spyglass is still too strong.

With a lowered honor-victory threshold, Windswept Yurt (Tears of Amaterasu, 11) can be quite effective at pushing both players towards the honor victory very rapidly. While inconsistent, the Yurt/Rebuild combo allowed a Unicorn player to occasionally win the game before even the first conflict, assuming their opponent bid more than one or the Unicorn player went first. Now that Apprentice Engineer (Atonement, 128) also exists, the uninteractive win is even more available than before, and thus the Yurt is banned.

Additionally, Lost Papers is banned in Skirmish for the same reasons it is being banned in the Stronghold format.

My Revised Draft

Those who prefer to draft Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game with their friends and play with a new deck in every event can now look forward to an updated draft pool drawing from the Clan War and Dominion cycle releases! Cards from February’s deluxe expansion, as well as five of the six packs of the Dominion cycle, have been added to the draft pool. The new draft pool can be viewed in the updated Draft Rules. For those who have already constructed a draft pool, the specific card exchanges are listed below.

Stay Safe Out There

While there are no major Legend of the Five Rings events occurring in the upcoming months, the game continues to be fun and to draw a vibrant online community. This update, along with the resumed releases of the Dominion (and soon Temptations!) cycle, hopefully will inspire a new wave of online deckbuilding and game-playing so that the Legend of the Five Rings community can continue to thrive. I have enjoyed watching what the online players are constructing and look forward to seeing more!

As always, check back in this winter, when I will revisit the ban/restrict/errata lists again. Until then, stay safe out there!

~Tyler Parrott

Draft Pool Changelog

Removed	Added
Gateway to Meido	Weight of Duty
Otomo Courtier (extras)	Cunning Confidant
Seppun Guardsman (extras)	Insightful Gatekeeper
Miya Mystic (extras)	Disciple of Shinsei
Favorable Ground (extras)	A Season of War
Perfect Land Ethos	Hige's Sermon
Frontline Engineer	Favorable Dealbroker
Smuggling Deal	Obsidian Talisman
Honed Nodachi	Sturdy Tetsubo
Hiruma Ambusher	Apprentice Engineer
Crisis Breaker	Yasuki Hikaru
Try Again Tomorrow	Captivating Story
Game of Sadane	Return the Offense
Doji Hotaru (JfS)	Doji Hotaru (Core)
Guest of Honor	Master of the Court
Moment of Perfect Beauty	Treasured Gift
Scene of the Crime	Sharing Shinsei's Wisdom
Mountaintop Statuary	Hidden Mountain Pass
Daimyo's Favor	Asceticism
Deduction	In Search of Self
Mountain's Anvil Castle	Iron Mountain Castle
Kitsuki Yuikimi	Cycle of Rebirth
Monastery Protector	Mirumoto Masashige
Mirumoto Daisho	An Ocean in a Drop
Solitary Strength	Dragon Tattoo
Steadfast Samurai	Quarrelsome Youth
Gifted Tactician	Fearless Skirmisher
Matsu Seventh Legion	Unified Company
Staging Ground	Exposed Courtyard
The Fires of Justice	Under Siege
Inquisitive Ishika	Acolyte of Koyane
Fire Elemental Guard	Fearsome Mystic
Gift of Amaterasu	Cloak of Night (downshift from distinguished)
Harmonize	Appeal to Sympathy
All and Nothing	Trick of the Light
Master of Gisei Toshi	Garanto Guardian
Kanjo District	Celebrated Renown
Isawa Uona	Shiba Pureheart
Kaito Kosori	Isawa Eju
Cloak of Night (downshift to common)	Magistrate's Intervention
Brother's Gift Dojo	Unbridled Ambition
Oni Mask	Compromised Secrets
Maze of Illusion	Forgery
Kyuden Bayushi	Seven Stings Keep
Loyal Challenger	Vice Proprietor
Hidden Moon Dojo	Dispatch to Nowhere
Keeper of Secret Names	White Horde Vanguard
Know the Terrain	Flank the Enemy
Shinjo Shono	Ride at Dawn
Utaku Rumaru	Shinjo Altansarnai
Outflank	Way of the Open Hand