L5R: Empire at War Scorpions Score!

I tried out my new Scorpion deck from the recent Empire at War release for AEG's Legend of the Five Rings card game. The deck did not do too bad - and all I used was what came in the starter. Considering I have played as well as I do when I have constructed a deck - well, that probably says something about my skill and how good the cards were.


Of course, there were lots of cool synergies to be had, and they actually seemed to fit well with my regular Scorpion "deck of tweaking," which uses a lot of samurai/Bitter Lies kensai and ninjas. Take a look at the Fortress of Blackened Sight stronghold at the right - now that's a good card for the multi-weapon kensai personalities for sure. 

And did you notice the Limited Action ability? That worked great for me. If you pair this up with an Artificer (or three) , you have the ability to really go through those Fate cards. Nothing like getting the weapons or sneaky ninja action cards when you can use them.


Another potential synergy was a ninja actor personality that could replace a non-Unique dead personality. The ninja actor is absolutely dirt cheap too. If you haven't found someone you need to replace, you can play some of your favorite ninja action cards off of the character. I hesitated to attach any weapons, afraid of losing them, but then I realized that a number of weapons in the deck could easily transfer to another character. That's a good combo.

For what it's worth, I'm not a huge fan of collectible card games. I like this game for all the fantasy roleplaying atmosphere it brings to the table. The Celestial Edition relaunch from last year seems to have really gone some way to making casual play very enjoyable, which I thought was one of the game's original strengths back in the mid-90s. Everyone likes cool cards, and even a serious non-competitor like myself can easily land a few nice ones without having to go to ebay. I don't think my Scorpion starter deck was unique, either. It seems like most starter decks have had some hitting power in them without requiring a lot of boosters, but this one really went over the top.

Legend of the Five Rings

I'm not a big fan of collectible card games. I made an exception for L5R for a few years in the late 90s. I found the interesting fantasy Asian setting and characters appealing. Each of the game's clans had a specialty for achieving victory in one way or another - a big plus in my book. Military, honor, and the wisdom of the rings are all paths to victory.

With the game's relaunch with the Celestial Edition last year, my curiosity brought me back to the card table. I compare the increased focus on keywords similar to the d20 epiphany of 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons. While I like to win games, I mostly enjoy the different kind of interplay that occurs with different clan match-ups. Even better, a player may tweak his clan deck and pursue different kinds of strategies without losing the essential theme of the clan.

My favorite clan has been the Scorpion, although I like to dabble with other clans. The Scorpions tend to be about dirty tricks - rumor, lies, and murder. The attached card picture is taken from AEG's Celestial Edition preview. More may be seen here.