Lion Clanpack Review Featuring the London Legion (Lion Conflict Deck)
To save on space, and to avoid you all having to read a wall of text, I have split the review into three sections handily accessible through the following links;
A note on the ratings themselves; All of the cards are rated on a scale from 1-5 where a 1 is a card that is either too specific, or has an effect that is so comparatively weak to existing cards that it will almost never see play to 5 which is as close as an auto-include in a deck as you can get.
To save on space, and to avoid you all having to read a wall of text, I have split the review into three sections handily accessible through the following links;
A note on the ratings themselves; All of the cards are rated on a scale from 1-5 where a 1 is a card that is either too specific, or has an effect that is so comparatively weak to existing cards that it will almost never see play to 5 which is as close as an auto-include in a deck as you can get.
Tactial Ingenuity
Aytan Hilmi (JeremiahBlitz)
Commanders are fairly common in this pack so a free event search should be very welcome. (4)
Luke Richards (Ikoma Eto)
A free card that gives +1 Military... and nets you a card each turn... Say no more. It's required to be attached to a Commander but much like a Cloud the Mind, even if you're only play 3-6 Commanders, I think it's worth running. This is also Lion's first card that shuffles the conflict deck so cards (Right Hand of the Emperor or In Service to my Lord) may be drawn in to again a lot sooner. (5)
Finbarr (Steelfur)
A free card search effect, with new commanders in this pack making it more consistent a keyword. Don't need to say anything else. (5)
Jake (Nostred)
So it immediately cycles itself via a scry type effect, okay, it's already good. Then every subsequent turn is almost a free Secret Cache trigger. Why wouldn't you just 3x this? Worst case scenario your deck is now 37 cards rather than 40 cards which is just strictly better. (5)
Alex Botts (Bayushi Shimiji)
Nice. A +1 mil boost for free than gives
you the ability to search for an event.
This is excellent. Attaching to a commander
wont be an issue for lion at all, and it
cant be splashed. Lion really needed this, especially with all
their 'must have less cards' affects going on.
Great card. (4)
Average Rating: 4.6
Total Warfare
Aytan Hilmi (JeremiahBlitz)
I love this card. It single handedly discourages tower play and Lion have so many cheap characters that they should be able to throw one into a defence as a meat shield for the attachment incase they should lose the conflict. You can also play this as a surprise for conflicts that you may be winning but not breaking for the extra utility. (4)
Luke Richards (Ikoma Eto)
Our first province attachment and it's... surprisingly good. You only need to be winning the conflict to reap its rewards and you have the versatility to play it into conflicts as the attacker or defender. Play it at the right time and you're likely to kill their biggest character. Control decks will be running 1x or 2x to really swing the game in their favour. (4)
Finbarr (Steelfur)
So, this is a great surprise card, and it turns off a lot of early game attacks with solo towers if you have it in your deck. Since they will be worried that you'll all-in on the defense and play this. It is a double edged sword though so can backfire, but I think if you are going to lose you just don't defend or play this card. Its going to turn any province into a dangerous option. Might find a slot in the defensive deck as 2x (4)
Jake (Nostred)
What's really funny about this card is it comes in a pack where Lion is getting a harpoon and is able to discourage defending at the same time. Comedy gold is possible here. You poke with Motsu and, if they don't defend, you use Motsu to bring in a bowed tower or w.e. Then you stick this attachment on the province and the laughs begin. It's another Wombo Combo but the existence of the card changes the way your opponent plays against KIkoma. (3)
Alex Botts (Bayushi Shimiji)
Another card i really like. Attaching to a
province is really cool design space.
This will be a nasty surprise. You decide to
let them have their poke or after a long
decisive conflict suddenly you have to
kill one of your guys as well! Weak sauce.
Then again its expensive, so who knows. (3)
Average Rating: 3.6
Embrace Death
Aytan Hilmi (JeremiahBlitz)
Combine this with the stronghold and you get both a void ring/discard effect and a bow. Way of the Crab sees tonnes of play for an arguably more restrictive effect. Embrace Death is not only cheaper, but also allows you to pick the target - I am looking forward to running this in a crazy Crab kill deck with 3x Way of, 3x Embrace Death, 2x Total Warfare and Assassinates. (5)
Luke Richards (Ikoma Eto)
This is a all round good card. It can target any character and if you're able to remove a standing character outside of the conflict, it can generate a lot of tempo. In the Crab or Dragon match up, you will no longer care if they defend with their loaded up Tower as now you can play Embrace Death to either discard them or deal with one of their saves. It can also be used to put one of your characters into the discard early for Kitsu Spiritcaller. All for zero fate. (4.5)
Finbarr (Steelfur)
The discard part of this is vital, otherwise you'd be better off trying to win a void ring, but this is a very strong card versus towers and Crab. Attack, and either get a ring or lose and trigger Kyuden Ikoma and this. Great card with tonnes of flavour love it. (5)
Jake (Nostred)
So you poke with a Bushi, now they decide whether to defend and the entire time they've got to care about this, Total Warfare, Champions of Yomi and so on... The math is going to be way too much for a lot of players honestly. (5)
Alex Botts (Bayushi Shimiji)
First off, i love the card art. Really cool.
Second, kill affects are good. Once more
we have to worry about lion pokes. Combined
with Fallen in Battle and maybe
Noble Sacrifice lion will suddenly be killing
characters all over the place.
This gain stuff by losing aspect will make playing
against and with lion a tricksy concept.
Very cool. (4)
Average Rating: 4.7
Honor in Battle
Aytan Hilmi (JeremiahBlitz)
Way of the crane is good. So is this. (4)
Luke Richards (Ikoma Eto)
For a Lion card, you can ignore the 'if you have a MIL ring in your claimed ring pool' part as they can typically win that military conflict with minimal effort. Lion have plenty of high glory characters so being able to honour one for the Polictal break / poke will go a long way for 0 fate. (4)
Finbarr (Steelfur)
Reasonably low requirement for a Lion deck to win Mil, and cheap honour. Say no more. (4)
Jake (Nostred)
So now they decide not to defend your puny miliatary poke and just give you the ring, suddenly they've given you Way of the Crane-Lion too and that one ring they let you have just became a huge honour and stats gain. (4)
So now they decide not to defend your puny miliatary poke and just give you the ring, suddenly they've given you Way of the Crane-Lion too and that one ring they let you have just became a huge honour and stats gain. (4)
Alex Botts (Bayushi Shimiji)
Oh look a lion Way of the Crane. This is a very useful card, no lion will be
upset at drawing this. (4)
Average Rating: 4
Prepare for War
Aytan Hilmi (JeremiahBlitz)
Some more in-clan attachment and status token hate (so you can remove both the dishonor and attachment from mark of shame). Lion chan have a decent number of commanders so the honor effect could see play but mainly you are taking this for cloud defence.This is arguably better then hand to hand so I could imagine that this would see some play, especially in someone who wants the utility and still splash lion cards into their deck. It is worth noting that unlike Let Go, this card isn't dead if playing against a deck with no attachments. (3.5)
Luke Richards (Ikoma Eto)
Prepare for War is a Bayushi Collecter without the body but still costs a fate! To get the maximum value out of it, you would need to resolve all of it's effects so it should be used on a commander, i.e, a clouded Matsu Tsuko or a Mark of Shame'd Honoured General. It looks like a good card but the moment there's not enough commander cards to justify running it. Maybe a commander themed deck will be a thing in the future. (2.5)
Finbarr (Steelfur)
Costs 1, ditches cloud and dishonour and the honours a commanders. Not sure the commanders are there for this, but keeping Motsu and Tsuko unclouded could be worth it. Quite a niche card but could see some utility. (2)
Jake (Nostred)
This is really good against Mark of Shame but Hand to Hand is better against Cloud the Mind. Maybe Lion swaps to this if they are playing honour Lion or other clans go for Mark of Shame (2)
Alex Botts (Bayushi Shimiji)
As a scorpion player i like Mark of Shame.
Its just great to use on a Honoured General
or Matsu Tsuko but now the lion just don't care.
This great little card gets rid of the Mark itself
and the dishonour token and then honours the
commander character back up. Annoying.
Even if this is used to remove Cloud the Mind
or Pacifism it's worth it.
Now lion has two anti-attachment cards. (4)
Average Rating: 2.8
Right Hand of the Emperor
Aytan Hilmi (JeremiahBlitz)
Love it. Almost irrelevent restrictions due to Lion being Lion and allows pretty much an entire board to be re-used for another fight (or to grab the favour). This will probably mostly be used in a HMT style deck but with the increased amount of cheap, reusable characters lion have access to I can see at least one copy fitting into any Lion deck. (4.5)
Luke Richards (Ikoma Eto)
Comparable to Unfulfilled Duty but without the Earth Role requirement, costs 1 more fate and requires you to be more honourable to play it from the discard. I can see it being utilised in HMT / Swarm Lion where you may have plenty of small characters (particularly Obstinate Recruit and Ashigaru Levy). The ready effect is strong but it requires a lot of fate. Best case scenario is attacking with everyone in a military conflict as first player then just standing them back up. Potenially a 1x of in every other Lion deck but deck space is already tight. (3.5, 4.5 in HMT)
Finbarr (Steelfur)
This card is brutal, HMT loves it, any Lion deck likes it as a 1x of. Being able to use it two turns in a row is huge. Opponents will save cancels for this card, and you can still play around that with more fate. Maybe even makes For Greater Glory worth playing as you can overcommit, get fate and then ready everyone, but that is still a risky play. (3)
Jake (Nostred)
There's a lot you can try with this, but 3 fate is a lot of fate. I reckon you can build a deck that takes advantage of it and, if you splash for Voice of Honour, I think you can protect it from cancels. (5)
Alex Botts (Bayushi Shimiji)
Well damn.
I guess the designers want people to use HMT.
Plus it's ok if this gets discarded.
Lion can now easily get two overwhelming MIL
conflicts per turn while setting up a POL
conflict to use their 'win by losing' cards. (5)
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