L5r Once You Pass Can You Act Again During Conflict
This is commodity started equally a review of the Rule bike, but turned into a full general critic of what seems to exist the electric current design ethos of the game and ends with a proposal on how players could take control and amend the game themselves.
Now that the full Dominion cycle is out, I felt it might be a good time to wait back and consider the overall game. This cycle has been pretty crazy with each pack having at least one card that shook up the meta significantly. It also introduced the Rally keyword, one that I was securely concerned almost at the start of the bike, and I'grand pretty sure those concerns were shown to be well-founded. Looking over a cycle can give us an thought of the pattern philosophy that the designers are taking and in then doing give us an idea of where the game is going.
Rather than jumping straight to the power cards, instead, I want to look at some of the cards that look like they're dead on arrival. These are the cards that get direct from pack to binder and never leave. Now it's always possible downwardly the line that 1 of these cards ends up quite adept, and it wouldn't exist the first time I've nether-estimated a card's power level.
- Inventive Buttressing. This 1 cost attachment gives a province +3 force during a military conflict. So yous're simply going to play it on your own provinces, it only works during military conflicts, it only has an impact when your opponent has won the conflict and is trying to see if they've broken the province. This effect is so narrow that I can't see how it will ever be worth the 1 fate cost. The limitation to military machine disharmonize merely seems to be an effort to be flavourful, which is strange considering every other province strength somehow is fine being military and political.
- Hidden Mount Pass. This holding has an interrupt at the end of the conflict phase which turns its province facedown. Having on-reveal provinces and ways to turn them confront down is pretty cool. Dragon do not play many on reveal provinces. This property has to randomly state in a province that either is already face-up and non destroyed or that your opponent for some reason chooses to assault. Then you have to salve the province during your opponent'south attacks in the conflict phase before the outcome volition actually trigger. While a prissy thought, it's pretty articulate the blueprint is inherently flawed.
- Sudden Storm. This neutral dynasty event costs i fate to remove an unclaimed ring from the game until the end of the round. Way of the Phoenix is not a card that sees play, it is an outcome that you can hold in hand for the right moment and costs 0 fate. Sudden Tempest has to be randomly drawn from your dynasty deck (yous could hold onto it, only why?) and costs ane fate and a dynasty action to trigger. It's difficult to see how you lot would utilise this carte du jour in any proactive manner and there aren't whatsoever counter plays y'all could use this card with that would justify the one cost. At all-time, it does have Rally.
- Ethereal Alignment. This 5 cost Phoenix conflict card has the impressive effect of 'unbreaking' a province, which is pretty absurd. Information technology can simply be used at the finish of the conflict phase and you lot can only target a province where you have the claimed ring in your pool. So you've managed to claim a ring, typically by winning a disharmonize, simply somehow have 5 fate leftover but are behind enough that yous need to restore a province? The effect is great for coming from backside, but the requirements all hateful you're already winning the game.
- Kakudaira. This Phoenix holding reveals facedown cards in the province at the start of each phase. No one is really sure why you lot would want to do that. Getting to reveal a belongings could be proactive as you'd get to use that holding straight away, but dynasty events and dynasty characters tin merely be purchased during the dynasty phase then beyond some minor filtering you lot'd go from discarding the face-upwards card it's hard to know what even the intended purpose for this menu was. Possibly, at some stage dynasty events were useable outside the dynasty phase?
- Control Past Proper name. This continues a serial of province reduction effects that never see play for the same reasons effects that heave province strength don't. In this case, you spend one fate, lose 1 honor, and discard a card from your hand to reduce the province strength to 0. This is massively over-costed and will only be relevant in that narrow window where you're winning the conflict but don't break the province. That this was designed when so many previous cards with this effect don't meet play is a bit of a wonder.
This isn't a comprehensive list, merely a sample of cards that unless I'm very much mistaken, volition never run across play. That should exist immediately axiomatic to anyone who actually plays the game. These aren't cards that need testing and play to work that out. These are all designs that someone not familiar with the game would think are a neat idea, but in do just don't work.
Let's take a look at some of the more than powerful cards in the set. These are cards that caused a stir when they were spoiled and quickly made their manner into decks.
- Exposed Courtyard. You mill some of your ain disharmonize cards and then get to play an event from your discard pile. Zero downsides and the Battlefield trait is useful for some Lion cards. It doesn't even remove it from the game, they go to the bottom of the deck. The effect is like the original version of the Phoenix stronghold but meliorate and on a non-unique holding instead. This amazing menu draw and recursion effect came at the end of an extensive button for Lion who had already seen an excessive corporeality of amazing cards. It was almost as if the kitchen sink was being thrown at the Lion in the hopes that something would work.
- Lost Papers. A 0 cost dynasty consequence with Rally that lets you select one of the characters with the most fate in play and bow them. A menu then ridiculously good it became ubiquitous in the meta and randomly won games when it turned up. It looks like it was intended to be anti-tower meta, as y'all typically put iii+ fate on towers when they enter play. The pattern seems to have missed the core element of the game where fate ticks down, so characters with ane or fifty-fifty 0 fate ended up getting hitting past this. It ended upwards with decks non willing to play characters over 3 cost any more and Lost Papers even hit 1 cost characters when it came upwards.
- Contested Countryside. Another menu that was everywhere in the brief window between being released and restricted. Equally a neutral holding with Rally, in that location were no downsides for playing it. Every bit it was everywhere, people abandoned provinces it could be used confronting and in that location was a mass shift to Keeper roles every bit Contested Countryside was function locked. A key element of the game is that attacking is ameliorate than defending, you become to trigger the band if you win and maybe destroy your opponent'due south province. This encourages aggression. Similarly, the defender gets to take the first activity and importantly gets the benefits of their province. Contested Countryside turned that core blueprint concept on its caput.
- Bayushi Kachiko. You become to get through your opponent discard pile and play up to 3 cards out of information technology per round. If y'all can't bargain with her when she comes into play, her owner has an obscene hand advantage and their opponent ends upwardly penalised for playing cards! She is expensive at 5 fate and only works during political conflicts, simply the result is so over the top good that none of that matters. Belatedly game you end up picking the best 3 cards out of your opponent's discard pile which will frequently be half of their deck and while she's in play, annihilation your opponent plays, you can play yourself.
- Stoke Insurrection. Accuse was too skilful. How nigh we remove the armed services conflict restriction and accept it take two characters instead of i? We tin upwardly the toll to iv fate but then add together a clause to reduce it back down to ii! It doesn't always happen that the Scorpion histrion gets to bring in ii big characters for just ii fate, but with the addition of Governor's Spy it'due south really not that hard. That the Scorpion gets to use their opponent'due south cards means they tin can run a dynasty deck with cheap characters to salvage fate for events.
These are all pretty massive cards. Tyler talked a little about the idea of 'meta game pressure' in relation to some of these cards. The thought that the beingness of sure cards in the meta-game will discourage players from playing the best cards. In item, Lost Papers and Contested Countryside appear to be designed under that idea. Lost Papers is now banned and Contested Countryside is restricted. These cards did exert meta-game pressure, but rather than focusing on specific decks or cards that were powerful, they ended upward distorting the entire game by applying that pressure on core elements of gameplay.
Tyler has previously discussed some overperformers and underperformers from previous sets. Moment of Perfect Beauty was intended to be a large flashy card, but he didn't realise the value of not playing cards during a conflict. He didn't expect Fan of Command to be on large towers. Masterpiece Painter was supposed to be a multiplayer only bill of fare. He saw Ceaseless Duty equally a less powerful version of Reprieve. So the cards in this set don't appear to exist an aberration, only rather a recurring design of design where some cards are unplayably bad while others are meta-distorting.
All of this leads me to a single conclusion, Tyler doesn't play the game enough and is designing from a theoretical level without actually playing cards in decks. And who can blame him, there's only so many hours in the day and this is a task, non a passion. As I'll talk over a little further, his blueprint approach seems to come from his experience playing Magic the Gathering and a lot of his ideas that haven't worked in L5R have worked successfully in Magic. Before I become besides far into this, I have to acknowledge that all this is supposition. I don't know the reasons backside Tyler'southward choices or his design ethos. I can't say for certain if a blueprint was his, or one from an earlier designer or a colleague in FFG. All I can do is look at the cards he has produced, the comments he has fabricated, and do my all-time to gauge his intentions.
I'll as well note that for the last two years Tyler has been working on this game alone, something that I experience FFG has been incredibly negligent in. Game pattern is not a solo endeavour and in addition to designing for L5R Tyler has been asked to support with other games similar Keyforge (who lost Brad) and run the story team (until Katrina was hired once again). I would love to make this commodity not-personal, referring to 'design' and never mentioning Tyler past proper name, but FFG made this a i-man show, and then, unfortunately, if I'g going to critic pattern then information technology's just Tyler. He has had an unenviable job and no uncertainty is underpaid and under-appreciated for his efforts, all while Asmodee continues to fire employees. That said, the goal of this commodity is to look at how the game is existence designed and unfortunately, that ways criticising Tyler's choices.
Earlier I mentioned Magic, information technology was the first collectable carte du jour game to come out and has remained highly influential in menu game design. It is non, even so, a good game. It has many flaws and continues as a game due to its behemoth nature more than anything else. At that place definitely are lessons nosotros can take from it, but not all. Below are some lessons from Magic that I believe do not apply to Legend of the Five Rings.
- Mechanics are separate across the Color wheel. In Magic, the 5 colours have distinct mechanics associated with then. This means each colour feels unique and distinct. As each color has it'due south own ability cards, splitting them out stops any ane deck from having everything. A similar arroyo was attempted with the L5R clans, but rather than 5 colors there are 7 clans. In addition, each association already has a distinct experience from the background. This, I feel, has resulted in conflicting themes for each association leaving some unfocused (eastward.g. Dragon) while others are funnelled powerful cards based on the wheel (e.k. Scorpion control cards). The L5R LCG game itself has a lot more than moving parts than the unproblematic framework of Magic and as such, there is a greater disparity in the power of certain mechanics. This hypothesised mechanic bike seems to have been adult during the initial design of the game and doesn't appear to have changed since. This means some clans take cornered particularly powerful mechanics while others accept niche themes with fiddling impact. With Magic, decks typically have two colors, with access to each color only limited by the lands and mana needed. The L5R LCG has a far more restrictive influence system, and decks are essentially mono-color with 3 to 6 cards splashed from a single other function of the bicycle. Having each faction accept a distinct flavor makes sense, but I believe the color wheel in L5R, as currently exists, is an overarching burden on how this game is designed and volition continue in the hereafter.
- New sets mean new mechanics to spice upward the game. In Magic, as the game progresses, mechanics in sometime sets wheel out and new mechanics bicycle in. We've seen this approach applied the L5R too, just we don't have any cycling. In addition, these new mechanics often seem underdeveloped. Sometimes they fall flat like Composure and other times they stop up over-powered like Rally. As they only appear in a unmarried prepare, each association has to hope the cards they get for that mechanic piece of work well in their decks or they'll never get another one. For mechanics like Composure that don't work, this doesn't make too much departure, only for powerful mechanics like Rally if a clan doesn't get good cards they're left out in the cold. Clans that benefit from Rally will bring their advantages with them into hereafter sets, but clans that did not go any good Rally cards will never have that addressed. There doesn't announced to be any particular reason for this beyond mirroring the arroyo of magic.
- Bad cards serve a purpose. Marker Rosewater wrote ii excellent articles about why weak cards are important in the game. Tyler touched on this briefly in his own commodity virtually 'Hits and Haymakers'. Having weak cards in a CCG allows players to play the weak cards either in draft or their before decks until they tin get their hands on the more powerful cards. In an LCG, where players buy stock-still packs information technology makes a lot less sense. Cards that volition never see play are a literal waste of cardboard. That doesn't mean every bill of fare needs to brand it into competitive decks, that's not really possible, just nosotros shouldn't be seeing cards that simply don't piece of work. That's either lazy design, where there was a borderline that needed to exist met, or intentional design to produce bad cards. Every one of these cards could exist expanding a secondary theme for a association instead.
- Super powerful cards are fun. Opening a booster and finding a rare power carte in it is always a rush. Getting to play powerful cards feels good, at to the lowest degree for you. Often less so for your opponent who is on the receiving end. In a collectable carte du jour game, that gives y'all a push to buy more cards. Keyforge is a corking example of this, you go along buying decks in the hope you'll go a more powerful deck. If yous stop upwardly playing against a super adept deck, it encourages you to purchase more in the hopes that you'll get something more powerful to beat it. In a non-collectable card game where everyone has the aforementioned pool of cards, that's non the case. If that powerful card can be played past anybody, it will exist. You don't drive sales of actress pacts, every bit everyone already has it. If but 1 clan can play that card, then anybody else volition end up on the receiving terminate. At that place are 2 important aspects of this that are problems.
- Outset, the cadre gameplay of LCG game is a determination heavy game with incremental advantages. A hypothetical card that breaks an enemy province for complimentary, goes completely confronting that gameplay. Although we've nevertheless to come across anything at that scale, we've seen several cards that are so powerful they interruption the back and forth gameplay. This inherently changes the game from a chess-like decision game to a Yu-Gi-Oh style 'heart of the cards' arroyo, where players are simply burning through their decks and whoever gets to draw their power cards showtime wins. Randomness is important in games, just non to this extent.
- 2d, unlike with Magic, where if a particular colour is overly strong everyone simply plays that color (or a specific counter to information technology), ane of the defining features of the L5R is faction loyalty. And so a super powerful card in a item color is exciting as it shifts the remainder and the meta. This one is arguable somewhat controversial merely it'due south indisputable that throughout the history of the game faction loyalty has been a cadre feature. That many of the currently successful players constantly switch betwixt clans as the meta shifts suggests that this is currently a problem. Getting the residue between the 7 clans is tricky, and introducing super powerful cards throws that to the wind. Having a rotating arrangement where different factions 'get their fourth dimension in the sun' as Brad talked almost in an early on interview, isn't a good thing. Rather than keeping everyone happy, as I've no doubtfulness information technology was intended, it diminishes i of the selling points of the game and alienates players loyal to factions who are weak. Information technology also sets up storyline prizes for specific factions, removing role player bureau. Power cards that favour one faction (or even a modest number of factions) aren't a feel-good depict from a booster pack. By and large, seeing a powerful card appear in a dynasty pack is a negative experience every bit you try work out if your faction has any counter and hope it will soon exist banned.
The Pillars of Degenerate Gameplay
Every bit an aside, while IA was producing podcasts, nosotros regularly talked about the pillars of degenerate gameplay. These are mechanics we've seen time and once more which distorted games to such an extent that the games were no longer fun. That's non to say cards with furnishings like this should never be, but it does hateful they should only exist designed with great care. The pillars are:
- Cost Reduction – The resource organization of a game is a core component that keeps everything else in check. For L5R that means vii fate a turn. If you're able to notice a fashion to become seven price reduction, you've essentially got a free turn over your opponent which is massive.
- Carte du jour Depict – Card depict is again another core mechanic of the game. A typical L5R game has four dynasty cards and v conflict cards drawn by each player every turn.
- Recursion – If a card was worth playing once, playing it once again is even better. There are many cards we'd similar to have more than 3 of in a deck, and there are practiced reasons we can't.
What I'1000 currently seeing is Tyler throwing darts at the board without really understanding what he's doing and later on the cards are released see what lands and what doesn't. Cards that aren't playable go left past the wayside stuck in binders, they don't crusade trouble so pattern doesn't have to worry about them. Cards that are too powerful eventually hit the restricted list and mayhap the banned list over time. Equally new sets are designed something similar 2 years in advance, whatever lessons Tyler is learning now won't manifest for years to come up. That ways the cycles we're due to see, were designed without any idea of what the current meta is like. Worse, they were designed without any understanding of what the meta was like ii years ago when the set was being designed! This is a compounding problem with top tier clans only as likely to get power cards as any other. The weak clans shouldn't be expecting anything to relieve them anytime soon. One example where nosotros did see a trouble being corrected was with the Lion clan, and the 'set' ended upwards being a torrent of over-powered cards that needed bans and restrictions to go along in check.
We are due to see a new restricted and banned listing which volition try to accost some of the electric current issues, but the restricted system is already overburdened. Currently, at that place are 22 restricted cards and you just become to include 1 in your deck. Yous should always be including the most powerful cards from that listing in your deck, which leaves 21 dead cards (and entire pack!). Whatsoever new trouble cards added to this list will nevertheless appear in decks, they only push out the less powerful restricted cards. This is why nosotros now have 14 cards on a banned listing. Back in 2022 I wrote an article chosen Adjusting the Environs about the various options available, I described the approach we currently have as a 'shotgun arroyo' and that was back when we only had eight cards on the restricted list. In the article, I as well talked well-nigh the adjacent steps with restricted lists, where additional groups are formed. Developing the restricted listing would require a certain amount of work from Tyler, I'd dear to see information technology happen, but I doubt he has the time or will practice work through it. Then we'll meet a few more changes with the adjacent restricted listing, but largely information technology'll be the same. New packs will come up out and the meta will exist focused on power cards rather than incremental play.
This has all been a bit doom and gloom, but what does it all mean?
- The game still is fun. The cadre mechanics of the game are solid and it generates engaging game-play. If you're playing at dwelling and non in tournaments, keep having fun.
- The banned and restricted lists are constantly behind the curve with the stream of new ability cards. The virtually powerful cards on the restricted list are still seeing play and often the tiptop decks are close to or are degenerate. For enjoyable games, you and your opponent will need to either avert degenerate decks or embrace them and the new mode of game they create.
- Over one-half the cards yous buy in every pack volition never see play. Unfortunately, it's just a sunk cost. Some are due to terrible pattern while others are edged out by the top tier of power cards.
- Clan loyalty is only worth it if the clan you're being loyal to are already tiptop tier. Until the electric current blueprint ethos changes, clans with powerful themes will continue to get powerful cards, clans with poor themes will proceed to get poor cards.
- We aren't going to run across major changes coming from Tyler, he'southward over-worked and underpaid and the L5R LCG seems to increasingly be considered a minor game in the FFG suite. From previous cases, they expect late-life LCGs to become stale, so FFG aren't going to innovate or invest. The current programme is to continue it on life support every bit long every bit it makes some money, but with zero investment until the business has the appetite for a new core starting the cycle over again.
2020 has been a super foreign year. It'due south put our entire hobby on hold, with the bulk of players unable to get a game and the die-difficult fans moving over to third party online versions. It'south hard to say how the 2022 tournament scene would have gone, simply based on the decks from the online events it seems games are decided largely by who flipped their power cards at the right time. Life isn't e'er going to be the same, only as we await forward to a vaccine and a chance to meet people face to face once more in 2022 it's a practiced time to consider how L5R is going to fit into that world.
Up to now, nosotros've had major L5R LCG tournaments organised and run by FFG organised play. In fourth dimension, I'thou sure that will kick off again, although as FFG seem to take laid off the majority of their organised play team that might be slower than expected. This may be a perfect opportunity for thespian-led events to consider their ain options. Not everything tin can exist fixed, merely at that place are some options, and I have no doubt, that a player-led squad could put together a better tournament format that FFG currently could. That could include:
- An ambitious ban listing trimming the menu pool equally function of a cadre reset.
- Expanding the restricted listing into multiple restricted groups to break upward combos but go out carte options open.
- Some minor rules tweaks could meliorate the game (I'1000 looking at yous undefended honor loss).
- Deck construction rule adjustments. This could be a little more than ambitious, but whatever deck construction rules (similar roles, influence, side-boards) tin be tweaked. Players can adjust their decks ahead of time and focus on having fun during the actual games.
Simply Tyler can produce new cards (although NISEI may have some things to say well-nigh that), but everything else is on the table. L5R is a fantastic setting, and the LCG is easily i of the best games I've played. It rewards practice and skill and has a wonderful amount of depth. Information technology can still have a vivid future, even if FFG no longer seems to accept the desire or the will to make that happen.
If you lot have whatsoever comments or feedback please mail them in the comments department below.Check us out on the Purple Counselor website , podcast , and YouTubeaqueduct for more give-and-take about the L5R LCG.
Source: https://imperialadvisor.com/2020/12/12/opening-the-black-scroll-a-critic-of-l5r-lcg-design/
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