My girl Kudaka taking names and doing stuff, gotta love it.

My wife and I actually both enjoy the new Skirmish format quite a bit, it's faster, less stopping points, easier to teach and learn, and it feels like the clans are more balanced against each other a bit (haven't played them all yet). The stronghold format was far to obtuse for my wife, she today doing it slow, boring, tedious, and having to many rules to remember. Whereas stronghold she actually enjoys and is willing to play, both because of its ease to remember and the speed of play.
Having played O5R (Mantis Clan for life), and played at the first worlds for N5R, I'm much happier with the skirmish format. The only change I would want would be the inclusion of skirmish style strongholds, something that gives some minor bonus or effect that is in line with the clan your playing as. I'm also hopeful that this easier to hear format will be easier to teach out here in Japan, I've had practically no luck getting the stronghold format any footing here.

I know there are not a lot of Mantis Clan Cards yet available, but we do have four that we know of, and three that can be fielded within the same deck build. So while it is not a lot to go off of they do have a recurring theme, which is Fate growth for a price. Honestly it could be a fun design space to play with, but with the current game what cards best enhance that theme, or build alongside it. I'm inclined to look to either the Dragon Clan with their fate manipulation (which keeps me to just two Mantis at the moment), Phoenix Clan (three and shugenja friendly), or perhaps Crane (again three, but instead more bushi). I'm not sure which would work best, but I feel that Crab would be the best splash for any of them, or perhaps scorpion as a splash.
So I suppose I'm asking for thoughts, deck concepts, and how you would play the Mantis Clan as they are currently.

I'm so for the Mantis Clan becoming a great clan, but I fully support the idea of the families all coming from the Mantis clan as it currently is. I would want the current pirate themes, and their unique form of shugenja to be further explored. There is a lot that could be done with the Mantis clan without the need of adding in other minor clans. In truth the only minor clan I would even think about supporting merging into the Mantis would be there Wasp clan.

I'm so for the Mantis Clan becoming a great clan, but I fully support the idea of the families all coming from the Mantis clan as it currently is. I would want the current pirate themes, and their unique form of shugenja to be further explored. There is a lot that could be done with the Mantis clan without the need of adding in other minor clans. In truth the only minor clan I would even think about supporting merging into the Mantis would be there Wasp clan.

The Tortoise Clan belongs to the Imperials. They are there to undertake the jobs that it just wouldn't be seemingly for the other Imperial Families to undertake but also shouldn't be entrusted to any Great Clan that have their own political agendas that would muddy up the waters.
I really don't want to see the Mantis claim them and use that to start snatching up what little territory the Imperial Families have. They should be left entirely in the Imperial Family realm of influence, especially in case the Imperial Families might ever lose the throne and position of authority and need to convert into being just another clan.
The Yasuki are already contested between the Crab and the Crane, though this new canon puts them firmly into Crab clan. Muddying things up by bringing the Mantis into it seems silly.
So while, granted, those families have a lot in common with the Mantis Clan, they just shouldn't be joining it. In fact, the similarities might eventually lead to say... a Mantis/Crab/Owl alliance or possibly the rivalry between the three could erupt into a trade war.
 
In the previous continuity the Fox Clan was part of the Mantis Great Clan, but honestly they never fit well. The whole Mantis Clan theme is about seafaring, storms, gold and archery-- the Fox could not possibly be thematically further from that. The Fox Clan with their concept of forest dwellers that deal with weird magical spirits gives them more in common with the Falcon and Badger, I could even see more in common with the Sparrow and Hare. And probably the Bat Clan as well, though we don't know what shape it takes in this continuity.
Honestly, even if there were a "Minor Clan Alliance", the Mantis are oddly the ones that have the least common interests and culture with all of the others.
The only Minor Clan that really fits with the Mantis without losing a lot of its core concept is the Wasp, who are known for being grubby mercenary archers without much care for such subjective things like "honor". One could easily imagine the Mantis wealth pulling them into an Alliance that ultimately becomes permanent.
 
Really though-- the Mantis Clan is supposed to be fairly decent in size already. Rather than incorporate other clans into it, maybe the better route would be to divide the currently nameless clan into different families. So maybe the Mantis Clan military all take on the name of their highest commander, the Mantis Clan merchants take on the name of the richest and most successful merchant, the Mantis Clan shugenja take on the name of the head teacher of their techniques and then maybe the last family could be the Order of Osano-wo.

Good story.  Not really thrilled to see Hitomi.  (I thought replacing the Sun & Moon with mortals was one of the dumbest things AEG ever did.)
 
It seems to me that the best politicking in the new fiction we've seen has come from Mantis, Dragon, Crab, and Spider (yes, I consider Heart of the Garden to be a Spider story).
Crane and Scorpion political tales have all fallen flat.  Probably due to to the fact that those Clans have no greater goal than other than telling themselves how awesome they are.  And jerking everyone else around.
 
(Just to round it out, I feel the Phoenix stories work best when they are being Honest.  It's fun to watch.)
 
Approved!  (Here is your Jade, Crab-san.)
 
 
 

Man, Lions are really insecure huh.

Blast he knows too much, quick paint some scrolls black and leave them in the Phoenix library as a distraction

And in a surprise twist Crab wins the tournament, is awarded the fort+region and immediately offers it to the Mantis so that it may become their first stronghold as major clan
 

I'm totally fine with Mantis becoming a great clan. Just...don't invade Phoenix lands this time. You can have Crane's lands. lol. 

Them's is fighting words, after all its only inevitable that the Mantis will become the Greatest Clan, with all the money as an added bonus.  After all everyone seems to love the services of Kudaka that we are lending out and eventually you are all going to need to pay the piper for that loan.

Kaito Kosori for Phoenix Thunder.
And I’m making flags, posters, banners, pins, mugs, and even those posters on a spike that you can stick on your front lawn. 

Me too, if only to get more Kosori stories. This was so awesome. Spooky going to make the Phoenix my favorite clan at this rate.

“I swear Matsu-san, that reed basket has moved clear across the garden in the past 5 minutes.”
”Come now, Akodo-sama, do you notice every peasant that moves a basket? Such are the mysteries of the heimin. Besides who would be willing to shame themselves so much as to conceal themselves within such a thing? It’s unthinkable, even for a Scorpion. Surely even the mythical ninja have pride enough to test their skills against the piercing perception of yojimbo such as ourselves and would not skulk about in the trappings of a peasant’s burden. Let us return to our rounds.”
”As you say. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

All signs point to it being a combination of issues, Meishodo may be one of the contributing factors as may be the Mantis storm shenanigans, but again these have been going of for quite a while so one would have figured on them happening much earlier if that were the primary cause. 

Far more likely is the rise of the Shadowlands and a weakening of the Celestial Order due to the resurgence of Jigoku, possibly aggravated by the other two factors.  There was too much previously established lore leading into the Second Day of Thunder and the importance of that timeline will still dictate many story beats I'm afraid. 

Now you don't have to repeat the exact same scenario, after all what are the odds that the 7 Thunders will have all ended up being Clan Champions (or equivalents), and it would be far more interesting if the Thunders are a more random assortment of characters who have to succeed despite being of lesser stature.  Just picture it Kakita Kaizen, Matsu Beiona, Mirumoto Raitsugo, Hida Tomonatsu, Isawa Masahiro, Shosuro Miyako and Utaku Yumino rock up on the Second Day of Thunder with the heir of Shinsei and are like don't worry guys we got this.

As to the Mantis invasion that would be somewhat shortsighted.   Far better to remain the bogeyman lurking on the seas, difficult to track and pin down, our Islands lend us a high level of protection by virtue of the difficulty landing troops on them would cause.  Being set up on the mainland just makes it easier to predict where we will be and to bring forces against us there.  Far better for out good friends the Crab to be "forced" to exert the claims that the Yasuki held on those lands prior to their exile from the Crane and to manage those lands for the good of the Empire since the Crane have proven themselves unable to protect them on their own.  

Although it does raise a question in that he was sent to investigate the Mantis raids.  Now I'm wondering if maybe Yoritomo isn't up to some additional negotiations.  Imagine the poor husband cast to the waves with nary a concern for his well being, waylaid by pirates and captured he is put to work on the ship and each evening he is sent to his bunk after being told good work today Kuzu, we'll likely kill you tomorrow.  Eventually he can earn the trust of the captain and be let in on the secret that Yoritomo is not really Yoritomo, he's a Centipede farmer who was captured and served the dread pirate Yoritomo, and the Yoritomo who gave the position to him wasn't the real Yoritomo either.  He was a Tortoise sailor who inherited the position from the original Yoritomo, who has settled down a wealthy man in the Ivory Kingdoms.

Sinking was likely not an option as the boat was too far away for divers to approach to try and drill it, and as for using lightning to sink it there are two potential obstacles to that.  The first would be that we don't know for sure how Thunder Magic works in this version of the game but its very likely that in order to summon lightning you need a storm of some sort as a base (whether natural or Kami derived) and Maeko had already dispersed the existing storm and we don't know how long it may take to brew a big enough new storm to get lightning where she needs it, and second given Maeko abilities to manipulate Air Kami she may have been able just counter or redirect the lightening herself.

This story actually causes some story headaches as we know that the Crane are already aware that the Mantis are raiding them per "Her Father's Daughter" and "A Difference of Lanterns" but Kudoka makes reference the alliance with the Crab which doesn't exist until after "Beneath, Below, Beyond" which is after those two stories so there should be little surprise that the Mantis are raiding them.  

As to how this potentially plays into the Mantis grand plan.  This is about strengthening our allies the Crab and giving them an excuse to exert pressure on the Crane.  After all they now have an argument, we are in need of food and supplies for our troops on the wall, something the Crane seem unable to provide, perhaps it would be best if we took over management of a portion of their lands, perhaps lands that were seized from our Yasuki brethren when they were forced from the Crane and joined the Crab, that we may better manage and defend them from the Mantis, a role the Crane seem unable to fulfill.  I'm sure the Lion would be supportive of such a motion to weaken their traditional rivals and potentially open a second front that the Crane must divert resources towards and away from Toshi Ranbo.  The Scorpion would also I'm sure be in favour of weakening their chief rivals at court, and potentially building relations with their equally important neighbour to the South.  The Emperor faced with three clans in support, likely two (Crane and their Unicorn allies) opposed and two who would likely be neutral on the matter (barring any snap decisions by Yokuni or the Elemental Masters to get involved) would have to assess the political value in declining the request and could very easily come down on the side that its more trouble than its worth to oppose the petition.  And once the Crab have their foothold in Crane lands it was amazing how quickly the Mantis raiding on those coasts ended, and yet still the lands that the Crane are controlling continue to be raided, why perhaps the Crane are not as worthy of the lands they claim as it was believed.  Its war by Proxy and the Mantis are offering themselves as the helpful tool for the Crab to undermine a rival which means sometimes you need the world to know who is actually causing the mayhem so that you can use the notoriety for other purposes.

But our goal is not to simply undermine the Crane it is to strengthen our position in the empire and force the clans to recognize us as an equal.  That means shaking some branches and in this case forcing the Crane to acknowledge that we are a threat to them and that they are unable to protect themselves from us, after all consider the shame that the mighty Crane clan can't protect themselves from a ragged group of pirates like the Mantis clan, why it almost might call into question their worthiness to manage their own lands, maybe someone more suitable should be given the option to take over that role, I hear the Yasuki have a certain skill in managing resources and have ancestral ties to many potentially disputed Crane territories that they could start pressing in the court.

Plus there is the question of wasted resources, the Crane had put enough distance between themselves and Kudoka's ship, plus had proven that there was no plunder worth taking from them, that all a further pursuit of them would have accomplished would be potentially endanger the lives of Kudoka's crew, and given the proficiency that Maeko showed in managing air kami would not guarantee catching her before they were able to either relay a message or draw the Mantis into a greater Crane controlled area even further endangering her crew..

Now you need to let one get away every once in a while to spread your notoriety, plus there was no point in wasting lives pursuing a boat full of bricks.  Nothing ties this back to our good friends the Crab as it was just another Mantis raider raking advantage of fat target, and the pursuit went wrong this time but it will just further spread the fame of the Mantis and stoke fear in the other clans of us.

Because she cost 0.
 
Where the *bleep* are our Mantis? 

I just am super happy that the Mantis are returning in some format in the LCG.

Again, I don't disagree. But we've literally had a handful of people say anything at all about the rivers on this forum and on the L5R FB group combined, so it's not exactly a representative sample! But I also intend (if it ever comes up while writing) just to pretend that the rivers make sense; again, what matters is the story. The perfectly square mountains blocking off Mordor in Middle Earth make even less sense than Rokugani rivers, but I still enjoyed reading about Frodo, Sam and Gollum climbing around and near them, and generally venturing into Mordor to toss away the Ring! 
The map in the Atlas of Rokugan is actually better in this regard; the rivers as depicted on it do actually make a degree of hydrogeographic sense if you make some generous assumptions about the relief of Rokugan north of the Spine of the World Mountains. Things are better south of the Spine, until you get to the Shadowlands (but maybe the Taint of Jigoku fiddled with hydrogeography in the same way it screws around with the landscape generally...)

Can we chalk this up to Rokugani Cartographers are not that good with dimensions of rivers. Also, since travel might be limited, the samurai who drew the maps may be going off word of mouth and using a artistic spin on things.
Other than that this may not be the official map as it is a board game.

We've got a decent percentage of the people here going "augh, I know, right, the rivers are terrible" -- so while it's still probably true that the vast majority don't notice the problem, it's tripping up enough people to be annoying.
As for the "speaking as a writer" angle -- that's honestly one of the reasons I wish we could have taken this opportunity to fix the problem. Because now I feel like I can't write things that deal very much with the river geography of Rokugan (e.g. trade, which ought to be a pretty big deal), because the foundation I'm standing on isn't solid enough to support that. Whereas if it were better-designed, we could have stories about how certain castles control important confluences, or the Lion and the Unicorn squabble back and forth over the banks of a given waterway so they can dominate trade along it, or the drying-up of a particular minor river means the kami in a neighboring family's lands that contain the headwaters has been offended and now you need to politick your way through fixing that. But when there's only a handful of rivers and their behavior makes no sense, it's a lot more difficult to do that kind of thing in a compelling fashion.