Interesting; I actually find that it works in the opposite direction. I thinking having multiple named cards that are berserkers makes it clearer that there exists a group, unless there are multiple variations of the "Hida Berserker" title / card-type.

One minor thing I noticed was that after combat resolution, Brad only bowed his character and not also the attachments on the character. Coming from Old5R I had just assumed the entire unit bowed after conflict, but it looks like you can use a unit with attachments in a conflict and then still use those attachments for bow abilities later in the turn.

Thinking of them as Old5R experience levels should be fine. And if they don't do overlay rules it will actually be easier in this FFG version (and I don't think they will do overlay; I assume it'll be the same "discard for fate" as long as the cards have the same titles.)

Yeah, but what are they going to call him? If it was "Loyal Yojimbo" or "Veteran Yojimbo" there is some room to work, but now we have THE one and only Shiba Yojimbo. The template from which all Shiba yojimbo are wrought. But she wouldn't have a mon in a text card list or when I bring up the card name in conversation.

An Old5R player here (and we've done this discussion here before, but why not again?) I am much more in favor of naming every character card like in the old CCG, though I'll just have to get used to generic names in the new LCG. A number of posters have made the point that generic names make it easier to identify what personalities are quickly, but I'm not actually sure it'll be much different than we used to do when we'd say stuff like "Oh Isawa Tomo. That's the water guy that moves people?" or "Shiba Danjuro...he's the yojimbo that takes actions for shugenja, right?" Generic names won't really change having to explain what a character is mechanically when you bring them up; I don't think it's functionally different to name a card "Seeker of Knowledge" or "Isawa Natsumi" if we will inevitably follow that up with "the shugenja that adds the Air ring?" If we want to know she also seeks knowledge, art and flavor text can give us pretty much that same information. And with a name like "Isawa" we already know with a good amount of certainty what clan she is in. (There's also the question of will the Shiba only ever get one yojimbo now that we know "Shiba Yojimbo" is a card name?) Now, one good thing about the generic names is that the old way did end up with a number of keywords that would confuse new players (for example, "Master of Water"), and moving those sorts of things up to the card title does make the text box less dense.

I would be okay with him getting a mortal would helping Isawa Tadaka take down a tainted Tsuke in the opening fiction, but as I've said before, the champion bait-and-switch (Arasou...psyche! Toturi!) is fine once, but twice just makes me wonder why they bothered with the opening blurb at all.

That was the point I was making: your conjecture that he could be a low-cost champion (with Tsukune as the high-cost dynasty character) would likely be on the mark if as champion he was in the conflict deck, as (among other reasons) a five-fate conflict card would be difficult to surprise people with. I not optimistic that we'll see him at all at this point, I fear, but if he gets an arrow to the head shot by Hotaru on Wednesday I'm calling shenanigans.

Also, a five fate conflict character would be really difficult to surprise people with. "Why are you banking five fate?" "...no reason."

Interesting point on the unique/non-unique Ujimitsu theory there: So far (other than Crane) each clan has only had three unique characters (which also means "named characters" so far.) Isawa Masahiro has been revealed, and Tsukune spoiled perhaps by accident, and we know there is art for an elderly shugenja with a name (Isawa Atsuko or something?) That would be three uniques, which would otherwise preclude Ujimitsu, unless he becomes the only non-unique but named card in the core set. I'm not getting my hopes up for seeing a card for Ujimitsu, but it would be nice.

FIIIIIIIIRE CHICKEEEEEEEENS! Getting hyped! And how. Every time they tried to do it (at least through Lotus) we ended up with samurai that were overpriced for their stats and abilities if you didn't have a shugenja, or were just at baseline with other clans' samurai if you did have a shugenja. It always felt like AEG was too worried about making overly powerful Samurai/Shugenja interactions for the Phoenix, and so everything was nerfed instead.

Hotaru cried a (visible from across the battlefield) tear and then sent what sounded to me like a letter apologizing for the whole ordeal. She didn't come across as particularly ruthless to me.

#7 Shiba Tsukune - Because I played under AEG too long and now I just assume our champ will always be meh. Also I have doubts that her ability will be good enough to make up for her having less raw stats than all the other champions we've seen so far (Yokuni 10, Hotaru/Toturi/Kisada 9, Tsukune 8.) Though I'll still play her in all my decks out of a sense of clan/character loyalty. Of course, the spoiler we've seen of Tsukune could be wrong, and she might not even be champ, and FFG might pleasantly surprise me, so I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Looks like the product page still has the old wording (on the Miya Mystic in the game board example, and "Shiro no Yojin"), though.

Changes like these are a good sign, though I guess we'll have to wait for the next reboot for "Kuromori."

I wonder if this was a case of making templates before deciding what the "attachment" category was going to include.

It makes thematic sense for Isawa shugenja to be out of place dealing with human interactions.

Mirabu became champion after the end of the Four Winds era, basically because somebody had to do it and he never rocked the boat, which I'm sure the council liked. But after Tsukune ascended in early Four Winds era (and took the Soul of Shiba with her) there was a champion void for a while. Aikune seemed like a good choice for the position, and sort of filled that spot for some of the player base, but was ultimately never given it (presumably because Taeruko didn't like him and he was too strong willed and unpredictable/unstable for the council's liking.) They also hadn't figured out what they were going to do without the Soul of Shiba at that point.

But more on topic, does any clan really NEED more than three families? But if you were to do it I suppose making Asako mainly monks and then getting a new courtier family would be enough. Or perhaps move all the courtiers over to the Shiba, making the Shiba the family that interacts with outsiders while the Isawa and Asako focus on their spiritual duties/research, etc. Conceptually this would mesh with the already present Shiba bushi focus; military is just another aspect of "dealing" with outsiders.

I for one like all the Phoenix discussion we are having on the forums recently. Dare I hope the next previewed clan is...

This sounds like a great question for L5R Live, though I'd imagine they will likely wait to get into when they preview Phoenix.

About the "Dark Hand," I vaguely wondered if that had something to do with right hand / left hand / underhand, etc.

There is a debate to be had about high fantasy vs. low, and it comes down a lot to personal preference for the kind of setting you want, I think. Though at the very least high-fantasy shugenja flying over battlefields hurling fireballs is more exciting and probably a better seller, I'll admit. But I'd like to see something like a story where there's a group of emerald magistates and it's the Shiba who always holds up the group praying and leaving offerings at every tiny little shrine or statue of a fortune on the road, just because as a Phoenix respecting every tiny kami was the way he was raised. That sort of thing is tiny, but can lend itself to a clan identity.

Personally I'd prefer a more spiritual but low fantasy brush for both shugenja and the Phoenix.

I think they said in a Facebook Live that they weren't going to do any more preview polls, but that they would poll us about which clans we get to see play in an official game play video.

Thanks for the video, guys. A lot of fun to watch, and hearing the thought processes behind your plays is very informative. I especially like that you do these in two takes; one for gameplay and one for commentary.