Building Decks In L5R

So we have a lot of new players joining our L5R community. While some of these players are grasping the basics of the game, I figured it would be good to give them a little help in understanding the more complex parts of this game. I will be covering the several basic win conditions in the game and ways in which they can be achieved affectively. Now remember I am not getting clan specific, although I may use clan specific cards to show examples of tactics and abilities. Without further delay, let’s get started on our first topic!

When I think about playing a new card game, one of the first things that comes to mind is the deck construction. I have met many people for whom this is also the case due to the fact most people find L5R after they play another game (not always the case, but has been the common case for me). When we build decks we have many questions that come to mind.

How many cards in the deck?

How many of what kind of card should I include?

How many of this card is enough/too many?

Are there cards that are auto-includes or that I should avoid?

These are basic questions that are at the surface of the deck construction topic. In order to address all the complexities of deck construction in relation to the deck strategies, I will cover each win condition along with some general guidelines for building that deck. For now, let’s stick with some very basic principles that can be applied to most decks, even those designed for different win conditions.

First of all, a basic concept for any card game is trying to have the smallest deck size possible. This is so you can find the cards you need quickly without much effort. While it might seem tempting to squeeze in one or two extra cards, you will be surprised how much that would change the statistics of the deck. This means that for this game we want 40 cards in each deck, no more.

*Dragon has one particular variation due to the current stronghold automatically bringing a ring out of the deck. This can be taken advantage of by having now a 39 card deck. However, what is very common to find is the Dragon decks build with 41 cards so after the ring is removed they have a standard 40.*

Next is how many of each type of card should I have? The answer is different based on certain variables, but the general skeleton for construction is as follows:

Fate:

6-9 Weapons/Followers

1-2 rings

30ish strategies

*Spells are a different monster all of their own. If you only run a few of them, they fall within the strategy category for deck construction. If you are running a heavy shugenja deck then this will change (I will cover that later).*

Dynasty:

20-24 Personalities

16-18 Holdings

0-2 Events

*You should not include more than 2 non-gold producing holdings. Events take up some of those non-gold producing slots as well. The problem with events and non-gold holdings is that their abilities may be awesome, yes. However if they show up at the wrong time (i.e. as your first cards), many times this will set you back quite a bit in production giving your opponent a gold advantage.

That is the core skeleton for MOST decks. Some vary quite a bit based of the strategy they use. If you use a kensei/weapon deck you will run more weapons. If you run a follower deck, you will have more followers. If you run a primarily shugenja deck, you might not have any strategies at all! In an enlightment deck you need all five rings so that takes up more slots in your deck.

These are some simple things to think about and apply to your own deck building. One thing to remember is the deck is yours. This means you can make it however you want in regards to distribution of card types. Just playtest your deck and figure out what you think works best. The next article will tackle the first and most common win condition in the game: Military. I will cover the basic concepts involved in the Military game and some specific strategies and tactics to use both in building your decks and fighting it out in the game. Until then!