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CRAB
Daring Challenger
Overall Rating – 0.8/5
Joe (From Cincinnati) Habes
Am I allowed to give a 0? You know what, I don’t care. I’m giving this card a 0. There’s bad cards and then there’s this card. Not only is this a duelist that sucks at dueling, with bad stats and no incentive to “tower,” but it’s also a duelist that can’t even duel in the off-conflict! And by that I mean, this character cannot participate in a political conflict against a character who has high political and low military, making this duel basically incapable of being a “bully duel.” With the political dash, this character can only duel characters that your opponent intentionally declared to military conflicts…with knowledge that you had this character on the field (unless you charged this fool into the conflict or flopped it with Raise the Alarm). And on top of that, what do I get if I win this duel? I get to put a fate on my 2 cost 2/-/1? Oh wow. And what am I risking if I lose? My opponent putting a fate on their character….which is almost certainly a better character this Daring Challenger.
Rating: 0/5
Travis (Fights Dragons) McDaniel
This is a 2 cost card that is sometimes the same stats as the 1 drop Matsu Berserker except you can invest more into it or pay a bunch of honor to keep your bad statted 2 drop around another turn. Not to mention how horrific this is if you lose the duel. I feel bad about this card even touching the bottom of my drink.
Rating: 1/5
(Handsome) Dan Mui
Every set has to have a worst card, right? Daring Challenger does nothing that Crab wants. He has the misfortune of being a 2 fate character with very subpar stats, an effect that’s not on often, and a duel that’s hard for him to bully. No thanks.
Rating: 1/5
Aneil (Mind’s Desire) Seetharam
A 2/- with a duel that is very detrimental to lose, which you will unless you want to invest resources into this character. Then you can ask yourself why you bought this character in the first place, then you will end up thinking why did I put this card in my deck in the first place.
Rating: 1/5
Nicolas (Chuterêve) Simonpietri
This is the worst of the Challenger cycle and it is so comically bad that I almost feel sad for Crab players. Even when you put all the effort to win a duel with it, it’s really not doing much. You get more value with not including Daring Challenger in your deck than winning his duel every turn.
Rating: 1/5
Yasuki Procurer
Overall Rating – 2.4/5
Joe (From Cincinnati) Habes
I actually like this card, which is a weird feeling for me in regards to the Crab cards in this expansion. Maybe my standards for a good Crab card are just lowering. Very few Crab 2 cost characters get 4 stats between military and political. And, on top of that, it has 0 glory, which means its action doesn’t reduce its stats in combat. As for the action, it’s basically fate production for attachments and characters, of which Crab players are very fond. At the cost of a delayed honor loss in most cases (when it leaves play if it’s still dishonored). The main downside is that if you want more than 1 fate out of it, you need to re-honor it somehow. Otherwise, once you use its ability, it is just a blank 2/2/0. It’s a courtier, which helps with courtier specific cards like For Shame. It probably won’t see all that much play now, but when Crab loses Keeper of Water and Mantis Tenkinja, it’ll probably be played in more decks.
Rating: 3/5
Travis (Fights Dragons) McDaniel
This is basically a 2 cost 2/2 with a 1 fate rebate at the cost of an honor, so I’ll just call it a 1 cost 2/2 for point of comparison. Is that good enough? Not really, especially because this is probably the last character you will choose to honor with an honor effect. I doubt this makes any waves after the first month.
Rating: 2/5
(Handsome) Dan Mui
Crab struggles the most with their economy since so many of their conflict cards cost at least 1 fate. Yasuki Procurer helps to alleviate the issue and could potentially find his way into some Crab decks, much like the very similar Mantis Tenkinja. His Courtier keyword is much less relevant to Crab, but he may be worth trying to squeeze into a very tight dynasty deck.
Rating: 3/5
Aneil (Mind’s Desire) Seetharam
This character is fine, 2 cost for a 2/2/0 is fine, it’s ability is also fine. Not much to write home about, a better Mantis Tenkinja arguably but no shugenja trait, although another courtier is nice.
Rating: 2/5
Nicolas (Chuterêve) Simonpietri
Yasuki Procurer is nothing terrible but nothing impressive either. I just don’t see it worth a slot unless maybe you want to experiment with a courtier version of Crab with For Shame! That being said, Mantis Tenkinja is seeing some rare plays so maybe this guy will at some point.
Rating: 2/5
Siege Captain
Overall Rating – 2/5
Joe (From Cincinnati) Habes
If I wanted a 3 cost generic character with high military and no relevant traits, then I’d play Intimidating Hida (which I don’t at the moment). And the Hida’s ability is worth more than 1 military strength (and 1 less political skill). The 2 glory is also, generally, a negative in a clan that has no native honoring tools outside of Court Games, Shameful Display and Fire Rings.
In a straight aggro deck, this may see play just as a good generic charge/military duel card, but it probably won’t see regular or widespread play. This character probably should have been a berserker. Then it may have been useful in the eventual berserker themed decks.
Rating: 2/5
Travis (Fights Dragons) McDaniel
It’s a statstick! And not a bad one, at least on the surface. Decent traits and 5 military mean I could very well be underestimating this card, but I think Crab has better options than this. Lion would actually sacrifice babies to Fu Leng for this type of card though.
Rating: 2/5
(Handsome) Dan Mui
This character screams Lion, from the five military to the Commander trait. Unfortunately he’s in blue. Vanilla stats are not the worst thing in the world, but in a clan that already wasn’t running Intimidating Hida anymore, the Crab Magma Rager will be hard pressed to find a home.
Rating: 2/5
Aneil (Mind’s Desire) Seetharam
I love vanilla cards, and this is the biggest of the bunch. Good old magma rager made its way into L5R and unfortunately it’s not very good in this game either. Intimidating Hida is very similar and has a relevant, if easily avoided, ability.
Rating: 2/5
Nicolas (Chuterêve) Simonpietri
It is funny to me that there were so few vanilla cards in the game until now. You would think that core set would be ideal for it. Siege Captain would probably have seen some play here but 2 cycles and 2 clan packs later, I have strong doubts about it.
A good ability is always worth slightly lower stats so Siege Captain won’t make the cut. At least CTM on it does nothing I guess.
Rating: 2/5
Hida Yakamo
Overall Rating – 3.4/5
Joe (From Cincinnati) Habes
I don’t think this card will see much play in the meta deck that is Crab splash Unicorn, since that deck is built to pressure honor, so being less honorable than your opponent is, generally, not a goal of the deck. That said, I think Yakamo could very easily be the cornerstone of a future Berserker deck, especially if Crab gets more military duels (much like they had in the old L5R game) and a stronghold that helps mitigate the weakness of low political or political dashes on several berserkers. Probably won’t see much play now, but has potential for the future. I can’t rate it higher until I see those pieces come to fruition, but for now a 3 for potential is a good score for a Crab card in this pack.
Rating: 3/5
Travis (Fights Dragons) McDaniel
Yakamo is a pretty sweet card, basically gaining a free Sashimono while you are less honorable with some nice equity against harmful duels if that’s ever relevant. He doesn’t fit super well into the current meta Crab plays due to cards like Watch Commander and Spyglass driving your opponent lower in honor over time. He might see fringe play now as an early game play before Crab grinds your honor to dust, but Yakamo is really just waiting for a new deck type to really shine.
Rating: 3/5
(Handsome) Dan Mui
I rate Yakamo a 4 for the time being because his effect is strong (Sashimono while at lower honor), but the current Crab deck just doesn’t have the space to play him without some serious retooling. I anticipate a large uptick in the number of Berserkers for Crab in the future. But until Aggro Crab becomes more fully established, Yakamo will not see much play. Keep an eye on him, though.
Rating: 4/5
Aneil (Mind’s Desire) Seetharam
This card is cool, he has a cool ability that isn’t too hard to turn on and his stats are good. However he just isn’t better than current options in the current deck. If Crab wants to go more berserker centric I could see him getting a slot. If Crab end up getting a playable berserker box expect to see this card more.
Rating: 3/5
Nicolas (Chuterêve) Simonpietri
After three mediocre Crab cards, finally a decent one ! The stats are good for a 4 drop, the Berseker and Duellist traits might be relevant now or later. If the ability is on, it’s always great value as Crab especially wants to tower a character that will not bow easily or can ready itself. Even the not losing duel clause might end up being relevant with all the new duels.
So what is making people doubt that Hida Yakamo is an auto-include in the current Crab/Uni deck ? Probably the fear that the requirement for the ability will not be always on (but it’s ok anyway because he will always be CTM’d so who cares). From my knowledge of Crab, I think that it will not be very hard to have less honor than your opponent against most clans. Scorpion might obviously be an issue but they seem to have fallen from grace anyway.
Rating: 4/5
Heavy Ballista
Overall Rating – 1.8/5
Joe (From Cincinnati) Habes
The first of the “quarter crab cards.” Why are they called that? Because they can only be played/used in a quarter of the game’s conflict types: Military Defense. Not only that, but it also is negative card advantage. Did I mention it also gives your opponent a choice between two effects? A lot of restrictions there. I think it could see play if Crab gets more conflict deck recursion (so they can discard a card and then re-play it later) such as Mitsu or Kyūden Isawa (Or maybe Warm Welcome). Until then, I just don’t see this card being played.
Rating: 2/5
Travis (Fights Dragons) McDaniel
This only works in 1 out of 4 potential conflicts a turn, when you are defending their military attack. Then, you have to discard a card as a cost, which means instead of gaining some free advantage like most holdings this just turns one of your cards into a bad Mirumoto’s Fury. Then add on the fact that this effect is face-up in a province and your opponent knows and can play around it willingly and it’s just a really hard sell.
Rating: 1/5
(Handsome) Dan Mui
Heavy Ballista has one or two too many restrictions to see play. It’s conflict type locked, only usable on defense, and requires you to discard a card. The effect is decent enough, but definitely not at the cost it asks you to pay.
Rating: 2/5
Aneil (Mind’s Desire) Seetharam
This card sucks, only works on mil while defending and then your OPPONENT gets to choose the outcome. On a positive note ballistae are cool.
Rating: 1/5
Nicolas (Chuterêve) Simonpietri
Really too much requirements even if the final effect can potentially be very oppressive.
Rating: 2/5
Guardian of Virtue
Overall Rating – 2.6/5
Joe (From Cincinnati) Habes
Another decent card for Crab (again, I’ve learned to lower my standards for Crab cards). A 2/2/1 for 2 is not a bad statline and composure is actually pretty great on conflict characters. Generally, the major downside of composure, in my opinion, is that if the character is in play, your opponent can always just bid 1 and guarantee the composure is turned off, since you cannot, at this time, bid 0. With this character, you can at least surprise your opponent with the composure effect. The composure effect itself isn’t bad either, as you basically get a free Mountain Does Not Fall. While Mountaining a 2/2/1 2 cost character isn’t fantastic, character participation of any kind is powerful in its own right. The role restriction is annoying though.
Rating: 3/5
Travis (Fights Dragons) McDaniel
Solid conflict character with a decent effect that current crab can possibly utilize, stats that are nothing special, but a bad cost slot means this one gets a solid “meh” from me overall.
Rating: 3/5
(Handsome) Dan Mui
This is a perfectly reasonable conflict character who has decent stats and a decent Composure ability. However, it also has the terrible misfortune of being Air role only. As such, it remains decidedly average but will likely not see play.
Rating: 3/5
Aneil (Mind’s Desire) Seetharam
This character with composure is passable and without being composed it’s unplayable. So in the end it’s a cool new conflict character that isn’t good enough.
Rating: 2/5
Nicolas (Chuterêve) Simonpietri
More conflict character is nice but this one looks like a box filler. It has the statline of a Hiruma ambusher but with an effect that is really not what you seek on a 2 drop. Even without the composure requirement and the (very unnecessary) role requirement it would not have been good enough to see serious play.
Rating: 2/5
Honed Nodachi
Overall Rating – 1/5
Joe (From Cincinnati) Habes
Now we’re back on track. Let’s see. First, you have to play it. It costs 2 fate, which is a barrier for all attachments in general. Then, your opponent has to have no characters with marginal value (like a 1 or 2 coster that has no fate on it) in the conflict. Then, you have to win the conflict (which means your opponent can just remove it if it ever becomes a threat of activating, so it doesn’t require immediate reaction). Then, you have to spend a fate off of your character (meaning your character cannot use the ability if it has 0 fate on it, which isn’t uncommon for Crab characters because of all their saves). Then, your opponent chooses a character in the conflict to discard (in which there is, guaranteed, a window to play a conflict character if the need arises before this card triggers). Even with Assassination and Way of the Crab at your disposal, the cost and conditions are so prohibitive that, if this card ever does anything of substance for you, you’re either so far ahead that you don’t even need this card’s effect to win or you’re playing the worst and/or most unfortunate player in the world. Jade Tetsubo does this card’s job so much better and is still rarely played.
Rating: 1/5
Travis (Fights Dragons) McDaniel
I once thought if you put this on your opponent’s character that you could trigger it to make them lose a fate on their guy and then kill one of their guys. Those 20 seconds before learning you can’t spend fate on your opponent’s character as you don’t control that fate were neat.
Rating: 1/5
(Handsome) Dan Mui
Here is a two fate attachment that, much like many other expensive Crab attachments, has a chance to blow out your opponent. However, on top of the 2 fate cost, you also have to win the conflict AND pay a fate off of your own character. Kill effects are strong indeed, but your opponent also has the opportunity to play around it since your opponent gets to choose who dies. Not good.
Rating: 1/5
Aneil (Mind’s Desire) Seetharam
So when this card got spoiled we all thought it was going to be hawk tattoo 2.0, but then we learned that you can’t pay costs with your opponent’s things such as fate. Then this card went from “god please not this shit again” to “oh it’s unplayable.”
Rating: 1/5
Nicolas (Chuterêve) Simonpietri
And people were complaining that Bushi trait wasn’t doing enough !
More seriously, I don’t even think this is the 2 cost weapon you want to run if you had to choose one. For sure, when played during the conflict when you are about to win, it can really have some blowout situations but even then, it’s far from reliable.
Rating: 1/5
Smuggling Deal
Overall Rating – 3/5
Joe (From Cincinnati) Habes
I could see this card being splashed by other clans more often than it is played in Crab. That’s less an indictment of its text and more a commentary on the relatively subpar triggered abilities printed on Crab characters. As of this typing, the only characters in Crab that are typically played and that have actions that could be beneficially repeated by this card are Shuichi, Witch Hunter and Shrewd Yasuki. In Shuichi’s and the Yasuki’s cases, you’re trading a 2 honor swing and a card for a fate and a minorly filtered card, respectively. Not a great exchange in either case. Witch Hunter is the main target for this card, but that’s not nearly enough to justify its inclusion, especially in a clan that typically enjoys dishonor pressuring their opponent. Giving away an honor is not ideal for a deck with this type of pressure strategy. I could see it being splashed into other clans though.
Rating: 3/5
Travis (Fights Dragons) McDaniel
This is a really neat card with a spicy cost of giving 1 honor to use any character’s ability twice that round. The cost means you really need to hit something worthwhile with this and outside of Satoshi and Witchhunter for Crab, I don’t see much else worth the cost. The real question for this card right now is whether another deck can potentially make use of it in the Crab splash. One for the future, for sure, so keep an eye on this one.
Rating: 3/5
(Handsome) Dan Mui
There are some very powerful abilities in this game, and being able to use them twice is certainly something worth considering. However, Crab doesn’t have many of these abilities yet, and the card is also a very costly 3 influence for other clans. I don’t expect this to see much play now, but somewhere down the line someone will be making good use of this card.
Rating: 3/5
Aneil (Mind’s Desire) Seetharam
This card is really cool and I like the space it’s occupying, however it’s not a truly negligible cost and it’s not good on every board. The final nail in the coffin is 3 influence, this card might see play as a splash down the road or in crab once they get more busted abilities.
Rating: 2/5
Nicolas (Chuterêve) Simonpietri
The art make you realize why Yoritomo is wearing an edgy mantis mask in his own card. Truly the Kylo Ren of L5R.
That being said, this is the kind of card that can have very strong and oppressive interactions. If none are found right now, this will inevitably be the case in the future.
In the meantime, there is not that much interaction with the current Crab decks and smuggling deal but being able to use Witch Hunter or Shrewd Yasuki twice is a turn is already an interesting deal, making it worth testing as a 1x. As a splash card, despite the big 3 influence cost, there is already very strong interaction to be found. The thought of Smuggling Deal in Dragon deck is scary.
Rating: 4/5
In Defense of Rokugan
Overall Rating – 2.8/5
Joe (From Cincinnati) Habes
This is the other “quarter crab card” in the pack, cards that can only be played in a quarter of the conflict types: Military Defense (this one can technically be played in Political Defense conflicts as well, but the impact of that is marginal outside of setting up a military bully duel or rout). Now, this one actually has a reasonable effect. Sacrifice a character to set a character’s military strength to 0. While that is an impressive effect, it’s important to remember that Crab’s current stronghold means that every character that defends is worth 1 strength in addition to whatever other stats they provide. So, if a character that you sacrifice has 2 strength, then he would be 3 strength with the stronghold effect. If you’re sacrificing that character to set a character to 0, then that effect needs to make up for that lost military strength. So, unless you’re zeroing a 8 strength character, you’d be better off just playing Banzai! (since banzai = 4 strength + the 3 strength you lost to the sacrifice = 7.). Blanking a 7 strength character by sacrificing a 3 strength character is a net gain of 4 military strength, but then costs you a fate, meaning you’d still rather play Banzai! There is the outlier play where you Favorable Grounds in a bowed character or your opponent bows a character in the conflict. Then you don’t lose any strength for the sacrifice but…this path to attempted relevance is getting kind of long. Not only that, but it also costs a fate! Come on now…I think it’ll see some play because Dragon can get to such stupid high numbers, but I don’t think it’ll feel very good in many other match ups.
Rating: 2/5
Travis (Fights Dragons) McDaniel
Solidly okay card that has some real game as a defensive option. Being able to turn any stud into a chud by just sacrificing one of your Envoys or conflict characters is a powerful effect, but being used only on defense keeps it in check from being really busted.
Rating: 3/5
(Handsome) Dan Mui
“Set” is an extremely powerful effect, and being able to set to 0 can put a huge wrench in your opponents’ plans. However, this card comes with a steep cost of having to sacrifice a character, and it only works on military defense, limiting the power level of the card. I would expect to see this played as a 1x tech card in some Crab decks.
Rating: 3/5
Aneil (Mind’s Desire) Seetharam
Set is an insanely powerful keyword, so I’m loathe to write off anything that can apply this status. This card does have some setup and conflict restrictions, but it does give another sacrifice outlet along with its powerful effect.
Rating: 3/5
Nicolas (Chuterêve) Simonpietri
Costs 1 fate, the sacrifice of a character, only works on defense and with military stat. You would think that it’s too much requirement to make the card good but the effect can be so good that In Defense of Rokugan is still worth considering. Still, finding room to fit this card in an already pricey Crab conflict deck might prove very hard.
Rating: 3/5
