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In this article, I intend on mentioning the different styles of play that are available for someone wanting to play L5R. Each style of play has its upside and downside to play, and it all depends on your level of play, and the level of play of those in your area (or how far you wish to travel). These different types can be divided up into 4 groups, tournament, sealed deck, casual, and multiplayer.
First, I would like to discuss tournament play. Depending on your area, you might have to travel a long distance to even find the nearest L5R tournament. While L5R is the 3rd most popular CCG on the market, it trails the leading two by a wide margin. Once you've found a tournament, you need a deck. Your deck needs to be the best possible deck it can be, and in order to do that, you need to have the right cards. Good deckbuilding and play can only go so far, you still need the best cards to back you up. Of course, it depends on the enviroment that you are in to determine how many of those good cards you need. In order to get the right cards, you can always find them on auction sites and in some game stores for a decent price. The decks in tournaments tend to be fast, very fast. It's hard to compete without some of the fastest gold producing cards like Inheritence, One Koku, Merchant Caravans, and Hiruma Dojos. And you almost never see a tournament winning decklist without a Clan Sword in it, which is very hard to get without paying quite a bit. Extended Jade tournaments do solve some of these problems, and Strict Jade solves more of them, and with Gold coming up soon, it will once again bring all players on the same level (for a while), unless it goes the route of Strict Jade, and only becomes a minor option for the more popular option of open.
Sealed deck tournaments are completely different. This style of tournament completely eliminates card advantage that some players could have. In this type of tournament, it's all about how good you play, and how lucky you are. Another advantage of this, is that everyone comes out a winner, coming home with the cards they used. I don't know how well it would work, but it would be interesting to see if a type of draft could work in L5R, using a starter, and drafting so many dynasty and fate cards seperately. If anyone thinks this is an interesting idea and wants to try it (or has tried it) please E-Mail me.
Casual play, is typically played by friends, or beginners, or people that just don't have too many cards. These games typically tend to be longer, occasionally depleting the dynasty deck. Unfortunately, it will often come down to who gets the rallying cry first in the case of two military decks facing off. Although, this type of play can lead to interesting and fun theme decks, based on an unusual aspect of a clan, or even one that pertains to a specific event in Rokugan's history. There are also different styles that have interesting methods of deckbuilding.
There is Highlander, where every card is considered unique for deckbuilding purposes. It brings out a lot of less used cards and leads itself to broader deck types.
There is also commons only where each player agrees to only use common cards and leave out all the uncommons and rares. This puts everyone on a level playing field, leaving them with a more even card base. It also takes out most of the power cards that can bring a lot of... well power to decks.
You can even come up with your own variations based on just about anything you want. You could make a cheap game, where every personality comes out for 2 less gold. You could have a continual Imperial Wedding, where holdings come in play unbowed, and personalities come in play bowed. Or you could Have a game where each person can choose one continual effect event to start out with (more guidelines might be needed to prevent this from being abused). The possibilities are endless.
Multiplayer games are not seen very often (or at least, I don't see them too often), but can lead to very interesting possibilities. Especially with allying becoming a major factor, leading sometimes to betrayal, other times to merely ganging up on one player. These games can often take a very long time, especially games with 4 or more players. But they can still be very fun, and interesting. The only exeption is during a large battle that you are not a part of. That's usually when you go get a snack. As for the strategies in deckbuilding involved, you usually want a bigger deck than just 40/40 or else you'll run out of cards while another army gets bigger. This type of play also sees some of the bigger personalities come out people like Doji Satsume, or some of the Heroes of Rokugan. This is also where you can bring into play those actual multiplayer cards that have previously been used for coasters before.
Another type of Multiplayer game is a team game. It has a few modified rules to make honor running a little harder (60 for one person or 70 between the two, no honor for allying with your teammate) This can bring strategies for complimentary decks, like maybe a Ninja/Kolat holding destruction with a personality destruction. Even if you pick your teammate at random, it's still a lot of fun.
Well, those are the different types of play. One is not generally better than the other, but
they all have thier good points and bad. A large part of what type of games that you choose
to play is your environment, and your level of experience. Personally, I favor casual play,
since I am lacking the cards (and the money to get those cards) to make the best decks I can
make. But I still enjoy the game.