L5R Gates of Chaos card preview – Hoshoku-sha

Hoshoku-sha

Today’s Legend of the Five Rings preview for Gates of Chaos is Hoshoku-sha, an unaligned Personality card. Mechanically a very simple card, this wani or sea dragon, gives us a great bit of flavor and versatility. Despite the addition of the Tireless keyword in the Coils of Madness expansion, traditionally bowed Personalities offer very little in a game of L5R. Over the course of a battle, Hoshoku-sha allows us to turn these impactless cards into more Force, giving second life to cards your opponent has already expended resources on to neutralize.

Where Hoshoku-sha gets more versatility is in the fact its ability is usable not just in a battle, but in the Action Phase as an Open action as well. Action phase bowing strategies have been employed by defensive decks for years, and even a single Hoshoku-sha gives you the option to maintain immediate pressure on these control decks, even at the expense of the long game.

One of the really interesting aspects of the card, lies purely in its lack of the Shadowlands keyword and the use of the word “rival” instead of “enemy” in the flavor text. Are these sea dragons of legend simply evil monsters or merely pragmatic forces of nature? Is their reemergence from obscurity tied to the madness of P’an Ku that has driven the Empire to it’s knees? Our questions regarding this potential powerful card surely echo that of Kuni Kiyoshi.