dbeman

@Corey: L5R is far from its “last, dying gasp.” However I assume that you may live in a locale where the game has lost its player base; or perhaps even never had one. For many CCGs that do not have mass market appeal, their player bases exist in “pockets” throughout the world: and L5R has a significant number of well filled pockets of extraordinarily dedicated players.

This is not the first time a company has offered a “try before you buy print & play” however it may be the first time a company has allowed proxies in official, tournament play.

L5R is not for everyone; there are complex layers of strategic depth that simply do not exist in other CCGs. The base rules of the game seem to change with every edition (sometimes significantly; sometimes not so much); and a lot of erratum winds up being issued with every arc.

While I would never attempt to play L5R at a tournament level, I find L5R to be the most fun multiplayer CCG ever created. If nothing else several balanced proxy decks can be built with Kolat Edition that will provide a playing group with hundreds of hours of fun. If you like it, buy it. If you don’t; maybe you’ll find something else in AEG’s catalog that will suit you better.