Dragons and the New Restricted List

Well, the madmen and women over there at FFG went and did it.  They published a new restricted list.  Before I say anything else, here's the list:

They went way further with the new list than I thought they would.  This list hits just about everyone, but it has some very interesting implications for Dragon because, in my opinion, it streamlines our decision and and "forces" us to pick a restricted list card.  Can you guess what it is?

Before I tell you the answer, let's look at the new restrictions individually:

Niten Master

Goodbye old paint.  When the game first came out, Niten Master felt unstoppable.  I swear that I felt like I was just winning the game in two turns whenever I flopped one of these bad boys.  As the game progressed, however, I wanted to buy Niten Master less and less.  See, Niten Master didn't become worse of a card, but our other options just got better as the meta warped.  Buying a Kitsuki Investigator or Mirumoto Raitsugu with a million fate just felt better.  Couple those cards with the powerful monk package, and Niten Master really just started to feel like a broken crutch.

As many commentators  have pointed out (including Aneil, aka Mind's Desire), when you've gone and restricted Pathfinder's Blade, you really restrict the power level of Niten Master if you chose it as your restricted list card. 

If you chose Niten Master, you're requiring yourself to run all three Fine Katanas and all three Ancestral Daishos, not exactly something you want to be doing with modern day Dragon decks.  Putting yourself all in on just one card can leave yourself open to so many blow outs, and I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but Niten Master's high glory count makes it a liability in more than a few matchups.  Couple that with the fact that you sometimes just don't flip a Niten Master when you've built your deck 100% around him, and you have more than enough reasons to not choose Niten Master as your restricted list card.  Welcome to the new age of the Dragon clan; I, for one, welcome our new Restricted List overlords.

Pathfinder's Blade

This card has been my bread and butter since the first rendition of the restricted list came out.  Nothing feels better than face checking a province in the dark, it being a busted province like an opposing Feast or Famine, and just laughing because what it was never really mattered in the first place.  Unfortunately, this card loses a lot of value because Niten Master got the ax.  There are better options in other clans that allow us to play more powerful restricted list cards.

What's that more powerful card, you ask?  Well...it's obviously:

Void Fist

After casting this card literally once, I was hooked.  Your Monks have the ability to get so large, and if you don't have a monk, you can turn one on with a Seal of the Dragon, and Seal counts as one of your two cards for the conflict!  Void Fist in the middle of a political battle is one of the greatest feelings I've ever had while playing this game, and flashing back a Void Fist with a Togashi Mitsu is almost unfair. 

Void Fist wins conflicts on offense, it wins them on defense, it's good when you're ahead, and it's good when you're behind.  This card checks all of the boxes to be an all time great.  Pathfinder's Blade is bad when you're behind because you're likely not attacking, and Niten Master is only as good as the amount of medium weapons you want in your deck.

Void Fist is an easy 10/10.  The "problem" of having to play two other cards in the same conflict isn't much of a problem when you consider that you're easily going to win the conflict when this resolves.

It should stand to reason then, that this is my restricted card of choice that I'll be focusing my testing on, and it isn't particularly close.

Post-Restricted List Decklists
A lot of this theory crafting is great, but let's see some actual decks, huh?  First, I wanna thank Mind's Desire for granting me the permission to use some lists he's already brewed.  He's an absolute workhouse when it comes to this stuff, and I'm going to be using his decks as a jumping off point.  So when I talk about each deck, I'm not critiquing his work for the sake of being critical.  I'm evaluating them in my own context and discussing why I like the lists over one another.

Dragon Unicorn

The first thing you will notice here is the Keeper of Void role choice.  No Pathfinder's Blade means you can abandon the Seeker role and go and grab the powerful Talisman of the Sun and some Keeper Initiates for your trouble.  I like this list a lot because Iuchi Wayfinder solves the problem you have by not playing Pathfinder's Blade, and Gaijin Customs is again one of those cards that's great in all phases of the game and pairs well with Void Fist and its ilk.

Mind's Desire has said that this list lives or dies by Spyglass, so when you test this list, you may want to mulligan to that card.  You also may notice that you play Kitsuki Yaruma again.  This card has great game with Talisman of the Sun mobility, it gives us a slight corner back in political battles, and has random game against Scorpion attachments that have been creeping up.  This list will be the first that I test.

Dragon Phoenix

I didn't mention it up top because it didn't directly impact Dragon players, but Against the Waves came off the restricted list!  This is great news because it allows us to defend with a shugenja/monk, void fist as a defender (or attacker), and unbow to cause havoc all over again!

Shrine Maiden is a good add to our deck because a lot of cards are now Kiho (Monk package) or Spells (Phoenix).  This version of the deck has 14 cards that are one or the other, and having about a third of your deck a live draw to Shrine Maiden means that you should hit with each time you play her.

Embrace the Void is a great way to buy back some of the money that you'll lose with this expensive deck.  Dragons runs expensive anyway, and Shrine Maiden and Against the Waves doesn't help.  Getting some value back from a loaded up Kudaka or Raitsugu.

Speaking of Kudaka, the Dynasty side of the deck looks WILD with Kudaka and Enigmatic Magistrate.  Kudaka is a shugenja, which is necessary with playing the Embrace the Void, but Enigmatic is something that I'm gonna try, but don't know a whole lot about.  I'm excited to try this list because Phoenix splash was my first true love as Dragon, but I'm going to be fiddling with the Dynasty deck a lot, I imagine.

Dragon Crab

Hello old faithful!  Honestly, if I had a major tournament tomorrow with the new restricted list, I would be playing this.  The other splashes are too new and too untuned for me to dive right in.  This deck, however, doesn't change a lot.  Reprieve's protect you from a whole host of Rokugani madness that you don't get protection from against other decks, and The Mountain Does Not Fall on an Agasha Sumiko is like experiencing true love for the first time.

Dragon Discord and some other sources have discussed adding another Banzai! and cutting an Ornate Fan, but I'm not sure.  I hate giving up game in Political conflicts when the deck is already soft to political at times.  Then again, with Agasha Sumiko, who knows?  This won't be the first deck I play with at my local leagues, but it's likely that I take it some of the elemental championships after the new year.

Your Thoughts?

Fellow Dragons, what say you?  What are you brewing with?  Any splashes catching your eye?  I'm a big fan of conversation, so please hit me up here, on Discord, or twitter.

Thanks!