Today we release our first set after the new Core Set. In Under the Empress’ Eyes (UEE), we bring 3 cards per clan and 9 Neutral cards, for a total of 30 cards in the set.
Our focus in this set is to ensure all clans have a good coverage of their main characteristics in the Emerald Legacy collection, and we also bring support for minor Traits painting a better picture of all that it takes to run an empire. With the release of UEE the cards from the Elemental Cycle are rotated, making space for a refreshed meta.
A Change Of Style
This set also inaugurates a new pattern in how we produce and release sets. We are embracing the benefits of having a longer development cycle, but we’re doing this development closer to the community in general. As we’ve seen since the release of the core set, with a longer time between releasing cards and completing their illustrations, we gain an opportunity to fine tune cards and adjust them based on player feedback and collected data. We believe releasing smaller sets combined with an open feedback cycle will be superior to our previous pattern of building larger sets in closed playtesting. This new way should give better results and with higher efficiency.
The New Strongholds
Four clans receive new strongholds, bringing all clans into equality when it comes to the number of Emerald Legacy (EL) strongholds available to them.
The Crab Clan jumps straight into desperate conditions with the Ebony Blood Garrison, but they drag their opponent with them into this desperation. The Ebony Blood Garrison is a singular stronghold with an ability that can be triggered only once per game, a mini theme of the Crab Clan. As soon as the players finish buying their first characters, disaster strikes and both players lose a province! Both players are thrown into a dire situation from the start, but the Crab are trained to prevail under threat since they drew their first breath; can their opponents do the same? The stronghold brings a unique playstyle for a high stakes game, and its potential combos with provinces that react on reveal or on break pave the way for a stronghold with many strategies to explore.
The Dragon sharpen their swords and wits when they join the Tranquil Overlook Dōjō. Being the first stronghold to have a built-in duel, the Tranquil Overlook Dōjō offers a degree of control to the Dragon. When the Dragon wins a duel they get an opportunity to learn which tricks the opponent holds and to get rid of one of those tricks, paving the way for the Dragon to dominate with straight dynasty side advantage. The stronghold also offers some support to the Kitsuki, letting them exploit their abilities that rely on revealing cards from the opponent’s hand.
The Phoenix Clan displays its pacifist side with the Inquisitor’s Grove, a stronghold that hides deep tactical play behind a simple ability. With the capacity to force the attacker to send a character home, the Inquisitor’s Grove baits the opponent into overcommitment. Its ability has the potential to deal with large characters if they come unaccompanied, but it can also reach them even if they brought companions, should the Phoenix be able to sequence their defense carefully to get rid of the smaller characters first. Opponents that consider going wide to avoid the stronghold must watch out for Phoenix’s capacity of fate stripping. The Inquisitor’s Grove can serve well for strategies focused on winning by honor, but its capacity to dominate the early game also lets it be useful for conquest strategies, and lastly, just by virtue of slowing the game down, it can fit well into dishonor strategies.
The Scorpion Clan invites their opponents to the Theatre of Honest Lies, a multi-faceted stronghold where nothing is certain; not even which trick the Theatre of Honest Lies will perform each round. In the intricate kabuki of the Shosuro, the renown of outsiders helps hide the indiscretions of the Scorpion, and the crimes of others become dangerous tools with which to pressure their opponents. It is an exquisite dance, but make no mistake: the man under the lights is not the leader of the spectacle, the choreographer hides in the shadows.
The Law, the Condemnation, and a Cat
The Crane Clan flexes their dominion of the courts with Truth Burns Through Lies. This Technique allows courtiers to make lower samurai reveal their disgraceful behavior, and Magistrates get to apply this ability also on higher cost samurai.
The Unicorn Clan are assigned by the Lords of Death to be executors of the Sigil of Condemnation! By attaching a Sigil of Condemnation to an opponent’s character their life is doomed; as soon as they find themselves outnumbered by the Unicorn during a military defense, the Unicorn player can trigger the action on the sigil to discard the condemned character. The character that receives a Sigil of Condemnation gains the ability to run away as a dishonored coward, but their cowardly ways cannot save them forever. If they survive their first encounter, they would be well advised to avoid defending against future Unicorn attacks, as their lives will be constantly in danger.
The Lion Clan adds another member to their beastmaster family with the arrival of Shineko. A mighty cat and skillful stalker of prey, Shineko can also become a huge distraction in the battlefield, leaving the field open for the warriors of the Lion to triumph over their opponents.
A New Dawn and New Champions
Among the Neutral cards of the set we find Tribute to a New Dawn. This high cost event punishes strategies that rely on overloading the board with attachments. Once Tribute to a New Dawn is played, each player chooses 2 attachments of theirs to keep, and all other attachments get removed from the game. Note that players can protect their attachments regardless of what card is holding their attachment; they can protect attachments on their characters, opponent’s characters, or provinces for example. Attachments are considered the strongest card type in the game, often providing high value at low cost across multiple rounds. With Tribute to a New Dawn, we introduce a balancing tool to keep them in check.
On September 7, 2024 the Crane won the Test of the Coral Champion in Seattle (USA), and on June 21, 2024 the Crab won the Test of the Pearl Champion in Nürnberg (Germany). The Crab winner, Hida Suka, chose to have the new Pearl Champion be based on Chronicler of Calamities. The Crane winner, Tancho, chose to have the new Coral Champion based on Paragon of Grace. With Under the Empress’ Eyes we deliver the two new cards representing those champions: Yasuki Yoshi, and Kakita Mio.
What Will Happen Next?
The ten cards we mentioned here and the other 20 cards in the expansion are already available in the Emerald DB. The cards will be available in Jigoku in the next few days.
The rotation of the Elemental Cycle also removes a few cards that were a part of the Restricted List. For now there will be no other changes to the Restricted List, we must see how the meta settles after the new expansion before introducing any other changes to the Restricted List.
Let us know what you think of the cards! Do you like them? Which do you like most? Comment on this blog post, let us know on facebook, reddit, or discord. We need your help and feedback to be able to balance the cards and make it another great set.
All cards are also available as a digital download on our products page.
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