Eternal

Simply put, an "eternal format" will be any structured approach to play L5R (or any CCG/LCG, for that matter) that meets the following premises: STABILITY – the deck you have legal today will still be legal tomorrow (or next year, or three years from now). It may, of course, not be optimized (as new cards enter the available pool), but it will be playable. NO STAGNATION – it’s all too easy to just “shut the door” to new cards and say “just use Emperor Edition rules with cards up to Coils of Madness”. But a true eternal format leaves the door open and allows a continued refreshment of new cards. FIXED LEGALITY START – while newer expansions are allowed to enter an eternal format, the starting point – the earliest legal expansion that can be played in the format – is fixed. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be eternal – just an extended sliding window of the “current game arc”. Why play eternal formats? There are various reasons, to each of us his own. Maybe you’re tired of your cards becoming worthless at the end of each arc. Maybe you resent having to dismantle that “pet deck” of yours when an arc ends. Maybe you are emotionally attached to some individual cards and would like to continue playing them. Maybe your life doesn’t leave you much time to deckbuild, and you’d rather play a format where decks can be “just picked up and taken to a game session” for years on end. Maybe you lack the zest, time or patience to learn yet another set of rules accompanying another new arc, and would rather keep to L5R as you know it. Maybe the “current game arc” has no appeal to you – either because you don’t fancy any of your clan’s present themes, or because you feel they are not competitive etc. In any of the above, you would do well to take a break from the current arc, and try out something different. What do you have to lose, after all? Wait, isn't there already a Legacy format? And a BigDeck format? Indeed - defined here and here, respectively. The Eternal Ruleset (like BigDeck) draws extensively from the “official” Legacy rules, but with a focus on game balance, not contemporary functionality. This leads to both rules differences between the Legacy rules and The Eternal Ruleset, and a distinct banned cards list between the Legacy format and the Open format here described. Essentially: - if you feel that gameplay in Eternal formats should approximate, as closely as possible, that of the current game arc, you may want to go for Legacy; - if you just enjoy playing old/nostalgic/powerful cards with a stronger element of randomness and consequently a lesser strategic focus on consistency, you may want to go for BigDeck; - if you'd like to play in a fast-paced "normal" constructed format, forcibly as brutal and powerful as any of the game arcs that comprise its card pool, BUT avoiding the more insane card interactions and rules exploits that riddle "canon" Legacy, it should be worth trying out The Eternal Ruleset in the Open format. Finally, remember the distinction between Ruleset and Formats: there's nothing stopping you from picking just the Eternal Ruleset and using it under e.g. BigDeck format...