Legend of the Five Rings players will get a new way to play in March. The Empire League will challenge you to create new deck types, either while playing for your favorite Clan or while trying something different. Each league season highlights a major period in Rokugani history. As in all epic events, some factions play larger roles than others, and these are the Featured Factions for the season. Featured Factions each have special play objectives that you must meet. These objectives follow the story of the season. Those who complete all of their Clan's objectives receive a title from their Clan and a special mon pin. Don't worry if your favorite Clan isn't featured this season-its time will come. You can play other factions as well, and that earns play points but does not involve special objectives or titles.

How does the league work?

The format for the Empire League is Open (40/40). You find your own opponents; there are no pairings or set rounds-but you can't play the same person twice in a row.

You can reach only one play objective per week, with the exception of the first and last weeks. You may change decks as often as you like during a season.

League Structure

Week 1: All play objectives are released with the story.
Weeks 2-5: You may fulfill one objective or faction per week (in any order).
Week 6: Fulfill as many objectives as you can.

Play Points: You earn play points through league play. You get 2 play points for a win and 1 play point for a loss. Your first victory in any given faction, however, earns you 5 (instead of 2) play points.

Does the league affect the storyline?

No. The league recreates the past; it doesn't seek to change it. The purpose of the league is to offer a fun environment in which to play the game. It challenges people to build new deck types to meet the objectives, and it rewards good play with cool prizes. It also allows players to fill in the details of the Empire's epic events.

When will it be my Clan's turn for glory?

The season dates listed below are the dates that your retailer can first get the kit for each faction. Season starting dates may vary from store to store.

Season 1: The War to Defeat Fu Leng 3/20/2000
Featured Factions:

Brotherhood
Shadowlands
Toturi's Army

Season 2: The Naga Awaken 5/15/2000
Featured Factions:

Dragon
Naga
Phoenix

Prizes and Titles

Seasonal button: Each player who earns at least 10 player points receives a league season button.

Faction mon pin: Prizes are awarded in the Featured Factions each season. The player who completes all objectives for a Featured Faction and has the highest play-point total earns the faction's mon pin and title.

Empire League pin: The player with the most play points and who has not won a Featured Faction prize earns an Empire League pin.

Each player can earn only one prize per season (with the exception of the seasonal button). If a player is eligible for more than one prize, the player chooses the prize he or she receives.

The player who earns the prize for his or her faction also earns a title for that season. The Faction titles are shown below, with their pins.

The Story

Each season highlights an epic event in the history of Rokugan. The first season tells the story of the Empire's war to defeat the forces of Fu Leng. The Featured Factions are:

Toturi's Army, representing Emperor Hantei the First leading the armies of his brothers and sisters
The Brotherhood of Shinsei, representing "the little man" Shinsei, who showed the way
The Shadowlands Horde, representing Fu Leng and his minions, who seek to conquer the Empire

Each season, four different objectives are included along with the story for each of the Featured Factions. In the War to Defeat Fu Leng, the Emperor Hantei spends years building the Emerald Empire before the invasion begins. Players representing the forces of the Emperor must do the following to complete the "Building the Empire" objective:

Bring at least one of each of the following Holdings into play: a Copper Mine, a Garden card, a Geisha House, a Gold Mine, an Iron Mine, a Marketplace, a Silver Mine, Stables, and a Temple card.

Meanwhile, Fu Leng gathered his evil horde of goblins, oni, and undead, so the players representing the Shadowlands Horde must do the following to complete the "Gathering the Horde" objective:

Bring all the Personalities in your deck into play.

For the Brotherhood's part in this tale, Shinsei gathers the Thunders and travels to the Shadowlands to defeat Fu Leng. So one of the objectives for the Brotherhood is to "Battle Fu Leng":

Win a battle in which you have assigned seven different Personalities, each representing one of the seven Major Clans (Crab, Crane, Dragon, Lion, Phoenix, Scorpion, and Unicorn).

Each league season tells the exciting story of an epic event in the Emerald Empire. Sign up for the Empire League at your local retail store-and if your store is not yet planning to run it encourage it to sign up now!

This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
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