Come one at a time, or don't come at all.

It hasn't been a friendly environment for big Personalities in the L5R TCG lately, with many decks containing nothing but "off-the-box" Personalities. After all, it generally doesn't matter if your army is made up of one 5F Clan Champion or five IF individuals. Force is Force.

Come One at a Time bucks those trends. This Terrain lets a single defender issue challenge after challenge, which favors big, well-equipped Personalities over swarms of 2F/2C Personalities. If all goes well, Come One at a Time can destroy just over 50 percent of an attacking army, with the rest running away. Because it all hinges on a single defender, a battle with Come One at a Time in play is a great opportunity to play Legendary Victory.

Now, many dueling decks hire cheap 4 Personalities and use Reactions that trigger on entering a duel to win them. That's fine, but a lot of tricks (e.g., the Double Chi Kiho) only work for one duel (Togashi Yoshi and Toshimoko Sensei are notable exceptions). Remember, you'll almost always be outnumbered using Come One at a Time. Having tricks up your sleeve only wins you so many duels.

The risk is that this card only lets one defender issue challenges. A lone Personality is vulnerable, and you obviously can't stop everything that your opponent might throw at your armies. But with a little planning, you can stop a lot. It's easier to protect one Personality than many, so cards that do so (e.g., Shield Wall for ranged attacks, Obi of Protection for duels, Tsuchi-do for being sent home) become more valuable when using Come One at a Time.

Paying Come One at a Time is like getting two actions for the price of one: you prevent your opponent from playing a Terrain and start a duel before your opponent can act. After that initial duel, Hiruma Sensei gives you the extra time needed to issue challenges.

Although you'll typically only want to assign a single defender, so that you can start a duel immediately, it can be worth playing this Terrain when you have more than one defending unit. Besides preventing your opponent from playing a Terrain, it can force your opponent to leave other units in the battle, so that you never have a single defender capable of wiping out the attacking army with duels.

Some combos take advantage of the fact that this Terrain allows your opponent to chicken out. They're fun to act out! If your opponent starts to bail out of the battle, snarl "Coward!" as the unit retreats. Drop Cowardice from your hand to sting for a 5-point Honor hit and a Dishonored Personality. Or smugly announce, "You can go ... this time," before you play Let Him Escape. Because Let Him Escape diminishes your foe's hand, it makes it harder for remaining units to survive your next duels.

Of course, it may be better if your opponent can't leave. Playing Come One at a Time at a Province with Beiden Pass attached, or with Winter Warfare in effect, can get bloody.

Being able to destroy a lot of enemy Personalities is usually reward enough, but wouldn't it be nice to get something more for winning all of those duels? In Sepulcher of Bone decks, every duel won creates another Follower token on your side. Daidoji Kademono gains +1 Chi for every duel he wins, making him a more and more formidable opponent as the battle wears on. But could any card be more appropriate in a combo with Come One at a Time than a Bloodsword? Imagine Ginawa on the battlefield, surrounded by an ever-widening pile of bodies, while the dreadful power of the blade grows ....

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