Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game – A Crimson Offering

“I can help you, my prince, if you will allow me.”
–Iuchi Shahai

Dire circumstances have gripped the Emerald Empire, pushing every Great Clan to make desperate choices… and perhaps to call upon dark powers better left alone. Mahō blood magic offers powers for those willing to embrace it—powers that can bring you victory in the struggles for dominance between the clans. But what will you sacrifice to claim this power, and can it possibly be worth the price you pay?

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce A Crimson Offering, the third Dynasty Pack in the Temptations cycle for Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game!

As the Temptations cycle continues, every Great Clan is pushed to make more difficult choices with the cards that they receive. The new dire keyword rewards you for walking the line of impermanence, granting your characters powerful new abilities that activate when the character has no fate remaining on it. And like the clans of Rokugan, you’ll face the temptation to include powerful mahō cards in your deck, using blood magic to gain any advantage over your opponent.

Dabbling in Blood Magic

If you’ve been waiting for the right time to invoke the kansen and start using blood magic to achieve your goals, you may just find the cards you’ve been looking for in A Crimson Offering. This Dynasty Pack is filled with Mahō Spells, offering you great power in exchange for your sacrifice. Every Mahō card demands blood—and so, you can only pay for these cards with fate on character you control. In other words, you’re shortening the life of your followers by playing these events or attachments. The effects, however, can be well worth the cost.

The Crab may arm their warriors with a potent Tetsubō of Blood (A Crimson Offering, 58), giving you a massive boost to military skill for just one fate. Or, you may play Seize the Mind (A Crimson Offering, 61), taking control of your opponent’s non-unique character! Though you’ll pay fate from your characters and lose honor for playing Seize the Mind, the benefits can be well worth it, especially if you’re able to turn the tide of a crucial conflict.

Other clans may choose to use Mahō to dishonor their own characters in service of a greater goal. The Phoenix’s Sanguine Mastery (A Crimson Offering, 63) lets them dishonor a character to discard attachments from play, while the Unicorn may embrace Bonds of Blood (A Crimson Offering, 66) and dishonor a friendly character to remove a powerful enemy from the conflict. No matter how you choose to fight, blood magic can make your fight easier. But before you start casting these foul spells, you’ll want some characters who can excel at them.

Any clan that plans to devote itself to Mahō will want to call upon the Resourceful Mahō-Tsukai (A Crimson Offering, 57), a brand-new neutral character included in this Dynasty Pack. You’ll want to dishonor the Resourceful Mahō-Tsukai as quickly as possible—so long as this character is dishonored, you’ll reduce the cost of every Mahō card you play. Even within the Great Clans, however, you’ll find samurai willing to accept the stain of blood magic to pursue their goals.

Iuchi Shahai (A Crimson Offering, 56) can devote herself to both Meishōdō and Mahō in the service of the Unicorn Clan. In fact, whenever you play one of those cards, you can lose one honor to place one fate on Iuchi Shahai, using this unnatural magic to keep her on the battlefield longer than ever. Rather than keeping your own characters in play, you may use Kaito Mai (A Crimson Offering, 53) of the Phoenix Clan to drain the life of your opponents. Whenever you remove one or more fate from Kaito Mai outside of the fate phase, such as by paying for a Mahō card, you can remove one fate from any other character!

What Will You Sacrifice?

Mahō is on the rise in the Emerald Empire, and every Great Clan must contend with its own temptations. What choices will you make, and will they secure the future of your clan, or condemn it to darkness forever? You can find out when this Dynasty Pack releases in January 2021!