I think they’ll go about Mantis and Spider clan in the same way they did Tyranids and Necrons in Conquest and make them a deluxe box addition.
Lion, crane, crab, Phoenix, dragon, scorpion, and unicorn being the original great clans is more than enough for a core set.
Technically Scorpion didn’t get added till Shadowlands. Crab, Crane, Dragon, Lion, Phoenix, Unicorn where the original clans in Imperial Edition.
I’d be genuinely surprised if Scorp doesn’t make it into the core set. A lot of people really like them.
I had forgotten that they weren’t added until the first expansion. I haven’t played since 2008.
I am very excited for this game! Just reading through this thread has reminded me of all the reasons why I enjoyed L5R.
I grew up playing L5R as my only real CCG, and I ultimately left it because I just couldn’t keep up with the cost. I went to one big tournament and was frustrated that I wasn’t able to really stand a big chance because I was missing some of the most expensive cards.
The LCG model was the entire reason I fell in love with Netrunner. I love creating decks and tweaking them to make them shine. I could never really afford to do that with L5R as a CCG. I also couldn’t easily switch between my 2-3 top favorite decks, because I couldn’t afford to buy the best cards for each faction.
I think L5R will appeal to a lot of people who love Netrunner, because I think a lot of the core game features will translate well. I think Influence as a mechanic would work well for setting limits on how many out-of-faction cards you can have in a deck. The ability to influence the creation of cards or game flavors is a lot like being able to create a card for winning ANR Worlds. Bowing cards in L5R was a mechanic very much like tapping resources in MtG, or Netrunner cards that can only be used 1/turn. I still think of “bowing” Kati Jones when I use her. 
I expect that FFG would reduce the minimum deck sizes, which would help speed up the game a little and reduce the impact of variance. I also think the military sequence would need to change. Imagine how Netrunner would feel if you determined success of a run by adding up the strength of all the Corp’s ice vs. the sum of all the runner’s program strength, and the losing side (even by 1 strength) gets trashed in its entirety. If they tie, trash everything. That’s essentially how combat worked. That felt extreme to me and led to “win more” outcomes. I much prefer Netrunner’s emphasis on resource management over the course of a game.
Has it been six months already? I want news about this game so, so badly.
I know, its a little over a year out and nothing spoiled yet. I hope its still on target for GenCon 2017 release. Do we know who the primary designers even are?
As far as I know FFG hasn’t revealed anything. I guess it’s a bit too far out to try to start the hype train. Don’t cut the ribbon until you have something to show off, etc.
Oh, you. 