Gates of Tengoku Previews: Shrines of Bushido

Kotei Season 2014 was unusual; it was the first Kotei season of Ivory Edition, and the story stakes for the season were more of an aggregate than an individual achievement*. Winners and high placers would earn points for their clan, as would honor winners. At the end of the season, in order of most total points, each clan would select either a Bushido Virtue, of which a member of their clan would become a Fortune, or for their clan member to become a guardian spirit of the Shrine of Three Dynasties.

None of these had been represented in card form until now. We wanted them to assist the "bushido virtue" mechanics which had been added to the game since Ivory Edition, a suite which we ultimately completed with the addition of Duty in the Road to Ruin expansion. Each has flavor text acknowledging the personality voted on by their clan to represent their placement. We also created a Kata card for the "Guardians of the Three Dynasties", as it did not feel right as a Holding (and believe it or not, this is not the end of the Holdings for Gates of Tengoku).

Only one of these cards has currently been claimed by an artist to provide us with artwork in the future (Shrine of Honor). If you are interested in tackling any of these or can point an artist to us who would be willing to try, please reach out. As they represent specific and beloved characters from the game's history, we have some notes on art direction but are open to any such participation.

* As a footnote to this: this season wasn't about individual achievement, but I was the only winning Crab player during that season**. Based on our point totals overall, Crab fell seventh out of nine total clans, thus many of the more clan-connected virtues had already been selected. The only remaining ones were Compassion, Courtesy, and Sincerity. Since it was largely my decision, I did like the idea of Hida Sukune as Fortune of Compassion.

** As an additional footnote: the winning Ivory-legal Crab deck was a very entertaining dueling deck.