Alright, if there's one thing that the Lion Clan can do it's speed, and lots of it! Considering to play a Lion Speed Deck or as they're known (LSD), is a good choice for many "green" players. It offers a lot of the skill you'll need to begin on for those Tactitian decks. First, we must choose which personalities we want to use in your Lion Deck. The Lion Clan is without a doubt the least funded clan in all of Rokugan, so you'll need to pack your deck with lots of personalities that will come off the stronghold. Those personalities are:

-Matsu Gohei
1 Force
3 Chi
6 Required Honor
4 Gold
3 Personal Honor
Lion Clan Samurai
Gains +2 Force when attacking.

-Matsu Mori
3 Force
2 Chi
8 Required Honor
5 Gold
2 Personal Honor
Lion Clan Samurai*Cavalry
Will not join a Unicorn Player.

-Matsu Morishigi
2 Force
1 Chi
0 Required Honor
3 Gold
2 Personal Honor
Lion Clan Samurai
May attach Ancestors without bowing. May not attach more than once Ancestor per turn.

-Matsu Daoquan
1 Force
1 Chi
Nil Required Honor
5 Gold
3 Personal Honor
Lion Clan Samurai*Shadowlands
While any other player has a higher Family Honor than you, Daoquan gains +2F/+2C.

-Matsu Domotai
1 Force
3 Chi
6 Required Honor
5 Gold
3 Personal Honor
Lion Clan Scout*Samurai*Youth
Domotai's Force may never exceed his chi. Domotai may not be assigned to or moved into a defending army. During battle, Domotai gains a Force bonus equal to the number of other Lion Personalities in your army.

-Matsu Suhada
3 Force
1 Chi
3 Required Honor
5 Gold
2 Personal Honor
Lion Clan Samurai*Toturi's Army

-Matsu Yojo
2 Force
2 Chi
5 Required Honor
5 Gold
2 Personal Honor
Lion Clan Samurai

-Akodo Kage
0 Force
4 Chi
10 Required Honor
5 Gold
3 Personal Honor
Lion Clan Samurai*Revered Sensei
Limited: Bow this card and place a 1F/1C Sensei token on one Personality. No Personality may have more than 2 Sensei tokens.

-Ikoma Kimura
0 Force
2 Chi
0 Required Honor
5 Gold
3 Personal Honor
Lion Clan Master of Bushido*Samurai
Open: Bow Kimura, one of your dishonored human Personalities, and any one of your honor producing holdings. Your dishonored Personality is restored to honorable status. This action cannot be taken during a battle.

-Kitsu Okura
1 Force
3 Chi
3 Required Honor
4 Gold
2 Personal Honor
Lion Clan Shugenja
May not bow as part of a lobby attempt. This unit may not be targeted with the Imperial Favor.

-Ikoma Kaoku
1 Force
3 Chi
5 Required Honor
5 Gold
2 Personal Honor
Lion Clan Historian
Reaction: Bow after a battle (as an Attacker, Defender, or ally) in which your side destroyed the opposing army or a Province. Each of your Personalities in this army gains +1F/+1C permanently.

-Kitsu Sanako
1 Force
3 Chi
3 Required Honor
5 Gold
2 Personal Honor
Lion Clan Shugenja
Open: Give each personality in play a 1F/1C bonus for each Ancestor he or she has attached. You can do this once per turn.

-Akodo Hari
1 Force
2 Chi
1 Required Honor
3 Gold
1 Personal Honor
Lion Clan Samurai
Battle: Bow Hari when your army has more Force than the opposing army, if there are units in the opposing army. Gain 2 honor. Hari gains 1 personal honor permanently, maximum of 5.

Alright, we have set our personality base. Now, we need to decide which personalities will actually go into the deck. Let's start at the top. Matsu Gohei is the first personality featured in the list, and the truth is that he goes into virtually any Lion Deck. He is cheaply payed for, full with a One Koku, and he can be target of Strength of Purity. Definatally going into the deck. Matsu Mori is next, and again this is a *must* for Lion Decks. This guy's a 3/2 cavalry off the SH. His honor requirement is a little stretch, which means without any honor gains first turn, this guy doesn't come out. But a great support Personality, so he goes in as well. Matsu Morishigi, a 2/1 off the box full. Why not throw him in as well? Not too much luck in most decks to use that ability, but it doesn't really matter. His 0 honor requirement also helps a lot against those breaches. Another card that goes in the final cut. Daoquan, I can't find a whole heck of a lot of use in this guy. He does get buffer as other players rise above you in honor, and his nil honor requirement means he can get you out of the whole if necissary. Though, us Lions sit on top in honor about 70% of the time, so he won't make it. Sorry pallie. Next, Matsu Domotai. "The little Lion that could"  is the phrase that I like to use for this one. His ability to gain force is great, and he comes off the box, with the ability to be targeted with Strength of Purity with that 3 personal honor. He can't defend, so this guy doesn't exactly help early on. But he can pack the force with a chi bonus. He'll go in the deck as well. Matsu Suhada, he's a 3/1 off the box and a lower honor requirement. This guy has multiple alignments, so he does come in off a small farm with Alliance. Good price for the force as well, although the 1 chi is something to worry about. He may or may not go into the final cut, but we'll consider him for now. Matsu Yojo, 2/2 off the box. No real downsides to this guy, no upsides either! What a great Lion Speeder next to Gohei. He goes in. Akodo Kage, I've seen some good uses for this guy. His required honor is a stretch, but more force/chi tokens is good all around. Interesting combo - Akodo Kage/Night Medallion/Ronin Dojo. Make him a kolat, put the medallion on him and watch the force sky rocket. +2/+2 and a maximum of four counters. Crazy, but a bit of work to pull it off. No real force of his own, so he'll have to sit in the box. Ikoma Kimura, 0/2 off the box and another whopping 3 personal honor. He re-honors personalities, but nothing good other than that. Go to an Honor deck pallie, you don't fit in the Speed theme very well. Okura, the Jade Champion. He has a fair chi, 1 force, and no imperial favor against him. You can probably find some good uses for this guy, but he doesn't cut it for the most part. Again, another Lion left in the box. Ikoma Kaoku, the historian. Win battles and your guys get buff. Useful and cost efficient, he goes in the deck. Kitsu Sanako pumps everything up as she gets ancestors. Low honor, and cost efficient, although she won't be much more useful than Okura in the long run. Gotta leave her out as well. Akodo Hari, can I find a good use for this guy in a military deck? No? I thought so. Go be honorable.

Alright, so out of those personalities, these are canidates for the final deck:

Matsu Morishigi
Matsu Mori
Matsu Suhada
Ikoma Kaoku
Matsu Gohei
Matsu Yojo
Matsu Domotai

Next, there are some lower cost personalities that can be considered for the deck as well. After you get some gold up, such as a holding or a charter, these useful cards will go into your army:

-Ikoma Gunjin
0 Force
4 Chi
4 Required Honor
6 Gold
3 Personal Honor
Lion Clan Master Campaigner*Samurai*Tactician

-Matsu Agetoki
4 Force
4 Chi
5 Required Honor
8 Gold
2 Personal Honor
Lion Clan Samurai*Cavalry
Cards in this unit may not be the target of ranged attacks.

-Ikoma Ken'o
2 Force
3 Chi
4 Required Honor
7 Gold
2 Personal Honor
Lion Clan Tactician*Samurai*Tactician
Battle: Bow this card to bow all personalities in the opposing army with a lower force than Ken'o. This is considered his use of the Tactician ability for this battle.

Much more of the other higher cost personalities aren't really worth the effort, so I'm not mentioning them. Gunjin is a very balanced cards. His ability to be brought off the SH and a One Koku make him faster than most personalities, plus you can target him with Strength of Purity. He may go into the final deck. Matsu "Agebroki" Agetoki, the most undercosted Lion Personality in the entire game. This guy comes off 2 holdings and has the cavalry trait. He'll most likely go into the deck as well. Ken'o, another card no Lion deck should be without. Put a sword on him and he'll bow your entire army. As well, he comes off 2 holdings, another good consideration for the final deck. So here's our list of personalities to consider:

Matsu Morishigi
Matsu Mori
Matsu Agetoki
Matsu Gohei
Matsu Suhada
Matsu Domotai
Matsu Yojo
Ikoma Gunjin
Ikoma Ken'o
Ikoma Kaoku

We have to keep in mind that this is a speed deck, and many of the better Lion personalities should go into power decks, as well as the elusive Tactician decks. Morishigi, Mori, and Gohei goes in no matter what. No deck in *ANY FORMAT* should go without these three bruisers. Domotai makes a great compliment to the trio, so we'll put him in as well. Agetoki will go in as well, since he can run around with Mori. Ken'o has to go in here because bowing everything on the other side of the board is probably the most gratifying feeling in Legend of the Five Rings.

So we have these personalities:

Matsu Morishigi
Matsu Mori
Matsu Gohei
Matsu Agetoki
Matsu Domotai
Ikoma Ken'o

3 of each makes 18, and a unique personality wouldn't hurt. For speed decks, I like to use Kitsu Motso. He's a 2/4 Tactician for 6 gold (FULL OFF TWO HOLDINGS) and can allow you to take multiple actions. Also, that 3 personal honor is too good to pass up. He's in as well. So total count, we have 19 personalities to put in the deck. That should work well for now. Go to the next section and we shall discuss the gold producing holdings and events that will go into the deck.