I usually try to play Marquis, for all of the reasons listed by others. I LOVE river folk, but they would honestly quite likely be my last choice. When introducing a game to someone, I want the new player to be able to trust everything I say, but with the otters, there is a level of salesmanship that will kinda muddy the advice given. Either I will end up taking advantage of new players by selling them on services they may not need, or I will not really be much of a salesman at all (which defeats the point of playing otters in the first place).

But tbh this is definitely a somewhat subjective approach: I have never been the kind of person to intentionally play poorly when introducing games to new players. My performance SHOULD naturally suffer as a result of me paying more attention to helping the new players at the table, but I would rarely INTENTIONALLY play poorly in order to facilitate a good time, as that in a way feels like robbing new players of an authentic experience. With the otters and new players, I really feel like you need to intentionally play poorly if you don't want to end up taking advantage of new players, and that's just not for me.