New stronghold, new strategy article. So what do we do with the City of Rememberance? First of all, we change the art. I've Photoshopped the old Eternal Halls of the Shiba art onto my copy of the stronghold, one of my favourite pieces of art in the game. The art shows the sun setting over Shiro Shiba, with a massive phoenix corona. And it seems appropriate to use that art for this stronghold, for this box is the home of the "true Phoenix," Ryouko. At 2G less he becomes 2/3 cavalry with a ranged 2 attack and 3ph, all for 6G. The 8HR is a pain, of course, but still a 6G Ryouko is a great investment.
The other Personalities who benefit from the cost reductions are the Elemental Dragons. At 2G less the cheapest ones (Air and Water) now cost a measly 8G each, great value for a 7/4 cavalry shugenja. Again, though, they still have that 10HR. And unlike the equivalent personalities out of Morning Glory Castle, Shiba Raigen can only die for them once.
The cost reductions for dragons makes this box appear as a military stronghold. Certainly, that would seem a good plan. But what about its other ability- the ability to use innate abilites without bowing?
Any military deck needs to have force left over to take provinces. Personalities with strong innate abilites that bow the caster - like the Fire Dragon - cost you a lot of force when you use the ability. So being able to use innates without bowing synergises well with a military strategy. There are other tricks available too - use Gempukku on Shosuro Maru, and she can use her ability and still be free to use Bonds of Fate, Show of Good Faith, or even Dismissed or the Underhand's secondary ability. Another control-type ability is provided by our new Master of Fire, Isawa Ochiai. Attach something like the Sword to her and she can duel a bowed personbality without bowing herself - remaining free to attack or defend as appropriate. These two personalities would help a more control-orientated strategy, locking down and killing your opponent's personalities.
Of course, the restriction preventing you from casting kihos with your shugenja is a serious penalty. For a military orientated deck, Flee the Darkness and Prayers and Blessings are both very powerful, while Chasing Osano-Wo is a favourite of dragons who Tirelessly Assault in to a battle after casting it. Without those cards it's very hard to get individual dragons big enough to take provinces - you're relying on Strength of Purity and possibly Destiny Has No Secrets. Wedging a dragon, while fun, is probably not the way forward :) It's probably better to support the dragon with other cavalry units (Ryouko would fit this role naturally) - though the spare gold from having cheap dragons could be funnelled into a military advisor. Yet this seems an inefficient strategy - you might as well just play Morning Glory Castle.
However, this is the only Phoenix stronghold with an ability that helps us win battles. The ability to use innate abilities without bowing is a more flexible version of one of the Castle of the Wasp's two abilities, albeit with the annoying restriction that you can't use Innates again till the end of the turn, and for its secondary ability it has the ability to buy certain large and powerful personalities for cheap. The kiho restriction is not the end of the world, since there are plenty of other strong cards to put in a deck - though your options are restricted. I can see this stronghold becoming a strong defensive honour box, using personalities like Ryouko, Toshiji, Junichiro and Ihara to give us battle action superiority and a better chance of winning battles. A few copies of Importune Kami might strengthen the boat against Mantis. We lose the ability to recycle dead personalities (except Ryouko, of course!) which means we have to change our defense strategy when playing against a military deck. This isn't a reason not to run the stronghold - but it is a reason to run it differently. |