2004 Benelux Kotei report

On Saturday, we get lost on the way to the venue and turn up a few minutes late, but it's no problem. The venue is superb - not only does it have a bar (that serves food) attached, it's also really characterful. It's mainly wood-finished, with some part sof the walls and doors painted (e.g. with a horse in a stall, and a loft). It's also got a balcony around the outside of the main room, and a smaller second (meeting) room ideal for the knock-outs (quieter). Upon registering we're given a participation pack - a Kabuto, plus two random cards from a selection that includes all the foil strongholds, plus a selection of rares. My pair are pretty sucky, but Joe pulls a foil Castle of the Wasp. Not sure what I think about giving foils out as participation prizes, even randomly. I must admit it would be cool to draw one, though!

Shortly after we get there the tourney begins. (Note on names - my keyboard doesn't handle accents, so they're missing. Apologies for any misspellings!)

Round 1: Laurant Beelan, Kenson Gakka/Underhand

Lion courtier honour, running Shrines, Honoured Sensei, Maru & Nagori in addition to the usual suspects. He wins the roll to go first 10-9, and always manages to stay a couple of honour ahead of me by the end of his Limited phase (as my attempts to deny favour control fail miserably). I kick in with my kill stuff, and start taking provinces. He manages to hit 40 exatly with 2 provinces left (thanks to a pair of Honoured Sensei for Nagori) but he can't stop me taking his last two with an Aikune, Toshiji with the Sword and a supporting cast.

MVP: Destroying Naga Storm in the province. 1-0.

Round 2: Jeroen Reijnders, Meeting Place/Daigotsu

Great. Jeroen is one of the guys I met the previous night, and I prefer not playing against people I like in tourneys. He isn't happy to see my stronghold, but I'm even less happy (knowing that Im not playing a standard blow-up deck). I get lucky, as he flips 2 holdings and a rat village turn 3, giving me an extra turn to build. Thanks to him refusing a Challenge (and letting me play Dirty Politics) I hit 32 with 4 provinces. He takes one, and buys about 4 guys (using the rat who refils provinces). Looking at the table, I know I need to hit 40 the following turn to be sure of stopping him if he has a Wager - which thanks to Boundless Sight (for Mirabu X2), Seruma, Toshiji and a Well-Tended Farm, I manage to do. He has no way to take 3.

MVP: Junichiro shooting his way through the Rats - and Grove/SotEternal to fetch ammunition. 2-0

Round 3: Gregory Zaratin, Northern Provinces/Right Hand

Gregory is playing a blitz deck. This is made abundantly clear when he Banes away several gold holdings early and gets out Reizo T2. However, I flip Toshiji turn 3, and he doesn't notice that Toshiji can stop Reizo assigning until he's already attached a follower and declared an attack. I then proceed to murder his army of ponies with Storm Heart, Challenge and For the Empire. He still takes provinces, thanks to using his stronghold switch to get past the Underhand with his big units, and gets me to 1 province losing one of his own. He attacks when I'm on the high 30s with 4 units, and I don't use the Underhand ability - but with 2x TDWWM, Toshiji's ability and 3x Prayers and Blessings I'm able to win the battle and the game. We both made one other mistake this game - he accepted a Storm Heart with the Khan (at which I played Double Chi) while I didn't realise that I could use Show of Good Faith with Corrupt Jade Sliver to kill someone until the combo had sat in my hand ofr 3 turns. Gregory goes on to make T16.

MVP: Early Toshiji for the Underhand. 3-0

At this point, Joe and I are both 3-0. Eljas is 2-1, Rob is 1-2. All my games have been close, and I'm worried that I've won my second and third games due more to opponents' errors/bad luck than the strength of my deck.

Round 4: Alex Preau, Morning Glory Castle/Underhand

Darn. Alex and I have already spoken today, since we'd chatted a bit by email after he won the Meyo tournament a few weeks back. We both know what each other are running, and I know that he's going to be a faster honour runner than me and that I'll have to go military. He wins the dice roll, and flips a first turn Shinsei's Shrine to build up his honour quickly. A Dismissed on my Show of Good Faith is key, stopping me removing his Toshiji on the Refuge, while he's got a Chuda Agent'd Tsukimi who he can bring back for honour every turn. I'm rushing my attacks, spreading over two provinces as I know I haven't got much time. I think the key turn of the game comes when he's at 5 provinces with Naga Storm out and 35+ honour. His Toshiji will stop my dishonoured Mirabu XP2 assigning, stopping me from using my Shrine of Duty with Mirabu and my one Taneji. With no way to remove Toshiji, I realise that the game is lost, and use Shrine to Fukurokujin with Danjuro... to draw my first Iai Challenge of the game. Mirabu removes Toshiji, rehonouring himself, and I take two provinces (though Naga Storm stops one) and blow up Shrine of Duty. Game on. The following turn, however, he manages to save both provinces I attack with TDWWM (redirected with Turn of Fortune), Refugees and an Outer Walls. I have no way to take 4 provinces in the one turn I have left.

MVP: Iaijutsu Challenge. 3-1

Round 5: Olaf Gientz, Castle of the Wasp/Kaneka

A brutally short game. He buys a turn 2 Amika. I flip no guys. Amika attacks, shoots/TsuTechs the province, then plays Dying Effort and Feign Death to take it as I see no Outer Walls. I flip 1 Junichiro and 2 holdings. His army of Amika/Chimori/Kitao XP2 takes a province. I buy a second Junichiro. He takes a third province, attacking with only Naval guys. I buy Seruma, then Mirabu XP1 from my province. He attacks, Kharmics my Steel on Steel and wins easily. We go to the bar where he buys me a drink and we play a rematch - the game is much longer, but I win by honour eventually.

MVP: None. 3-2, and I have to win the last 2 to qualify (all players with 5 or more wins get through, no others).

Round 6: Pim Oliekan, Kakita Duelling Academy/Voice

I see the stronghold, and think honour. He flips Daidoji Akimasa, and I think military/switch. He has to discard Kurohito and Kaneka early, and I get a bit overconfident. I have more guys, force, and honour so I build and don't do anything risky or aggressive. Doom is in play, and I don't use my Grove to fetch cards because I don't want to have to discard anything useful. This nearly costs me the game as he drops Blade of Truths and Kenshinzen on Doji Domotai and issues two challenges - while I have no Turn of Fortune or Double Chi to slaughter his duellist with. The 10 honour gives him a slight honour lead, but a couple of turns later he hits 39 and not 40, so I win. I win the rematch comfortably, not making the same mistake twice...

MVP: Playing a better deck than him, that could win despite my stupidity. 4-2

Round 7: Frederik Daewin, Razor's Edge Dojo/Right Hand.

I'm woried when I see RED opposite me in a must-win game. I'm made much happier when he reads my Stronghold and Wind, clearly unfamiliar with them. He flips Kisada's Shrine turn 1, and buys it turn 3 with a guy. I flip an early Doom though. His T3 Reiha XP gets a Dai Tsuchi and a Travelling Ronin, and is Tirelessly Assaulted into one of my provinces. A double Outer Walls stops the attack, and he has no gold left. Show of Good Faith/Corrupt Jade Sliver removes the problem unit without Kisada's Shrine interfering, and I build, killing everything he sends at me (often twice). He doesn't play very smart, often sending guys into the teeth of Toshiji/Junichiro with no way of stopping their Innates. Thankfully, with Doom/Favour/Grove/SotEternals I'm keeping my hand full of ammunition. I take his last province as I cross 40 honour.

MVP: Doom, Junichiro, Toshiji, him not playing Daigotsu. 5-2

All 4 of us qualify, Rob having won 4 games straight to finish 5-2 alongside Eljas and me. Joe went 6-1, losing his last game to Alex Preau's Phoenix deck. We head back to the hotel for food and sleep, content with our day's performance.

On Sunday, we find our way back to the venue much more easily. With 20 qualifiers, those in the 13-20 range play a "T32" game to reach the T16.

Representation in top 20:
4 Unicorn (out of 8 total)
4 Dragon (13)
3 Phoenix (6)
2 Scorpion (8)
2 Mantis (8)
2 Horde (10)
1 Crab (9)
1 Lion (14)
1 other (didn't note which!)
0 Crane (9), Rat (3)

Rob wins his game against Maik Stich (Yoritomo Kyoden)'s SLH deck, while Eljas gets knocked out by a Unicorn who buys Chagatai XP2 AND Shinjo Nakaga on turn 3... and proceeds to attach big followers to both and take 2 provinces T4. In the T16, I'm paired against Faber van Kraanen, who to my surprise isn't playing Ratling. It turns out he's playing Dragon, in order to nominate Hitomi Kazaq (sp), the only legal Naga pick for the Kotei season. He looks at my stronghold and is ready to concede: he's playing a Mirumoto honour deck, and knows that a MGC deck will be faster. Knowing that my deck isn't an especially fast honour runner, and that Faber is a very good player, I'm more nervous than I care to show...

T16: Faber van Kraanen, Shiro Mirumoto/? (Right Hand?)

My opening hand includes For the Empire and Corrupt Jade Sliver. My provinces reveal an early Sacred Grove, letting me buy Mirabu XP for full and a holding turn 3. He buys 1 guy turn 3, who dies to a For the Empire. I bring out more guys. Between Walking for two more For the Empires, and Underhanding for my third Storm Heart and my Shame, none of his guys stay in play for more than half a turn until he's down to one province and I'm on 30+ honour. I attack with my massive Mirabu (who's picked up the sword as wall) and three Junichiros, shoot his two defenders and take the last province.

MVP: Absolutely perfect draw.

Rob plays and loses to Alex in this round, so I'm playing Alex next. Pity both Phoenix in the T8 have to meet...

T8: Alex Preau, Morning Glory Castle/Underhand

This game is for top Phoenix. Both of us are going for Tsukune, so it doesn't matter too much who makes it through as long as they go on to win! Having played an earlier game, I know what I need to do to beat Alex. Namely:

• Draw Iaijutsu Challenges
• Get more Toshijis than him (/kill his Toshiji's)
• Go military and take provinces one at a time.

I go first, and get great gold turns 1 and 2. He also gets good gold, and early regions. Turn 3 I flip Toshiji, Mirabu and two holdings. Urk. I buy the holdings and flush the personalities, knowing that now I'm really up against it. In the end I have to Walk for both the Challenge I get to play, and he Dismisses it. He only brings Courtiers into play (including 3x Toshiji, while I see no more), so I never get to Storm Heart anyone. In the end he hits 40 honour and I've got no way of dragging him under - I have Rhetoric, Shame, Walk, Corrupt Jade Sliver and Prayers and Blessings in hand - but no way of dishonouring my guy and no Toshiji to pump to 7 chi with CJS and P&B. I suspect the deck needs more honour meta, but even so this game was effectively lost on turn 3.

MVP: Walking the Way.

Joe wins his T8 game, and proceeds to the final 4. There he meets the eventual winner, a Shadowed Tower Scorpion deck that K-bombed him out in game 1 very quickly indeed. Game 2 Joe uses Kamnan XP to discard Kaukatsu in the provinces, and though the game doesn't end there is able to win a military victory. Game 3 he repeats the Kamnan trick, again hitting Kaukatsu - but then draws 1 guy a turn for the next 6 turns, and his opponent's Show/kill/Failure of Duty to get more Shows means he's only able to take one province. Sadly, Alex also loses in the T4, to a Unicorn blitz deck.

So all in all a good showing for Team Jade Cat - T20, T16, T8 and T4.

Decklist:

MGC/Underhand

Dynasty (40)

3 Agasha Seruma
3 Isawa Toshiji
3 Isawa Junichiro
3 Otomo Taneji
Shiba Ningen XP
Bayushi Atsuki XP
Shiba Mirabu XP
Shiba Mirabu XP2
Shiba Aikune XP2
Kaneka

Grove of the Five Masters
Boundless Sight
Sacred Grove
Doom of the Dark Lord
Refuge of the Three Sisters

2 Well Tended Farm
3 Silver Mine
3 Shrine of the Eternal
2 Barley Farm
Crystal Mine
Shrine of Duty
Shrine of Courage
Gifts and Favors
A Favor Returned
Shrine to Daikoku
Shrine to Fukurokujin

Fate (40)

3 Storm Heart
2 Rhetoric
1 Shame
1 Dirty Politics
1 Show of Good Faith

3 Turn of Fortune
3 Prayers and Blessings
1 Seek the Path
1 Purity of the Heavens
1 Double Chi
1 Ryoshun's Last Words

1 Fist of Osano-Wo
2 Walking the Way

3 To Do What We Must
3 Steel on Steel
3 Iaijutsu Challenge
3 For the Empire
3 Outer Walls
1 Egg of P'an Ku

2 Corrupt Jade Sliver
1 Celestial Sword of the Phoenix

Comments:

This is a toolbox deck, working around a few basic principles.

1) Duelling as pkill. Duelling provides free, Limited pkill. With 4 Double Chi personalities and Boundless Sight, it's easy to get a duellist out. With Morning Glory Castle, it's easy to keep them in play once they appear!

2) Kihos make good meta. Thanks to Junichiro and Toshiji (especially the former), kihos are never useless. And some of them are very powerful against the right decks: Purity of the Heavens against Shadowlands, Double Chi against any duelling deck but especially Crane, Ryoshun's Last Words and Seek the Path against Enlightenment and some pkill decks, Turn of Fortune against pretty much anything (with this personality base - see below) and Prayers and Blessings against chi-kill (as well as providing floating force and chi whenever you need it). What is lacking is a good honour meta kiho - I can't think of any in the environment. Written in Blood would be a good addition to anyone not bothered about corruption - the deck is already Tainted by the Slivers.

3) Political toolboxing. Storm Heart and Shame are in there mainly for pkill, but it's possible to dishonour out a player who gets you most of the way there themselves. Dirty Politics is great against anyone who's likely to refuse challenges (especially ratling) as well as against decks that run Kaukatsu. Rhetoric lets you compete with honour runners, while Show of Good Faith combos with the Refuge as well as Corrupt Jade Sliver and (in some cases) the duels.

4) Killing personalities. Duels, political stuff and the lethal battle actions all work to move your opponent's personalities into the dead pile.

I won roughly equal numbers of games by military and honour, which is representative of the total number of games I've played with the deck. Every game is a challenge, but you have the tools you need for any matchup.

Changes I'm considering:
-1 Atsuki XP, +1 Kamnan XP. I meant to do this before the tournament, but forgot. Kamnan XP is simply amazing.
-1 Seek the Path, +1 Go In Disgrace/Tribute To Your House. Turning off a Shrine is probably more useful than a Tribute, given the deck style and the fact that people tend to save a Dismissed for the Tribute.
-1 Fist, +1 Walk. Finding a slot for the third Walk was tough, but the Fist is it. I played the Fist once, on Alex's Noh Theater Troupe in the QF, and only because I had the spare gold. It really wasn't that impressive, while Walk is a necessity in that matchup to access your toolbox.

I'd also like to find room for Commanding Favor, but that's tough. I'm tempted to remove Kaneka (!) but can't bring myself to do so - though he rarely entered play during the tourney, he's still a great personality.

Shiba Samoshii
Phoenix Clan Acolyte of Water*Ricepaper Shugenja*Team Jade Cat Inquisitor*Gozoku Courtier*Underhand of the Phoenix Reborn