Friday
We got to the hall at about 10- 10.30, and registered. Registration was open all morning, so there was time to meet people and buy Lidimus' cool mon-backed sleeves. The first round pairings were re-done once, as some people turned up late. I was running my Phoenix spell honour runner, very similar to the deck posted to Shiba Halls and my Nest last week (decklist at the end).
Apologies for any names I've misspelt! My keyboard has no accents, so I'm missing umlauts and egoules all over the place ;)
Round 1 : Thomas Yanick, Kyuden Hida/Kaneka
He buys a turn 2 Tenshu, having got weak gold. My turn 3 Seruma Overwhelms him. He buys 2 more Tenshus turn 4, and attacks. I block with 2 units, and TDWWM one. He Wedges the other, and I send him home. With him having no units on the table and me at 4 provinces on my 5th turn, I proceed to cast IK. He tries to Ambush the caster, but Danjiro saves her. The only thing that made the game last any length of time was In Time of War, which resolved when I was at 10 honour!
He takes 1 province, thanks to Toturi's Grave.
1-0, province count 0 taken-1 lost
Round 2: Jorg Theirick, RED/Kaneka
Another Crab. This one gets a turn 2 Silence + holding. My turn 3 Seruma Overwhelms him (sound familiar?). This time I don't even lose a province, and take 3 of his. He conceeds just before I win a military victory, just before hitting 40 honour with 4 provinces and most of my guys in play... he had nobody left.
2-0, province count 4 taken-1 lost
Round 3: Philipp Trenton, Northern Provinces/Kaneka
He gets a weak gold start, discarding Chagatai XP and an Ashura turn 3 after keeping Chag from turn 1. He attaches a turn 3 Obsidian Magistrates to his turn 2 Latomu - I Uncertainty and he can't attack. Turn 4 I do it again, after getting the favour. If he attaches another follower, he won't be able to stop the favour, so he passes through to Dynasty again. He conceeds when I'm at 30 honour, 4 provinces and a province strength far too high for his 3 guys in play - 2 Falls and 3 Uncertainties were key here, along with IK.
3-0, province count 4-1.
Round 4: Fabien Wapi, Northern Provinces/Kaneka
This is my first visit to table 1, and my only loss there. He gets a turn 3 Chagatai XP, and a turn 4 Egg. Attacking, he takes a province (as I look at the 2 Overwhelmeds and send-home in my hand and my 4 defenders spread one on each province, hating Chagatai's I-don't-go-home trait). He takes the province, attaching the sword and a Shinjo Horsebow to his two Chags, both for free. The Chags take 2 more provinces over the next two turns. I don't even see Kuro's Fire to make the game close - he builds for a turn or two then takes my last province easily.
3-1, province count 4-5
Round 5: Robin Pailer, House of Tao/Kaneka
He starts slowly, developing rather than going for blitz, and I think I'm safe. However, he Flees my blow-up actions three times (!) and I don't see any spells. Suddenly he takes 3 provinces when I'm at 30+ with Water tech, and I regret the lack of Slaughter the Scouts in my deck. A single IK would have saved all of them - I had more than enough shugenja. No Kuro's Fire either, and the last province falls as I'm pretty much out of cards.
3-2, province count 4-9
Round 6: Buinot Cauvent, Kyuden Ikoma/Kaneka
We both gold screw badly, but I go first and recover first. He takes a province when I'm at 35ish, as I decide to let him have one rather than risk a Barren Fields or something.
4-2, province count 4-10
Round 7: Richard Moteley, Kyuden Ikoma/Kaneka
An Irish player and a great guy. As he's a fellow Anglophone, the only people I'd rather not play are the Brits in a game where the winner qualifies and the loser doesn't. He goes first, and flips a turn 1 Koto and turn 2 Shrine to Benten. I draw no holdings turn 1 or 2 (gifts turn 1, Tsukimi for honour turn 2) and then flip 3 4-cost holdings turn 3 and can only buy one. There's no way back from that sort of disparity in starts...
4-3, province count 4-14
Saturday
I make one change to my deck, adding the Ruby in for a Prayers and Blessings. Don't know why it wasn't there in the first place. I'd like to thank my teammates Joe and Eljas for persuading me not to switch to my duelling control Gozoku theme deck for day 2...
Second qualifier, round 1: Arend Verbeek, Kyuden Ikoma/Tsudao
Arend is Dutch and an all-round great guy. He also ends up qualifying, and we play in the Lion-Unicorn challenge booth (where he gets his revenge ;)).
I went first, and crossed 40 with a turn to spare due to the Tribute in my hand. The Ruby on my swordbearer locked down Fudai, and he was never able to take a province - his turn 2 or 3 Master of Bushido kept the honour race close, however.
1-0, 4-14
Round 2: Nicolas Kempnich, Castle of the Wasp/Kaneka
Great - Castle of the Wasp. If my deck has a bad matchup, this is it. We're on table 1 as well, an even greater incentive not to lose! He attacks on about turn 4 with Tasuku and a Tsuruchi Hiro XP with a Deathless and Tsuruchi Legion. I defend with 2 guys - one gets navally shot, and the other TDWWM's Hiro. He bounces. I buy guys, putting as many warm bodies on the table as possible and using Sleep tokens from Freezing the Lifeblood and Importune Kami to stop him from even being able to get into a battle. I win an honour victory without losing a province.
2-0, 4-14
Round 3: William le Pape, Kyuden Ikoma/Sezaru
He's playing a Ring blitz deck, and I go first. I chump block for a bit while buying gold, he has very little out (but is buying 2 guys a turn). He doesn't get an early province, and soon I'm outforcing him handily. I cross 40 with 4 provinces and a Mystic Ground in play.
3-0. 4-14
Round 4: Patrick Ries, Kyuden Doji/Naseru
My 4th different wind of the day, and my first Crane of the tournament. He goes first and reveals Puppet Theater Troupe and Nagori. I realise I'm not going to win an honour victory, and proceed to activate Plan B. I took his last province when whe was on 36 honour - he only got that high thanks to a Shame/Dirty Politics, after he flipped Occult Murders to kill the Danjiro I was using to prevent that from happening! The key turn for me was when I got 6 personalities out of 5 provinces (Chrys Fest), despite flipping 4 peeps and a holding - 2 Serumas...
4-0, 8-14
Round 5: Soren Tiekotter, Kyuden Ikoma/Tsudao
Back at table 1, and another Lion opponent. I go first, and get 3 turns of solid gold (4 holdings turn 3). With 2 BSLs in my opening hand, and personalities entering play very quickly from that point on, he never takes a province and I win a comfortable honour victory.
5-0. 8-14
Round 6: Des Brennan, Kyuden Ikoma/Kaneka
Des is part of my local playgroup, and playing an identical deck to 2 other members of the group. One - Ben Palmer - went undefeated on Friday, so I know the deck's good (although I've never actually seen it!).
I go first, and get 2 turns of good gold (thanks to A New Wall). He gets Gifts, then 2 Copper Mines. Then the onslaught begins - but he's drawn very few force pumps, so doesn't take even one province (his closest being a T4 Running Engagement, Running Engagement, Destiny, I Refugees, he cancels, I fall, he falls, I fall!).
6-0, 8-14
Round 7: Meik Nowak, Morning Glory Castle/Tsudao
Two Phoenix are the only undefeated players so far, who'd have thought it?
He goes first, and sees an early Shinsei's Shrine. A turn 2 A New Wall for my Master of Bushido lulls me into thinking that I might pull off an honour win, but he gets Sacred Grove first and is playing Taneji and Shamate Pass, so I switch to military. As things pan out, I crush 2 of his remaining 3 provinces after Tributing him and hitting 40 honour. The Master of Bushido was key, as was his not drawing many personalities (though the Shrine does have that effect on decks). He'd decided not to IK with his 2 shugenja that turn in order to hit 40, but couldn't have stopped my army the following turn even if he'd drawn a Tribute.
7-0, 12-14
Qualified as top of the second qualifier, and was awarded the title Phoenix Clan Hero for my pains.
That evening was the round of 64. 3 rounds of Swiss, top 32 qualify (i.e. all the 2-1s and 3-0s). My first opponent is... Meik again!
Round 1: Meik Nowak, Morning Glory Castle/Tsudao
I'm not looking forward to this game, since I know that I had luck on my side the first game. However, I also know that there's no point trying to win on honour against him, and that military is likely to work better.
He goes first and gets a T1 Shinsei's Shrine. I get a turn 2 A New Wall again, and go for a Master of Bushido again. He resolved Wait and See turn 3 or 4 and blew up a province, leaving him with 2 non-Shrine provinces. He's using IK to slow my attacking down, but he doesn't see Chrys Fest so he's not getting guys out fast enough to stop me. Military victory.
1-0, 16-14
Round 2: Ben Palmer, Kyuden Ikoma/Kaneka
Yes, the game that many people wanted to see - the two qualifier winners squaring off. Fortune is decidedly on his side...
He goes first, and gets a turn 1 Koto AND shrine to Benten. I buy a holding. He gets 2 personalies (Aoiko and Atasuke) plus another Koto. I buy 2 more holdings, knowing that if I can survive to the midgame with 2-3 provinces the gold will serve me well. I Uncertainty Aoiko in his turn, and he doesn't attack - with a 1F and a 2F guy, even Wedge won't be enough for him. He buys 2 more guys - Korin and someone else. I buy guys. He takes a province, leaving Toshi face-up because of his high gold cost. I buy Toshi and Danjiro. He takes the province, using a Wedge to get around my Favour/Refugees. I buy more guys, and let him have a 3rd province (he's been buying 2 guys a turn, and still has only 1 holding). I attach the Imperial Standard and buy another guy, wondering how I can stop his army. In his next turn I block with Danjiro, drawing out a terrain/well prepared combo from his hand, and use a BSL and the Favour to force him to Wedge another guy. He gets the province though.
My last province flips a Mystic Ground, which I bring into play. I look at my hand, and think for a long time - I still only have the 3 holdings (Sanc, Daikoku and Hiruma) that I bought in turns 1 and 2. Eventually, I attach the Ruby to Toshi with the Standard, and lock down Ikoma Korin (permanantly). I Walk with Toshiji, leaving a bowed Seruma (for the Mystic Ground), a bowed Tsukimi (the favour) and an unbowed Danjiro.
He forces me to destroy the Mystic next turn, his two new copies of Ikoma Sume upset that there's no victory to write about. In my next turn, I recycle Danjiro and attach the Isawa House Guard to Toshi with the Imperial Standard, figuring that he's my best protected personality.
In his turn, he thinks long and hard. He looks at my army (22F, after factoring in Tsukimi's force bonus) and his army (about 17F), his hand, my discard pile, the number of cards in my hand (5) and the size of Asako Toshi (3/7). Knowing that I run Kuro's Fire, and that I've recently Walked, he decides to attack.
I start off by using Tsukimi's ability. He drops a Battlefield of Shallow Graves, halving my effective force. With Toshi's ability, a Prayers and Blessings, and an Uncertainty, I pull ahead. He uses a Shrine to Bishamon to take the lead. I use the favour, he thinks about whether to save his stronghold for a TDWWM or use it to cancel the favour. He cancels the favour. I use Toshiji's ability, discarding an IK, to force him to bow someone and reacting with the Isawa House Guard. He bows Koto. I do it again, bowing 1F Toshiji. He bows a 2F Atasuke - I'm 1F down. He Fears the Isawa House Guard with Michiko's ability. I bow Danjiro to redirect the action to Danjiro. He calls a judge over to check it's legal, it is. I'm 2F down, and have nothing left - and neither does he. I shake his hand.
That night, lying in bed, I suddenly realise. Isawa House Guard had a 2F bonus from the Standard, and were immune to fear anyway. If I'd realised that, Id have won the battle by 1F. Furthermore, with what was on the table at the end, the battle was actually a draw - and the honour victory from that draw (with the Battlefield of Shallow Graves in play) would have put me to 40. I won that game, dammit, but neither of us realised it! One or two spectators did, at least, but nobody could interfere. If the judge noticed, he kept quiet too (probably didn't - he wasn't monitoring the game). BAH.
1-1, 16-18 (officially)
Rd 3: , Kyuden Doji/Tsudao
Not even close. He goes first, and flips Shinsei's Shrine, Chrys Fest, Marketplace, Shrine to Daikoku. He goes for Gifts, and buys the Marketplace and a Daidoji Merchants. Turn 3 he buys a Noh Theater Troupe, the Shrine to Daikoku and a Daidoji Gudeta for honour. Meanwhile, I draw twice as many holdings as guys, and my first 2 guys all have honour requirements forcing me to use a Sanc turn 3. When he flips Kurohito, it's just icing on the cake - I take 3 provinces, but only because he decided not to risk defending when he didn't have to (Kuro's Fire being a great deterrent).
1-2, 19-18 (officially)
So there you have it. Eliminated from the ECs by a stupid, basic error - forgetting the abilities of one of my own cards. Those of you who read my Gencon US report from this year may remember that I was knocked out of that by a similarly boneheaded error. It seems to be a character trait...
Took more provinces than I lost overall, despite this being a totally defence-oriented deck. Sometimes the best form of defence...
Decklist - and I'd run this again without changing a thing.
MGC/Tsudao
Dynasty (40 cards)
3 Shiba Danjiro
3 Shiba Tsukimi
3 Agasha Seruma
3 Isawa Toshiji
2 Isawa Junichro
1 Isawa Mino (or Chieh XP in RoBlood)
Shiba Ningen XP
Asako Toshi
Shiba Mirabu XP2
Sacred Grove
Mystic Ground
A New Wall
Master of Bushido
3 Silver Mine
3 Devout Acolyte
3 Hiruma Dojo
3 Sanctified Temple
2 Shrine to Daikoku
2 Gifts and Favors
1 Shrine to Ebisu
1 Shrine to Bishamon
Fate (40 cards)
3 Block Supply Lines
3 Refugees
3 Overwhelmed
3 To Do What We Must
2 Scroll Cache
3 Uncertainty
2 Prayers and Blessings
3 Fall On Your Knees
3 Freezing the Lifeblood
1 Tribute to your House
1 Flee the Darkness
3 Importune Kami
3 Walking the Way
2 Kuro's Fire
Isawa House Guard
Celestial Sword of the Phoenix
The Imperial Standard
Ruby of Iuchiban
Ring of Air
Shiba Samoshii
Phoenix Clan Acolyte of Water*Ricepaper Shugenja*Team Jade Cat Inquisitor*Gozoku Courtier*Underhand of the Phoenix Reborn*Officially Boneheaded
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