Team Jade Cat assembled in Cambridge on Friday night to watch Kill
Bill 2. At short notice I'd offered a bed and a ride to Gael
Schmidt-Cleach (aka Loki), which made the Cambridge party up to 8.
Saturday morning we got up early and drove to Nottingham, arriving at
the venue at 5 to 9. A couple of hours later, things got underway...
Round 1: Azrael Johnson, Spawning Grounds/Daigotsu
Azrael is a truly great guy, and a loyal Horde player. He admits
beforehand that he's not expecting great things from the day, and is
out for Top SL. I'm still not entirely convinced: I know he's a good
player, and started the game with a healthy respect for what I might
end up facing.
I flip Hiruma Dojo/StBenten/Silver Mine, and go for Gifts. He flips a
first turn Restoring (I fetch a Silver mine) so I buy 3 holdings turn
2. He does too. Turn 3 I buy 2 guys for honour, Danjuro for less and
a holding. He buys 2 Fushiki. Turn 4, I attach Spearmen and
Bloodspeaker Students and attack with 2 guys, leaving Tsukimi at
home. He doesn't defend and Retributes: Tsukimi Overwhelms to end the
threat. The following turn he wins a battle against my army but loses
2 of his 3 units to attrition. Shortly thereafter I bring out a Water
Dragon and attach Kuro's Fire to it, and after Rubying Kyofu I take
his last province and shoot all his defenders.
Azrael ends up 3-3, and gets his Top Shadowlands.
1-0
Round 2: Joe Eagle, Kakita Duelling Academy/Voice
Joe is one of the Panda Clan from Canterbury, and someone I've had
the privilege to play several times over the last few weeks. Our
games have traditionally been close, and I realise as I sit down that
the deck I'm playing today is weaker against KDA than most of my
builds, not running Morning Glory Castle or Outmaneuvered by Force.
Still, my deck comes out ok (except for discarding 2 Danjuros on turn
1!) and I crush the first province on turn 4 with Tsukimi + Spearmen
+ Wedge and Danjuro. I manage a second province, but make a play
mistake during that turn, Baning away gold due to thinking I had more
in play than I did. In his turn he attaches the Sword, a Corrupt Jade
Sliver and a Kenshinzen to Nakazo, and starts duelling, putting him
to 35. I'm left with 1 or 2 guys in play, no way to take a province.
However, I have left the Fire Dragon in my provinces, waiting for the
third Challenge to fall. In my turn I bring out the Fire Dragon,
Seruma and Ryouko. He crosses. Thankfully I already have Wager in
hand, so don't need to use the Refuge. I declare an attack, and
assign 2 Serumas, one with a Spearmen, to one of his provinces. He
defends against the Serumas with Nizomi and Nagori, and his other
province with Nakazo (now with a second Kenshinzen!) and Tanitsu XP2.
I assign the Fire Dragon behind the Serumas, and both Ryoukos against
his duellist - I have an Overwhelmed in hand, and want to try and
kill him before the Wager. I resolve the Ryouko battle first: he
plays Steel on Steel to kill a chicken, so I play Be Prepared
targeting the duellist, in case Plan A fails. I shoot Tanitsu using
Ryouko's innate. He pulls a second Steel on Steel, and I'm left with
nobody to Overwhelm. In the other province, Nizomi TDWWM's the Seruma with Spearmen. I Tsu Tech his Nagori, and take the province, then Wager.
He has a Mai basic and his duellist. I have the Fire Dragon and one
Seruma. He starts by pumping Nakazo's Force. I shoot Mai and a
Kenshinzen with the Fire Dragon, not bowing thanks to CoR. He pumps
again. I Tsu Tech the other Kenshinzen. He pumps a third time. I
count force - I have 11 (4 from Seruma thanks to Be Prepared, and 7
from the Dragon). His Nazako unit is 10F. I look at my hand: Rend,
Overwhelmed, Wedge. I Wedge the Fire Dragon, putting me at 18 force.
He passes. I take his province by 1 Force.
Wow, that game was close. But a great game, against a great player.
Joe ends up 4-2, and places 20th (just missing the cut).
2-0
Round 3: Salman Barakat, Razor's Edge Dojo/Daigotsu.
I play against Salman a lot, since he's part of the London scene. I
think he has the slight edge in games overall, but for some reason I
seem to be his nemesis in tournaments. Maybe I should say "seemed",
but that bit comes later.
I come out strong, and take 2 provinces without opposition. He
attacks and we tie a battle, my Ryoukos returning to the top of my
deck and his Sozen Feigning (with a handful of people actually going
to the discard pile!). However, I win the next battle with a Be
Prepared to Dig Two Graves. He conceded when he forgets that I can
move Toshiji in with the Favor - leaving me with a 6/6 Toshiji (Be
Prepared + a bonus from his Crossroads) and the Isawa House Guard,
that would allow me to shoot both his Sozens leaving him with no army
against my forces, and 2 provinces to my 4.
Salman ends up placing 2nd.
3-0
Round 4: Gael Schmidt-Cleach, Temple of Hoshi/Right Hand
Hah. Since Gael came up with us, I've already played 2 friendly games
against him. He won both. He placed 3rd in a story tourney in Lille
the previous weekend, and is a formidable opponent. He's also a
really, really friendly and pleasant guy, and it was a real pleasure
to put him up for the weekend. Anyway, the game was the craziest game
of L5R I've ever played.
I flip 4 guys and discard them all, fetching Gifts. He also flips 4
guys, and follows suit. I flip 4 holdings (nice recovery) and buy
two. He flips 1 holding and decides to buy Hoshi Oki, bowing her for
a card. I flip 2 more holdings. Realising I'm going to lose a
province the following turn, I buy all 4 holdings. Oki attaches
Bloodspeaker Students, and takes a province with a Heart of Rokugan,
then Gael buys two holdings. With 3 provinces, I'm hoping to get 2
guys. Instead, I get 1 Danjuro, a holding, and a Commanding Favor
that Gael had just resolved. I buy Danjuro. Oki takes a second
province with Commanding Favor to dodge Danjuro and a second Heart of
Rokugan. In Dynasty, Gael buys Gonkuro and another holding. I flip
Shogun's Barracks and another holding. Cursing cruel fate, I buy both
holdings. That's now 10 holdings to 5 guys and 1 event. Check my
decklist at the end if you want to work out the odds of that! His
turn, he attacks with 1 guy on each. Groaning, I assign Danjuro
against Oki, and Gonkuro finds some Strategic Crossroads. Gael buys
two guys, and I wonder what I did to deserve this.
In my next turn I flip a Hiruma Dojo. With some relish, I play the
Bane of the Bastard I drew at the end of my previous turn (about
bloody time!) and reveal a Tsukimi. Finally. Tsukimi comes out for
honour, and the Barracks reveal a Seruma. Seruma reveals a third
personality (Toshiji?) and I'm all set with 4 guys to his 4. His
turn, he attacks. Possibly a mistake, but he still had plenty of
cards (another Oki came out complete with card draw) and he knew what
my deck could do having beaten it twice already. However, Fate has
finally decided to smile on me. A To Do What We Must/Be Prepared
combo puts me ahead in Force, and even though he has actions of his
own, two Tsuruchi Techniques (bankrolled by my prodigious resources)
are enough to win me the game. I begin to think I might have a
chance.
He buys gold in his Dynasty phase, leaving Satsu face-up. He hasn't
got the honour for Satsu, so I'm slightly surprised by this. In my
turn, I flip another guy, and take a province thanks to a Strength of
Purity (I don't go for Satsu, figuring that he's not coming out any
time soon). I once more get 3 guys out of my province, Seruma and the
Barracks doing their stuff.
In his turn, he buys Satsu, pointing at Blood Money and grinning. I
laugh, game on again. In my turn I attack all 3 provinces, with 2
guys at 2 provinces and Danjuro at the third, leaving 1 guy at home
as Retribution protection. He decides not to defend, calling my
bluff. Two more Strengths of Purity take two, but Danjuro bounces. I
only buy 2 guys from my province this turn (no Seruma). He flips a
Hiruma Dojo, and doesn't attack. I pile in with 9 personalities and
play Overwhelmed as my first action. Game.
Possibly the most ridiculous game of L5R I've played, and one which
shows the power of Dynasty cycling. Gael goes on to the Top 8,
deservedly taking top Dragon.
4-0
At this point I'm pretty sure I'm into the top 16, since my
resistance should be strong enough. Still, I wanted one more win to
seal it.
Round 5: Alex Jones, Kenson Gakka/Right Hand
I know I've been lucky to avoid all 18 Lion players so far, but
looking around at the 4-0 players there are 4 Lions, one Crane, and
me. Of the four, this is the one I'd least like to face: Alex is a
great player and a superb deckbuilder, who always pulls something
unexpected. This game was no exception.
He goes first, and I know I'm in trouble. Going second poses real
problems for my deck. We both get decent starts, and he holds off the
attack to build up a solid economic advantage (exactly the right way
to play vs Phoenix). I discard an Overwhelmed on turn 4, figuring
that there will never be a 1 vs 1 battle. Shortly after he attacks
with 4 guys: I have 6 guys to defend with, and know that he'll
probably be dropping a Barren Fields, while I only have 1 battle kill
card in hand (TDWWM). I spend some time deciding how much of my force
I ought to commit to draw the Fields out, and decide on 4 (3 would
have been a better choice, I think. But that's with hindsight). First
action, I pump Tsukimi. He drops the Barren. I kill one of his guys,
lose the province and the rest of the army. We both build for a bit
longer then have a few skirmishes: he takes another province. At one
stage, he uses Rising Shadows with Ieshige to bow my Danjuro, then
uses Written In Blood to kill the Seruma I'd just attached the Legion
of 2,000 to. I die shortly afterwards. Yes, I wasn't expecting Open
control actions from a Lion deck - even an Alex deck.
Alex goes on to finish 6-0 in Swiss, then makes Top 4 and Top Lion (I
believe).
4-1
Round 6: Nick Hancock, Kenson Gakka/Right Hand
Nick is a really fun guy. We've not met before (I don't think) but I
did buy his card collection from him when he needed money for
college. Since then, he's got other people to provide the cards he
needs for his decks, and it's good to see he's still playing.
I've been paired up here, so I know that I'll get through on strength
of schedule. This game is played in a very friendly atmosphere, and
is brutally short. I go first. I win. We play a rematch where he goes
first. He wins (though only thanks to his Bloodspeaker Students, but
hey, that's why they're in the deck...).
5-1
I finish 2nd in Swiss behind Alex, thanks to my Strength of Schedule
over the other 5-1s.
Top 16, Revenge of Salman Barakat (Razor's Edge Dojo, Daigotsu).
I've already given away the ending of this game, but here's how it
happened. Salman's deck gives him the tools he needs - most notably
Commanding Favor before me, Shogun's Fealty at the perfect time,
Kuon, and the Egg - but so does mine, as I get Kuro's Fire, the Water
Dragon, a Danjuro and the Legion of 2,000 (to fetch the Isawa House
Guard). Sadly, while Salman plays the game perfectly, I make play
mistakes. I attach the Legion of 2,000 a turn early rather than buy
Danjuro and a couple of other guys, since I want to be able to defend
the following turn - but I end up sacrificing a province anyway (the
one with Danjuro in it, naturally). Then in the Big Battle I forget
that he can use the force boost on RED to make his 4F guys 5F (when I
had two different ranged 4 attacks on the table). Finally, I forget
Kuon's discard ability - not that it would have made a difference by
that point.
Salman deserved his win and played well for it - and I deserved to
lose. You can't make play mistakes at this level and hope to win.
5-2
Mark Armitage - the only other Phoenix still in - also loses in the
top 16. Since my Swiss record was better than his (he went 4-2) he
gracefully concedes Top Phoenix to me, asking only that I give him
the foil Kyuden Agasha. I'm only too happy to do so - I still
remember Mark warmly welcoming myself and the other Team Jade Cat
guys at our first Kotei a couple of years ago, and even remembering
our names throughout the day.
So, top Phoenix. Not shabby, but I was really out to win this one.
Still, I can't complain!
For those who are interested, Eoin Burke won (playing RED/Daigotsu).
Salman came second, making it a Crab 1/2. Lion and Unicorn (Alex
Jones and Matt Green) placed 3rd and 4th, not sure whether they
played for third place.
And the decklist:
City of Rememberance/Right Hand
Dynasty (40)
Commanding Favor
A New Wall
Refuge of the Three Sisters
3 Silver Mine
3 Hiruma Dojo
2 Shrine to Bishamon
Gifts
Daikoku
Ebisu
Benten
Shogun's Barracks
3 Seruma
3 Toshiji
3 Tsukimi
3 Yoriko
3 Danjuro
3 Ryouko
3 Taneji
Koto
Fire Dragon
Air Dragon
Water Dragon
Fate (40)
3 Bane of the Bastard
3 To Do What We Must
3 Overwhelmed
3 Rend the Soul
3 Wedge
3 Refugees
3 Be Prepared to Dig Two Graves
3 Strength of Purity
2 Outmaneuvered in Court
2 Strategic Crossroads
2 Tsuruchi Technique
1 Desperate Wager
3 Spearmen
1 Bloodspeaker Students
Isawa House Guard
Legion of 2,000
Ruby of Iuchiban
2 Kuro's Fire
Comments:
Don't leave home without Bane of the Bastard! Don't waste it on your
opponent either, unless you have a really key situation. Otherwise,
play this as a military deck, with the option to sit back and honour
run if you need to. Also, you need to be careful early on with honour
requirements - though I've only lost 1 game so far in a week's gaming
to honour requirement screw, and managed to win games where I faced
real problems with honour and/or gold early on.
That said, the deck needs more punch to help recovery. I'm taking out
2 OiC and the Ruby for 3x Retribution: between Rend, Strategic and
Dragons this deck can use it effectively, and it will help the deck a
lot with going second.
There are two main comments I suspect people will have, so I'll
answer them here:
1 - 13 holdings? Are you nuts?
No. Look at my report. I was a little short of gold in one game all
day, and even in that game I had 4 holdings in play. Compare to the
game against Gael.
Also note that A New Wall basically counts as an extra holding. Every
personality outside the (8 and 10G) Dragons is boxable/Bentenable,
and most of the holdings make 3G. The economy is surprisingly smooth.
2 - What do you do about Terrains?
Play around them. Rather than dilute my deck to try and meta against
them (which I've never found to work satisfactorily) I just remember
that they exist. The most common two are Barren Fields and
Battlefield of Shallow Graves. The former is best avoided by only
defending to use attrition - TDWWM/Overwhelmed/ranged attacks, and
using the mobility of the Right Hand to do hit and run with Ryouko,
or Dragons with Kuro's Fire. Fight the big battles on the attack, or
with Kuro's Fire in play on a dragon. Or both. Battlefield is less
critical, but also harder to avoid. Again, attrition is the key - as
is Be Prepared to Dig Two Graves, which pumps your force enough to
let you basically ignore the terrain.
Finally...
Many thanks to Dave Robotham and his team for running such a great
tournament. I had a great time, and I know I wasn't the only one.
Also, props to Justin (Walsh), for still smiling at the end of the
day despite going second in all 6 rounds of Swiss... with a City of
Rememberance deck! Clearly someone Up There wanted to make sure you wouldn't win!
Anything else, feel free to email/message me!
Shiba Samoshii
Phoenix Clan Acolyte of Water*Ricepaper Shugenja*Team Jade Cat
Inquisitor*Gozoku Courtier*Underhand of the Phoenix Reborn
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