Tempting Kansen

 
 
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For this article, I will cover an overlooked card that could be the bane of Phoenix in Diamond. From Fall of Otosan Uchi, the uncommon action Tempting Kansen. As a reaction, during battle, play this when a spell, kiho, or innate ability is used. The caster's controller must discard 2 cards from their hand, or the shugenja is destroyed and the action is canceled.

In Gold, this has yet to be a major problem, since Phoenix can rely on more Limited actions for Pkill, plus IK. However, indications for Diamond are that Limited Pkill is going to be much more rare. IK is nice, but it cannot do everything. It would appear that phoenix will need to be going into battle. Without the cardlist, I can't guess how successful Phoenix battle will be, but with so much certainty that battle enders will also be gone, it could be interesting.

As the past few months have shown, Phoenix is very much a battle clan in Diamond. And out of MGC, we don't mind losing personalities. Thus, this action [TK] would seem to be more dangerous, but I have yet to see it being used.

Which brings us back to TK. This card can seriously hurt Phoenix. Most of our actions in battle tend to be spells [Kuro's Fire], kihos [Purity of Spirit], or an innate ability [Isawa Moriko]. This action will hurt. Either you will lose 2 cards from your hand, not always a bad thing, but usually not good, or you will have the action canceled, and they get a free Pkill out of it.

There is little better than cards that kill with no side effects, or costs, but this one doesn't have either. Aside from being reactive, it is cost-free. Even costs 0. Duels can go either way [at least in theory], Spell kills cost gold and a caster, most other actions cost gold, and lots of it. This costs a slot in their deck.

What is the answer?

One thought was Balance in Nothingness. However, there the problem is one of timing. Is the bowing before TK hits, or after? Very important, but I don't have an answer. So far, fortunately, not many have picked up on the weakness we have to this card, so it is not played a whole lot. As other clans also see what spells can do in Battle, I think we may see it more. Especially in battles without battle- enders. With lots of back and forth, spells and kihos may see new power.

Therefore, my advice, poor as it is, is to trade for all of these you see, denigrate it whenever you see it, and don't share this article with anyone. Would the moderater please remove any non- Phoenix from the list soonest? Thank you!

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