Post by Kakita Kikuchiyo on May 13, 2013 13:36:43 GMT -5
I should mention right off the rip that I am a Crane player (if you couldn't tell by my name). I made this deck (and gave it it's name) at first as an homage to my best friend who introduced me to the game (a die-hard Lion Player), a joke to my girlfriend (another die-hard Lion and Matsu lover, truly, I live in a house divided) and because I convinced our local TO to run a Bushi tournament a week out from the Kotei everyone is planning on attending (I do have a silver Crane tongue after all). I really wanted to play something different and the only Crane Bushi deck I ever found to be worth fielding is Scouts (and I find them boring). I wanted to play honor, and not the kind of "not in the face" kind of honor I was used to playing. I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and try to experiment a bit. I was pleasantly surprised and not having tested the deck much made the Top 4 after 4 rounds of swiss at 3-1. It should be noted that due to an emergency on the TO's part we weren't able to do the Top 4 matches and in true Lion fashion I contested the declaration of the "winner" and challenged him; only to have him shrink at the might of Akodo and flee like a cowardly cur in front of all in attendance. I take that as a moral victory and declared myself victor of the tournament (again in true Lion fashion). At any rate, here is the deck and I will go into some things I noticed, things I would change, and general playing tips for the deck for those parties interested.
Pre-game:
Shamate Keep
Border Keep
Bamboo Harvesters
Dynasty: 40
Events, Regions, Guidances: 4
Akodo’s Guidance x 1 (More for Flavor than anything, but it proved quite useful and I used it in all of my matches)
Boastful Proclamation x 1
The Scorpion Wall is Finished x 1 (Crab meta and that's it. I was expecting a heavy Crab turnout because Crab is ridiculous in EE Bushi)
Low Market x 1 (This should be A Dangerous Game, I didn't have it and this was the next best thing, used it once all day)
Holdings: 14
Remote Village x 3
Copper Mine x 3
Merchant Outpost x 3 (Great card is great.)
Family Library x 2 (For when you need to ditch people to help your economy and get them back, but I didn't use them all day)
Small Farm x 3
Personalities: 22
Akodo Dairuko x 1 (Game-Changer, hands down. Dairuko comes out and people sweat a little bit. She opens up the options.)
Akodo Kobi x 1 (Free personality recursion when they die? Yes please.)
Matsu Arata x 3 (MVP all day, no one likes seeing Arata.)
Akodo Kakihara x 3 (#2 man, no one wants to poke him. You wouldn't like him when he gets angry.)
Akodo Tezuka x 3 (He was better then Yoshito. A warm body with 4 ph.)
Akodo Kisho x 3 (Another warm body, with a good price point.)
Akodo Uehara x 3 (3 gold for fate deck manipulation and a relevant keyword.)
Akodo Suoh x 2 (3 gold warm body with a relevant keyword.)
Matsu Hachiro x 3 (Originally Kakita Seishi for thematic purposes, but I wanted the switch option.)
Fate: 40
Strategies: 31
Know No Fear x 3 (Staple)
Honest Assessment x 3 (Great action that goes through attachments, 4FV for tacticians, and Tezuka bait.)
The Honor of the Lion x 3 (Gave my blank guys a relevant battle action.)
Guided by Honor x 3 (Standard move in with extra goodies.)
Revenge x 3 (Was originally a 2 of, but bumped up to a 3. I was unhappy with adding a DV to the deck, but pragmatism won the day.)
Reckless Rush x3 (Great card! I love it in Bushi, I love it even more when you get to target Mantis Pokemon with it. Hello bear...)
Control the Board x 3 (Terrain meta and only Tactical action in the deck.)
You are Unworthy x 3 (Attachment meta!)
In the Heart of Battle x 2 (Defensive Stance is the better option hands down, but I wanted the open unbow and to raise a few eyebrows.)
Rocky Terrain x3 (Defensive terrain and 4 FV for Tactician bait.)
Interference x 2 (Meta for those pesky Strong Holds with actions.)
Attachments: 6
Singh Remnants x 3 (Pitch it for Uehara, Tezuka, or a tactical action and attach it later. Win.)
Home Guard x 3 (Relevant battle action that gains honor and protects your personality.)
Rings: 3
Ring of Earth x 1 (Self explanatory)
Ring of Fire x 1 (See above)
Ring of Water x 1 (Move in. You are Lion, there is no retreat!)
Dynasty side, pitch the Low Market for A Dangerous Game. I don't own a copy of a Quartermaster's Depot, but you can easily slot it in. I really enjoyed Akodo's Guidance xp, despite the fact it's one of the worst Kami guidances. I found it was always useful and it swung battles in my favor. I was pretty happy with the personality line up and while I was on the fence with the Small Farms they were always useful for the odd even cost personality and helped clear my dynasty that much faster.
Fate side, I was pretty pleased, I don't feel like there's a whole lot more I could have done. I wanted to build a defensive honor deck that could attack if need be. I got it. Originally I had Strength of Purity in there and the In the Heart of Battles was not. I decided to ditch the Strengths because it felt too much like a win more card and In the Heart of Battle caught a few people off guard. Upping Revenge to a 3-of proved to be wise. I noticed a lot of military decks gravitating towards kill, and Revenge helped that (One example being an 8F Togashi Korimi xp2 who hadoukened an Arata only to be murdered by the Butcher formally known as Matsu Gohei). I originally had Kakita Seishi and Courtesy of the Crane in the deck, but took them out due to the fact they were unreliable at best and I expected a lot of decks to be running Indecision.
Overall I noticed that this deck is more aggressive than I originally intended. My first few games with it I would sit back and play pure defense and honor out. While it can do that, I was totally in a the Crane mentality, not taking into account that my guys want to go out and punch someone in the mouth. Don't be afraid to attack, even into a military deck. Most of my games I would just attack and kill 3 provinces and then sit back and turtle up to honor out. I did that to honor decks too because A.) I would not have won playing defensively and B.) Nothing is more disheartening to an honor player than getting their ass whooped in battle, being down to one province, and watching a switch deck honor out on you. Matsu would have been proud. Thank you for taking the time to read this, please feel free to ask any questions, critique, comment, et cetera. I'll be more than happy to post my report in the designated forum if anyone wants a play-by-play of the decks I played before and during the tournament.