So I started playing L5R back in '99. At no point did I ever think I would get to write a thread like this. I may meander a bit but this is really a once in a lifetime thing, so bear with me.
My name is Rich Judd, for those who recall the War Council of Kuroiban, I was known as Shosuro Adorai.
I did not win GENCON.
But, I did a fair amount of design work on the deck that did.
Tom Kirchgesner did win GENCON.
Tom is and has been my L5R mentor for 14 years. When he first taught me the game it took 37 attempts before I beat him.
The first thing I said to him when he got back from GC is that he better be careful next time we play, because I have beaten a World Champion.
As for the Deck itself, Tom basically has zero presence on the community forums. It is just his way. I would generally keep him up to date on upcoming events, various story elements, competitive deck lists and all of those things.
He just made decks and won games.
Prior to this year, his highest Kotei finish was second. He did qualify for the Samurai Championship in LA back in 2008, I believe his final placing in the final tournament was Top 8.
Last September he won Tokyo in Tulsa with Mantis and choose Moshi Rukia to reveal the Spider infiltration of the Sparrow.
At the 2013 Collinsville Kotei his Phoenix kill deck defeated the Mantis control deck and he choose to take Aranai hostage at the request of myself on behalf of the Mantis and Spider players in our rather small playgroup
Which brings us to GC. We knew KL and Phoenix were top dogs. They won 29 of 60 Kotei's (48%). After looking over the last two months of Koteis, I pegged them at around 40% of the environment with strong participation in both Swiss and Top Cut. I was guessing the renewed lands would result in pretty high Lion participation, I estimated 15% or so, with Crab and Ponies at around 10% each with everyone else splitting the remaining 25%. As it turns out, I overshot on the Phoenix and was definitely under on the Unaligned, but the others were reasonably accurate.
Then we worked up 'what are you going to face in the Top 16'. Phoenix and KL were a given, again guessing 40% or so. Lion military looked strong, Unicorn military was definitely relevant, and I though Crab Berzerker/Tacticians out of Kyuden Hida xp would squeeze in somewhere. Scorpion and Spider were written in as Zero's, they can't deal with KL and there is way to much KL prevalent for them to get through Swiss. Dragon has Kensai, but they struggle with Phx, and EE Crane really struggles with Ingenuity, KJ and oblivious, and we though those decks would be everywhere. The one big mistake I made was writing off the Berzerker blitz - I though the prevalence of Chi Kill would keep them down, but it was the deck that deviated the most from my projections. While I though Lion would put down the Mantis/Phx with their swarming Scouts/Tacts/Paragons, it was the Zerkers who but down the Lion who couldn't get the time to let the Farm Scheme develop to fruition. So we expected KL, Phx, Lion, Crab and Unicorn basically in that order. Notice that none of those are honor running decks.
Our playgroup had two reliable honor running decks, a Kitsune that packs 34 battle actions who auto-loses to any other honor runner, and a speed Kitsu deck that tries to cross on the opponents 4th attack phase. Both decks were decent against KL/phx, but Ingenuity combined with the Chi Kill does terrible things to them. Dishonor can't deal with KL, and speed enlightement is even worse if it doesn't see Disgrace to protect its core folks. So we were basically working on military decks for a couple of weeks. Then, a few days after the the Sedai circuit I was going over the Top 8 deck lists and saw Melissa Bowers faceless honor runner. I had built and played a semi-faceless deck out of ToP back when Well Tended Farm was legal and was pretty pleased with it before the xmas banning. After looking it over, I had 2 main conclusions: #1, it needed more honor. #2 it would do terrible TERRIBLE things to Mantis/Phx personality kill. My initial version used 7 peeps to allow for some proclaiming to speed things up, but the dynasty didn't quite flow right so I reduced my peeps to 4, and Tom reduced his to 2.
The second main change was dealing with honor runners. Melissa's deck (at least her version posted) could deal with honor runners, but it meant there were cards that you might not get to play every game. So we talked about likely match ups in Swiss, and then in the Top 16. Given that honor decks are winning less than 10% of the events this year, how likely are you to encounter one? Tom decided the answer was not enough to justify the card space. As it turned out, that was probably the key decision of the deck design. Tom played over 15 matches with the deck, ZERO of them were against honor runners. There was a Kitsune who made Top 16, but I think he lost to Melissa's faceless. There was a Battle Maiden who made Top 8 but was eaten by Zerkers. He and I did have a brief conversation Saturday night after the Top 16 discussing what to do if he faced Melissa in the Finals. There was a number of scenarios discussed, most of them resulted in Unpleasantness (que Mr. Burns)
As it turned out, Case defeated Melissa, and after that it was just Phx, Zerker, Phx. The deck is entirely designed to deal with those type of matchups, so it worked out well and a World Championship was won.
If anyone has any particular strategy questions or inclusions/exclusions I can definitely discuss those.
If there is something I do not know the answer for, I will track down Tom and get it for you.
The goal is to Cross on Turn 7 using your events, celestials, holdings and fate to gain steady amounts of honor. Control their people and gold as needed. Don't buy the Crane unless you have the Besieged in hand or you on the verge of crossing anyway. Don't buy Suikihime until Turn 5 or later. Use Noharu's gift and Sadahako's to give away a Scandalous gossip. Likewise, use the favor to cycle a Scandalous away. When you play Virtuous charity, make sure you can bow enough gold that it will cost them the vast majority of their turn to deny the honor - if you can not do that, wait a turn until you can. Important holdings to target with Economic Manipulation - Bamboo harvester, Temple of Tangen, Sheltered Ports, Legion Charter, Hachi's revenge, Jungle Stockade. Use Juroijan's as soon as it is relevant, good choices are Caught Unawares, economic manipulation, Virtuous Charity, Bond's of Hospitality, Theological/Frozen in Place (depending on if the partner is in your hand). Shrine of the Heaven's is there to protect Ebisu's, overall it is likely your most important celestial. With Benefices I generally go for Province, Tom generally goes for cards - but really what does he know?
I was going to tell you to cycle Imperial Gift, Boastful Proc, and Benefices with Sun's Aspiration, but there is no Sun's Aspiration. It's in mine, but apparently not his, I will try to find out why he cut it.
The deck itself:>
There Can Be Only One (personality you purchase per game)
Journey's End Keep, xp
BKxp
BHxp
Celestials (4)
Ebisu's Honesty
Jurojin's Blessing
Sadahako's Artistry
The Moon's Imperative
Holdings (22)
Merchant Atoll (2)
Temple Fortress (3)
Suikihime's Chambers (3)
Indomitable Home (3)
Merchant Outpost (3)
Shrine to the Heaven's (2)
Fortifications (3)
Seeker's Temple
Traveling Peddler
Temple of Tengen
Events (11)
Delayed Arrival (3)
Imperial Gift
Boastful Proclamation
Benefices of Emperor
Star Crossed Lovers
Unseasonable Weather
Cherry Blossom Festival
Willing Spirits
Naoharu's Gift
Regions (1)
Second City
Personalities (2)
Suikihime
Doji Kazuo
Strategies (38)
A Game of Dice
Besieged
Peace
Unbearable Weight
Bonds of Hospitality (3)
Caught Unawares (3)
Economic Manipulation (3)
Flooded Pass (1)
Frozen in Place (3)
Hidden Defenses (3)
Re-fortification (3)
Scandalous Gossip (3)
Siege Volley (3)
Tell the Tale (3)
Theological Indecision (3)
Virtuous Charity (3)
Ring (2)
Earth
Void
Accueil 
Jeu 22 Aoû 2013 - 16:14
