Clifton Park Tourney Report (long)

[Loki]

On Thu, 24 May 2001, Repine, James wrote:

> >>Plague of Locust also gets the empty crevasses put in to 
> >>play with Taeruko, most of the fortifications used by Crab,
> >>Forest put in to play by Naga, all the merchant caravans, 
> >>small farms, black markets....needless to say I use it 
> >>myself....actually instead of Iris Festival. I find it's more
> >>versatile. 
> > 
> >Probably just another example of personal bias.  I run tons of free
> >holdings and the like in my decks whenever possible.  IIRC, 
> >last time you
> >posted a deck (and a wonderful one it was) you made a very strong deck
> >using all holdings that you had to pay for.  I suppose it all 
> >depends on
> >deck type.  Unfortunately, I don't recall the original deck 
> >now, and I'm
> >at work so I don't have the original message on me.  <G>
> 
> Thanks *grin*. It really depends on the deck. My current tournament
> deck runs 3 Merchant Caravans, 3 Corrupt Gold Mines, 3 Empty 
> Crevasses, 3 Gold Mines, 2 Large Farms, 1 Charter of the Dragon. It's
> REALLY fast and does quite well. I am REALLY big into the META game.
> I look at what people have been playing and adjust my deck week to
> week accordingly. If people start to run Bandit Attacks/Plague of 
> Locust then I'll change the gold scheme (I run 2 Bandit Attacks).

Hey!  You stole my gold scheme!  :P  May I just say, Corrupted Gold Mines
are such a bloody beutiful holding.  I've been leaning towards cheaper
holdings and cheaper personalities lately.  I really like the fact that I
can force 5G personalities off a single GM if I need to.  I'll also
comment: Empty Crevasses are good for all but the most suicidal of decks.
I usually manage to defend my provinces reasonably well, and the extra
"clan holding" effect they provide is great, since they come in off a LF
or two SF, or a CGM, or just about anything else.  :)  And, if your
provinces start getting cracked wide open, well, as someone commented,
less provinces usually means less gold demand

> You just have to base your deck around your gold scheme. You want your
> gold to flow. For example, in the gold scheme I listed above ever gold
> holding can buy anyother gold holding (except for the charter), meaning
> after turn 1, my SH can be used to buy people or more important things
> (can you say Otomo Sensei?). 

I think this is half the problem a lot of us have in our earlier days of
deck construction.  When I first started playing in earnest in Sept, I had
no grasp of this.  Willy nilly use of expensive holdings was crippling.
These days, I'm trying to use ideal gold schemes where everything buys
everything else.

>Using 4,5,6 gold personalities, the deck
> flies. The only thing lacking is quick force, which Tattoos take care
> of. Kobai, Dragonfly Tattoo, Mountain Tattoo, Beserkers = Turn 2 province. 

Kobai cracking provinces, I love that.  Almost as good as a multiplayer
game with Kobai+C1 at aT+Nunchaku.  <G>

> And speaking of the meta game. When GenCon comes around and the Kotei's that
> are here. I think that Kyuden Hitomi is the way to go. 70% of the time, even
> if you run Iron Mountain you will be going 2nd anyway. And the meta that you
> can run will be a lot more helpful. 

I have a strange relationship with Kyuden Hitomi, myself.  When I first ot
it, I used it all the time, then got annoyed with it's downsides and
started playing Iron Mtn.  Now, I find myself reaching for it, just
because I've recently gained an unhealthy addiction to combo decks and
metagame.  <G> 

> Just my 2 Koku.

And mine!  Mwuahahah.  Thank god for ample time at work to spend on this
list. :P
Hey, we're all talking again!  :P

Mirumoto Hakanin * Dragon Clan Schemer
Chief Organizer/Supporter, Togashi Angai for Emerald Champion