Prerelease report

[Chrondeath Dracion]

I got first at the Lincoln, NE prerelease today playing Dragon.  I don't 
remember exactly what I got in the starter, but I'll try...

1x Mirumoto Daisuke
1x Togashi Genshuo
1x Tamori Chosai
1x Mirumoto Ukira
1x Tamori Shaitung
1-2x Mirumoto Temoru
1-2x Mirumoto Rosanjin
2x Togashi Nyima

1x Goldsmith
1x Hiruma Dojo
3x Gold Mine
3x Small Farm
2x Sanctified Temple
2-3x Jade Works
1x Fortress of the Dragonfly

Occult Murders
Test of the Emerald Champion
Mountain Pass

2x I.Duel
2x I.Challenge
2x Biting Steel
1x Dragon Tattoo
1x Spirit Guide
Celestial Sword
Ring of Earth

I'm pretty sure those were all in the starter.  I also got a Hawks and 
Falcons, a bunch of followers, Ryokan's Sword (which I didn't play, but I 
think it might have been fixed) and a foily Hiruma's Last Breath.  I threw 
in that Crane 1/2 walking Merchant Caravan to have three shugenja for my two 
Biting Steels, and decide to go with Toturi Sezaru to (hopefully) support my 
dueling.

We decide as a group to go 30/30 and play four rounds of swiss, then cut to 
the top four.

First round I play Shadowlands (Spawning Ground).  I buy gold, he buys 
Voitaigi, a Small Farm, and a Corrupt Silver Mine.  I buy more gold.  He 
puts Blackened Claws and a Goblin Mob on Votaigi and Charges to take a 
province.  I thought that wasn't supposed to happen in Gold.

I try to recover, but my Challenges are worthless and I just can't keep up 
in force.  I concede at ~15 honor with one province left.  0-1

I glance over to watch the end of my (scorpion) friend's game against the 
Crane.  The Crane Wind's Truth'd 22 points from a battle on my friend's last 
turn (when time was called), and a couple of other players started arguing 
over whether or not both honor and provinces crushed counted towards 
tiebreaker points.  It turns out to be moot when the Crane player finally 
notices that the Wind's Truth is now chi-based.

Second round I get to play the Crane.  I'm a little surprised to see that 
he's playing the Iron Fortress of the Daidoji.  He wins the cut anyway and 
goes first, but gets no gold and nothing else he can buy.  I don't remember 
the details, but I get a pretty good start and he doesn't get gold for a 
couple of turns.  I don't have enough force in my hand to capitalize on 
that, however...he eventually runs into a huge pocket of gold and starts 
bringing out personalities.  We trade Challenges for a while, and he starts 
attacking me and takes a province.  Eventually, I'm at 36 with two 
Sanctified Temples and a Hawks and Falcons out, and he's at 32 with two 
Kabuki Theatre Troupes.  When he attacks, I think about blocking and Dueling 
one of his guys for the win, but I notice that he has a 5-chi shugenja 
sitting back so I hold off.  He can't get up to 40, and I flip Rosanjin so 
it doesn't matter if he can steal two honor from me.  A Bridged Pass says 
he's not going to get a military victory, so he concedes.  1-1

Third round I play the Phoenix.  We both get decent starts, but he gets far 
ahead of me in honor so I play some followers, get out Biting Steel/Spirit 
Guide, and start attacking.  My Occult Murders kills my Sword-guy before he 
can do much, but I kill most of his personalities when he defends with 
everyone and I duel his only shugenja before he can bow it to his Shiba 
Technique.  His last province squishes a few turns later.  2-1

The Unicorn player is undefeated at this point and has played all the other 
2-1's, so I play her next.  I get out a quick Biting Steel and the Sword on 
Daisuke, but I see no compelling reason to attack and I'm quite a bit ahead 
in honor with some honor-producing holdings, so I don't.  Rosanjin becomes 
the Emerald Champion and gives me a province (she declined to accept).  
Daisuke dies to the Occult Murders a few turns later, but she loses a large 
unit as well and by then I'm far enough ahead in honor and force that it 
only takes another turn or two to get to 40.  3-1

The top four are the Lion, the Unicorn, the Shadowlands, and me.  A short 
break for lunch, and I get paired up against the Lion.

I see he's using Toturi Tsudao (and I'd seen him with Akodo Kaneka earlier 
in the day), so I ask if we're allowed to swap winds during the tournament.  
The judge doesn't have a problem with it, so I switch over to Tsudao as 
well, since Sezaru didn't seem to be helping me that much in my previous 
games.  I think it's a little harder to judge his performance, now that you 
draw the card at the end of the turn.  Sezaru didn't help the dueling 
enough--most of my focus values were one and twos, so I was relying on 
Biting Steel and the Sword more than focus values anyway.

The Lion goes first and gets no gold he can buy, but purchases that Lion 
Clan historian.  I look at the Sword in my hand and proceed to channel the 
topdecking power.  I flip Jade Works, Gold Mine, Jade Works, Occult Murders. 
  I buy gold for two turns, as the Lion player continues to flip more things 
he can't buy.  Daisuke gets an Ono and a Light Mounted Infantry and breaks a 
province (containing the only personality the Lion player could have bought 
next turn).  He doesn't flip anything useful for the next two turns, and 
more followers on random people bring the Lion down to one province.  He 
concedes, never having bought a second personality (although it was going to 
take me a turn or two to figure out how to get around his Fields of the 
Dead, as all my people were big).  4-1

The Shadowlands player finishes off the Unicorn, and I have to play him 
again for the finals.

The game goes much better for me this time.  He flips Kyoso, Ogre Bushi, Oni 
no Yamaso, and a 5g goblin.  I get a good start, and have a 3F guy and Nyima 
out when he brings out the Ogre.  Occult Murders kills it and Nyima on my 
turn, so I give the 3F guy (Rosanjin or Temoru, I don't remember which) a 
Heavy Infantry, take a province, and buy some more people.  He buys the 
Orschat-clone and some more gold.  Rosanjin (Nyima?  Some 3C guy with no 
followers) tries to become the Emerald Champion, and the goblin accepts.  I 
focus the Ring of Earth, he focuses the Claw, both of them die, and I take 
another province.  He buys Kumo, but I play more followers and keep crushing 
him.  5-1

Unfortunately, the remaining people only have three Dragon Souls I need 
between them, so I'm still short on Daisuke, Genshuo, and I didn't see Vedau 
all day.  I guess there shoulnd't be a problem with proxying them until the 
rest of the people I play with start buying Gold so I can trade them.

Other comments about Gold (flavor spoilers may be present):





<minor spoiler space>






The I.Duel and I.Challenge art, while I don't like it that much, depicts a 
Dragon and a Phoenix at two stages of a duel.  Gee, I wonder who's going to 
win that one?

Flee the Darkness and Ryoshun's Last Words show Shaitung facing some Phoenix 
shugenja (don't know if it's supposed to be the same Phoenix, they're 
wearing different clothes).  She seems to have a real problem keeping that 
robe up.  The flavor text on Flee the Darkness refers to "the hatred between 
these two shugenja" fueling the war...I assume one is Shaitung, does anybody 
know who the other is?

Also, the flavor text on Ryoshun's Last Words:  "When will you understand, 
Shaitung?  If you attempt to disrupt the Pattern, you will only bring 
destruction.  Your father understood this well." -Isawa Tetsuya

The Pattern?  WTF?  We're fighting the Phoenix to control the Wheel of Time, 
now?

>From Alliance:  Apparently Naseru set up the Lion-Phoenix thing to get them 
to fight the Shadowlands, but they both decided to turn on the Dragon while 
we were passing between their lands.  Thanks, Naseru.

Oh, somebody in that conflict also wrecked the Fortress of the Dragonfly.  
Not sure who.

Secluded Ravine:  It seems that Agasha Tamori let Tsuneo in the back door to 
the Phoneix.  Did the spirits grab the Phoenix children before or after they 
started messing with us?

Quote of the day, from the Unicorn player about Toturi Sezaru:
"He's not bad, he's just drawn that way."

+--+
|\/|       -Mirumoto Kharon
|/\|        chron_d at hotmail.com
+--+        Telekinesis: It's the thought that counts.
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