Open Deck Advice (LONG!!)

[Lucas Twyman]

At 05:18 PM 12/1/01 +1300, you wrote:
>Hello fellow Dragons,
>
>I usually play a Gold legal Dragon deck but have found that many people play
>open in my area (probably don't want to give up their awesome cards). So I
>have decided that I need to "open"ify my deck to stand a better chance
>against them. I don't know much about the open format so I need help on what
>to get. This is what my Gold legal deck current is:


Yay. Open. Something I know a little more about!

Anyway, it's hard to win with Dragon in Open, mostly because of Spirit. 
They screw everything up -- they honor run way too fast, and they 
militarize uber-quick too. But if your local group doesn't cheese out, it 
can really be some fun.

First thing you need to do in Open is figure out exactly how your deck 
plans on winning. In Gold, flexibility isn't always a bad thing (in fact, 
my Gold deck is based around me being able to both take a couple of 
provinces and honor run). In Open, you must be focused.

Your dynasty deck lacks focus. Judging from your fate, you want to honor 
run, but you're still including cards like low focus-value followers, which 
will only serve to slow you down. I'll assume you want a honor deck with duels.

Honestly, with the breakup of the favor and the MRPings, I think dishonor 
is, hands down, Dragon's best deck in Open, but dishonor is an extremely 
complicated deck to win with, and requires a *lot* of rares. However, 
duelling honor has always been "my" deck -- the one I'm most comfortable 
with, and the one I do best with -- so I'll advise you on it to the best of 
my ability.

I plan on ignoring AOF for this analysis, since I don't know its full 
repercussions yet.


Alright. The key word for Dragon honor should be "control". We can't honor 
run as fast as Crane, Spirit, or even Phoenix can, but we excell at 
controlling the board and having a counter for our opponent's cards. View 
duels as a way to control the board first; any honor you might gain is just 
gravy. Our shugenja give us a huge advantage when it comes to removing 
annoying personalities or grabbing key fate cards.

First off, in Open, you need a sensei. At the very least, it lets you cut 
your fate deck down to 39 cards. Dragon honor doesn't really doesn't have a 
"correct sensei" -- we either have to base our decks around the sensei, or 
run a generic one (like Hantei). I tend to do the latter.

My personal favorite sensei for Dragon in SJ and Open around the time of 
Origins (the last time I played Open) was Otomo. Otomo has several 
advantages: first, it allowed me to run the card-fetching events Restoring 
the Doji Treasury and Wisdom Gained without any real drawback (when my 
opponent searched for a card, I simply chucked a card from my fate hand to 
cancel it -- basically, I got a free holding or ring for, at most, chucking 
a fate card, and usually people refuse to search since they don't want 
their cards removed from the game). Both were huge advantages: Restoring 
seriously helped me smooth out my gold scheme, and Wisdom Gained let me 
grab the all-important Void Ring. Otomo also slowed FETA (which is now 
effectively dead) and dishonor, both of which commonly use a great amount 
of fate manipulation. I also have caught a military deck using Kaede for 
RoV off-guard more than once.

Since FETA is gone, Otomo might no longer be the best choice. For a very 
long time I ran Hantei, and was very happy -- the only reason I decided to 
switch was that I found that I often didn't use its ability. The key to 
Hantei is knowing your opponent, and knowing when to call the card. It's a 
bit of trial and error; I know of at least two games in tournaments I lost 
for failing to use Hantei. Against other duellers, call Iaijutsu Challenge; 
against honor, Deeds or Wind's Truth is a good call (after you've used one 
or more of your own, of course); against dishonor, Rise (and/or Breach on 
the first turn) is a smart move; and against Scorpion blitz, Shoshuro 
Technique is a great call. *The* reason to use Hantei is against blitz 
military: you call Sneak Attack. The worst thing that can happen to a 
defensive dragon deck is being denied your actions; no Sneak Attack means 
you always can play one card before they drop a deadly or storms or 
Crushing attack. That single action can win so many games.

There are other senseis Dragon can use to some effect. The most common is 
Toshimoko; however, I've found that I usually don't need it to win duels, 
and since I play with so many shugenja and so few Samurai (the only Samurai 
I played with at Normal and Origins were Daini and Yuyake) it's not really 
all that useful, and its drawback (your personalities cannot refuse) has 
often hurt me against other duelling decks more than the sensei helped me. 
I have toyed with a Yoritomo Sensei deck, smoothing out our poor gold 
curve, and allowing me to play with Entrench for Empty Crevasse.

Dragon's gold scheme is very unimpressive. Our guys aren't exceptionally 
cheap (do we have anyone who costs less than 4?), we get no cost reductions 
for anything (other than 12th Black Scroll :P), and we lack any truly 
special holdings to speed us up. I usually go very gold heavy, because I 
need early holdings and I have several fate cards that cost gold. Frankly, 
Dragon doesn't need to run anyone who can't be bought off the box for 
cheap. The only guy with a cost >6 I run is Hoshi XP2, and he's mostly for 
flavor reasons (and 'cuz he owns).

DON'T RUN TOO MANY EVENTS/REGIONS. Our gold scheme isn't pretty, so you 
want to make sure things are as consistent as possible. I prefer gold and 
peeps to most events.

The key behind any Dragon deck in open that plans on staying above 0 honor 
is Agasha Gennai. Get and run 3 of him; he is simply amazing. He is what 
makes Dragon the kings of the Metagame -- I often found myself not using 
cards like Deeds, Not Words or Sun in the Shadow, but I never really 
regretted playing them since I could just toss them to Gennai. He's also 
the master of the Ring of Void.

Our biggest advantage in Open is our great Shugenja base. Togashi Shinseken 
still remains one of my favorite personalities; his ability is once again 
useful with the stronghold from AOF, and even in Iron Mountain he is 
amazing for cost -- a 3C shugenja who can Kiho, Spell, and lobby for the 
favor with the best of them, off the box with 2 honor. The -- HR is what 
makes him so great -- with him and Daini, we're one of the best honor decks 
against Dishonor. Tamori Chosai's 4 chi has become essential to me, and he 
is even better in Open than he is in Gold, since we have Shinseken and 
Yuyake off the box, so we can get him out much quicker. Cheiko is still 
amazingly solid in Open, and is also a mini-Gennai.
While Togashi Yoshi (the original, non-experienced version) is disliked by 
some prominent list members, I have loved him since I started playing back 
in FK. The great thing about Yoshi is he's still a relatively cheap 2PH 
shugenja, AND pretty much the only duelling support you'll ever need. 
Remember, his chi bonus lasts until the end of turn, which is great for 
things like Come One at a Time I usually like to run 2.

As for our Samurai, Mirumoto Daini (non-exp) is, of course, the ultimate 
all-around guy. There is *no* reason not to run him in your deck -- he's 
dishonor protection, he's cheap, he's 3PH, and he has 4 Chi. I love 
Mirumoto Yuyake; his ability is beautiful, and he's 2PH off the box. 
Yuyake's 2C is a disadvantage, but I'm not planning on duelling with him 
anyway (not to say I haven't -- his duelling prowess, with a Yoshi to back 
him up, won me the game in the top 16 round of Abandoning the Fortunes, 
where he bravely Come One at a Time'd an army of weapon-tokened rats). Uso 
(non-exp, his Experienced version is junk) is another incredibly solid 
personally, but even at a mere 6 gold he can be a little expensive (I 
eventually dropped all the 6G personalities other than Yoshi and Gennai 
from my deck).

There are a few personalities with more cost worth considering playing 
(even though I don't). The spirit Asako Sagoten is excellent in honor-heavy 
environments, particularly when combo'ed with cards to keep your opponent 
from gaining honor, like Loss of Face, Deeds not Words, and Tribute to your 
House (the latter combos especially well with Sagoten, as you can use it to 
temporarily reduce your own honor and then use your Sagotens). He is very 
cool to get on turn 2 vs. Unicorn, Lion, or Crane. However, he is a tad 
expensive, at 6G for out of clan, and doesn't help you much against 
military. Kitsuki Yasu is great if you shoot to 10 honor very quickly (by 
running Shinsei's Shrines); 4 honor for 7G isn't too bad of a deal. Kitsuki 
Kaagi helps you with the whole board control aspect, and he can have some 
force with his tactican trait, but I don't run him anymore since he's not a 
samurai. Decks have been based around Kitsuki Mizuochi's ability, and his 
cost/PH is very nice; I'm just not a fan of his HR.


IMHO, one of the most important parts of the Dragon control/honor deck is 
the focus values -- keep them up. This helps both with winning duels and 
with Yoshi's ability. This is not to say that you should not run any low 
focus value cards -- quite to the contrary; you must run Challenges and 
Duels, and I'm also a big fan of Come One at a Time, Deeds not Words, and 
Test of Honor. However, you should try to keep low focus values to a 
minimum -- I never run more than 3 1-Focus cards and 12 2-focus cards (my 
average is 2 1-focus and 9 2-focus). There are plenty of good high focus 
cards; a crazy number of them, in fact. Keeping your focus values up 
ensures, along with decent chi, that you don't need any extra fate-based 
duel support. Your duels should be mainly ways to eliminate a key opposing 
unit or (in the case of I. Challenge) intimidate your opponent.

Fate-based duel support is *BAD*. I can't say this enough. The only cards I 
like to run are Snow Crane Tattoo and Poison Weapon, which I *only* run in 
strict Gold, since duelling decks and anti-duelling cards are so rampant. 
Most non-unique items are not good -- they cost gold you could be spending 
on a fate card that directly kills an opponent's guy or on more 
defenders/honor. Sure, if your opponent runs a bunch of anti-duelling 
stuff, or runs a bunch of duel support, they will win their duels. However, 
every card they spend on a duel is one less card they can use to mess you 
up, and every card you didn't use on duel support is one more card you can 
use to stop them. (The same goes for dynasty-based duel support). If your 
focus values are up, you should have a good chance of winning your duels 
anyway.

The heart of my dragon honor deck in Open is the dishonor/kill combo. I run 
Secrets, Force of Will, Test of Honor, Bitter, and Judgement. All of them 
are relatively useful on their own -- secrets and Judgement being the least 
flexible by themselves -- and far more effective when used together. I can 
dishonor a personality with Secrets, then be assured of killing them with 
Force of Will or Test of Honor, no matter how big they are. Iaijutsu 
Challenge is another way to dishonor my opponent's guys (if they refuse), 
and when I kill dishonored guys, I slow down their honor gains. Secrets+ 
Judgement, while a bit difficult to set up, is brutal when it works, 
killing up to 4 personalities. I don't even fear Gaheris -- I can kill him 
the turn after he hits the board.


Soo.... the easiest/best cards to get that aren't in Gold:
Personalities--
-Mirumoto Daini Non-experienced (Common, in all basic sets through pearl 
except Jade)
-Agasha Gennai non-experienced (common, Time of the Void, Jade, Pearl, and 
I think some starters)
-Mirumoto Yuyake (Common, Fire and Shadow)
-Togashi Shinseken (Common, Ambition's Debt)
-Togashi Yoshi (Uncommon, Imperial, Emerald, and Obsidian Edition)
- Mirumoto Uso (Common, Honor Bound)

Holdings:
-Merchant Caravan (Common, Forbidden Knowledge and a few starters)
-Empty Crevasse (Common, Soul of the Empire)

Events:
-Inheritence (Rare, Imperial-Pearl, hard to get)
-Imperial Gift (rare, all basic sets)
-Kolat Duplicate (rare, Honor Bound, hard to get)
-

Actions:
-Imperial Edicts (in gold, but, hey)
-Loss of Face (Common?, Dark Journey Home)
-Test of Honor (Rare, Imperial-Pearl, a bit hard to get, but incredible)

Regions - The only one worth playing (other than Shrines, which I dislike):
- Golden Sun Plains (Rare, Dark Journey Home, Hard to get ahold of)
- a risky alternative: Doji Plains (Uncommon, Anvil of Despair)
-maybe: Clan Heartland (Rare, FK and Jade-Pearl)

Items (most of these are very hard to get):
-12th Black Scroll (Rare, Time of the Void; if you can trade for one of 
these, DO IT!)
-Ancestral Sword (fixed in Imperial, Celestial can work)
-Kitsuki Kaagi's Journal (Uncommon/Rare in Hidden Emperor 3?, not to hard 
to get)
- Bitter (Rare, Spirit Wars)
-Judgement (From Heroes of Rokugan)

Spells:
-Force of Will (Common, Shadowlands -- My favorite card :P)
-If you go dishonor/kill: Secrets on the Wind (Uncommon, all basic sets)
-Walk the Way (Uncommon/Rare, all basic sets)
-Rise from the Ashes (Uncommon, Dark Journey Home)

Kihos:
-The Wind's Truth (Common, Honor Bound and Gold)
- Banish All Shadows (Rare, Hidden Emperor 4?, hard to get)

Sensei:
See above in text


Right. On to the deck. The big problem with it is that personalities in 
Open are far, far superior to ones in Gold. Fortunately, most are common, 
so if your playerbase has access to older cards and aren't jerks you should 
be able to get what you need easily.


>Iron Mountain
>Toturi Tsudao
>
>Dynasty Deck (40):
>
>Personalities (19):
>3x Mirumoto Rosanjin

Replace with 3x Uso. Uso original is just better, stat-wise.


>3x Mirumoto Ukira

3xDaini. Just better.

>1x Mirumoto Uso (exp)

Drop. He's not good, even in Gold. Focusing two cards is just plain 
inferior to double chi, and a 3/4 for 9 isn't great.


>2x Hitomi Vedau
>2x Togashi Nyima
>1x Togashi Genshuo
>1x Giuniko

You're not running tattoo cards, so it's best to replace these dudes with 
our great shugenja. 3x Gennai and 3x Shinseken should fit nicely. Think 
about adding 2x Yoshi by dropping Uso and one of your other cards, like...

>1x Fortress of Dragonfly

Fortress of the Dragonfly is one of those cards I hate to play against but 
also hate to play. It doesn't really move you towards your victory 
condition, or slow down your opponent on its own. I actually like it when 
my opponent sees these, especially early; it may be tougher for me to duel 
them, but it's not another dude to smash me, more honor to push them to the 
win, or more gold to give them a resource advantage.


Holdings (17):
 >1x Goldsmith
 >2x Hiruma Dojo

Drop these for Merchant Caravans and (gasp!) Empty Crevasses. Crevasses 
have a *great* gold ratio; while it does suck to lose them with your 
province, the added stability is worth it. 6PS, cheap dudes, and your 
defensive cards should be able to hold back many early attacks.

 >2x Kaiu Forge

Why? It costs more than your stronghold, doesn't give you gold, doesn't 
give you honor, isn't better than another personality, and boosts you up 
sloooowly. Weapons just aren't worth it. More gold would be better.


>Regions (2):
>1x Obsidian Statues
>1x Mountain Lookout

Eh? Neither of these are much use. Drop them if you get some good rare 
events/regions, or at least replace them with Campsites. Campsites are 
yummy in the late game.


>Events (1):
>1x Imperial Ambassadorship

Not bad, but not amazing. The more powerful open events would be nice here.

>Fate Deck (40):
>
>Actions (21):
>2x Hitomi Technique


Bleh. Extraordinarily conditional (you need a samurai, they need a 
shugenja), underpowerd, and it costs gold and requires you to bow a guy. Drop.


>2x Counterattack

These are... ok. You have decent force, and 4 focus is always nice. Other 
nice choices include Sun in Shadow (vs. Kihos) and Loss of Face (vs. 
Honor), or more D. I also really like Imperial Edicts -- very flexible, 
capable of stopping attacks or the many powerful spells and Kihos in open. 
If you keep Counterattack, Torrential Rain is kind of neat with it -- bow 
and send home the entire attacking army, then counter.


>3x Rallying Cry

How often do you expect to take provinces in Open? You have decent force, 
especially if you keep the followers, but your opponents will usually have 
lots more force than you if they're military. This could be a defensive 
card, like Flattery, To Do What We Must, or Toturi is Drugged.


>2x Entrapping Terrain

This is one of those cards that I can recognize its power, but still 
dislike playing. 1 focus, easily destroyed. It's much better in a deck with 
lots of terrains -- along with Flooded Pass, Mountains of the Phoenix, etc 
-- where you have more terrains than they have Superior Tactics. Its decent 
for the last resort save, but that's about it. I prefer Come One at a Time 
-- a bit more risky, but it has an immediate effect (at least one duel), 
and can potentially decimate an entire army.


>2x Bloodsword

I love bloodswords in the story -- Sanzo got Ambition, and Judgement is one 
of my favorite cards. The card Bloodsword, however, sucks. 4G for a mere 
+1/+1 (you can get Uso or Gennai for the same cost) that requires you to 
win a duel in order to become halfway worthwhile. On top of it all, it has 
a crappy 2 focus value. I would rather spend my gold on something that 
gives me honor, defense, or kills something.


>Followers (8):
>3x Archers
>2x Spearmen
>2x M. Infantry

Low, low focus, not enough military in the deck to be effective, and cost 
gold. If you *must* use followers, both Elite Spearmen and Imperial Legion 
are much, much better, since they have good abilities and focus. I would 
recommend you drop them, anyway. Better things to spend gold on.


>1x Shiryo no Nyoko

Ancestors are generally not very good, unless they have a great ability. 
Nyoko isn't even a good ancestor.


>Spells (3):
>3x Biting Steel

Decent boost to force and chi, but costs gold and has abysmal focus. I'm 
not really a fan; better things to do with your shugenja, Togashi Yoshi is 
just as good for a duel, and


>Kiho (4):
>3x Purity of Spirit

Sort of cool. One of my favorite kiho's in Gold; of middling value in open.

>1x Double Chi

First off, one of it won't help you much. Secondly, it's fate-based 
support, with a bad focus value, and is completely useless unless you also 
have a duel in hand.

Also, where on earth is your 3x The Wind's Truth? One of the best Kihos 
around, and 4 focus to boot.

Spells like Walk the Way and Force of Will would be very nice.



>Ring (1):
>1x Ring of the Void

I would also add 1x Ring of Earth


>Thanks in advance for your help (or at least reading this far).


Phew. Almost done. If you wanted a military deck, just ask, and sorry I 
wasted so much of your time. :)

I'm thinking of posting the open honor deck I got 17th with at Origins this 
year (and only missed getting in by making stupid mistakes on the two games 
I lost), since I wasn't on the list at the time. It's a modified version of 
the Strict Jade deck that took me to the top four of the  Abandoning the 
Fortunes $1000 tournament in Normal, Illinois a month earlier. If anyone is 
interested, that is...

>Mirumoto Kenryoku
>kenryoku at email.com


Lucas Twyman / Kitsuki Iyoku
Dragon Clan Villain - Soul of Sanzo