With a Little Help From My Friends – Ottawa Kotei Report

Following my 3-4 record at the Feeding Hills Kotei, I was happy with the Seawatch Castle deck, but wanted something more. Looking at the Crane decks that had won Kotei already, I was happy to see a fair amount of differences between them. Comparing them with each other and against my playstyle, I figured I’d probably be most comfortable with Heraclio “Doji Kabuto” Sanchez’s Barcelona deck. Building the deck up a few weeks before Ottawa, I got some testing in against a very limited field and with some deck talk with fellow Crane Clan players Jeremy “Doji Tetsuro” Sumerlin, Darren “badgermonkey” Hazelden and Dan “prespector” Gosson, I changed a handful of cards and settled on my deck for Ottawa.

Round 1 – Jeff Barber (Dragon Kensei – Farthest Fortress)
Looking at the similarities that Dragon Kensei share with the large unit decks I was testing against, I feel pretty good going in to the first round. Jeff and I both shuffle up and wish each other luck, and I’m happy to see an Impromptu Duel and a Legendary Feud in my opening hand. Unfortunately, neither Jeff nor myself get a good start, but I’m at least able to stabilize my economy in the second turn, while Jeff is forces to buy a Hojatsu.  Not being able to deal with Hojatsu’s high Chi, I am unable to issue my duel, but with two Magistrates available to defend against him, I use my Shikatsu to dishonor a newly Rising Sun Bladed Hojatsu with Legendary Feud, Jeff attacks in and I defend with two the two Magistrates, I manage to get a Restoring Order off when Jeff cannot Sneak. He Hundred-Fold Cuts the destruction, but cannot move back in to the battle, passing to Dynasty and buying a Mori.

On my turn I manage to issue my Impromptu Duel on Mori with Yosuga, and Jeff accepts, but makes the mistake on focusing out against me, allowing me to bomb out my sole Hamstrung and will win the duel. As I push closer to 40, Jeff’s economy is still hurting him, but he attaches another RSB to  Hojatsu and manages to take a province on his turn, but can only add a single personality (Mirumoto Kenzo) to his ranks during his Dynasty phase. On my turn Yosuga uses her ability to dishonor Kenzo and I end my turn on 36 honor. Jeff flips his provinces, failing to see either The New Order or The War of Dark Fire, and I play Taxing the Scum and Peaceful Discourse to cross, and with only two personalities on the table, one who cannot assign, Jeff conceeds, unable to take 3 provinces.
1-0

Round 2 – Aaron Celovsky (Scorpion Ninja – Seven Stings Keep)
Both of us get decent starts, but I draw enough dishonor tech, including all 3 Legendary Feuds in my first 7 cards to keep him from being too aggressive.  He gets good shot at sleezing a province with a Walk in Shadows/Flawless Assassin combo, but I have the Hamstrung to keep his unit with Followers at home. I keep my honor gains slow and steady, but a well timed Mysterious Ailment on my Noritoshi keeps me from crossing a turn early and allows to take a province with me in the mid 30s. I end my next turn at 40 honor, and his Stronghold’s ability knocks me back to 38. He attacks all in, splitting his army between two provinces. Knowing the amount of movement and sleeze Ninja can muster, I defend with 4 Personalities where he’s weakest and the rest of my people where he didn’t assign. I manage to get two Wall of Honor off in the opposed battle, and prevent him from taking the province, ending his turn at 42.
2-0

Round 3 – Paul Germain (Unicorn Battle Maiden – The Utaku Plains)
In this game, the deck just clicked. I rocket fairly quickly using my duels, and despite my gut feeling risk getting hit with a Proper Deference on turn3. Fortunately, he doesn’t have it in his hand (I find out after the game, I sent it to the bottom in a focus pool earlier that turn.). As I come within striking distance to bombing out to 40, Paul manages to grab a province from me, but doing so activates the card draw on my Counting House. With the extra card I top deck a Peaceful Discourse and play three Patrolling the Roads followed by the Peaceful to cross and Paul cannot quite muster the required force to take all three provinces during his attack.
3-0

Round 4 – John Kline (Crab Berserkers – Shattered Peaks Castle)
John’s a player I haven’t had the pleasure of playing before, but every tournament we’ve both been at he seems to do fairly well, so it was no surprise to run in to him at this stage of the tournament. John is also a very fun opponent to play against as I find out and major thanks to him for providing my most entertaining match of the day. I can’t remember all the back and forth that occurred during the match, but we both come out of the gates running. I manage to hold off his early attacks with combinations of Patrolling the Roads and Doji Nenkai, but eventually he starts getting ahead in his Personality count, and I’m not getting any more Open control.  While I’m digging hard in both Fate and Dynasty for my anti-anti-Honor Event tech, John manages to resolve both Alter History and The New Order. With the 50 honor mark will a ways off and with my options quickly running out it comes down to the turn after he buys Hida Kuon. I’m staring my defeat in the face, what with Hida’s Guidance on the table as well, and we start going through the motions of pre-battle preparation anyway. Finally with all my control used and him passing, I have managed to get to 48, and with the Wall of Honor in my hand it looks so close yet so far.

However, I also managed to draw my first Subversive Influence at the end of my turn, and calling on the aid of the Kolat I send John’s Guidance back in to his deck. The look on John’s face was priceless as he went from knowing the game was in the bag to very worried he might lose it. After readjusting his assignment to fit the new situation, John comes in on both my provinces. Unfortunately, even with my Wall of Honor I didn’t have enough other battle support in my hand to keep him from taking both and offer my hand in congratulations after a hard fought game.
3-1

Round 5 – Rob Bellefuille (Spider Breeder – Fingers of Bone)
From the discussion I’d done previously with my above mentioned friends, I knew coming in to this game that breeder was a hard, hard matchup. I’d modified Heraclio’s deck list to include two Claw and Shell knowing that I needed more help versus breeder than I did against the Unicorn decks that get played in Spain, but forsaking Doji Umakai and other meta, it was certainly going to be a rough go of things. In my opening hand I have two Impromptu Duel and two Favor of Artisans, which get me to my third Impromptu quickly. Rob is buying out his Shugenja and breeding when he can, but I hold my duels for Inisi and Udo, gaining honor through other means until they hit the table. At turn 4 I think, rob flips and buys two Udo, and my duels fly quickly on my turn 5. He accepts and strikes to them both to keep my honor down, but too much damage had been done, and some less than stellar flips on his part bring the game to a head with me on two provinces and him knowing he has to take both with me at 38 Honor.

He splits up his horde, and I over commit  with 4 Personalities to the battle where he assigned a Hachigoro. No Sneak, I Wall of Honor home a dude to hit 40. Rob responds with a Game of Sincerity and I forget to Seppuku it. I Wall of Honor home my dishonored Personality to prevent further honor loss. He responds with his second Game of Sincerity, which I do remember to Seppuku, putting me at 37. I issue a Steel on Steel to Hachigoro with my Yosuga, and focus a Hamstrung from my hand. Rob strikes and I bomb out the Hamstrung, killing us both. He plays Scouting Far Afields to get back a Game of Sincerity, but with only one person left in the battle I pass and Seppuku the replayed Game, dropping me to 40. With no other ways to get his force over my highly boosted PS due to the two Walls of Honor, Rob concedes. Such a close game.
4-1

Round 6 – Brandon Smith (Phoenix Switch – City of Tears)
Before sitting down against Brandon, I was fairly sure he’d be running some form of honor deck, but as with most City of Tears builds, it’s hard to tell, and as it turns out, Brandon had the capability to switch to Military if need be. As we start setting up the table in our first few turns, it’s clear Brandon’s not quite sure how to deal with my deck and he settles in to playing a very defensive game, which suits my deck just fine, as it has little trouble just building and building. Unfortunately for me, Brandon manages to see all three of his Houhou and a Seiden Sanzon and an Expendable Resources, so the honor lead I have set up earlier was closing very fast. Brandon shuts down my attempt to cross a turn early by playing Unimpeachable Name on my attempt to Patrolling the Roads a dishonored Ningen (which would have then been followed by a second Patrolling and a final Peaceful Discourse). Seeing my victory cut short, I go to Dynasty and end my turn at 36, with him gaining the honor he needs to cross from two returning Houhou and a Dynasty purchase on his next turn.

As Brandon begins rebuying his Houhou from the discard pile, I use my last Patrolling the Roads on my own Shikishi I had purchased in my turn to hit 38. Unfortunately, all his Personalities are honorable. I then use a Yosuga to issue an Imperial Adjudication on one of his Houhou. Brandon thinks for a second, and knowing I’ve only seen one Hamstrung so far, plays the odds and refuses. He had already used his My Father’s Shrine earlier in the turn, and when I get my next action, play the Peaceful Discourse from my hand to cross. As Brandon then has to switch and take 3 provinces from me to keep me from winning the game, I defend appropriately and save the final province.
5-1

Round 7 – Jacob Thomes (Mantis Commanders – Dragon Guard City)
Again, I know that Mantis is harder matchup for the deck, as the control it packs has a harder time with Followers than Items, but I figure if worse comes to worse, I should still make the cut based upon strength of schedule should I drop to 5-2. My deck starts firing and Jacob gets an poor start, but stabilizes with the appearance of Utemaro on turn three. I go to work dishonoring his people, and picking my targets for duels very carefully, but fortunately Jacob has only seen two Order of the Wooden Blades and they are keeping him from being able to play the Muscle and Steel in his hand. As I slowly climb to 40, I use my Yosuga’s to keep his side of the board dishonored and with 2 provinces left, I double Peaceful Discourse his two Tsuruchi Seisha to hit 42 honor, and use a Wall of Honor and Hamstrung a Ring of Water of his during the subsequent attack to save the final province and win the game.
6-1

Wow. This is the best I’ve ever done in swiss before, and the first time I’ve ever had a winning record at a Kotei, despite my previous Top 4 finishes at other Storyline events. I’m super excited and when the cut is announced I find I am seeded second and paired against my good friend Mark Armitage. I know Mark’s running a Phoenix The Last One deck which would normally be an ok match for me, but Mark is a superb player and I’m worried I just don’t have the chops to take him. Surprisingly, Mark comes over to me and tells me good luck in the Top 4 as he’ll be conceding to me. An unexpected move my a classy player, and I know that the day Mark decides he wants to outright win an event, there will be little to stop him from doing so. Facing a potential 90 minute break now while the rest of the Top 8 play their games, I sit and relax and watch the first rounds of the 2nd Chance event.

Top 4 – Eric Gardiner (Crane Honor – Embassy of the Crane)
Eric is the winner of last year’s Ottawa Kotei and very good player, usually playing under the Mantis banner. I don’t remember much from the two games we played, and forgot to take any real notes regarding the games, but in the end both games were decided by a mere 3-4 points of honor and in both games neither one of us saw any of our Favor of Artisans, which really would have sealed the games for us. I also think I could have snuck away with both games had I seen more than 1 Legendary Feud, as in both Games I was sitting on two Peaceful Discourses; I just couldn’t get Eric’s people dishonored. These were very classy games and they were a pleasure to have. Eric went on to win in the finals against Chris Medico’s DGC Mantis deck.

It was a great tournament, and I really want to give a big thank you to my former Obsidian Crane teammate Heraclio for posting the list, doji_tre on the Crane forums for his inspiration to Heraclio, all my friends who helped in the deck tweaking and advice and of course to Mark, who gave me a shot at the finals, even if I couldn’t quite capitalize on it. Below is the decklist, of which only 6 cards total were changed from Heraclio’s Barcelona list. Feel free to ask any questions, I’m happy to answer them.

Deck List:
1 Embassy of the Crane

# Dynasty (40)

# Events (1)
1 Jimen’s Decree

# Celestials (2)
1 Doji’s Guidance
1 Daikoku’s Guidance

# Regions (1)
1 Well-Defended Border

# Holdings (14)
3 Dockside Market
3 Marketplace
1 Tsi Mokotsu
2 My Father’s Shrine
1 Counting House
1 Kitsune Den
1 Traveling Peddler
2 Exotic Goods

# Personalities (22)
1 Asahina Okimoto
1 Asahina Ekei – exp
3 Doji Shikishi
3 Kakita Yosuga
1 Doji Hakuseki – exp
3 Kakita Idzuki
1 Daigotsu Oki
1 Kakita Noritoshi – exp3
2 Daidoji Yorio
2 Doji Nenkai
1 Kakita Hideo – exp
1 Kakita Kensho-in – exp
2 Doji Shikatsu

# Fate (40)

# Strategies (40)
3 Imperial Adjudication
3 Impromptu Duel
3 Hamstrung
3 Restoring Order
2 Taxing the Scum
3 Favor of Artisans
3 Legendary Feud
3 Peaceful Discourse
3 Steel on Steel
3 Enough Talk!
3 Patrolling the Roads
2 Wall of Honor
2 Shadow’s Talon
2 Claw and Shell
2 Subversive Influence