Topic: The Cardboard Geisha Part 10B - Emo Firechicken Drive-bys (Part A) (Read 1190 times)

Nina Illingworth · « **on:** December 16, 2009, 07:49:21 PM »

Well gang, I won't lie. Winter owns me and I've been both busy as all heck at work and sick as all hell for the better part of a month now. Really no clue when the next one is coming but I took advantage of a sick day in bed to finally finish this one.... about a month and a half late. Sorry guys. Doing the best I can.

-nina

PS - Not to shill but our online store has recently undergone a massive restock for Glory and PotD cards and in the next week or so I expect to have copies of all of the Temptations to sell. No pressure obviously but if you're interested click on the picture at the bottom of this post (in my sig).

The Cardboard Geisha CE Article 10 (Part 2):
All Decked Out Part 7 – “E.F.D. (Emo Firechicken Drive-bys) – CE Phoenix Military

“Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. … Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.” – Bruce Lee.

   Students of historical warfare will note that an absolutely huge number of battles/wars have been won by exploiting a speed or mobility advantage against an enemy army. By attacking either when or where an enemy couldn’t defend a ruthless general could easily defeat significantly larger or more powerful enemies. Simply put, it takes fewer men/less force to overpower an enemy who is unable to bring the full might of his defensive forces to bear. Of course, it’s also true that an incredibly large number of battles have been won by crushing a weaker enemy with an overwhelming horde of soldiers. In theory then an army that could be both more mobile and more numerous than its enemy would be incredibly difficult to defeat. Naturally this begs the question; “What does this have to do with L5R Nina?” The answer lies in successfully blending multiple deck-types together into a cohesive whole that can exploit Blitz, Cavalry and Swarm tactics during a single game of L5R.

   Hello ladies and gentlemen, my name is Nina Illingworth and welcome back to another edition of The Cardboard Geisha. For those of you just joining us this is the 2nd part of a 3 article series on playing Phoenix in Celestial Edition. Last time we kicked things off with an in depth look “Old Crow”, a basic defensive shrine honor deck. Today lets move on to something a little more complicated and take a look at a City of Tears military deck built around Cavalry/Naval and Battle kill actions; “Emo Firechicken Drive-bys”. Something of a hybrid between blitz military and mid-game battle control decks, E.F.D. strips down the classic blitz package to its core essentials in favor of aggressive battle kill options and Personality recursion. Ideally this creates a deck that can both outrun/outmaneuver its opponents in the early game and successfully engage and destroy opposing armies in the late game, when it has no other choice. As always it’s important to remember that by posting this deck I’m simply trying to help people understand one of the many options available to a military player running City of Tears. Nobody is claiming this is the only or even the best way to build such a deck and in fact I’ve seen more “variant” builds out of this stronghold than any other legal box since Celestial Edition started.

E.F.D. (Emo Firechicken Drive-bys): CE Phoenix Military

   Though harder to master than basic shrine honor, military decks built out of City of Tears have become quite popular with Phoenix players looking for a less stagnant option. By combining elements commonly found in Lion, Unicorn and Mantis military decks, this deck seeks bury its opposition by exploiting whichever strategy they appear least equipped to handle. Purchasing as many as 3 Personalities on turn 2, E.F.D applies pressure against an opponent’s provinces at a speed that rivals the best Lion/Goblin builds. Additionally the deck can use Suitengu’s Gateway, Seiden Sanzo and 12 (13 if you count Mizuhiko Exp) personalities with the printed Cavalry Trait to mimic Unicorn and avoid opposing infantry armies. Finally even against an opponent who can get in the way and defend; E.F.D. is capable of using Naval Invasions, kill actions and swarm tactics to bully its way to victory like a Mantis deck. Played properly it’s likely you’ll switch back and forth between these strategies in a single game depending on current board position. Both powerful and versatile the design is however not without its flaws, not the least of which is requiring its pilot to correctly identify the proper strategy to pursue against a given opponent as early as turn 1. Additionally like all boxable rush decks, E.F.D. is extremely vulnerable to a smart opponent’s well timed Fury of the Dark Lord/Imperial Census. That’s not to say you can’t win games in which those cards resolve but it certainly won’t be very easy to do so. Finally because the vast majority of the deck’s available battle actions come from fate cards it’s fairly easy to burn through your entire hand in two or three battles. While E.F.D. runs a smattering of card draw holdings it’s highly unlikely you’ll be able to draw more than 3-4 extra cards over the course of an entire game. This makes it very important for the deck’s potential pilot to be a shrewd calculator; capable of finding paths to victory while conserving his fate hand as long as possible. In the hands of a player capable of making the correct decisions depending on opponent, board state and future cards likely to be played this deck is definitely a legitimate contender in any large tournament. Ultimately however its vulnerability to Fury of the Dark Lord and early presence-less defensive actions is not something you can play your way out of. If your opponent wants to Meta this deck out of existence, it’s possible.

1x City of Tears – While I generally prefer military strongholds with printed battle actions that remove presence, it’s hard to argue that City of Tears isn’t effective in the post Path of the Destroyer environment. As more powerful spells have entered the mix (Cleansing the Path, Suitengu’s Gateway) the ability to attach and activate those spells in a single battle action becomes proportionally stronger. Additionally because you can now keep the spell in your hand until exactly when you want to use it, City of Tears adds a layer of unpredictability and resilience to an otherwise fragile and predictable card type. Ultimately however this ability to improve the value of any spell card in your deck creates a deck that is only as good as the spells in its hand. In longer games the inability to generate free re-usable battle effects with your stronghold becomes increasingly difficult to survive; making CoT somewhat dependant on either blitz or evasion strategies to avoid running out of cards before the game is over.

1x Border Keep – It would be difficult to overstate the value of Border Keep in this design. Generally you’ll use your free turn one mulligan to set up a turn 2 Dynasty phase in which you purchase 2-3 units (often with Cavalry). This is actually fairly easy with 17 boxable Personalities; including 6 who can be purchased with a single holding. This natural redundancy ideally allows you to save the 2nd mulligan to protect against a potential bad Dynasty “flip” later in the game. E.F.D. relies on maintaining constant pressure by flooding the board with Personalities; saving your second mulligan action for a rainy day can be the difference between winning and losing in a tight match-up.

1x Bamboo Harvesters – Like most Phoenix decks in Celestial Edition, E.F.D. is built to go first and as a result will struggle in matches where it isn’t able to do so (Lion, Crane/Phoenix half the time). This isn’t to say you can’t win when going second however; Cavalry and Naval help make up a lot of ground regardless of who went first. Finally, while it’s true that putting Bamboo Harvesters into play makes it ridiculously easy to buy 3 Personalities on turn 2, ultimately you’d simply rather be going first.

1x Shiba’s Guidance – Though I highly doubt your average Phoenix Honor player would agree, I’ve come around full circle when it comes to my opinion of Shiba’s Guidance. In the right deck (Military or Enlightenment) this card is definitely bent if not broken. Simply put mass force pump effects that don’t require opposition are incredibly strong in Blitz/Cavalry based military decks; helping you overpower early presence-less defense or split for multiple provinces later. As an added bonus Shiba’s Guidance is immune to cards like Justly Earned Victory or Shameful Injury since the +1F comes from a trait rather than an action. Finally of course Shiba’s Guidance can be sacrificed to bring a key Personality back from the dead either in your home or the current battlefield. While this will rarely be worth losing the mass Force bonus for, it can occasionally win you games (bringing back a Houhou who’s still getting +6F from Seiden Sanzo’s comes to mind).

2x Private Shrine – I tend to think of Private Shrine as a 2nd, less versatile copy of Shiba’s Guidance that requires a Battle Action to activate. While ultimately less effective against an opponent who can defend his remaining provinces and key meta cards (J.E.V., etc), Private Shrine still does an excellent job of creating Province crushing Force in unopposed battles. As noted above; mass force pump effects that don’t require opposition combine incredibly well with swarm/blitz tactics and the Cavalry trait.

3x Silver Mine – With a primarily even-costed personality base, Silver Mine is less vital to E.F.D. than to most other decks in Celestial Edition. The general exception to this rule is when recurring Houhous from the discard pile, since the repeated bowing of your Stronghold can make playing multiple Spells in a turn difficult or cost you an extra boxable during the Dynasty Phase. Silver Mine also helps when buying a Personality at full to cover potential honor losses from Ritual of Summoning later in the game.

3x Seiden Sanzo – It’s my personal opinion that Seiden Sanzo has a place in almost any “blitz” or “swarm” deck in Celestial Edition. When you factor in a mixed Cavalry/Infantry personality base and the presence of renewable Personalities like Houhou and Ningen’s Yojimbo token it’s pretty much a no-brainer. Even in the early game when you can’t find Ningen/Houhou, Seiden Sanzo helps turn dragging Infantry Personalities into destroyed enemy provinces. Of course once you do find a “renewable” body the card truly comes into its own; providing both “free” Force pumps and opening up a backdoor victory condition by facilitating repeated 2 and 3 point honor gains.

2x War Encampment – In a perfect world Phoenix would only be required to run Spells that cost 0-2 Gold and this card could be 2x Famous Bazaar to improve consistency and speed. Unfortunately in a deck with 11 Spells/Items that cost between 3 and 4 gold, War Encampment becomes a necessary evil. In particular, Oni-Daikyu and Consumed by 5 Fires are both extremely important and difficult to pay for in a deck like E.F.D. Of course bowing your Stronghold is always an option but then it can’t be used to buy a 6G boxable on your Dynasty Phase. As a final kick in the teeth, remember that War Encampment only makes 4 Gold for a spell being played from your hand and thus makes 2 when using Obfuscation to play an attachment from your discard pile.

2x Akodo’s Grave – During the later stages of the testing process it became apparent that E.F.D. struggled against decks capable of running Unfamiliar Ground. While most of your units start out at 2-3F by the time you get to the final battle it’s not uncommon for over half your army to come in at 5F+. Akodo’s Grave is also useful as Meta against Deployed Resources and Encircled Terrain but can obviously be removed if nobody in your area is running terrains.

2x Expendable Resources – Arguably the best card in the entire deck; Expendable Resources is the first and stronger half of E.F.D.’s card-draw package. Not only can it be used to draw cards without sacrificing any gold production, it also has tremendous synergy with renewable Personalities like Houhou and Ningen’s Yojimbo token. Even without disposable guys who can come back from the grave, Expendable Resources is incredibly effective in a deck with this many cheap bodies. Just find someone who isn’t helping you win the current battle and turn him into a fate card; nobody is indispensable in this design with the possible exception of Shiba Ningen.

1x Traveling Peddler – As previously mentioned, one of the biggest problems with E.F.D. is the deck’s tendency to dump its entire hand in 2 or 3 opposed battles. While in many cases this is fine because you’ll only fight 2-3 such battles before winning the game, it can be utterly disastrous against an opponent with reusable kill actions (read: Mantis) who’s survived your initial onslaught. While hardly a perfect solution, Traveling Peddler allows you to rebuild your hand over multiple turns in the mid-late game against a tenacious opponent. Though it’s true that 5G and 2 holdings could buy 2 whole units on the right draw in this deck, it’s also true that legions of blank boxables don’t survive long without any fate support whatsoever.

3x Isawa Mizuhiko – While merely a cheap body in most Phoenix honor decks; Mizuhiko is absolutely phenomenal in a typical City of Tears military build. It’s important to remember that actions printed on Items or Spells are considered to be performed by the personality those cards are attached to. This means yes you CAN use Mizuhiko to declare a Naval Invasion and “negate” key enemy units with cards like Oni-Daikyu, Consumed by 5 Fires, Cleansing the Path and Scouring Flood before the Defender can perform an action. In the case of a Spell you can even attach it to Mizuhiko as a Battle Action during a Naval Invasion and then use the trait on City of Tears to immediately cast it on an unsuspecting foe. This “Sneak/Kill” effect can be utterly devastating at the last 2 Provinces when facing an opponent whose development has been crippled by your early Cavalry rush. At an effective cost of 2G it’s hard to imagine a more perfect Personality for both E.F.D. and Phoenix Military decks in general

3x Agasha Ueda – The cheapest set of 13 personalities who either have or can obtain the Cavalry trait, Ueda helps form the backbone of E.F.D’s early blitz/evasion strategy. At 2F for 2G Ueda is an incredible value for a Cavalry unit but he’s also disposable enough to sacrifice to Expendable Resources, Seiden Sanzo or a desperate suicide defense with Final Duty. Additionally he’s hardly the best target in your army; giving him an excellent chance of surviving long enough to cast key “Water” cards like Suitengu’s Gateway later in a heated battle. Particularly effective with Shiba’s Guidance and/or Private Shrine it will be a rare game where you’re unhappy to draw multiple Ueda’s.

1x Isawa Kyoko Exp – On the surface Kyoko seems like an odd choice in a Phoenix Military deck because of her 10HR and an ability that sends her home from battle bowed. Careful testing however makes it clear that not only is Kyoka a viable choice in E.F.D., she’s one of the better personalities in the deck as a whole. Printed removal actions are almost unheard of on Phoenix Personalities who cost less than 7 Gold and an astute reader will note that Kyoko’s “send home” action works on either side of the table. Additionally it has no targeting restrictions based on the size of the Enemy unit or its attachments. Finally it’s printed on a 1F personality who can be purchased for 4 Gold because of the “Blood Money” rules. Something tells me it will be a rare battle where you can’t find someone worth “trading” Kyoko for, whether you’re on offense or defense.

3x Isawa Yutako – At 3F and Cavalry with the fairly relevant Water trait, Yutako is extremely valuable in the early game against most opponents (Unicorn excepted). Unfortunately once your opponent can negate the Cavalry trait by defending each of his remaining provinces in force she becomes just another “blank body” in a deck full of similar “blank bodies”. Thus while an important buy on turns 2-3 you’ll often find yourself discarding/cycling Yutako in the mid/late game in favor of Naval/Recurring Personalities. This “gear shift” away from Cavalry/Blitz tactics and towards Naval/Swarm strategies is one of the defining properties of E.F.D, helping separate it from more traditional City of Tears “blitz” or “mid-game” deck-types.

3x Isawa Mariko – A good example of a “filler” card, Isawa Mariko makes the cut in E.F.D. because she fills so many little holes at the same time. While obviously sub optimal as a 2F for 4 Gold Personality, Mariko becomes considerably more effective when combined with key spells like Ritual of Summoning, Scouring Flood and Might of the Kami. In fact one of my favorite Mariko tricks involves buying her and a War Encampment on turn 1 and then using Ritual of Summoning and a Scouring Flood/Might of the Kami to turn her into a 9F wrecking ball on turn 2. While this play is dangerous against an opponent who runs Settling the Homeless it’s actually possible to overpower his Meta with Suitengu’s Gateway. Remember, spending a bunch of fate cards early is perfectly acceptable if you take the Province, it only becomes disastrous if you spend those cards and fail. Additionally at 2HR and 3Ph, Mariko is one of only 2 personalities in the deck that you can buy without paying “Blood Money” after losing 3 honor for casting a Ritual of Summoning. Ultimately Mariko’s value is entirely dependant on which spells you’ve drawn this game and the decision to buy her or another personality should be made accordingly.

3x Asako Hoshimi – Possibly the least relevant personality in the entire deck, Hoshimi serves primarily as a collection of acceptable numbers and vaguely relevant traits. Her Fire trait combines well with Cleansing the Path to make RA: 5’s and at 3F for 4 Gold she’s simply a better value than the other available options (Asako Katashi, Isawa Akihiro). During testing I often swapped this card out for Kyogen who would then copy the Cavalry trait during early attack phases. While this helped protect against bad draws, Kyogen’s lack of the Shugenja/Fire traits without using his copy effect was periodically frustrating. After numerous games in either configuration I consider both personalities something of a “push” depending on the opponent faced and the cards in your fate hand.

1x Isawa Mizuhiko Exp – Like a walking Swiss Army knife, Mizuhiko does so many amazing things for a variety of completely different Phoenix decks. Here in E.F.D he’s primarily useful for his Naval trait and the ability to give himself Cavalry. In a deck that relies on having some Cavalry Personalities and some Naval Personalities, a guy who can bring both traits to the table is incredibly valuable in his own right. As an added bonus you can also use his Open action to straighten his entire unit on your opponent’s limited phase (but then he can’t gain Cavalry that turn). One of my favorite tricks is to attach an Oni-Daikyu or Consumed by 5 Fires to Mizuhiko Exp and attack, making my opponent deal with a Cavalry attacker who can play a versatile kill action before he has a chance to act. Then on my opponent’s turn I’ll straighten Mizuhiko and the attachment, forcing my opponent to face the same bad choices during his attack if he wants to respond in kind.

3x Houhou – Strangely unpopular in most CoT military builds, Houhou borders on being an auto-include in every Phoenix deck in the format in my opinion. To put it as simply as possible, being able to bring the same card back from the discard pile turn after turn is an incredibly powerful ability. Not only does this help swell your armies and keep pressure on your opponent through “swarm” tactics but it also allows you to play cards like Expendable Resources and Seiden Sanzo while significantly mitigating their inherent drawbacks. The fact that Houhou opens up a secondary victory condition by gaining you 3 honor each time you bring her back from the discard pile should also not be over-looked. This allows you to win the classic “Mexican Standoff” match-up; where your opponent is too crippled to attack but alternately your hand/cards on table are too empty/weak to guarantee victory in a final battle. In the final analysis I’ve found these benefits far outweigh the overall “blah” feeling paying 5 Gold for a 2F Cavalry unit with the Fire trait gives me.

3x Isawa Tanaka – If Houhou is under-rated in CoT military then Isawa Tanaka is definitely over-rated in the same deck-type. While it’s true his Battle action can be effective “send home” Meta against an opponent who maintains presence, Tanaka is otherwise simply another collection of decent numbers and useful traits. While his 2HR and 3PH are a nice recovery after dropping a Ritual of Summoning, his 3F for 5G is actually a pretty poor ratio even for a Cavalry Personality. Finally while his Water trait is certainly useful when combined with Suitengu’s Gateway, it’s not like you’re short of other options for playing it. Even his meta action (the reason for including him imho) isn’t all it’s cracked up to be as most post PotD Phoenix/Crane Honor decks and even Scorpion Dishonor decks now specialize in removing their own presence to defend provinces. This makes it impossible to play cards like Armor of the Ryu, Ring of Water, Beloved of the Clan and of course Isawa Tanaka in response to their various “send home” actions.

1x Shiba Ningen Exp3 – Better than Houhou by almost any comparison, Shiba Ningen is far and away the best Personality in E.F.D. At an effective 6F for a reduced cost of 6 Gold, Ningen makes the cut on numbers alone. Obviously however it’s his ability to create an absolutely free and thus disposable 2/2 Samurai turn after turn (assuming you get it killed) that pushes Ningen over the top. There is simply no limit to the number of ways this deck can use the created Samurai and much like Houhou its ability to come back over and over again opens up entirely new options as the game progresses. Throwing in a 2 point honor gain was wholly unnecessary but it does allow you to sleaze out an honor victory during the previously mentioned “Mexican Standoff” match-up.

3x Final Duty – While occasionally frustrating in a deck designed to generate province crushing force so quickly, Final Duty still finds a home in E.F.D. as part of a dedicated battle kill package. Free Ranged 6 Attacks are nothing to sneeze at and it’s important to realize that not every game will go smoothly enough that your opponent never out-forces your army. Even during a game in which your attacking armies are never able to play it, you can still use Final Duty to snipe key attacking units and save early provinces by throwing a random sacrificial boxable onto the defense. Remember every Personality you send to the discard pile is one less unit you have to account for at the final battle when your hand is running low.

3x Obfuscation – In a deck with 24 attachments (including 12 with printed removal actions), Obfuscation is both an auto-include and an extremely powerful card. While obviously useful for re-using kill actions on attachments in the discard pile (Consumed by 5 Fires, Oni-Daikyu, Cleansing the Path), it’s important to keep an open mind about other ways Obfuscation can help you win battles/games. For example, attaching a destroyed Suitengu’s Gateway to a Water Shugenja in mid-battle will bring a key unit into the conflict at an unexpected time. Alternately spending an Obfuscation to attach an Armor of the Ryu to a Personality you want to save from a losing battle can be an excellent play. Sometimes I’ll simply play Obfuscation to generate more Force (Might of the Kami, Scouring Flood, Dance of the Kami, Heavenly Yari of the Phoenix Clan) in the face of presence-less defensive actions. No matter what the game/battle state there’s a good chance that a properly used Obfuscation can help you take advantage of it.

3x Settling the Homeless – Like most blitz/swarm decks, E.F.D. isn’t particularly good at defending its own provinces. This is not to say it’s incapable but when your primary offensive strategy involves throwing hordes of boxable Shugenja at your opponent turn after turn you don’t end up with a lot of extra bodies to defend with. Additionally because engaging the enemy in battle with a bunch of boxable Shugenja usually results in many of those boxables dying, defending becomes counterproductive to the deck’s operation as a whole. At best you’ll want to defend with 1-2 disposable units and try to snipe key enemy Personalities with kill actions. Settling the Homeless helps solve this problem by allowing you to play an extra removal action when you can’t or won’t maintain presence in a given battle. While obviously this strategy becomes less effective as the game goes longer, it’s important to remember that at the speed this deck is moving you often only *need* to save 1 or 2 provinces. In fact after you take his second province many opponents will be forced to forgo attacking altogether or risk letting E.F.D. overpower a limited number of units for the proverbial “easy out”. Finally of course, you can always use Settling the Homeless offensively to remove an annoying defender so long as it doesn’t have Follower. During a recent tournament game I found myself facing down a lone Tsudo no Oni at my opponent’s 2nd last province. Rather than risk my units in battle I used Settling the Homeless to send the killer Oni home (without having a unit in the battle) and *then* brought in my 9F Mariko no Oni with Suitengu’s Gateway. Needless to say my opponent found this trick less amusing than I did.

3x The Direct Approach – Better in some match-ups and worse in others, The Direct Approach serves as a mirror image to Settling the Homeless here in E.F.D. Primarily included to help you save early provinces without assigning defenders, TDA also has the added ability to shut off abilities on some of the most dangerous Personalities in Celestial Edition, for the rest of the turn! Whether it’s stopping an Udo from “making soup”, preventing Jutsushi from targeting your units or turning Doji Domotai off before a final attack, you will almost always find a good target for a mid-late game The Direct Approach. Even if your opponent doesn’t have any abilities worth shutting down, TDA can be used to bring key units into the kill zone for your Ranged Attacks before engaging the Enemy army.

3x Unpredictable Strategy – Despite being one of the most versatile cards in all of Celestial Edition, Unpredictable Strategy is actually *better* than usual in a deck with cheap Cavalry/Naval boxables. Used proactively in combination with these Personalities you can give any unit “Cavalry” or split and force your opponent to deal with an unexpected Naval Invasion. Additionally of course it still acts as one part send home/bowing Meta and one part proactive battle removal like it does in other military decks. You can even use Unpredictable Strategy as a pseudo Beloved of the Clan; defending with a cheap Personality bought on your Dynasty Phase and switching it out for the best unit from last turn’s attacking army. Creative thinking is the key to squeezing the most of this amazing card here in E.F.D.

1x Ring of Air – One part “bow meta” and one part “Spearhead”, Ring of Air is as pretty easy inclusion in a deck with 19 Spells. While clearly you’d like to put the Ring into play the hard way so you can reuse it turn after turn, don’t be afraid to discard it early to either save or take a province. It’s unlikely you’ll be able to play this card without engaging an enemy army in battle anyways, so seizing the early momentum should outweigh forcing the Ring out at the last Province.

3x Cleansing the Path – I’m not entirely sure when it became okay to print free Spells with built in kill actions but I have to say; “I like it!” One of my favorite cards in Path of the Destroyer, Cleansing the Path gives E.F.D. access to yet another fate-side kill action in the form of Ranged 4/5 Attacks. Obviously the activation cost of destroying itself helps keep Cleansing in line with other Battle kill actions in the format like Final Duty/Kami Unleashed. With that having been said however; you can’t Obfuscate a Kami Unleashed back into play and kill something with it for free. Cheap and fatal is a hard combination to beat and Cleansing the Path has a home in any City of Tears military deck in Celestial.

3x Suitengu’s Gateway – People who read the Cardboard Geisha regularly will know that I’m loathe to use the word “broken” to describe L5R cards. Frankly speaking the term is highly overused because most people don’t seem to understand what it means. A “broken” card will by its very nature automatically unbalance any game where it is played. The card will become the entire focus of the match-up for however long it remains in play and there will be no “answer” available in the entire card pool except to run the “broken” card yourself. By these criteria it’s fair to say that Suitengu’s Gateway is not a broken card, after all a well timed Certain Death certainly qualifies as a legitimate “answer”. Additionally at some point the Phoenix player will run out undefended Provinces to move into, making Suitengu’s Gateway mere send-home meta or a stalling tactic. With that out of the way however I think we can all agree that Suitengu’s Gateway *is* a severely “bent” card in City of Tears military. A free, reusable attachment that moves units into battles, straightens them and doesn’t require opposition to activate is virtually unprecedented in L5R. Think about it; comparable abilities on The Khan and Chagatai’s Armor start at 5 Gold. Even the one shot movement ability on Unwavering Assault costs 2G and can only target a Samurai in your home. Suitengu’s Gateway doesn’t care where the target is, stays in play to be used turn after turn, can be used to generate presence in a battle where you have none and unbelievably has a gold cost of zero. Drawing this card in the early game absolutely *will* win you games all by itself in E.F.D.

3x Scouring Flood – Whether it’s providing 2F for an early blitz attack or sending home monstrous Enemy units at the final battle, Scouring Flood solves a number of problems in a deck like E.F.D. While ultimately neither the +2F attachment or the battle send home action are worth 2Gold, they represent a pretty good value combined into one card. Unfortunately the send home action can only be used against defending units but it has no other targeting restrictions; making it a good option for containing units that are too big to shoot with Ranged Attacks. While hardly the most exciting Spell in Celestial; Scouring Flood earns a slot in this deck because it’s both versatile and cheap

3x Dance of the Kami – For roughly the first ¾ of the testing process this slot was occupied by Inspire Fear. Unfortunately over the course of about a hundred games it became apparent that E.F.D. was struggling against decks that could bow multiple large Personalities in a single battle. In many cases this wasn’t very relevant since you could quickly remove his presence and take the province before he could bow enough of your Personalities to stop it. In longer battles however or in the face of mass bow effects like Unfamiliar Ground, E.F.D would break up like a pop can trying to enter Earth’s atmosphere. After looking at a number of other Meta options I settled on Dance of the Kami because it had the potential to straighten multiple Personalities at the same time if they happened to share an Elemental trait. With 13 Personalities who share the Water trait, 7 who share Air and 6 who share Fire it’s surprisingly easy to find multiple targets in a given battle. It also combos well with Ritual of Summoning, allowing you to straighten your Oni Personality after it kills something with a ranged 7. As an added bonus Dance helps protect against a soft opening draw by giving E.F.D. yet another way to generate 2-3 Force during unopposed battles on turns 3 and 4. While hardly optimal you can simply pay 2G and name “Water” for a quick boost in the absence of better options (Scouring Flood, Private Shrine).

1x Might of the Kami – This card is a pretty good example of “what you see is what you get”; namely +2-6 Force for 2 Gold. Remember Might of the Kami counts all cards you control (including itself), not just Personalities and thus always gives at least +2F when attached to a Shugenja with an Elemental trait. While in theory the Open action could help you win by honor in the dreaded “Mexican Standoff” game, in practice I’ve only ever used it twice and I won neither game by honor.

3x Oni – Daikyu – Sometimes when my imagination starts to run wild with me, I like to picture Mizuhiko’s reaction at the moment he is given an Oni-Daikyu. I see him crack a huge satisfied grin and leaning forward he says “Baseball has been *berry, berry* good to me”. Then he declares a Naval Invasion and shoots something in the face. Jokes aside, Oni-Daikyu and Mizuhiko basic do form one of the more ridiculous 2 card combos in Celestial Edition. As a word of caution however please do remember that destroying the Oni-Daikyu is part of the cost of performing the second action to destroy a bigger Personality. This means that if your opponent plays Reinforce the Gates in response to your Naval Invasion you will lose the attachment without gaining any benefit. Ultimately you can play around this situation if you smell a Reinforce coming and even if you don’t Oni-Daikyu is an excellent target for Obfuscation later in the game. In a deck designed to abuse the Naval trait and kill things in Battle it’s hard to go wrong with this card.

3x Consumed by Five Fires – If Suitengu’s Gateway isn’t the best spell in E.F.D. then Consumed by 5 Fires is the only other valid answer. Possessing tremendous synergy with both City of Tears and the Naval trait this spell allows you to consistently take out your opponent’s most dangerous defender before he has a chance to take an action. Additionally because Consumed simply bows to activate it makes an excellent choice for baiting out your opponent’s early Reinforce the Gates. While you won’t get to kill anything you will get to keep the Spell for later use if Mizuhiko survives the battle. Even without declaring a Naval Invasion the trait on City of Tears allows you to attach and use Consumed in battle, raining surprise death down on your opponent’s best Personality. While the targeting requirement on this Spell seems limiting, I’ve found in testing that it’s fairly easy to simply attach it to someone who already has a Spell or Weapon early in a Battle. Most players will spread their attachments out amongst their entire army to prevent you from removing too much force with a single action and thus you rarely require more than Consumed + 1 other attachment to destroy a given target.

3x Ritual of Summoning – The key to understanding why Ritual of Summoning is so strong in E.F.D. is realizing that the casting Personality simply gains those stats, traits and the Battle action. He doesn’t *lose* any of his previous traits, stats or abilities! Primarily this is important for creating 5/5 Cavalry or Naval Oni Shugenja with a built in kill action or in the case of Mizhukio Exp, both. Other interesting possibilities include Isawa Mariko (+2F with an attached Spell) or Isawa Tanaka (send home Meta). My favorite target for Ritual of Summoning however is probably Houhou. Because the Spell’s effects are permanent they remain constant even when the Personality is in the discard pile and thus out of play. This allows you to recycle “Houhou no Oni” turn after turn and even gain 3 honor in the process (a nice way of offsetting the initial 3 honor lost when Ritual was used). Not only is a recurring 5/5 Cavalry Oni that gains you 3 honor ironic, it’s incredibly frustrating to deal with for your opponent. During a recent test game I managed to drop a turn 4 Ritual of Summoning and proceeded to wreak havoc on my bewildered opponent. First I attacked with Houhou no Oni and used its ranged attack to kill something before dropping Unpredictable Strategy to straighten it and send it home (taking the Province). Then; defending on my opponent’s attack phase, I use her kill 2 more Personalities (Final Duty) before dying in resolution (saved the Province). On my turn 5 I spent 3 Gold to bring Houhou no Oni back (gaining 3 honor) and targeted her with 2 copies of Seiden Sanzo allowing the unit to take another province by itself. Besides facilitating stupid Houhou tricks Ritual of Summoning also makes an excellent counter to Fury of the Dark Lord, which can’t destroy Shadowlands Personalities regardless of their gold costs.

1x Armor of the Ryu – Strangely less effective here in E.F.D. than in many other Celestial Edition military decks, Armor of the Ryu is mainly useful for turning Infantry Personalities into bigger Cavalry Personalities in the early game. This is particularly strong when combined with Might of the Kami/Scouring Flood and Isawa Mariko, making a 9F Cavalry monster that can take provinces on its own. Of course the Armor also serves as Meta against send home and an enemy that refuses to stand and fight. It’s also still useful from time to time to help bail a key unit out of a losing battle. Ultimately however this card is way more valuable in the early game as a means to obtain both extra Force and the Cavalry trait.

1x Heavenly Yari of the Phoenix – While hardly the most exciting of the Celestial Clan Items, the “Phoenix Stick” *is* effectively a +5F Weapon for 4 Gold when played in a deck with 19 Spells. Additionally because the straighten Reaction can target any of your Personalities, it can combine with City of Tears to provide limited bowing Meta by attaching (and using) a Spell from your hand in battle. Alternately you could use the Reaction proactively to straighten a 5/5 Oni who’s bowed to make a ranged 7 attack this battle.

Continued below due to length

Nina Illingworth · « **Reply #1 on:** December 16, 2009, 07:49:39 PM »

Continued from above due to length:

Play Guide

   While I would hesitate to call Emo Firechicken Drive-bys a particularly easy deck to play, I wouldn’t go so far as to describe it as difficult either. The deck tends to operate with a tightly defined rhythm regardless of opponent and once a player learns to operate at that tempo most of the decisions required become fairly obvious. Keeping this in mind and with a better understanding of why each card in the deck was chosen, let’s look at a few tips that can help you squeeze the most out of this deck during live play. Please remember that this guide is not a reasonable substitute for playing actual games with E.F.D. and is written primarily to provide a starting point for players to build and play their own City of Tears military decks at home.

Because E.F.D. was created by combining the best elements of multiple Phoenix deck types, it’s difficult to classify the deck in simple terms. Forced to define it in a single phrase I’d have to describe E.F.D. as a “blitz/swarm military deck with battle attrition elements”. This is basically a very fancy way of saying “it goes real fast, buys lots of guys and kills things”. Typically this deck seeks to seize control of the early game by sniping provinces with movement cards and the Cavalry trait. Then once the enemy is crippled; E.F.D. tries to finish him with Naval Invasions, kill actions and a swarming horde of disposable units. If everything goes well your opponent could be looking at a 4-1 province disadvantage by the end of your 4th turn and then it really doesn’t *matter* how long you build up before attacking to win the game.

Arguably the hardest aspect of playing a deck like E.F.D. is learning to identify the correct speed and strategy for a given game based on your draw, the cards you may draw later and what you know about your opponent. While the obvious tendency is to go “as fast as possible” this will force you to sacrifice early game development and can potentially create an un-winnable late game situation. Like a race car driver a good E.F.D. player will strike a balance between speed and conservation, saving enough “gas” for a strong push at the “finish line”. Thus the focus on any given turn becomes “how do I win this *game* as fast as possible?” rather than “How can I generate as much force/take as many provinces as possible right now?” To be successful with E.F.D. you need to begin formulating, modifying and implementing a realistic plan for winning both the next battle and the game as a whole as early as turn 1 forward. While this type of “tactical” thinking may be tricky at first the key is to practice with the deck until you are intimately familiar with *all* of its potential draws and how to win with each of them against a variety of opponents. Personally it took me about 50 practice games to reach a comfort level with E.F.D. where I felt I was making the right choices every time, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t “get it” right away.

At 6 starting Family Honor, E.F.D. is designed to go first and will do so in roughly 65-75% of it’s games (historically, high honor clans are more popular). Additionally going 2nd against an opponent who’s trying to win by honor/dishonor/control doesn’t really change much about how you play the deck, it just makes everything harder. Keeping this in mind, let’s take a look at how to play E.F.D. when going first or against an opponent running a “clock deck”. Afterwards we’ll talk about how to give yourself the best chance to win against a military opponent who’s gone first (Lion, City of Tears mirror, etc).

When going first or facing a passive clock deck it’s incredibly important that you begin applying pressure both quickly *and* consistently against their early defenses. This generally means buying 2 holdings on turn 1 and then forcing out 3 units (preferably at least 2 with Cavalry) on your 2nd turn to set up your next attack phase. While not a true “blitz” attack, typically your opponent will be unable or unwilling to defend against a 3rd turn Cavalry/Naval army; particularly if he’s only had 2 Dynasty Phases. More importantly however, this type of draw will allow you to maintain constant pressure by buying 2-3 units per turn for the rest of the game while still letting you to attach key spells and items as the game progresses. I would estimate buying 2 holdings on turn 1 and waiting until turn 3 to attack is the correct play in about 80% of your matches, so when in doubt feel free to auto-default to this play style against an unfamiliar opponent. Often enough your opponent will respond by attacking back anyways, allowing you to split for 2 provinces on turn 4 and win the game on turn 5; which is exactly when E.F.D. wins on it’s so called “blitz” draws (see below). The remaining 20% of your matches will be divided between games where you should declare an all out blitz and attack on turn 2 (roughly 15%) and games where you should try to win your first battle on defense and wait until your 4th turn to attack (roughly 5% or less).

   No matter when you declare your first attack it is absolutely vital that you successfully take the province. E.F.D. relies on disrupting your opponent’s development and seizing the momentum in the early game and thus simply can not afford to bounce on its first attack (or even its first couple attacks). This problem is greatly magnified by E.F.D.’s limited access to card draw; making it essential that you take a province or at least destroy an opposing army whenever you’re forced to spend fate cards. Typically in the early game this means attacking with 3+ units and enough force pump/meta to out last 2 presence-less defensive actions (Outer Walls, Settling the Homeless, etc). A 2nd turn blitz attack however will usually involve only 1 or 2 units, enough force pump to beat an Outer Walls and likely a Suitengu’s Gateway to protect against a potential Settling the Homeless. Of course everything becomes considerably easier if you have reason to believe your opponent is not playing the proper Meta. For example; dueling decks rarely run Settling the Homeless and the rise of big unit military has lead many players to drop Outer Walls for The Direct Approach. Recently I even had an opponent proclaim on turn 1 that he “never draws his blitz Meta in the right games”, which told me I should attack him turn 2 and try to end the game before he could find those cards. It’s pretty fun/easy to beat an opponent who’s slower than you and has to surrender the first province or two because you can buy more Force than his Province Strength. The basic question before you declare your first attack in every game should be “Do I have a reasonable/good chance to take a Province without dumping my entire hand?” If the answer is yes, swing and if it’s no build up until the next turn and repeat the question. I have never had to wait longer than turn 4 to take my first province with this deck in well over 100 test games.

     The simple truth is that you really don’t ever want to defend with E.F.D. Not only is the deck not particularly good at it but generally exposing a bunch of blank boxables to an opposing enemy army results in most of those Personalities dying. I probably don’t need to tell you that it’s impossible to “swarm” your enemy with a horde of units if they all died last turn on the defensive but it’s definitely something to keep in mind whenever you do decide to defend with this deck. One of the ways E.F.D. tries to get around this is running presence-less defensive actions like Settling the Homeless and The Direct Approach. While hardly perfect, these 6 cards should give you a reasonable chance to stop your opponent’s first attack without even assigning a defender. Depending on how successful your offense has been, sometimes one “bounce” is all E.F.D. needs to win the game. After all; if you took on turn 3, saved your province on turn 3.5 and then swung for 2 on turn 4 your opponent is now looking at a 4-1 Province disadvantage. At this point I can pretty much guarantee that attacking again will be the last thing on his mind. Of course not every game is going to go this smoothly and sometimes either a poor draw or a particularly tenacious opponent will force you to throw bodies into a suicide defense or two. The key in these situations is to assign small armies comprised of only your most disposable personalities to defend while saving key offensive units for your next attack phase. For example a Houhou and a naked Isawa Mariko make a good defensive army while Ningen Exp, Mizuhiko and a Tanaka with 2 spells attached do not. When you do defend try to use cards like Final Duty and Cleansing the Path to snipe key attacking units; every Personality you kill while defending is one less Personality you have to deal with at your opponent’s last Province. Remember E.F.D. is designed to win games on the offensive through superior province trading and thus you aren’t required to actually *win* battles on the defensive; merely save a province or two over a 5-6 turn game.

   Assuming everything has gone according to plan you should find yourself up 2-3 Provinces and starring down an opponent who can no longer attack by turn 5ish. At this point in the game a military opponent’s only chance at victory will be defeating your army in a climactic defensive battle and he will telegraph this by skipping his previous attack phase. While it’s tempting to assume that this means you’ve won the game in reality it presents the perfect opportunity for you to pull a choke job and lose. Remember, E.F.D. specializes in avoiding opposing armies until it absolutely has to so it’s likely your opponent will have a hand full of his very best battle actions by the time he’s at 1 Province. Additionally it’s likely you’ve attached some Spells/Items to generate Province crushing force; both creating obvious targets in battle and surrendering card advantage. Finally of course the sooner you declare your final attack the fewer “bodies” you’ll have to attack with. This not only magnifies the effectiveness of your opponent’s removal actions but it also suppresses the value of your mass Force pump effects like Shiba’s Guidance, Private Shrine and Dance of the Kami. While it may seem “unsporting” the obvious decision in this situation is to skip straight to Dynasty and to keep doing so until your hand is full and your army grows too numerous to properly contain. Usually this will only take a turn or two but I’ve been known to wait even longer against good Personality kill decks. It’s pretty hard to lose a battle when you start with 9 more units than your opponent and a full fate hand. If you’re really scared you can even pull back into a defensive honor shell by recycling Houhous and getting Ningen’s token murdered (Seiden Sanzo/Expendable Resources). While not a true honor deck it only takes a few turns to cross 40 when you’re buying a 3PH guy at full and gaining 5-6 honor from recurring Personalities every turn. Obviously the longer you wait to finish the game the more vulnerable you become to a late game Fury of the Dark Lord but it should be fairly easy to identify an opponent churning for a Fury and respond accordingly. Good tips include the absence of any boxables in his deck and desperate attempts to draw Fate cards no matter the cost. Even against a passive “clock” deck it’s usually a good idea to build up for a turn or two before closing in for the kill, just don’t wait so long that he finds a way to steal the game from you (Holy Site for example).

   It would be fair to categorize going 2nd against another Military deck as a “nightmare scenario” for Emo Firechicken Drive-bys. While certainly not impossible, winning in these situations requires you to steal an extra turn against an opponent who can match you unit for unit. Additionally because your opponent automatically seizes the tempo granted from going first in many cases you will have to defend both sooner and more often than in a normal military on military match-up. This won’t be easy with E.F.D’s threadbare defensive action set and constant demand for more attacking units turn after turn. How exactly you steal the extra turn varies from case to case but in my experience your 3 options are: take a 2nd turn Province, split for 2 Provinces on turn 4/5 or winning a battle outright on the defensive. Of these 3 choices I’ve had the most success with splitting for 2 Provinces but exactly which option is best for a given game depends a lot on your opening draw and how your opponent plays the match-up. Regardless of how you decide to tackle this problem it’s likely you’ll have to save as many as 3 provinces in this match-up which in turns means defending successfully at least twice. When doing so it’s important to kill as many Enemy units as possible, particularly key Meta Personalities like Matsu Kasei or Isawa Mizuhiko. If everything goes right you should be able to bog down your opponent’s attacks just long enough to snipe an extra province and force him onto the defensive. Once you’ve done that winning becomes considerably easier.

   Well folks as they like to say in the movies “that’s a wrap.” I’d like to thank you all for reading and promise to one day publish an article that’s less than 9 pages long! Considering my recent failure to actually meet self-imposed deadlines I’ll play it safe and say “please join us sometime in the future here at The Cardboard Geisha where we’ll discuss Phoenix Enlightenment or Scorpion if writing about Phoenix cards finally drives me completely insane”. Have a great day guys.

-nina

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Author Topic: The Cardboard Geisha Part 10B - Emo Firechicken Drive-bys (Part A) (Read 1190 times)

Nina Illingworth

The Cardboard Geisha Part 10B - Emo Firechicken Drive-bys (Part A)

Nina Illingworth

Re: The Cardboard Geisha Part 10B - Emo Firechicken Drive-bys (Part A)