[Grue] Shizuka Toshi by Chris Russel 1/2 finale worlds 2008

Shizuka Toshi (40/40) (cf. Home of the Crane Clan)

1 A New Wall
1 The Shogun's Peace
1 Deeds and Words
1 District Governor
3 Governor's Court
1 Hidden Dragon Temple
1 Kitsune Den
3 Marketplace
1 Seat of Power
2 Shrine to Fukurokujin
1 Temple of the Seekers
1 Doji Ayano XP
1 Doji Nagori XP
1 Naoharu
3 Asahina Beniha
2 Asahina Ekei
3 Doji Ayano
2 Doji Doukohito
3 Doji Hakuseki
2 Kakita Kensho-in
3 Kakita Michihiro
3 Kakita Noriko

1 Ring of Fire
1 Koutetsu Meiyo
1 Besieged
3 Flanking Action
2 Flash of Steel
3 Hamstrung
3 Impromptu Duel
3 Insolence Punished
3 Outer Walls
3 Patron of the Arts
3 Peaceful Discourse
3 Refugees
3 Reinforce the Gates
2 Surprising Resistance
3 Three-Stone River
3 To Move the Shade


[Flanking Action] 11 samurai (Ayano XP) is fine for using Flanking Action. It's useful by itself both in early-game and late-game scenarios.
Early game, there are many decks that will try to attack you with one personality per province (Mantis, Crab, Dragon, and others). If you block with, say, Michihiro and Ayano, you gain a lot of tempo on them by killing the personality and any attachments he might have.
Late game, this deck usually has four provinces on the last turn. With you having locked down some of their personalities (with Ayano XP and/or Peaceful Discourse), your opponent will have to split his forces significantly. With the number and cost of personalities in this deck, you would probably outnumber him anyway, but the split lets you use Flanking Action in a more targeted way.
And then, of course, there's Reinforce the Gates.

[paf-paf] I have actually not had as much trouble as most decks with the early Chags. For one: Hamstrung. But more than that, he's like an auto-trigger for Beniha, Hakuseki, Shogun's Peace, and Shizuka Toshi. Essentially, if you have the right draw, the early Chagatai speeds up both decks significantly. I won't lie and say it's easy, but it's not as bad as you would think.

[Impromptu Duel] With Beniha, Noriko, and Hamstrung, you should be ecstatic to have your opponent accept an Impromptu. Even if you don't have the combo cards, accepting the duel is much less of a risk for you than for most military decks (they're not exactly swimming in 4s). Just remember: there's no rule that says you have to play Impromptu as soon as you draw it.

[ressources] This is my biggest problem with the deck, actually. You will occasionally get draws that are very tough to play (no cheap guys early, no Marketplace), but there isn't much you can do about it. The personalities for the deck are more or less locked down, and the holding choices are similarly key. I guess you could take out Deeds and Words for House of the Fallen Blossom, but you'd lose a lot in the Scorpion match.
The thing you need to do is get a feel for the flow of the Dynasty deck and what to discard. Cycling with the favor is also key for when your Dynasty flows badly and you can't block effectively. Even once you get used to it, though, sometimes your draw still can't win. It happens a little more often with this deck than others I've played, but I remain convinced that this deck was the best option for the environment.

[absence de Misdirection] Reactive cards do not have a place in this deck. Hamstrung gets a pass because it's useful in so many different situations. You will run through most of your hand in most games (hence the 2x Fukurokujin), and having a dead card late in the game is terrible, potentially game-losing. The number of my losses that came from drawing Impromptu or Armor instead of literally any battle action is crazy.

[Los Angeles] The element of surprise is definitely valuable. You can really see the difference; only people who had seen the deck before beat me in LA. For most of those losses, though, knowledge of the deck wasn't the deciding factor, and it's still quite strong against opponents with practice. That said, this is exactly why I didn't want to publish the deck before LA.