[Phénix] Kyuden Asako Honneur Yoda Style

Kyuden Asako (40/40) (cf. Shrine of the Moon and Sun)


DYNASTY

1x Shiba Ningen
1x Isawa Sawao
1x Isawa Ochiai
1x Asako Bairei
1x Shiba Aikune
1x Shiba Tsukimi
1x Isawa Kyoko XP
3x Asako Juro
3x Isawa Zao
3x Isawa Mizuhiko
3x Isawa Miniko
2x Isawa Kyoko

1x The third Yasuki war
1x A new wall
2x Three men alliance plain

3x Temple to shinsei
3x Silver mine
3x famous bazaar
1x blessed library
1x Temple of Gisei Toshi
1x House of the fallen blossom
1x Shrine of the sun
1x High temple of toshi rambo
1x Supply Smuggler


FATE

3x castle of water
3x seeking the way
3x touch of ice
2x walking the way
1x touch of the infinite

3x Hamstrung
3x doomed intentions
3x flash of steel
3x reverence for shikushudo
3x outer walls
3x reinforce the gates
3x wrist lock
2x three stones river
2x unfortunate incident
1x Hidden Scandal
1x contemplation of destiny
1x besieged


SATURDAY :

Hector Salgado, Scorpion (DVD bomb), Spain 1/0
He came a few minutes late to the table, but we played the game anyway. He was playing a dishonor bomb : very few control or defensive cards, the whole deck is engineered towards playing 2/3 denounced on stage + unfortunate incident/assigning blame ASAP, usually by turn 5 or 6. Against honor, they don't pack the military tools to wipe provinces (except their champion), so the matchup usually ends up to time since neither can win within 45 minutes. That's what happened with game : we went to time and started arguing who should condede, but the TO told us that since my opponent was late to the game, he got a game lost anyway. Not a prideful victory, a victory nonetheless.

Victor Diaz, Unicorn (ToD), Spain 2/0
Victor was the Madrid Kotei Winner (largest Kotei this year), and would eventually lose in semi-final later this tournament. Although he's a very good player, he made a few mistakes (or bad calls) during the game, like attacking while I had an unbowed Bairei with Seeking the way and his pal Juro to support him. He didn't see Chatagai until I was over 40 honor, and managed to take only 1 province the whole game.

James Praty, Crab (RotDC followers), England 3/0
Crab is a very good match-up for Phoenix Honor, since he can't really attack early without letting Phoenix gain honor even faster. So he built up force and tried to take a few provinces with unopposed moves, but failed thanks to doomed intentions and hamstrung. He didn't even have a desperate wager for the last turn, so the game was really one-sided.

Nicolas Vaurette, Spider (Breeders with huge Uniques), France 4/0
I got a very good start (Juro with touch of Ice on my turn 3, then Miniko with another Touch of Ice on turn 4), while he bought only Muketsu on turn 3, then hired killered my juro and bought some breeder guy. Unfortunately, I went to 40 on my turn 6 with a hand full of defensive cards, while he had only Muketsu, Hotako , 1 jinsei and 2 tokens on table. Event with Tales of Tsukuro and Wager, he didn't managed to take more than one of my provinces.

Juan Palomo, Scorpion (DVD bomb), Spain 5/0
Arguably my best game of the day : for the first 5 turns, my honor gains were somewhat balanced by his stronghold, while he had been cycling through his deck like a madman. I had walked the way to fetch my hidden scandal at some point, but he was really setting up his hand. on my turn 6, I had Tsukimi, Ningen and his 3 bodyguards and few other shugenjas, so I attacked and assigned every one (except a lone mizuhiko with seeking the way which had been targeted by saya) on one of his province : he was quite surprised, and even more disappointed since he had discarded most of his defensive cards. He couldn't defend and I took the province. Next turn, he tried to bomb me, playing his 3 denounced on stage, but I then foiled his plans by immediatly answering with Hidden Scandals. He waited one more turn, while I took another province, as well as earning some more honor (i was aroung 25 at that time). Down to 2 provinces, he played all his tricks (3 unfortunate incident, 3 assigning blame, ambush then Jimen to dishonor a 4th shugenja, but he only managed to get me down to -11). Next turn, I rehonored all my shugenjas with temple to shinsei / reverence to shikushudo, and proceeded then to take his last 2 provinces.

Javier Rodriguez, Spider (DVD bomb), Spain 5/1
I was pretty sure to be in the cut even if I lost my next 2 games, so I was a lot less focused on those games. Anyway, against my 3rd dishonor bomb of the day, I gold screwed, only buying Mizuhiko with Touch of Ice on my turn 3 (instead of getting a 2nd legacy), hoping to get get some honor early until I could get back into a more usual gold production. Unfortunaly, he bought Hisako on his turn 2 and locked my only holding. I managed to remain in the 10/20 honor for the remainder of the game, but his Turn 4 Paneki against my bad start proved to be to good, and I conceded when I'was down to 2 provinces with no way to even hope to gain more honor than I would lose, and no means to stop his Paneki.

Reda Lounis, Crane (Kyuden Kyotei Kill), France 5/2
Reda is my fellow playtester, and, more important, my nemesis in tournament, since I've never one a single game against him in large tournaments. This time, I got gold overflow, seeing no personnality on my turn 4 and 5. I hit him with 2 unfortunate incident, but I was too far back to reach 40 before him anyway.

I ended the highest ranked 5/2, taking 6th place overall and beating 2 players who would eventually be in Top 4. We got a quick break, and played the Top 16 matches on the evening.

Top 16 : Florent Dolle, Lion (HoA military), France 2/1

In game 1, he gold screwed, and didn't even take one of my provinces.
In game 2, I gold screwed while his turn 3 Benika + Katsuko who killed a discarded HAchigoro happily took my provinces and my lone defenders.
So we quickly went to game 3, where we at least both got decent starts. I bought Ochiai on turn 3 to take care of Hachigoro's ability (copied thanks to Katsuko), then Juro/Miniko on turn 4. He attacked on turn 5 and 6 , using Yasuko + rapid deployments to try and take one of my province unopposed, but I hamstrung one of his personnalities in front of juro for a few more honor though Wrist Lock. On my next turn, I crossed 40, forcing him to attack, but he had 8 personnalities in play, wager in hand, and battles looked pretty grim to me (having 2 unfortunate incindent and hidden scandal in hand which were useless in that scenario). I played Besieged on my Bairei, which with 1 outer walls and 2 castle of water, proved enough to save 1 of my provinces twice eventually.


SUNDAY

Top 8 : Kamil Magda, Crane (Kyuden Kyotei), Poland 1/2

We played 3 games, which were all very close, and unfortunately pretty mixed up in my mind :/ . His deck was really weird, with some military elements (Doji Seo !!) and open bow techs (governor's court + Komachi) to either defend, gain honor or prepare an attack. In our games, he never attacked, since he was afraid (with reasons) I would get a load of honor if he did, but I saw him take several provinces to Unicorn during the final ! His key elements in his deck versus honor were : naoharu (saw him on turn 3 on the 2 games he won), Doji Kohaku and cards to activate him (Kabuki Theater Troops, wheels within wheels) in addition to the usual Crane honor tricks (Hakuseki, Beniha, Duels ...) .

I think I lost game 2 due to a bad decision on my behalf : My Isawa Zao with Touch of Ice had been targeted by 2 Beniha, and was Impromptu Dueled : I accepted, focused 2 Hamstrungs , but on resolution, I realized I would win the duel if I kept both hamstrung at 4 focus... which I did, prefering to deny him a 8 gain honor while gaining only 2, instead of gaining 8 while letting him gain 8 as well as killing my Zao. That's when he hit my Zao and another of my personnalities with 2 Assigning Blames, then Hired Killing my Zao . I was expecting Assigning Blame to be played in Shizuka Toshi, where you can use some dishonor punishment, but not in Kyuden Kotei. Net Result : He won 3 honor in his turn, while I lost 1.

Game 3 was even closer, and I lost to my mystake (maybe the only one of the whole tournament, but at that level, you really can't afford any) : I forgot that the hidden scandal I played during his turn would not cancel his gain from buying a personnality full cost during dynasty, which allowed him to get to 45, and immune to my unfortunate incident. That's a really stupid mystake, but I had added Hidden Scandal only a few days before Worlds, and hadn't had time to test it against honor decks (It was here mainly as anti-dvd silver bullet, which proved a game winner in those situations).