Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 10:49:57 -0400 From: Zen Faulkes To: fianna@bitsy.pa.msu.edu Subject: [L5R] CanGames results Hi there, You may have seen this on L5Rinfo, but here it is again, but with even *more* egregious detail! ---------- Thirty-seven players, representing all 12 factions of Rokugan, took part in the CanGames "Return of a Lost Hero" tournament. The level of play was very high and decks were innovative. We had a *great* Crane dishonor deck and a Phoenix deck that nuked provinces -- pretty reliably -- using Black Wind From The Soul(!), to name just two examples. Unicorn (all using the new stronghold) was the best represented at the *start* of the tournament, but, despite concerns that Unicorn is now *too* good, were -- surprise, surprise! -- whittled down *very* quickly. I think we had 2 Unicorn in the final 12. Scorpion players were there in force (second best represented at the starting gates), playing superbly and doing extremely well until the very end. At one point near the finish (final 12 or 9), they had the most representatives. The final four were four different clans (is this game balanced or what?!): Crab (War Fortress), Unicorn (Otaku), Monk (House of Tao), and Toturi's Army. Crab beat Toturi, and Unicorn beat Monk. The course of the last game between Crab and Unicorn went thusly: Round 1. Unicorn went first, and flipped over... Iris Festival. Ooops. He bought some gold. Crab hit Unicorn with Breach of Etiquette. Round 2. Unicorn draws... UNEXPECTED ALLIES! Unicorn reveals Otaku Kamoko ("naive" version) and Crab gets an Ogre Bushi (or maybe an Ogre Outlaw). A very even draw, all told. Doom of the Dark Lord also resolves, but not much else happens on Unicorn's turn. Crab attacks with the Ogre and takes a province out. The 5 province strength of the new Unicorn stronghold made a difference, since Crab didn't have to burn any Fate cards to nail the province. Crab brings Hida Amoro (Experienced) into play. Round 3. Kamoko attacks. First Shout + Second Shout + Second Shout + Rallying Cry + Shinjo's Breath = two destroyed Crab provinces. Crab responds on his turn with another Breach of Etiquette, then hires the Crab Clan Oni (Experienced). Round 4. My notes are incomplete, but sometime before this, Unicorn had hired 2 copies of Iuchi Katta and Crab had put Fields of the Morning Sun into play (no Otaku Kamoko there!). Because there were several 3PH personalities in the Unicorn deck (more Kamoko, Tetsuko, Goshi, etc.), this posed a problem for him. Unicorn attacked the Field of the Morning Sun with his two copies of Iuchi Katta. Crab defended that province with the Ogre, and put the Crab Oni and Hida Amoro in to defend the other province. Unicorn chose to resolve the battle he *didn't* have any units in first, and Crab played Evil Portents. When they resolved the second battle, Crab played Crushing Attack on the now weakened copies of Iuchi Katta facing his Ogre. Crab Counterattacked, and that was pretty much that. There was nothing that would save Unicorn from the onslaught on Crab's turn. Here's the winning deck: "Evil is *still* good!" (qv. Way of the Crab deck lists) Christian Vikander's "Return of a Lost Hero" winning deck at CanGames Stronghold: The War Fortress of the Crab FATE CARDS Actions 3 Avoid Fate 3 Breach of Etiquette 2 Confusion at Court 3 Counterattack 2 Crushing Attack 3 Deadly Ground 1 Egg of P'an Ku 3 Evil Portents 1 Face of Ninube 2 Frenzy 1 Kolat Assassin 2 Night Battle 3 One Koku 3 Rallying Cry 2 Refugees 3 Sneak Attack 3 Test of Courage 2 Wedge Items 1 Ancestral Sword of the Crab DYNASTY DECK Events 1 Desparate Measures 1 Doom of the Dark Lord 1 Inheritance 1 Imperial Ambassadorship 1 Imperial Gift 1 Kisada's Funeral 1 Regions of Rokugan 1 Return of Fu Leng 1 There is No Hope Holdings 3 Corrupted Iron Mines 1 Festering Pit of Fu Leng 2 Iron Mines 3 Merchant Caravans 3 Small Farms 1 Writings of Kuni Yori Personalities 3 Hida Amoro 1 Hida Amoro (Experienced) 3 Hida Yakamo (Oni) 1 Hida Yakamo (Experienced Oni) 1 Ogre Bushi 3 Ogre Outlaw 1 Oni no Akuma 2 Oni no Gekido 1 Oni no Ugulu Regions 1 Kuni Wastelands 1 Fields of the Morning Sun The other decks that made it to the final four are archived on "Ikoma" Andy Cowell's page, here: http://www.cowell.org/~andy/ccg/l5r/archive/misc/78.html At the start of the tournament, I said that it represented the long effort to account for all the dead on the battlefield of Otosan Uchi on the Day of Thunder. There was the description in one of the Crab letters of Hida Yakamo looking at the face of every man on the battlefield, looking for Kuni Yori. I said that the task of compiling a definitive list of the dead was left to the Crab scholar (me), aided by the mystical abilities of a Fox clan shugenja (Jeff Kyer). We were asking for the aid of Rokugan's samurai and shugenja to help compile the list of dead. During the tournament, as clans were eliminated, we announced, "All the bodies of the Naga have been accounted for," "We have accounted for all the Dragons," and so on. After Christian won, I said to the gathered players, "We have made a disturbing discovery: we have found a set of Crab armor... a porcelain mask... and no body." Christian's been playing variations of his Crab Oni deck for as long as I've known him (about two years). Guess practice paid off: he was undefeated in this tournament, and we're talking about eight or nine rounds here. Okay, there was at least one game I saw that Christian could have lost: in another *awesome* game against Bayushi Murai (which saw both of them down to one province and about as many personalities), Murai made one fatal mistake that cost him the game. Christian was at -17 honor, Murai was at about -14 or so. Murai bowed his Scorpion Shadow stronghold *before* casting Walking the Way and getting Breach of Etiquette. If he'd left it unbowed, he could have driven himself to -18 by looking at Christian's hand several times, then Breaching Christian into oblivion before Christian attacked again. But both players agreed that it was a great game. I would go further and say it was a brilliant game, L5R at its best. And there were a few games like that during this tourney. Contrary to early reports, Christian's preference for who he'd like to see come back is *not* the Crab oni. He's more interested in seeing a certain porcelain-masked berserker come back... I was very happy with the turnout, and especially pleased to see (1) a result that people did *not* predict, and (2) expansion clans like Monk and Toturi's Army and (especially) Scorpion out there kicking *hard* and doin' well for their clan. I *think* this may be the highest Monk finish (third) in a sizable tournament ever, for instance, and is surely a strong showing for Toturi's Army. It was outerspace ace, an absolute blast to be a part of. Thanks to everyone who turned up, travelled, and played. I'm missing a lot of cool stuff, and my apologies to names I've missed or not mentioned. Extra special thanks to Jeff Kyer (a.k.a. Kitsune Katsume, of Fox Clan). Without him, "Return of a Lost Hero" wouldn't have happened at CanGames. Take a bow, Jeff. Zen Faulkes! * Crab Clan Scholar