Sarasota Kotei Reports

Since I woke up at 3 and couldn't go back to sleep, I'll be the first to post my tournament report for the Kotei. It was a great success with 54 people, and of course, much respect to Mr. Walling for taking the whole thing over. Awesomeness.

Call me stubborn (and I'm sure you will), but I tried to get the breeder and monksai things off the ground, but while I had a few of the cards, I couldn't get in enough playtesting and practice to make them work for me. And since I'm not going back to the Crab until a whole lotta things change (yes, Sleep, I'm looking at you), I stuck by my chosen path with the dark paragons. Even with the new stuff I added, going in I new I'd be fodder for this environment. No matter, I still had a good time. Plus- I got this kick ass playmat with a paragon and MY NAME on it! I coulda went 0-7 for all I care...that was the highlight of the day for me! I won't even post the decklist, but I'll post my games as they happened:

Game 1: vs Bayushi Chris

Friggin ninjas. They attack, I oppose, they move out of the way and poison people as they go. I try to use what limited movement I have to move back in and hopefully kill the- "Nope, you're poisoned, go home and die." He swings from the darkness and snags provinces left and right. The game ended quickly. Ah well...

0-1 Lesson learned: More send home and movement/movement negation is key.

Game 2: vs TC's Dishonor

My good buddy Joe was my sparring partner for years, and I learned from him how to deal with dishonor: unless you're playing an honor rocket, you're going to get dishonored out, so swing hard and swing often. Oyo Seido stopped some of the bleeding, but he had me down to -10 or more. Even with Oki negating some of the honor loss and Susumu keeping his one lone Jutsushi from working, TC was bleeding me pretty good. But I swung hard at 3 provinces with three paragons early on: 2 Shinjitsus beefed up on focus 4 DVs and a Setsuko beefed up on Murderous Intent. He managed to save one, but that hurt the rest of his production and he ended up not being able to recover. This was another bright spot to my day: he went on to place 4th in the top 8, winning all 6 of his other matches.

1-1 Lesson learned: Strike first! Strike hard! No mercy, sir!

Lunch!! Little Caesar's Pizza pizza rocks!

Game 3: vs the guy from Puerto Rico's Dragon Honor

If you're reading this, I'm deeply sorry I forgot your name. But I won't forget the thrashing his deck gave me. Classic style honor rocket. While my deck does have answers to his tactics, I was forced to cycle them away with all the duels he kept throwing at me. He hit his honor, and I couldn't take out his last provinces fast enough. Ah well...

1-2 Lesson Learned: Oh, how I miss the days of FORCE dueling.

Game 4: vs Cavalry Chris's Battle Maiden Honor

Women on horseback with insane reactions to assigning. I couldn't keep anyone on the field long enough to do anything before he either killed them outright or sent them home, either way negating my hand of actions. Ah well...

1-3 Lesson Learned: To undo an enemy's function is to undo an enemy.

Game 5: vs the guy in the hoody's Phoenix Dishonor

I know what you're thinking: Phoenix Dishonor? Well, this is the guy who took top Phoenix in Orlando last year, and he didn't fail to entertain this year either. He dropped my honor while raising his. At the same time. Swing first, swing hard is the rule, and I did, taking three of his provinces. It was close, but in the turn before he was to lose his last province, he tossed out two 'Arranged Guilt' and dropped me to negative -21. Ah well...

1-4 Lesson Learned: Expect the unexpected.

Game 6 vs Sal's Dragon Kensai

THIS is by far the best game I played all day. I don't mean as to say this is where my deck worked best, but the best game as in we both left it all out on the field. Sal starts pumping out kensai and arming them. I get a Gahseng X with a Seiatsu and try to swing turn 3, he drops 1000 Cuts and kills him outright. We trade provinces back and fourth, but his kensai are just too strong. He has an army with three provinces intact, I have one province left. All I have going for me an Oracle of Dark Fire, Susumu, and Hida Yaheiko X. is a hand full of actions I can't really play because I have no paragons. But, I ain't got nothing better to do, so I swing. Yaheiko's action is useless, because his guys are all armed. So, ranged 5 takes one kensai out...and then he bounces Yaheiko home because he can't kill her outright. :affraid: And we both realize that he no longer has enough force to take my last province on his turn province. I buy a Setsuko, who gives me two Wills. He tries to build his army from his three provinces and gets another couple of kensai out. Next turn, I swing in with Yaheiko, Setsuko, and Susumu, and take 2 provinces , leaving us 1 to 1. He tries to get through, but can't get past my OoDF and Yaheiko, who's throwing out range 7s from K-suz and refuses to die. Meanwhile, I'm using those Wills and an now rezzing dead paragons which he has to send home as he's unable to kill them. Last swing for me, I use my last card in hand to do the K-Suz action and kill off his last doubly armed kensai with a range 5...and he extends his hand. I must say, for the 5 years I've been going to these, I've always wanted to play Sal. He didn't disappoint. We both agreed that was a very good game.

2-4 Lesson Learned: It ain't over till it's over. And Yaheiko's theme song is officially "My Chick Bad" by Ludacris.

My chick bad...my chick 'hood...my chick do stuff that yo' chick wish she could...

Game 7: vs Nate's Lion Honor

One thing I can say about my paragon deck without ego or false posture is that I have no trouble with Lion clan. He kept sending his deathseekers out to battle, and I was able to continually kill them with DV actions off Hirata and Chaozhu, and the action from K-Suz. His goal was to lose a deathseeker and gain honor, but ultimately he couldn't gain honor fast enough. It was a nice quick game to end the day.

3-4 Lesson Learned: Sometimes all you need is a big hammer.

I had a great time today. I hope you all did as well.

Awesome tournament report Ogre. This was a great Kotei and I'm sure Joe would have been proud. Only thing I can really comment on (right now, just got home and I'm tired as hell) is that technically Jeff got 3rd and TC got 4th (since Jeff lost to the eventual #1 and TC lost to the eventual #2).

Good job, Ogre!
I didn't do too hot, myself (2 - 5), but it was my first Kotei and I've only been playing for a few months.
It was a LOT of fun and I learned sooo much! It has renewed the spark of enthusiasm I first had for the game when I just started and I'm ready to be much more active than I have been recently!

Ogre, I'm sorry I made you scream your lungs out more than you wanted, but I couldn't help myself! <3

Tofu- no worries! Yell your lungs out. We've now got a goal to work toasted for next year

Sleep- corrected. That's what it was when I left :suspect: