kotei atl report (updated)

team anthem did extremely well, we didn't win but it was still impressive. Out of 6 people, we had 4 top of clan, 4 in top 16 (2, 3, 4, 8 seeds after swiss) and 2 top 8. And this was in a field of 79.

sleep- top lion (2nd after swiss) top 16
mike(thrakhath)- top spider (3rd in swiss) top 16
pat(domasko)- top unicorn (4th) top 8
me- top scorpion (8th) top 8
anthony (hideo) dropped after 2-3
corey (naiteiru) - 4-3

I think this will be my last kotei road trip from tampa n I can't think of a better group to do this with. Mvp of trip is apples to apples.

my tourney report
I would like to say I got to top 8 mostly by blind luck. I did very little playtesting, played 2 real games of l5r in 6 months and played on egg a few times. My deck was nothing special, cookie cutter scorp paragons, which from the deck lists i've seen from other top kotei decks, is dynasty/fate +/- 10 cards. I saw very good matchups and my deck gave me what I needed every game. However I'm happy with my performance, the cold kept me awake and I didn't make too many errors. (i packed only shorts/t-shirt, think ATL weather was like tampa... dead wrong!)


rd 1 corey, dragon kensai
matched up with own play group first round sucks balls.
corey was one of the guys I actually tested against on egg. I beat him twice in testing but both games were really close. So he gets good gold. I get colonial. He gets dude. I get courtier n dude. He sees glory, attach dakiyu. Doesn't draw from glory. Attacks. I defend, his 10f to my 8. I strength in terror he sadface. He tries to send home irc. I no no, box kill. We found out his top card was the near miss he needed. Anyway down hill for him from there. I kill another dude with weapon, get him to 2 prov. Waru tells laughing dragon to bow and he concedes.

rd 2 -Steve, lion paragon honor out of shamate (i think)
I don't remember much about this game, i got the jump on him, think i got a colonial and locked down his defenders with kameyois and warus. My notes showed he didn't go above 21 honor.

rd 3 - Tye, lion ancestor honors with paragon splash
yey more honor! don't remember much about this one either, except the man had a monkey clan counter, I showed him my monkey clan counter. I think we're officially brothers from another mother. I think i had decent control on the board and methodically killed his people and took his provinces, notes show game ended at 34 honor.

rd 4 - Jon, crab scouts
the deck I had nightmares of before tourney n this was my only game all day against them. He gets dudes. I gets dudes. He attacks. My moment was perfect. Kills his 7f scary zerker in province. Take two more next turn when all his guys are bowed. We build. I get 2-3 dudes a turn. He gets 1. I attack, gold n steel, negations. Game over in 10 min

rd 5 - Jeremy, thunder shugenja end up being 1 seed
I'm 4-0 feeling pretty good bout myself. Saw the box. Thought enlightenment. Thunder enlighten was one of first decks I built, I was paired down so he 3-1. Anyway overconfident going in. He gets good start. I get good start. He pops imp gift for modifications, topaz champ one chick who don't bow in resolution. Mods on, n attacks. Uh, this ain't enlightenment. I look at the two perfect moments in my hand and cry. I defend, blow through my hand he goes through his. His hand better, he kills half my dudes, I save prov. He has like 6 spells on this chick. I gold n steel two of them. Next turn he gets another super unit with phoenix yojimbo. Takes two. I perfect moment. He doesn't defend.he rets back. Game. So brutal. Love the deck. Great guy, I remember he beat the crap outta me last year at the honor event trivia contest as well. Negation vs reusable spells no work.

rd 6 - Donny, phoenix temple kotei winner
Great guy, more to this later. He gets a crazy start, 2 gold for temple, peace for well tended bought with one koku and box for 3 honor dude. I get colonial harbor and sees kamayoi. He gains honor. I get kameyoi, shiden shorai and waru. he bounces my first two attacks but i stall him in the mid 20s. I get a waru, 2 kameyois, and a bunch of force out. I start taking provinces one at a time. On turn 4 or so he saws disgraced, turns off my kameyoi and waru. I get hotako. He gets to 40 with one province, I attack in with 27 force, he defends, i kill his last dude even though i had a game of sincerity in hand, first real play mistake today irc. He said he accidentally discarded an unimpeachable name so i guess our play mistakes wipes out. anyway, he flooded pass to get to 25 prov strength. game.

rd 7 - battle maidens, Pat
Yey a 2nd game within my playgroup. We both 5-1 so this was just about seeding. Played a fun game. He destroyed me, mostly because anthony was mean and told pat to attack me when pat was quite happy sitting back and getting 4-5 honor a game (no colonial harbor)

5-2 after swiss, 8th place. Some hilarity insured about top scorpion (they had me as spider for some reason and gave top scorp to some nice chap at 14th seed, i corrected them, sorry about taking the full bleeds away)

top 16 - Torian, crab zerkers
Great guy, but i was scared shitless cause i thought he was running scouts. He flips zerker stronghold, i had no idea what was in a pure zerker deck. We had fun conversation throughout the round (we took like the entire 1:30 round)
game 1. Didnt know what was in the deck. he goes crazy crab duty turns 3, kills my defender (haven't seen duty before), My hand couldn't handle 2 dudes. It was such a mis match that i remember double a perfect moments, takes two provs, and he still wins handily.
game 2. Sadness, then craziness. He takes prov early. gets more dudes then me, somehow, and they all got cool abilities with 8 force. I got guys with 4 force, but again, less of them. I get down to 2 prov, he is at 3. He splits his army to attack, with a kisada showing in prov. i defend all in to the one army, i had a good hand so i knew i could prob wipe it. Here is where i prob made the biggest play error all day. I had a ret, a 7 force guy (gift armor), 2 grateful rewards, and he has 8 prov strength... I of course put grateful rewards on my 2 4 force guys. I go oh shit, i just lost all chances of winning the game. Anyway i get sad, still wiped his army, he managed only to kill one of my dudes even after duty in kisada. He has one jin-yuen unbowed on my turn. I look at my army, got enough for 9f, 9f, and 7f splits... i bamboo harvester top deck into a murderous intent... i attack and take 3. wow.
game 3. He gets sorta gold screwed (comparatively because the first two games he got jin-yuen i believe. I get good draw. I defended his first attack and destroyed his army. I start taking provs with people in them. He has one dude out, who successfully defends an split attack because i was stupid and didn't use gyuken's open ability to attach gift armor. Anyway so he kills gyuken, negates my first action, bows my dude, i bow his dude, he can't straighten... i martyr in to kill his dude at resolution. MARTYR!!!! Anyway i'm up 4-2 in provinces and he got only one guy out. Game. I don't know how i won considering how badly i played games 1 and 2, but i guess sometimes blind luck works out.
MVP: top decking blind luck craziness, LVP: not play testing


Top 8 - Donny, phoenix temple kotei winner
i can't stress how awesome of a guy he is. kotei win couldnt have gone to a nicer guy. we had friendly conversation all round. he also made top 4 last week at chi, so fine player, great deck
game 1. played out almost exactly as our swiss match. except he got less of a good start, i get colonial and kamayoi right off. took 2 prov easily while he was at 36.
game 2. he gets gold screwed, double borders. Benefice of the emperor turn one so i had 5 prov. I get too damn cocky, ditch 2 of the 645 holdings to dig for colonial. no other holdings. I ditch my board every turn and by turn 4 i concede. I am retarded, i think i had a good shot with my hand and his screwed start if i just kept one holding.
game 3. He gets really good start, i don't get colonial. He gets asako house guard, i dig and dig for broken alliance n nothing. i couldn't take a prov till he hit 31. I blew a creating order not knowing his box force reduction can't be negated. I attack his 2nd prov at 39, he walls of honor. game.
LVP: cockiness, and not shuffling well after first game (i only piled shuffled once dynasty side i believe).
MVP: Colonial harbor

This was my first top 8 since 2001... there is something to be said about being in that situation that takes experience/getting used to. aka being tired and playing stupid at 11pm at night. i think i made more errors my last round than i did all day.
but over all great fun, great people. i love l5r


Decklist: i am noob, couldn't cut anymore so i went with 41/42, lol

1 Shiro Chugo (would be totally better if it had 9 PS like crab, just sayin')

# Dynasty (43)

# Celestials (2)
1 Ryoshun's Guidance
1 Benten's Blessing

# Regions (1)
1 Shinden Shorai (always money when i saw it)

# Holdings (13)
3 Colonial Harbor (MVP)
3 Prosperous Village
3 Small Farm
1 Bamboo Harvesters - exp
2 Merchant Atoll
1 Border Keep - exp (took it for the fate cycle, helped in some games, never missed BK normal, maybe cause i faced honor half the time)

# Personalities (27)
3 Shosuro Tanzaki
2 Shosuro Makiko (favor never seemed to be an issue, i feel fine with her at 2)
3 Bayushi Toshimo
3 Bayushi Waru
3 Shosuro Ritoru
3 Bayushi Suwabe
3 Bayushi Irezu (the champ!)
1 Daigotsu Hotako - exp3
1 Daigotsu Gyoken - exp2
3 Shosuro Kameyoi (money vs honor)
2 Bayushi Manami (filler, i think i bought 1 all day, might replace for Fukuzo + something else)

# Fate (42)

# Strategies (38)
3 Cast Aside the Weak
3 Grateful Reward
3 Strength in Terror
3 Broken Alliance
3 Know No Fear
2 A Paragon's Strength
3 The Perfect Moment
3 Gold and Steel (3 cause of paranoia over crab scouts)
3 The Loyalty of the Scorpion (amazing, MVP fate side)
1 Creating Order
1 A Game of Dice
3 Brawl (had it as 3 of cause of paranoia over heart of darkness and honor meta)
2 Game of Sincerity
2 Tireless Efforts (like the force penalty negation over yojimbo's extra action)
1 Retribution
2 Murderous Intent (regret not having it at 3)

# Items (3)
3 Gift Armor (meta, when it worked it worked, pitched it against some decks, not sure if it is completely necessary)

# Rings (1)
1 Ring of Fire

deck list added, tourney report complete

thanks again to team anthem fir the amazing weekend

all i gotta say is... Rosa Parks!

Pruto wrote:
I think this will be my last kotei road trip from tampa n I can't think of a better group to do this with. Mvp of trip is apples to apples.

Hopefully you still come to Orlando (c'mon, how can you NOT!?), but I hear ya. The feeling is mutual man. Paul you are a really great guy, and while we don't get to play with you as much as we'd like, you are still an integral part of our playgroup.

Heres to a few more victories before you make your way to the great white north(west).

Sleep wrote:

Hopefully you still come to Orlando (c'mon, how can you NOT!?), but I hear ya. The feeling is mutual man. Paul you are a really great guy, and while we don't get to play with you as much as we'd like, you are still an integral part of our playgroup.

Heres to a few more victories before you make your way to the great white north(west).

I will be going to Orlando, but probably driving myself same day, so not really a road trip. I like your change of colors lol