Sleeps Deck Dilemma *Please help*

Hey guys, I know I haven't been around to playtesting as much as I (and I'm sure you) would have liked to... my new schedule is kicking my ass.  Waking up at 6:30 to go to work and not getting home until 8pm doesn't leave much room for friend-times.  Not to mention that I'm basically brain-dead come 8pm so it usually isn't a great idea for me to truck it out to Carrolwood to playtest anyways.

That being said, in my spare time when I'm not working, sleeping, or dreading work, I've been working very hard on hammering out a deck for the Emerald Championship.  I've been going it alone (something I'm already very comfortable doing) building what I feel is the powerful meta and then running my decks through rigorous playtesting.  I'm trying my best to mirror my playtest process from early emperor when I developed the Lion Ancestor deck that took quite a few people by surprise.  The current strict meta is very close to that (there are ideas about what the meta is, but how much of that is actually seen, particularly in the very soft SE meta, is largely unknown) and I'm feeling good with my design choices.  That being said, I've narrowed my deck decision down to two options.  I need to make a decision before tomorrow night as I will be doing my best to race out to you guys and build my deck.  Both of these decks have been through rigorous playtesting, but I'm still very open to changing 4-5 cards on both sides on both of the decks.

I'm looking for feedback on the lists, but in general expect a very stubborn "no" to any sweeping changes.  Not that I don't value feedback, but more so that I'm a stubborn asshole who sticks to his card choices for personal reasons.  That being said, there is very likely possible holes in my plan, or synergies that you guys have noticed in your own playtesting that would greatly benefit the deck ideas here, so if you see something glaring, please don't hesitate to critique.

The real reason for this post is to get feedback on which deck I should run period.  So please chime in with your feedback.

Deck 1 -"PHX Military Large Unit Dueling"

This deck runs a nearly strict "4chi" requirement (the only exception is the 2/2 invest that becomes a 5/5, and the 4/3 monk who is discards to bow through attachments) and splashes big weapons to get to 6chi and bully duel.  It only runs a handful of duels themselves (3 Weakness, 2 COaaT, 2 Way of the Crane) and compliments these with high Force and Chi values (not uncommon to see 8f, and 5-8ch is the standard).  The deck gets big and uses good actions, but is light on proactive strategies when the duels are taken out of the equation.  I've had quite a lot of success with the deck vs military, but the deck has almost no game against control.  Also, send-home heavy military (such as the non-fear variant lion) do very well against this.  This deck is by far the more "fun" of the two, and the one I'd prefer to play assuming everything else being even.

# Stronghold (1)
1 The Eternal Temple of the Phoenix (2)

# Dynasty (40)

# Holdings (18)
3 Secluded Outpost
3 Clear Water Village
3 Defensive Memorial
3 Family Library
3 Famous Bazaar
3 Silver Mine

# Personalities (22)
3 Agasha Kyokuta
1 Isawa Kaname, Advisor the the Ruby Champion
3 Shiba Tsukimi, the Blind Phoenix
3 Ogre Bushi
3 Komori Taruko
3 Isawa Orinoko
3 Shiba Yuuchi
3 Asako Sadaki

# Fate (40)

# Items (11)
3 Bo of Ritual Blessings
3 Deadly Bisento
1 Ancestral Armor of the Phoenix Clan - exp
2 Dotanuki
2 Awakened Naginata

# Rings (3)
1 Ring of Earth
1 Ring of the Void
1 Ring of Air

# Spells (11)
2 Servitors of Stone
2 Ward of Air
3 Stones of Purity
2 Guidance in War
2 Legacy of Tadaka

# Strategy (15)
2 Way of the Crane
3 Sudden Movement
2 Reprisal
3 Sneak Attack
3 Weakness Exposed
2 Come One at a Time

Deck 2 -"PHX Young Crow"

This is what I consider to be the strongest variant honor deck that phoenix can put together.  I playtested quite a bit of Yung Sensei, and while that version running the 3for3 scheme is very consistent, it's also about a turn or two slower than this one.  This deck leans about 2/3rds towards "rocket" and only 1/3rd towards "defensive" honor. Much like my "Old Crow" deck from Celestial, this deck forces you to make decisions before you attack (IE: Do I attack this turn and give him a bunch of honor, or wait a turn to build more and not give him any honor).  The lynchpin of the deck is the 9x 2for2 honor gain holdings (which are very clunky in the yung sensei version).  Alchemy Lab can be bowed to increase the honor gained by Words of Consecration, Shielded By Tempest, and Seeking The Way, so it is not uncommon for the situation of "If that guy attacks, I gain 4 honor".  Temple of Serenity doesn't require me to attach a spell to gain the honor, just that I have to target a defending, opposed shugenja (and it gains 2!).  Now that Sneak Attack is being played again, Amihiko is AMAZEBALLS (turns off cards in your opponents hand, and guarantees you get to perform your honor bomb spell).  The rest of the action suite is a bevy of sendhome and open control.  This deck walks circles around anything that isn't blitz or lion, and is the better deck IMHO but is far less fun than the Military Dueling deck above.

1 The Eternal Temple of the Phoenix (1)

# Dynasty (40)

# Events (1)
1 Glimpse of the Unicorn

# Holdings (18)
3 Alchemy Lab
3 Carpenter Shrine
3 Defensive Memorial
3 Musha-Gaeshi
3 Silver Mine
3 Temple of Serenity

# Personalities (21)
3 Shiba Tsukimi, the Blind Phoenix
3 Isawa Kaisei
3 Isawa Kamiko
3 Isawa Genma
3 Isawa Amihiko
3 Agasha Beiru
1 Isawa Shunryu, the Infinite Eye
2 Isawa Kosea

# Fate (40)

# Rings (2)
1 Ring of the Void
1 Ring of Earth

# Spells (11)
3 Seeking the Way
3 Shielded by Tempest
3 Words of Consecration
2 Fueling the Flames

# Strategy (27)
3 Flashy Technique
2 Wary Peace
3 Banishing Breath
3 Block Supply Lines
2 Deny the False Form
3 Diplomacy Breaks Down
3 Encircled Terrain
1 Progressive
3 A Growing Rift
2 Combat at Court
2 Wheels within Wheels

id go A Samurai Caste Divides instead of Glimpse to get that Progressive out of your deck. Also, 2 Progressives wouldn't be a bad idea since it is Kharmic for a Yung Sensei deck.

The deck isn't young sensei

It sounds like you have a choice to make. Are you more interested in enjoying the event, or winning it?

Well winning the event isn't really realistic, I'm not a good enough pilot to win an event with either of these decks. But the honor one would almost assuredly make the cut

The first deck is extremely expensive, a bad turn 2 flip could loose you the game. I'd drop 2 bodies for 2 more holdings.

The second deck looks boring, but that's my opinion of any honor deck.

Sleep wrote:The deck isn't young sensei

read it as Yung Crow