The Swift Sword

So, I'd been busy for quite a while. My CE paragon deck had been scrapped a while ago in preparation for Emperor. I still had the skeleton of the weapontacs I ran at GenCon, pretty shamelessly stolen from Gob, but I wasn't really sure how to update it realistically. I made the changes to fit in Kamina, Jurojin's, and two Remote Villages, but had already hastily thrown together a version of the hero deck Case ran and posted. However, as it was an entirely new deck to me, I also reassembled my paragon deck as best I could, managing to magically forget some pretty standard cards (oh hey, I totally forgot Hagio), but we'll get to that in a bit.

I asked Dan Jacobson (Kaiu Genji) if it was cool if I came down on Friday to get some testing in. After all, I hadn't had time to play in six weeks or so. He was cool with it, so I headed down and spent Friday afternoon with him and Briscoe. Very, very quickly, it became obvious that I couldn't make the hero deck work. There was something inherently different to its playstyle and I didn't realistically have time to adjust how I played to make it run for me. In other words, the deck was too hard for me and I'm not a good enough player to pilot it. It doesn't help that I'm frequently unlucky. And so I shrugged and played a few games with the paragon deck to shake off the rust, against Briscoe's Phoenix dishonor and Bob Martin's LODD battle dishonor deck. I remembered how cards worked, but both of those were rather favorable matches for a paragon deck. We also played a few games of the Resident Evil deckbuilding game, which is a blast.

Morning rolled around and we headed off to Topaz. Before leaving, I caved in and made a couple last minute changes. I realized that this was Topaz, so decks don't have to be able to crush the entire field. Since the T8 would be draft, a deck that has one or two bad match-ups isn't a bad call for the Swiss at this event. The big change was I made room for A Perfect Moment.

Round 1: Daniel Briscoe - Temple of Purity dishonor
What the hell. I understand that it's unrealistic to go to a midwest tournament and expect not to play folks I know, but this was just silly. Briscoe was offering concessions to every opponent, since if he made the cut he would be dropping. I elected not to concede and we played it out. The deck was about the same as it was the previous night. I had two Know No Fears in my opening hand to deal with the presenceless favor thanks to Shikishi. I believe I ended the game at -13 honor. 1-0

Round 2: Adam - Law of Darkness Dojo dishonor
Adam is one of the friendliest players I've met. He also happened to be playing a deck that I'd played the night before. My start was solid, his was not so solid. I ended the game at 10 honor. 2-0

Round 3: Jason Aken - Seven Seas Port Blitz
Here was a deck I hadn't been able to play against in the hands of a better player than me. I had some small idea how I should be playing against it. I bought two holdings. He bought four people, but the two monkeys hurt his hand early. I bought two people. He swung in. I knew better than to fight there and let it go, then APM'd one in return. He bought three people. I buy two more people. He swings in with seven at one, I defend. I lose two people but clear his board, Iron Willing a lethal Revenge and Effortless Counterattacking the follow-up Scouting that would have grabbed a kill action back to pretty much end me. He buys two people, one of which is the 7G commander that can't defend. The game is essentially one action in my favor from that point. 3-0

Round 4: Paul Ashman - Kyuden Suzume paragons
I'm not sure what to expect except that his uniques are better than mine and his box has a kill to my send-home. I cannot establish a realistic tempo advantage. He ends up with 5 people on the board, including Susumu, Hotako, a Gahseng, and Mr. Relentless. He has two people showing and swings all in at my Shinden Shorai. We're about even on personalities and I don't foresee the battle going in my favor. I don't defend. I APM to pop the province with Daigotsu. He buys Setsuko XP. On my turn, he straightens someone with Ageless. I swing with 3, leaving some defense. If I go all in, he probably won't defend and will probably take one in return with APM, so I can't. He's already pitched a Brave New World, so I worry about ret-sleazing. I win the battle, but can't take the province. But I have two Ageless Shrines, so I have more people up to defend. The next opposed battle decides it, but not before I get my Hotako and he turns her off with his Hotako. 4-0

Round 5: Pete Tidsall - Utaku Plains Battle Maidens
I didn't win this game, Pete lost it. I didn't demonstrate any skill in it at all. I bought two holdings. He got gold screwed running BKxp and bought one person. I have 4 holdings showing. I buy them all. On his turn, I Creating Order his lone attacker to stave off the first blitz province. He buys one person. I buy two paragons, Kenji and Kobi. He attacks and takes two, one force pump for each province. I APM and knock out Chen in the province. He buys holdings. He drops two Cast Aside the Weaks to straighten both his people. I attack with only Kenji. He defends with both. I Grateful Reward to prevent her from dying to the first action. He Shamefuls. I bow the one that prevents performing with her printed and re-honor her. He sends her home with the 9G battle maiden, but Kenji Knows No Fear. I move in Kobi. He Shamefuls again. Kobi tacs up. He reduces her with the box. I'm up 1 force to zero from the farmer token. I pass. He passes. They rehonor, I buy two people. He doesn't recover from his gold screw. 5-0

Round 6: James Matthews - Temple of Purity dishonor
Sometimes, there are games where virtually nothing you do will save it. James was playing a more defensive version than Briscoe, with Indomitable Homes and Outer Walls. His first holding is Slanderer. His first personality was Mitsuko. His second and third were the courtiers that straighten holdings. Before the fifth turn, Mitsuko has all three Winds of Dismissal, and I'm forced to seppuku two people a turn. Ancient Feud lets me grab one province, but I don't have the gold to buy three people a turn. My first Kasei hits the board and is vaporized by Whispers of the Forgotten because I had to bow my Chugo for gold. About five turns later, I get very bored and tired of the "buy two people, seppuku them" dance and give up, taking 14 honor in one turn from actions printed on the table. The turn after I give up? My second Kasei flips. All his eggs were in one basket on Mitsuko. I had popped two Deeds and Words and my Chugo in previous turns to keep my honor floating around zero. Even if I buy that Kasei, I can't protect him. 5-1

Round 7: Josh Kolb - Last Step Castle honor
This game didn't matter. I was the last undefeated going into round 6 and we had 41 people, so I was in regardless. Same reason I stopped dancing to Mitsuko's tune in the previous game. Kolb was playing the action phase bow version of LSC. I get two holdings, then a person and two holdings, then three people. I stay one straighten action behind his bow actions each turn but end up with three people a turn so . I get early Kasei, but see no reason to harpoon anyone. I have to assume he's still dueling and is just unlucky in drawing Impromptus but might have a Steel on Steel. I end up with swarms on the table and no reason to risk battle attrition. I mob one province at a time, getting three Kaseis before the third. For the last province, I have the Creating Order to undo every last Open bow and two Brothers in Battle for force and actions. Two Walls of Honor for 12 each get his province to 48 strength. I have 56 force to crack. 6-1

Then began the drafting. I labored under misconceptions and didn't ask until it was too late. I lost in T8 outright because I didn't grasp the holding creation rules on the EE draft box. It has a 2G cost to create holdings, but it is not an action and the holdings do not have a printed cost. My first grab was Iemasu, which locked me into Crab for one clan. I blew two early Draft picks on Dukansuto, who was useless unless I packed real holdings... but then it doesn't actually provide any real acceleration and the Stolen Merchandise I drafted had nothing to copy unless someone else did the same thing. Herp derp. Reading is hard. I end up crippling myself and 2 full turns behind, losing the game at 37 honor. CE draft slightly favored honor because everyone gets an Impromptu, Ring of Earth, and a pile of 3G producers. EE draft slightly favors military, since it is harder to pay full for personalities with literally no access to 3G producing holdings and everyone missing that lone guaranteed Impromptu.

I completely fail to notice these differences and make really stupid decisions. On top of that, I have virtually no decent fate cards. In building a 20/20 deck, I had to add 9 useless cards out of 6 booster packs. I spend much of the time after getting knocked out being pissed at myself for being so dumb.

I'm really, really terrible at draft.

This being said, I had a blast. Was good to see folks I hadn't seen in months, spend a day doing nothing but screwing around and playing games, and the venue had a White Castle nearby so all my moping and grumbling and projecting my frustration about my own idiocy was quickly mended with a belly full of joy.

Things I learned:
- I was a moron for not finding room for A Perfect Moment sooner. The card might be imbalanced, but it will probably be eclipsed ("Justified") by attachment decks still sleazing 2+ provinces on rets.
- Effortless Counterattack is not a bad card on its own merits so long as you have enough attachment destruction.

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Swift Sword Forum Rules

Ugh, they did top 8 as DRAFT? Man, that sucks. Personally, I would not even attend an event that did that, I hate draft. Nothing like taking 80% of the skill out of playing your deck and replacing it with blind luck.

Other than that, great job! If it had continued in a "standard" format, do you think you could have won out based on the remaining opponents?

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North American Taisa of the White Lion

"I may die for my choice, but I shall die pure."

It's how Topaz is run every year. It's been like this for a very long time. I don't mind it, really.

If they elims had remained constructed? It's possible. There was no Embassy in T8 and the only honor deck I remember seeing in it was Kolb's LSC control, for which I have ridiculous amounts of straighten. I had already played most of the T8 in Swiss. Jeff Williamson's Crab Scouts would have given me fits, though.

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Swift Sword Forum Rules

i personally love draft and think it takes a ton of skill to be really good at. there's quite a bit of advanced knowledge that can really help you like which power cards are in which sets, what their rarity is, which themes are heavily supported in which sets, etc. then there's a bunch of strategy in drafting the cards (balancing fate and dynasty, balancing grabbing cards for you and denying cards to the other players, etc.) then you have to build the deck and pilot it which is pretty hard since you don't have a good idea what's in your opponents' decks that you may have to play around. i find that the same people who are are consistently placing high at constructed tourneys are the ones that consistently do well at drafting

all that said, i can totally see not liking it, especially if you spent a lot of time building and testing your deck.



this is pretty key for the event. my strategy would always be to grab a solid consistent deck that may not be able to beat everyone, but one that you're really confident with and know like the back of your hand, then spend a bunch of time drafting instead of testing your deck. if you know the exact draft format (like which sets they'd be using) do that. the practice goes a LONG way.

well done on the finish though. i'd love to make it out for a topaz at some point, but it's tough to justify traveling that far (us new englanders are spoiled by everything being so close together )

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RUN KEPPO IN YOUR SCOUT DECK!

It's something that I tend to do about once a year. At Topaz. So... I'm terrible at draft.



Us Midwestern players are spoiled by having 9 or 10 kotei "nearby" (10 hour drive or less).

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Swift Sword Forum Rules

Huh. Never been to the Topaz, so didn't know. Of course, knowing, I guess I never WILL go to the Topaz. Lol.

Ah well, some aspects of the game just aren't for everyone I guess. I would prefer to at least do sealed deck, I think its a truer test of your deck building skill, though there is still a fair amount of luck involved.


I can see your point, though I think sealed deck, or normal play, is a truer test of deck building skills. It easy to look at a limited field of cards and pick out the stronger one, a little harder to build a balanced deck from everything available and play it effectively. In my opinion, of course. Draft is by FAR my least favorite style of play.

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North American Taisa of the White Lion

"I may die for my choice, but I shall die pure."

i totally agree, constructed is a much better test of your deckbuilding skills. play skill is a huge factor in this game (this is why you see the same names in lots of cuts despite the fact that their decks are out online and being played by other players). i think draft stresses certain parts of your play ability more than constructed, since your opponent's deck is largely unknown, and you're both force to play cards that wouldn't normally see play so you end up having to identify and deal with weird card interactions that you wouldn't normally see.

the drafting process is it's own unique skill that has quite a few facets. i could talk about the format all day i'm not trying to convince you to like it, but it is fun to talk about

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RUN KEPPO IN YOUR SCOUT DECK!

I'm a major fan of sealed as a demonstration of play skill. Constructed pits decktypes against each other, which is not a perfect balance. A deck can have a stronger or weaker match-up against another deck. This is less of an issue in Sealed (assuming parity between starter decks).

Draft is just a chaotic madness that I haven't been able to practice.

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Swift Sword Forum Rules

the unfortunate thing about sealed deck is that parity isn't always there, which is too bad because it is a fun format, and especially good for beginners.

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RUN KEPPO IN YOUR SCOUT DECK!

Playing in a draft event and doing well takes a lot of skill. L5R hasn't had a substantial history of drafting so most people haven't had the chance to develop the revenant skills. With the new draft stronghold I'm looking forward to drafting in EE.

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An atheist terrorist group has recently begun to employ suicide bombers to go around blowing themselves up for no reason.

But I feel the skill is HIGHLY eclipsed by the luck of the draw. All the skill in the world won't do you any good if the other guy gets the better cards. Thats why I prefer sealed deck, you are both building your deck from a similar limited card pool. Draft (and to a lesser degree, sealed) eliminates so much from the game, it strikes me as more magic-like than true l5r like. Or more dissimilar from base L5R as to make it unatractive to me.

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North American Taisa of the White Lion

"I may die for my choice, but I shall die pure."

The skill in draft is in getting the better cards for yourself. Luck isn't much of a factor.

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Legacy format discussion

It is if the pack you open, or that is passed to you, doesn't have the "good" card in it. Or anything that fits the deck type you are trying to build. Thats the luck aspect i'm referring to. You can't get the better cards for yourself if they arent there.

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North American Taisa of the White Lion

"I may die for my choice, but I shall die pure."

one good card will not win you a draft. you're better off getting 40 cards (20/20) that place nice with eachother than getting the 10 "best" cards in the pool. identifying the "best" card in a pack is a skill in it's self and which card is the "best" changes as the draft goes on (once you get a better idea what people are drafting and can get a better idea of what cards will come back around to you).

you have to weigh a lot of options, if you're drafting honor and you know someone else is doing it too, do you grab a solid honor card (the best for your own deck) or do you grab the really good military card (that you won't use)? if you've figured out that nobody in the draft is drafting honor, you take the military card, since the honor one is likely to come back around, if there are two other players playing honor, you leave the military card and claim the best card for your deck.

drafting requires you to be good at reading a situation based on very limited information and adapt to it.

as far as luck goes, luck is an inherent factor in all card games, you have to write off a certain amount of it. luck won't get you drastically better cards than everyone else, and at the end of the day, even with better cards, you still have to win the game when the cards hit the table.

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RUN KEPPO IN YOUR SCOUT DECK!

You're talking about sealed deck where you get one starter and 3-4 boosters and you make a deck from those cards, right? How is there less luck of the draw in that than there is in draft?

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Straw Dog * The Dude Abides