The Swift Sword

So I've been trying to assemble this deck for quite a while but still cannot find a balance that satisfy me. The main idea is a Scout deck based on RA with supporting Tacticians for Fate control and Force pumps.
While the Dynasty side is quite easy (put there the best scouts and the tacti support team + good uniques), the Fate side is being a pain. The first 'alfa' version of the deck had 53 cards. Then cut to 45. Then cut again to 40 but I leaving out stuff I do want. There are some cards that I find vital for any military deck (Know no fear, sundering, battle/open attachment hate, creating, game of dice, yojimbos duty, one or two rings), then I put there the tactician stuff (Considerations, banish, trap and assault) and the scout and there I go, over 45 cards...not good.
I cut out almost every tactical Fate except for considerations (one of the main reasons to build this deck) and almost every terrain that is not really good. Still, I find this deck lacking of everything everywhere...but I run dry of ideas.

The Golden Plains - Free Terrain and Recon. With the tactician theme along side I need the extra Fate slots, also this is a +1F for Tamiso for free ^^

1 Bamboo Harvesters - exp
1 Border Keep - exp - Not sure here; I do not have experience in mirrors

# Dynasty (41)

# Celestial (1)
1 Ryoshun's Guidance

# Event (2)
1 Formal Apology - Or imperial gift, or both. Dishonor Meta needed
1 On - Or Alter History, but in my experiene with kitsus, kitsunes and switch decks, better limit to 3 per phase

# Holding (14)
2 Ageless Shrine
2 Archery Range
1 Chugo Seido
3 Copper Mine
3 Remote Village
2 Small Farm
1 Traveling Peddler

# Personality (22)
1 Akodo Dairuko
2 Akodo Kamina
1 Akodo Kobi - exp
1 Akodo Tamisu
2 Akodo Uehara
2 Gozu - last minute change, I'm not sure of his performance
3 Ikoma Shika - need cheap little guys for bowing
1 Ikoma Shika - exp
3 Ikoma Shuji
3 Ikoma Tsukasa
3 Ikoma Yamahatsu

# Region (2)
1 Low Market - only 6 attachments, may go out, or may increase the number of attachments in the deck.
1 Natural Aviary - was this or Nakanu's technique; needed cheap followers

# Fate (40)

# Item (6)
3 The String of the Colonies - cheap RA 5
3 Tsuruchi Daikyu - not so cheap RA 5 and makes almost every guy a province breaker

# Strategy (34)
1 A Game of Dice
2 A Yojimbo's Duty - deck is weak against bow
2 Broken Alliance - or gold&steel, but I do like the move in
2 Consideration
1 Creating Order
3 Heart of Darkness
3 Know No Fear
2 Running Battle - even if bowed -4F and takes away attachments, ideal against gift-armored peeps and kensais
3 Scouting the Pass - Or sneak, but I have lots of printeds
2 Spirit of the Scout - never enough printeds, but may go out
2 Strategic Strike
3 Sundering Strike
2 Surrounded! - Or another Recon, but this turns all my 4 RA into more threatening 6RA
3 Thick Marsh
3 Unstable Ground

I'd really apreciate your 2 cents, advices and thoughs. Be as cruel as you need!

Hmmm. Because you're running more Scouts then Tacticians, perhaps try dropping Akodo Kobi? I know it sounds kindy iffy, but unless you start run "Gaining Experience" I don't think her revival effect is gonna really matter.

How about Akodo Kano instead? He'd be able to grant you the extra battle actions to get that slight edge on ranged and recon actions. I also think Kamina should be at 3; dude's a BEAST. I've actually had games where I get him turn one, and he rolls over a province turn 2. (Rare, but the option is there.) His buff is also essential to to army.

To be honest, though, I'm not familiar with how Scouts operate, so my suggesstions are sorta barebone. Sorry.

Unless you run EVD, don't run the tacticians. The tactician actions aren't powerful enough without the box to tack "draw a card" onto a least 1 action a turn.

Paragons would bring beefier dudes, more printed actions, and really powerful strategies (Grateful Reward/Cast Aside The Weak). That is my suggestion if you really want to run TGP. With the number of Terrains you're running (9) TMF might be "safer" so that you don't get terrains clogged in your hand. Shunji is the only way to get terrains out of the way and she will have a big target on her head and will get neutralized VERY quickly because there is only a little bit of redirection (which I think Benten would like to be added to).

If you're "set" on tacticians, EVD + Kamina/Makotai = Enough Cards to run whatever you feel like.

I personally don't think Scouts play well with others. Personal opinion though.

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2012 Fort Mill, SC Kotei Winner

I run the tacticians as support, force pumps from kamina and fate manipulation from uehara. I'd run EVD but the scouts need the reliability of a Terrain and Recon on every battle.
I'm not fan of running Paragons outside SK, less now with dishonor being boosted.
The problem I have runing TMF is that I feel like "forced" to run a lot of terrains. With TGP I just run the best ones (or the ones that I like most). With the Golden Plain I can put any of them or no one in play as I need. Of course I'm vulnerable to ancien feud, but I do not fear that. With "only" 9 terrains, I do not expect to have 3 or more in hand at a time, and Shuji, Shika xp and Uehara are here for that.



I may change Kobi but I doubt it. I love her so much and the resurrect is so great when you have personalities like Shika xp, Shuji or Yamahatsu that use to be quickly targeted and eliminated. The extra Kamina may go in, but without EVD, and him being there "just" for support I want to balance the costs of his action.

i agree with cooper. if you're gonna run tacticians as a support theme, it has to be because you want to take advantage of evd. otherwise paragons simply have more powerful cards available.

i honestly think the most powerful interaction between scouts and tacticians is evd for card draw and cycle plus seeking the truth to replay cards from your discard pile, which allows you to play a serious toolbox deck. in that deck you run lots of specific meta and cycle into it, then once you have it, you abuse it by playing it a whole bunch of times. you want to avoid running too many terrain/recon centric cards (a few won't hurt) and just try to play off printed actions and meta.

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RUN KEPPO IN YOUR SCOUT DECK!