Greetings. It is me the Dark Lord again. I know it's been a while since I last posted, because recently, there are a lot of tasks that required me to perform...
After so long playing Spider Paragons, I decided to give them a break, and then attempt something else. I was thinking of building Monk Kensai, but I couldn't do so due to the fact that I've traded my playset of Yarijutsu (the best killer card for my deck) away in order to get Daigotsu Chaozhu which I had already longing for ages.
You cost me a lot... Have to sacrifice one deck because of you...
Alright, no Monk Kensai for me then. So what can I build? In the end, I chose Shugenja Breeder. Breeder was the first archtype I attempted when I first started L5R. But back then my Breeder deck was Gobreeder, and truthfully speaking, Goblins tend to cause boredom real, real fast. Shugenjas actually suits more to breeding, due to the fact that most breeding spells are Mahos and Kihos, which require a Shugenja to activate.
Most of the time, Breeder decks found in forums and other sites always uses Fields of the Dead, most likely due to it's 8PS, and also the built-in breeding action. I admit that I'm also a fan of this SH, but doing nothing besides breeding is kinda dull for me, and I decided to give Fingers of Bone a try.
Believe this or not, even Hida Kuon is scared of a mere 2F 2C Zombie now, hah!
Well, although this SH is 7PS instead of 8, but it sports an ability which can be very deadly if played against the opponent at the right time, and believe me, most opponents will be more vary when they plan who to send into battle. Playing with this SH proves to be a very challenging task, because your breeding now has a limit (which comes from only your peeps, and cards from your hand). Also, the SH's ability can't be used bowed, so when to use it for gold production proves to be very important to not cost you the game.
So, what kind of cards will be included in this deck? Here are a few staples which says "auto-include" for the deck:
5 gold for double body? Count me in!
He cooks the dead into zombies... Awesome sauce...
This little green goblin makes Udo even scarier...
So here you go, the top 3 peeps for your deck. Well, of course there're more good stuff from the dynasty side, such as Expendable Resources, a holding which draws you a card in battle by just killing one of your peeps, in this case, a measly zombie, which also triggers Udo's ability to make more (their life is not that 'cheap' after all...).
As for the fate side, cards that take advantage of your high numbers are important for the deck. This deck lacks good kill actions, but the sheer numbers you have on the board will cause headache to your opponent himself. Basically, the common cards found in the Fate side will be force pumps, disruption cards, and also selected kill actions. I'll post another article of how my current Breeder deck works next time, together with the decklist if possible.
Alright, what are the weakness of the deck you might say? Well, generally the deck's weakness will be open control and boxable hate. Since the zombies are 0GC peeps, boxable hate is a pain against them, where you will feel frustrated when seeing the gold you spent gone just like that. Open control is also a serious problem against breeder, due to all the bowing effects that reduces the number of zombies that you can send to battle, thus killing your tempo.
Just play more carefully when you see these kind of decks, which can be found predominantly in Mantis, Crane and Scorpion.(Magistrate Military with DGC; Crane SFP Favor Abuse; Scorpion Dishonor Bomb).
Here is a simple discussion on how a breeder deck works, and some suggestions of cards that should be included in the deck, plus the strengths and weaknesses of it. If everything goes right, I'll be posting about the deck that I'm using and the ins and outs of it.
Till next time, the Dark Lord bids farewell...
