A Rainy Day, and The Dead of Winter...

Hello fellow mortals, this is the Dark Lord again... It has been a long while since I last posted, because of the huge load of work that I'm supposed to do... But nevertheless, here's my newest post, long overdue...

Today marks the release of L5R's newest set, The Dead of Winter (TDoW) in Malaysia. As Kyuden Suzume was to be found there, there's no reason for me not to go. And after all, Kyuden Suzume is important for me to complete my Monk Kensai deck, which I have been leaving it behind, collecting dust for so long. When I opened my products, all the rares I got were quite lousy actually, with only Chuda Inisi usable in the deck. I was so furious when my fellow clanmate, Blur opened Ujisato in front of my eyes, NOOO!!!!!

Anyway, no matter how suck the rares I get, the game must still go on. My first opponent was a Singaporean player (yes, Singaporeans purposely came here just to attend the release party, how dedicated they are...), playing Crane. Starting at 8 honor seriously made me worried. But it proved wrong when I took his first province with only 2 peeps, despite all the honor gaining mojo he did (he was at 15 honor when I took the province). It was just steamrolling after that, taking one province each turn. The game ended when he was at 34 honor, with all 4 provinces blown up.

MVP: Chuda Inisi. The board position that he gave seriously helped alot. 3 zombies for 7 gold, oh yeah!

Second match I was pitted against Spider. I've already expected that because almost half of the field were playing Spider. The mirror match for me I think really depends on how good is your hand. Technically I could've won the match (yes, I lost), but I have to blame myself for allowing my opponent to pull back his moves. Well, what's done is done. Next time, there will be no more pulling backs. Another reason besides that was I never draw a single weapon in the entire match. What can a Kensai do without weapons man?

The third match was quite easy for me as well, because I'm playing against Crane again. I misjudged one battle, and it costs me quite some time, where I was only able to take his first province while he's at 20 honor. Nevertheless, I managed to pull of my steamrolling again, and I won the game when he crosses during his own turn.

MVP: Chuda Inisi (yes, him again), Katahide. Taking multiple battle actions in one go is strong... ^_^

Overall, I placed 6th among all the players. Not bad for my first sealed L5R tourney. After reviewing all the cards for my clan and based on my performance the day itself, somehow I feel like Kyuden Suzume was quite 'cheating', in a sense that the stronghold gives you card cycle and personality kill in one go. Definitely the best for Monks where weapon recursion makes the SH's cost near negligible.

That's all for today. Need to rest early as I still need to continue my normal work the next day. Farewell mortals, the Dark Lord shall once again return to his chambers...

New Year, New Post, New Life, New Wishes

Hello there everybody, this is the Dark Lord speaking again. Today is a very special day, where the Dark Lord will be heading out to the mainlands to experience something different from his usual scheming. (In other words, I’m now starting my internship in a magazine and event company.)

Starting from today, the Dark Lord will not have much time to game, or maybe even blog, due to most of the time being occupied by work. Nevertheless, I’ll try to work it out, maintaining a balance between gaming and working. Also, after I start work, expenditures will be a big problem as well, as I now have spend more in addition to my usual expenses, namely petrol, parking, and the increasing costs of food.

What I can only say is I seriously need to learn how to manage my finances, because 2011 is also the ‘payback’ year for me, where I need to buy back all my shares of my soul, slowly but surely. Apologies to those concerned, and I promise that I’ll settle all this with you all whenever I’m able to.

Alright, back to the usual stuff, my gaming time has now been reduced to only Friday nights, Saturday and Sunday, and that is also given that I don’t need to work extra time. Frankly speaking, I’m totally not used to this, since I have been spending the majority of my time doing things that I like to do instead of sitting in the office doing work.

A new year means a new start. This year, the Dark Lord will try his best to finish his degree, and also improve more in his gaming skills, namely for L5R and stuff. The ‘Amazing Race’ is still going on, and the top 4 in the second leg 2 weeks ago really serves as a morale boost for me. I shall try my best to do better in the upcoming leg, hopefully improve my standings if not maintain it. And I’ll be also anticipating the release of the new set ‘The Dead of Winter’, which will be available later this month.

Okay, quite a long post for the first post of 2011, and I think this should be enough for the moment. Well, time to bid farewell, and wish everybody have a pleasant 2011.

Christmas, and the defending of my title...

Greetings. After being absent for so long, the Dark Lord has finally reemerged from his chambers...

Christmas has already took its leave, and by that marks the coming end of the current year, and the upcoming of a new year. Of course, the Dark Lord has his own schemes set for the new year, and he is keen to realize them one after another...

I was bestowed the title of Clan Champion of the Spider Clan during the last 'Amazing Race', and throughout the process, I learned a lot from other more experienced players, and of course from my fellow clanmates. Truthfully speaking, I'd never expected myself to get this far within a year since I started L5R, and indeed this marks as an achievement in my career of card gaming.

One race has past, another follows. Now it is the time to put my skills to the test again, as the new edition of the 'Amazing Race' starts up. I would also wanted to express my apologies towards my clanmates for not being able to make it to the first round of the Race. As I'm also the holder of the Clan Fan, which serves as the symbol of the Clan, my absence caused my Clan to start the race at a disadvantage, which I really felt so sorry about that.

Nevertheless, the Dark Lord is back and ready, and together, we shall bring the name of Spider to glory once more! Though our numbers are small, but united, our power is strong! Of course, I also pray to Fu Leng so that he shall bestow His blessings to us by allowing us to improve our current position in the Race.

With that, the Dark Lord shall stop for the moment. The Race will commence soon, and I should head back to my chambers for the final preparations. With that I bid farewell...

Deck Analysis: Shugenja Breeder (Breeding Pains...)

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...

A Surprising Comment...

The Dark Lord has emerged from his chambers yet again, but this time, it's only for short...

I got a surprise comment from one of my favorite artist of L5R, Troy Graham, regarding my blog post about the few games that I played with the experienced players in my area. though the comment was not that long, still, it made me very happy.

Well, I agreed with what he said about Spider Paragons, where he mentioned that the deck still lacks something to make it more competitive. I think so too. I think that we are lacking personalities that have good printed battle actions. So far, only Daigotsu Hotako exp 2, Daigotsu Chaozhu exp 2, and Moto Yuudai have sorta 'good' battle actions.

One of the best Tainted that we have. Always do my stuff first? Yeah...

Making your enemies paralyze in fear? Oh Yeah....

I know that Dark Paragon are supposed to interact with Dark Virtues, but without good action to supplement the theme, I feel that is kinda pointless. If there are more good Paragons out there, we wouldn't need to 'import' in non-Paragon Samurais.

He also said that Breeder variations are quite strong for the current meta. Hmm... I might give it a try then.

Well, like I said, this post will be short, and the Dark Lord will be heading back to his chambers now... Farewell mortals...

Playing with the pros again...

Greetings fellow mortals, welcome to the my fortress again, and this is the Dark Lord speaking...

Frankly speaking, I haven't been playing much with the more experienced players in L5R since after the last 'Amazing Race'. Most of the time, I'm just been playing with my usual gang (the Midvalley CM gang), kinda get used to all of their decks already. Here's the player breakdown for our playgroup at CM:

Spider: Daigotsu (Me)

Lion: Sze Kerng

Crane: Aik Dwin (bloody Imperial Favor abuse...!!!)

Scorpion: Nathan (Champion deck weih....!!)

Unicorn: Yee How (Angry chicks that gives you ED)

Crab: Kevin (Always been flipping T1 Kuon, T2 Hida's Guidance)

Phoenix: No regular player found

Dragon: Dillion (One of the more challenging players there)

Mantis: Shaun (Choo Choo Train as usual... Plus abit of enlightenment)

Well, overall I have been playing with these people most of the time, and I can say that I know most of the ins and outs of their decks. That's why it's one of the reasons that I get bored sometimes also... :-P

Today managed to play with the pros again at the Tavern (my friend, Kenji's hideout), and after playing with them, I realized that the title of Top Spider that I earned back from the previous Race is kinda lucky. If i were to compare my skills with them, it'll be fathoms deep...

Anyway, the first pro to drop by is Rahman, with his even-more-annoying Imperial Favor abuse with Seven Fold Palace. Basically his deck is a control deck utilizing the full power of the Imperial Favor, with tons of bowing actions, send homes, and also honor gaining defensive actions. As usual I'm using my Dark Paragons. Well, I had a chance when I bought out Daigotsu Setsuko exp, gave her cavalry and preparing to attack an undefended province. Before that I've quite exhausted my hand due to the open bowings that Rahman's peeps did to Setsuko.

The 12-force Cavalry Setsuko in action...

When I pumped Setsuko's force high enough, double copies of Settling the Homeless Literally screwed my play, and from there on I lost my tempo... He crawled up to 42 honor, and The New Order is nowhere to be found... Well, Crane control decks has always be a very bad matchup for me, and I still can't find a way to bypass their heavy control...

Stupid presence-less defense... I have a home!

Next up I played with the Phoenix Daimyo, Adi-sama. This time, I switched to Monk Kensai, and pitted against his Shiba Smash. What is this deck you say? The deck bascially used a few of the best Phoenix and Ronin Samurais with solid stats and good battle action, and let the boys loose equipped with Rising Sun Blades, Hida War Drums, Armor of the Ryu, and SLAM!!!! Oh yeah, did I forget that they're using one of the game's best Stronghold, Twin Soul Temple? A built in kill action, do you have a problem with that? I know I had a lot...

Cheating!!!!! Not Fair!!!! Blasphemy!!!!

The lonely Monk holding his ground.

Tamago: Are you A unique?

Momiji: Err... No?

*Tamago pulls out his sword*

The first 2 turns kinda screwed me up, with holdings keep showing up and Momiji (vanilla sucks!) as my only peep. He took a province from me, and I countered back one, and that's when he showed me a Retribution, took out my Daigotsu Hotako (Naval peeps are annoying he says...), and left me with only 2 provinces without much options to ponder...

The end result? Of course I got Adi-ed. Well it's ok, after all he's a better player than me, and I still have a lot to learn with them. Looks like I need to play more with the pros to gain more experience. Actually I really hoped that one day I will join the ranks of them... Overall, it's a very good night for me, get to play with good players, and have some game talks with them. Somehow I feel more 'enlightened' when discussing after-battle talks with them.

That's all for the moment. Fu Leng will bless those that are loyal to him, and the Dark Lord shall enact his will. Daigotsu signing out, because for now he shall return to his chambers yet again...

Walking the Path of Shourido...

It's been almost 10 months since I played L5R. Started with Spider clan (the so called bad guys of the game), then proceeded to branch out to another clan, and now I'm ended up with Spider, Phoenix, and Mantis. At first, I thought that I'll only expand to Phoenix, but I've finally found out that the playstyle of Phoenix is not that suitable for me, as the majority of the clan's decks was quite taxing for my brain (especially enlightenment). Hence, I kinda gave up on playing Phoenix already.

After quite some time trolling around between clans, well I have to say that I'm still a Spider at heart (hence the Dark Lord), and nothing can change the fact that I can play Spider better than other clans. Kinda irony for a player that joins the bad guys while he actually played his first game using Crane Honor Bomb (yes, I'm talking to you Raymond a.k.a. Domotai). Well, whatever...

I have to say that Spider is kinda the most versatile clan, as it provides players with quite a lot of archetypes to try out. Breeder is my first choice when I just started and throughout the times I manage to evolve it, starting from pure Breeder to one of my most favorite build, the Goblin Breeder. But same as other typical card gamers, one deck is not satisfying at all. Actually the deck that I really look forward to build was Dark Paragons, the deck that I considered that embodies Spider's way of brutality and cruelty the best.

The effort of building the deck costed me a lot of time. It took me a total of half a year to fully finish my deck (without proxies). Though it was time consuming, but the deck gave me the most satisfaction, not to mention I won the title of the Spider Clan Champion on the previous league tournament that I attended with Dark Paragons.

Now, the deck was pimped even more with the additions of some powerful personalities/peeps and some new tech I discovered using older cards that I previously don't use. Hopefully the deck continues to give me motivation to improve even more... (fingers crossed)

Well, anyone that wanna have a walk through the path of Shourido are always welcomed to join me XD. This was just some random babbling on how I started L5R, and my recent progresses. In the future, this blog will feature more of my insights in deck building (Spider mostly), deck reviews, and some tournament reports.

That's all for now, and Daigotsu shall return to his chambers. (We shall annihilate those that oppose us!)