CCG Strategy Articles

Gaming and writing have always been closely related fields for me.

I learned to read and write from one of the earliest video game magazines, Video Games and Computer Entertainment, which had a couple of absolutely stand out writers on the payroll. VG&CE was clearly the most well written of that type of magazine for its time.

When I joined the L5R online community in 1999, I had just started college, had internet access for the first time and had gone to my first Kotei. L5R was also just starting to transform from a casual game built on traditions to a tournament player�s game, which was pioneered by Magic: the Gathering, the Pro Tour and The Dojo, the first Magic strategy website. So I started sharing my ideas of successful L5R strategy with the rest of the L5R community around this time: mostly from the L5R-CCG mailing list, and supplemented by writing from the Home of the Crane Clan message board run by Joel Logan. Around last year I collected the most essential of these various writings together into one document, The Tao of Kakita Dairu.

2004-2005 saw a huge influx of new L5R players who were lured into L5R from other tournament player CCGs because L5R had established a name in the gaming community of having a rich and challenging field of tournament players at the highest level of competition. The biggest change of the 2004 Kotei season were these new players who had a lot of skill from their previous CCGs but were frustrated because they couldn�t break out of the middle bubble at major tournaments. Tournament L5R has historically had a weak field for swiss but was a challenging experience in elimination rounds. These new players improved the overall level of swiss, but were not the type with the experience to break out of swiss consistently or go far in elimination rounds. To a veteran of tournament L5R, swiss was a chore of dispatching opponents with little experience, dull and typical internet decks or poorly conceived decks, and games were won more on the play mistakes of the opponent than through skillful play. Around this time I started writing a series of articles titled The Next Level with the hope of improving the quality of opponents in swiss by hopefully showing these players the steps to build their game to the level of a worthy opponent. Start with the first step, one step at a time. Without guidance, there is no way to expect new players to compete against veteran players who have an edge of many more years of experience. I think it�s been slow, but the articles are starting to become more interesting.

The Essential Tao of Kakita Dairu

Download The Tao here.

Strategy Articles Index

Preface to the Next Level
The Next Level, Article #1: The Kyruko Effect
The Next Level, Article #2: Where I Went Wrong
The Next Level, Article #3: Understanding the Role of Meta in the Game of Match- Ups
The Next Level, Article #4: The Mathematics of 40 Card Decks
The Next Level, Article #5: A Tale of Two Decktypes
This Thing of Ours: The Easy Method of Building an Advanced VtES Deck

The Next Level

Preface to The Next Level

11/2004

I don�t know why most of the top L5R players don�t write more L5R strategy articles. Or perhaps I do and don�t want to face the facts. To be fair, before I answer my own musing, I should present one reason I�ve often heard which is probably true to some extent:

The average L5R player doesn�t listen to strategy from the top players because he thinks he knows what he is doing.

Most of the top L5R players tend towards laissez- faire. If the average player doesn�t want to listen to the top players, why should the top players care enough?

Lets face three glaring truths:

1. L5R has an amazing tournament scene at the top level. Unfortunately, compared to other competitive games which is at this level, it has an embarrassing dearth of literature on how an intermediate player actually gets to that level.

2. L5R has been dominated for way too long by the top players who have been playing this game for way too long (most have played competitively for five or six years). For a top player, there is very little surprise whom they are likely to face in the top 8. Its an ugly truth- even in large, 150+ player tournaments, there actually is only a handful of players who have a legitimate chance of winning it. The other 140 players don�t matter- the winner is determined by which of the 45-50 players in North America who actually play the game at a high enough level decide to make the trip.

3. As a top player, there is very little drama to swiss. Of the games with a high level tournament scene, L5R has one of the most embarrassingly weak swiss offerings. Swiss is a chore for me. I love meeting new players. I love being surprised by new decks. But I�ve been playing this game for almost seven years now. There is very little I haven�t seen and very little that actually challenges me in it. I don�t come to major tournaments for swiss. I come for the opportunity to compete against the aforementioned handful scattered across this continent that I only have the chance of seeing maybe once or twice a year. That�s where my fun starts. Sometimes I feel like Bilbo, used, thin and stretched.

So let me answer the question. I want to change all that. I want more out of tournaments, which means higher quality competition. Instead of tournaments where I have fun 3 out of 11 matches, I deserve to be enjoying 9 out of 11. And you deserve it too. The talent is there. The desire is there. What is missing is the guidance. So that is why you, top level L5R player, should care. Because you deserve to get as much out of the L5R experience as that first year L5R junkie fanatic.

So let me answer the musing. The top L5R players don�t write strategy because a lot of them are afraid of being challenged by that first year player. To know the game well enough at that level, it takes a lot of dedication, energy and thought. Don�t get me wrong- for me the journey was fun. A true passion of the mind. But at a certain point in your L5R career, you develop this confidence that the first year junkie is never going to beat you. And later on, your self- image as a tournament player shapes itself around it and the ego of the top level player become afraid. Afraid that the game is radically going to change, when it never, ever does. Afraid that skill and knowledge will fall behind the power curve, when it never, ever will. Afraid that you�ll be denied your chance to play against the best. Afraid of revolution. Afraid of the future. So the children become neglected and grow up wild. Its emotional child abuse.

And its frustrating on both sides of the fence. That�s the nature of this game- hard to teach, hard to learn. But right now, for the intermediate player, the path isn�t even there unless they can learn from the handful. My goal is to light the path. Lay down the first track. I know I can�t do it by myself. I need you, the top level player, to help me build this dojo. I need you, the intermediate player, to appreciate this house, dedicate yourselves, and grow up strong and fast. To the top level player- we need to build a seven- fold path. We need to start from the first, easy steps and build upwards, not cast down fire from the mountain. It will be hard work, but worth it, because this path will be both legacy and salvation. To the intermediate player- you are the master of all you see. We will teach you to open your eyes. Welcome to the dojo of secrets.

It will be a good idea for each of the dojo�s masters to introduce the philosophical background they are coming from. After all, the top level players disagree among themselves all the time. So this is what you should know about me before I begin.

First- I believe strategy is more important than deckbuilding. Being able to build a good L5R deck is a skill that some have, and some don�t. I have that skill, but I�ve never been able to teach it and for me it�s never been an important factor in winning at L5R. The specific contents of your L5R deck wont matter in whether or not you are successful. Stop blaming your deck for your losses. A top deck list doesn�t make an intermediate player into a contender. You have to build the player first. The key to winning L5R is the strategies that you�ve decided to pursue with your deck and your knowledge of situational tactics. The most important skill involved in deckbuilding is that your deck has the logistics to support your strategies. I will concentrate my articles on strategy, because it is fundamental and resistant to change. Tactics change depending on what is or isn�t in the environment, and are the easiest to learn by yourself. The foundation of tactics: read the cards, know the rules and practice with your deck. Its important to develop the skill to build your own decks- you will be most successful with a deck that suits your skill level and building your own deck is the best way to have the right deck for you. Its just not necessary, if you can find someone who can build decks for you. Not all the top players can build their own decks. There are some basic deckbuilding formulas that I use and maybe I�ll go over that briefly. For the fate deck- Play three (or more, with functionally analogous cards) copies of effects you want to see early in the game (such as Bane of the Bastard or Retribution). Play two copies cards that you depend on consistently. Play one copy of cards that help you win the game in situations that you would otherwise lose and have a powerful effect that you won�t need more than once a game (such as Wanton Destruction).

Second- I have always represented Crane in tournaments. Part of my impetus in writing this and the next article was reading the articles written by the Shogun. Obviously, this guy has read or heard a version of Sirlin�s Play to Win, Part 3. When I read about how he crapped out at Gen Con, I felt so bad for him. There is a good spread among the top players between those who show �clan loyalty� and those who �bandwagon.� We all learn to play all the viable decks. The best way to understand the strengths and weaknesses of a deck is to play with it. So having clan loyalty doesn�t mean you ignore everything else. However, this is what I offer- most of the main factions have a theory behind them and knowing the theory makes every other part of the game a whole lot easier. And if you know the theory behind a clan, you will always beat the mirror match up against someone who doesn�t know the theory. Lion, Crane, Crab, Dragon, Unicorn, Phoenix, Scorpion and Shadowlands are the factions that have theories and skills associated with those theories that take a long, long time to master, because [most of] these theories have developed and evolved since the beginning of the game. And let me be honest, a lot of the other top players think I�m crackpot for saying this. For me, knowledge of Crane and years of experience playing Crane in major tournaments is a huge part of my edge. If I am not playing a Crane oriented strategy, I lose that edge. If you are just bandwagonning the top deck, you will never develop the skills to have the same edge, no matter how quick of a study you are. So my advice to getting better- learn everything, but choose one to develop your edge. And if you don�t buy my crackpot, there is always the moral victory. The only true success is success on your own terms. You will not be satisfied with anything else.

Third- I am taking a trip to China next week and I have no idea when I�ll be back. So after this first article or so you wont hear from me in a while. I�ll try to contribute whenever I have the chance.

That should be enough for now. Are you ready? Let me show you the first, baby step. And then you can imagine the enormity of our work when we are finished.

The Next Level, Article #1: The Kyruko Effect

11/2004

I'd bet many of you know the card that this article is named after- Kakita Kyruko, Crane Clan Temptress, first printed in Soul of the Empire, later reprinted in Gold Edition. I bet most of you are confused why I feel a card that isn�t legal in the current environment and was hardly ever played when she was legal, is relevant for study. What I am going to focus on is a pretty fundamental rule of L5R that Kyruko�s ability aptly illustrates but is neglected by most players. A rule that is simple, obvious, and stupidly ignored. A rule that is clearly stated as such:

Dueling and discard are complementary strategies.

Therefore:

With a dueling strategy, add discard.

With a discard strategy, add dueling.

Bear with me while I explain this for the record. Discarding cards from your opponent�s hand greatly limits his ability to focus during duels. When your opponent no longer has cards he can afford to focus away, his only option is to strike. Therefore discard is an effective dueling strategy, and dueling is cost effective control for a discard strategy.

For the detailed analysis, let�s start with Kyruko.

Kakita Kyruko
1F 3C
0HR 7G 2PH
Crane Clan temptress*Samurai
Limited: Once per turn, Kyruko challenges a Human personality. The challenged personality's controller may refuse the challenge by discarding a card fom his or her hand. Lose 1 honor
"Fight if you dare, samurai. Are you afraid of a little girl?"

The main problem with Kyruko back in Gold, was that her ability seemed too slow. One discarded card seemed pitiful response to Shiro Matsu taking multiple provinces each turn. It shouldn�t surprise many of you that I had a deck that ran Kyuko back in Gold. The key to her was understanding that her ability got dramatically powerful very fast, and to make her work you needed to do three things- 1) accelerate her discard ability with dueling, 2) use that dueling as control to slow the game down and 3) keep her alive. So when Kyuden Doji appeared, that stronghold�s incredible synergy with Kyruko made the deck take off.

Spearwoman. Temptress. Doomsayer. (Fall of Otosan Uchi)
Stronghold: Kyuden Doji
Wind: Tsudao

Dynasty- (41)
Daidoji Rekai exp2
Doji Kurohito exp
Doji Reju exp2
Yasuki Hachi exp
Doji Okakura exp
Kakita Rensei
Ki- Rin
2 Kakita Yariga
3 Kakita Kyruko
3 Kakita Atoshi
Emperor's Under- Hand
Crane Tradesman
1 Fantastic Gardens
3 Marketplace
3 Daidoji Merchants
2 Kobune Port
3 Hiruma Dojo
2 Jade Works
1 Temple of the Sun
1 Gifts and Favors
2 Noh Theater Troupe
1 Shrine to Daikoku
2 Campsite
Welcome Home
Imperial Gift
Boundless Sight

Fate- (40)
Celestial Sword of the Crane
Chukandomo
Imperial Standard
1 Soul of the Grand Master
Shiryo no Hotei
Doji House Guard
Hunting Tiger
Empress Guard
3 Doomsayers
3 Elite Spearmen
3 Omoidasu
3 Diplomatic Apprentice
Revealing the Ancient Wisdom
3 Geisha Assassin
2 Recruitment Drive
3 Iaijutsu Art
1 Champion's Strike
3 Stand Against the Waves
2 Block Supply Lines
2 Arrows From the Woods
2 In Search of the Future
Ring of the Void

With Kyuden Doji to protect her, Kyruko became a harsh choice for my opponents. As soon as you choose to discard cards to her ability, you undermine your ability to win in future duels against her. As soon as you started to focus in a duel, you accelerate her rise to power and put yourself in the worst possible position- not having expendable cards to ditch to avoid her duel. And if you simply struck, she becomes stupidly efficient PK. The best way to beat the Kyruko lock was to kill her by winning the duel� an option that Kyuden Doji takes away.

So that was Gold, and this is Diamond. Let�s look at a few decks and see how the Kyruko Effect works in them. Start with this, probably one of my most well known designs, corrupt KDA.

Song of Destruction v1.9b (Hidden City)
Strongold: Kakita Dueling Academy
Wind: Black Heart of the Empire

Dynasty- (40)
Kyofu exp
Voitagi exp
Bayushi Atsuki exp
Bayushi Kamman exp
3 Ashura
2 Ratling Raiders
2 Ogre Bushi
2 Daigotsu Toru
3 Voitagi
3 Marketplace
3 Daidoji Merchants
1 Kobune Port
1 Crystal Mine
1 Hero�s Grave
1 Favor Returned
3 Private Dojo
3 Personal Librarian
2 Akodo�s Grave
1 Gifts and Favors
In Time of War
Proposal of Peace
Boundless Sight
Commanding Favor
A New Wall

Fate- (40)
2 Blackened Claws
Egg of Pan Ku
3 For the Empire
3 Shame
2 I Believed in You
3 Iaijutsu Challenge
3 Time of Destiny
3 Steel on Steel
2 Outer Walls
1 Wanton Destruction
2 Tireless Assault
3 Loyal Yojimbo
3 Outmaneuver by Force
3 Feign Death
3 Smokes and Mirrors
3 Wear Him Down

Part of what has made this deck so successful is one of the most direct examples of the Kyruko Effect in Diamond- Wear Him Down. A deck that can consistently get into duels should always play with three copies of this card to take advantage of the discard. Along with Smokes and Mirrors, you suddenly put your opponent in the situation where they can�t focus with what they want to focus with and are then forced to focus with cards that they don�t want to focus. All the while you are killing their hand size while protecting your own. Keen Eye could add meta protection and add to the effect- canceling a Shosuro Technique is one less card that your opponent will be able to pitch to focusing. The Kyruko Effect becomes a central part of the deck�s central strategy- pushing KDA�s early personality advantage (you plan on killing their first six personalities) as much as possible. When the deck isn�t disrupted, on the fifth turn your opponent has no personalities in play, few or no cards in their hand, down one province and staring at 10-15 force. At that point, your hand size, your honor total and whatever they manage to crank out of their provinces and top deck from their fate wont matter- you are too far ahead for them to win the game.

Now let�s talk about the second corollary. The Kyruko Effect turn decks that you wouldn�t think be effective dueling decks into brutal killing machines. Two strongholds facilitate or enhance discard- Razor�s Edge Dojo and Tch� Tch Warrens. For anyone who�s tried duels and RED, it�s brutal. RED�s ability stretches your opponent�s hand and dueling forces them to break it. Dueling RED, armed with Wear Him Down, Smokes and The Shadow�s Claw is a control deck that eats up other control decks. Meanwhile, for the Warrens, active discarding improves the quality of picks with the stronghold, the stronghold gives you natural card draw, focus values and maybe even pick up some of your opponent�s duel meta.

Had enough of the Kyruko Effect? Let�s take a break and look at a tangent. Wear Him Down- replaces itself. Smokes and Mirrors- replaces itself. Keen Eye- replaces itself. Shadow's Claw- search on a stick. So what happens when we put them all together?

Dueling is a powerful card flow engine in Diamond Edition.

To illustrate this, I am going to let out a dirty secret of Diamond Edition. That new hot brokenness that you�ve started to heard about, haven�t been able to pinpoint a decent decklist but you (should) dread facing at the next major tournament that you only know as HoT Fire? Guess what. It didn�t take Someisa Sensei to make the deck. The deck has been around, kicking ass and crossing at the start of turn 6 since Reign of Blood.

Miracle Dragon (Hidden City)
Stronghold: Shiro Mirumoto
Wind: Right Hand of the Emperor

Dynasty- (40)
3 Hoshi Yoson
2 Hoshi Oki
2 Tamori Minoru
3 Mirumoto Gonkuro
3 Hitomi Daisetsu
3 Tamori Chieko
3 Gold Mine
1 Hiruma Dojo
1 A Favor Returned
3 Shrine of the Sun
2 Shrine of the Eternal
3 Personal Librarian
1 Gifts and Favors
1 Temples of the New Tao
1 Refuge of the Three Sisters
Birth of the Sword
Chrysanthenum Festival
Imperial Ambassadorship
Naga Storm Mirumoto Mountain
A New Wall
Proposal of Peace
Wait and See

Fate- (40)
Ruby of Iuchiban
3 Kenshinzen
2 Walking the Way
1 Reflect the Spirit
3 Iaijutsu Challenge
3 Iaijutsu Lessons
3 Bane of the Bastard
3 Bane of the Wolf
2 Steel on Steel
2 Outmaneuver by Force
1 Keen Eye
3 Wear Him Down
3 Smokes and Mirrors
2 Shadow's Claw
3 Aid of the Grand Master
1 The Future is Unwritten
3 Blessings of the Dragon
1 Turn of Fortune

So I�ve had this under wraps and it wasn�t seen in any major tournaments, which is why you never heard about this build until now. I talked about it on #l5r, showed it to the local players, and a couple of Dragon players who were bemoaning their situation back then, but I didn�t want it circulated. Why? The deck isn�t fun to play or play against. It wins, mechanical, brutal and consistent. It�s the L5R form of self- masturbation. But I didn�t want it to be copied, because I didn�t want to have to face it as a bandwagon and besides, I chose to run the KDA deck because I knew I could win with that anyway. If you�re confused by this deck, here is the explanation: after taking in all of the dueling �cantrips� as well as Blessings of the Dragon, Personal Librarian, and the Dragon search cards, and being influenced by the WWE Raw Deal CCG philosophy that you can win instantly with the right fate hand (e.g. that winning does not need to be turn dependent), I came up with the basic strategy. By the start of turn 5, get out Yoson and reduce your hand using cantrips to Blessings of the Dragon, Kenshinzen, and duels. Shrine away annoying Events. Cast Blessings on Yoson, attach Kenshinzen, and play 5 of the 6 honor gaining duels for 34- 36 honor Cross beginning turn 6. The key to the deck is to get out Yoson, ditching everything and Baning yourself until you find him, buying as many warm bodies to cast kihos and defend as you can for cheap. Dragon had the technology to do it, I built it, was satisfied, and put it away. Then in Wrath of the Emperor Someisa Sensei and Fall Before the Master made the strategy much easier to see, although a lot of the builds I�ve seen still haven�t grasped the elegant strategy behind it. This is the deck to beat post Wrath of the Emperor, and its still going to be a force after Dawn of the Empire becomes legal.

HoT Fire (Wrath of the Emperor)
Stronghold: House of Tao
Wind: Right Hand of the Emperor
Sensei: Someisa Sensei

Dynasty- (40)
3 Hoshi Yoson
3 Hoshi Ishada
2 Mirumoto Narumi
3 Mirumoto Kei
3 Mirumoto Gonkuro
3 Hitomi Daisetsu
3 Gold Mine
3 Hiruma Dojo
1 A Favor Returned
3 Shrine of the Sun
2 Shrine of the Eternal
3 Personal Librarian
1 Gifts and Favors
1 Temples of the New Tao
1 Refuge of the Three Sisters
Birth of the Sword
Chrysanthenum Festival
Imperial Ambassadorship
Naga Storm Mirumoto Mountain
A New Wall
Proposal of Peace

Fate- (40)
Ruby of Iuchiban
3 Kenshinzen
3 Iaijutsu Challenge
3 Iaijutsu Lessons
3 Bane of the Bastard
2 Steel on Steel
3 Outmaneuver by Force
1 Keen Eye
3 Wear Him Down
3 Smokes and Mirrors
2 Shadow's Claw
3 Aid of the Grand Master
1 The Future is Unwritten
3 Fall Before the Master
3 Blessings of the Dragon
2 Turn of Fortune

Okay, back to the main subject. The Kyruko Effect. Where does it go from here? Well, here is a final thought for you. What has been the bandwagon strategy currently and at various points throughout Diamond Edition? Voice of the Emperor. In my view, easily the most powerful Wind that gives you the huge cost reduction of putting Rings into play without satisfying their balancing requirements. What a lot of players have overlooked is that there is an easy and obvious meta card to play against Voice that ties directly to the Kyruko Effect. You know it?

Bane of the Wolf

Hymn to Tourach, no gold cost. Repeat after me- play this in every dueling deck until Voice is bad, because even against other Winds its still effective as a focus card. So with that, I am leaving you with a final deck that would make Kyruko proud. Does it look like junk? Looks like junk to me. But I�ll be fine with it and I think it looks like a lot of fun as well.

Old Schooled (Wrath of the Emperor)
Stronghold: Kyuden Doji
Wind: Voice of the Emperor
Sensei: Mihoko Sensei

Dynasty- (40)
Doji Kurohito exp2
Yasuki Hachi exp2
Kakita Noritoshi exp
Kakita Mai exp
Kakita Matabei
Kakita Nakazo
1 Kakita Tamura
1 Keeper of Fire
3 Doji Masaru
2 Kakita Totani
3 Kitsuki Iweko
1 Shrine of Courage
1 Shrine of Fukurokujin
3 Marketplace
3 Daidoji Merchants
3 Hiruma Dojo
1 A Favor Returned
1 Shrine of the Sun
2 Kobune Port
3 Personal Librarian
1 Corrupt Officials
1 Gifts and Favors
1 Refuge of the Three Sisters
1 Masasume Mura
Boundless Sight
Fortune's Gift

Fate- (40)
Celestial Sword of the Crane
Gleaming Wakizashi
3 Kenshinzen
Egg of Pan Ku
3 Bane of the Wolf
3 Geisha Assassin
2 Now Face Me!
3 Iaijutsu Challenge
3 Do Not Delay the Inevitable
3 Storm Heart
1 Remorseful Sepukku
3 Stay Your Blade
2 Steel on Steel
3 Wear Him Down
2 Keen Eye
2 The Shadow's Claw
3 Excellent Student
Ring of Fire

11/2004

I want to thank the people who've written to me with positive feedback from my first two posts and also to Eugene for posting his advice which focused on decision making in a match. As I stated in the preface, I do not intend to be the sole contributor to what I dream will be a "marketplace of ideas" for L5R strategy. I want all the top players to try get involved, even if they disagree with me- we all have something valuable to bring to the table. I would love it if Leon can find the time to write something up. I challenge James to drop his comedy act and commit to text the knowledge and experience that is trying so hard to break out of the prison of his paranoid psyche, because I respect his analysis and his accomplishments and I recognize the value of his perspective. All of you, please- when you have the impulse, write it down and contribute! You can do it under this series of articles, or your own, or whatever- just get it out there on the net. Some of you are going to be afraid this vanity will be a waste of time, but let me assure you, it will make a difference. Knowledge will spread and the game that we love will be changed and better off for it. And if my first article seemed banal, it was because I'd rather entertain with banality than ostracize with patronization. Okay, I've said my piece. On with the show.

The Next Level, Article #2: Where I Went Wrong

Since this will likely be my last input for a while, I had a lot of trouble choosing what topic to cover. Then, it just occurred to me- why not take the reader through my thought process as I design and test a deck? That way I can cover a large range of subjects and skills. Sounds good. Since the deck I had in mind, the junk I showed all of you at the end of the last article, is, well, junk... all the better. How else better to point out the right and wrong ways of approaching this game? And since its my own, I wont feel bad for giving it the trashing it deserves, and others wont feel a need to defend it from criticism. So let's take a look at the deck list:

Old Schooled (Wrath of the Emperor)
Stronghold: Kyuden Doji
Wind: Voice of the Emperor
Sensei: Mihoko Sensei

So this is what a pure control deck looks like. Control? That's an ambiguous term. I'll give you my definition to that soon. But before we go any further, let's look at it's two huge, inherent flaws. First- logistics. No current gold scheme can adequately support the expensive this deck concept requires. Second and most importantly- strategy. This deck has virtually no support for actually winning the game. It has no offensive control. Okay, time to talk about control.

1. Control the Field

Control is the basic concept for strategy in L5R. People often use it to mean Limited personality kill (PK), "terror" effects, and lately it's been used to describe battle attrition and action denial as well ("battle control"). Those are some of the most common examples of control in L5R, but perhaps it is easier to understand it under a better name: denial. Any form of denying or negating your opponent's resources defined by the rules of the game- personalities, cards, honor, holdings, provinces, actions, turns, options, access- is control. And there are two types of control- offensive control and defensive control. And it's easy to tell which is which in L5R:

Offensive Control is any strategy that denies your opponent turns. Because L5R is a race to a victory condition, pursuing a victory condition is by far the most effective form of offensive control.

Defensive Control is any strategy that does not deny your opponent turns. It is effective when either it disrupts your opponent's offensive control, giving you more time to achieve victory, or it disrupts your opponent's defensive control, allowing you to achieve victory before your opponent.

It's no surprise that when people think of control, they think of PK. Personalities are essential to victory in 95%of all successful decks in this game. Without personalities, your opponent is no longer capable of achieving a military victory through attacking, has a much harder time of enlightening (thought not impossible) and is also more or less ineffectual as a defender, besides actions that don't require presence and verbal intimidation. PK, along with some form of honor control, effectively denies your opponent any of the three basic victory conditions. But its important to see that the heart of any effective strategy in L5R is some form of control in the larger sense. Action cancellation (Flee the Darkness), terrain destruction (Akodo's Grave), effect negation (Feign Death), effect redirection (Turn of Fortune) and discard (Bane of the Wolf) are all ways to deny your opponent cards. PK, province destruction, dynasty discard (Bane of the Bastard, Strike With No Shadow) and economic warfare (Informant) are all ways to deny your opponent personalities. Making your opponent unable to attack through bowing, threat of attrition or having a larger army denies your opponent an effective attack phase. However, turns are the most important resource in L5R, and any successful deck either denies your opponent turns by quickly achieving victory, or makes your opponent's turns ineffective. Victory is achieved most often by the player whose defensive control is most effective and whose offensive control is sufficient to deny their opponent a chance to break out of their defensive control.

Aside Theory- Please Pass the Bong You Crackpot. Or: Don't Take Your Eyes off the Scorpion.

Defining control leads to this aside where I get to present my genuinely crackpot theory of how clan balance works in L5R. Clan determines a large part of what forms offensive and defensive control will be effective for your deck. And, because of the way the clans are set up, a huge part of the metagame revolves around one clan: the Scorpion. Five clans have occupied important niches throughout L5R- Lion, Crane, Scorpion, Shadowlands and Phoenix. In order:

Lion have an advantage of one turn through going first, and are designed almost purely to pursue offensive control through a military victory, along with all of the nice defensive control benefits of quickly destroying your opponent's provinces.

Crane is the corollary to the Lion with honor victory.

Now, very important- Scorpion is designed to be masters of defensive control. Scorpion generally has easy and effective access to all of the important forms of defensive control.

Finally, Shadowlands is the clan immune to most forms of defensive control.

So this is how things work- normally, when Scorpion has all their neat defensive control running but can't pursue any of their three common forms of victory (military, honor or dishonor), Lion and Crane rule the roost. Lion and Crane get to fight out to see whether military or honor is privileged at the moment. However, as soon as Scorpion is unleashed by being given the ability to effectively pursue offensive control, Lion and Crane get shut down by Scorpion and the game shifts into whether Scorpion can avoid running into Shadowlands in any given tournament. When Scorpion can effectively field military, dishonor or god forbid honor, the focus of the metagame shifts to Scorpion and Shadowlands. You'll see this pattern throughout L5R's history. Just look at early Diamond- Lion and Crane were dominant and Shadowlands were at the bottom. The solution? Make Scorpion effective and everything flips around.

So where does Phoenix come into play? Phoenix shares the turn advantage of Lion and Crane, but is not as effective at purusing either of the main offensive control strategies as the big two. However, Phoenix has exclusive access to a set of cards traditionally denied to Lion and Crane- magic. Phoenix begins to dominate everyone when their pool of magic spells overcomes their disadvantage agianst Lion and Crane, since they have the potential to adapt either Lion's cards in military for Crane's cards for honor. That's why traditionally Phoenix sucks when arcs begin and bloom by the end of it.

So where do Crab, Dragon, and Mantis fit in? The only times they ever affect the metagame is when they are given exclusive access to cards that give them control advantage over the big five. In other words, they come into play when design gives them broken cards. Look at Dragon right now, or how Crab can instantly go from crap to God in the span of one expansion with the release of key cards (Yakamo no Oni, O- Ushi Sensei, Tireless Assault, Black Heart of the Empire, Tani). And Unicorn? Unicorn are always viable because they have exclusive privilege over cavalry, a dominating rules created effect on the flow of the game. However, cavalry creates *so* many options and possibilities that a Unicorn must play perfectly to take full advantage of it. A Unicorn player wins solely on his perfect play. And Rats? Maybe I'll revise this theory if they ever make a difference on the tournament scene.

So let's go back to the deck and look at why it will always be inherently flawed- it is completely focused on PK, which means it offers no effective form of offensive control. Taking into account buying people for cheap and losing provinces, it will take eight or nine turns to honor out through buying people for full and winning duels. Once it eliminates its opponent's personalities each turn, it can't muster the force to destroy provinces. By the time this deck wins, an opponent will likely have seen 70- 80% of their dynasty deck and likely around half of their fate deck as well. To add on top of that, the deck has no form of defensive control against honor either, so it is dead in the water against an honor runner. So that about sums up where this deck is in the grand scheme of things. Before we get to the eulogy, let's take a look back at it's life. For educational purposes.

2. Conception

In my head, when I am thinking about L5R, there is a "genetic soup" of deck ideas. Personally, I tend to concentrate the soup around strongholds. Usually Crane strongholds. So at any given time, I have maybe four or five decks I'd like to build, many of them based off of Crane. For instance, right now a honor/ dishonor KDA deck running No Mercy is just screaming to be built in my head. It's telling me, "No Mercy deserves to be played, and this is the perfect deck for it. This card will win games." And the four other decks are vying for my attention as well. So conception usually begins with a card and a stronghold. As enough cards attach to a stronghold, some of them form alliances with each other to attract more of my attention, until the alliance is so strong it looks like a deck list of powerful, synergestic effects. And at that point I have a rough deck list, I take a look at the current environment and see a niche in it that the deck can occupy and at that point decide, okay, time to build it.

And so it was the case with "Old Schooled." Kakita Totani had already attached herself to my next Kyuden Doji project. Her ability and that stronghold were fated for eachother. When Do Not Delay the Inevitable was printed, Kitsuki Iweko suddenly appeared on my radar as someone who could be abusive and amazing. Finally, when I started looking around at the current metagame which is hostile to dueling with 4 chi Crabs and 5 chi Scorpions, Doji Masaru stepped up and said to me, "My extra chi will give you the edge." With honor gasping its final breath in Diamond, pure PK, defensive military seems like it could satisfy a place in the hierarchy. At some point military is so scary and powerful that nothing but utter and unilateral annihiliation will suffice. So Kyuden Doji had the ability to pack a bullet for everything that twitched, and it was time for the deck to come to life.

So let's start looking at the deck. I choose Kyuden Doji because with it I can run 6 duels that are almost exclusive to it- 3 Storm Hearts and 3 Geisha Assassins. So at this point in deck building, you have your stronghold and the cards that are going to make your strategy work. Now you can either finish the fate deck or the dynasty deck. With this one, fate seemed the most straightforward, so let's start with that.

3. A Glimpse of Fate

The first step to building a fate deck is to imagine: If my fate deck had no minimum deck size, what would it consist of? What are the bare essential cards that I need to draw to win the game before my opponent? What is my perfect hand, 6th, 7th, ... 12th card? So I look back at my strategy, kill everything that moves, and for my fate deck I come up with what I need- 20 bullets, one for each of my opponent's personalities:

3 X Geisha Assassin
3 X Storm Heart
3 X Iaijutsu Challenge
3 X Delay the Inevitable

At which point I'm a little short, so I have to add some flakier bullets, since I haven't satisfied my quota yet. I see that since I am running both Iweko and Hachi (with Boundless Sight to fetch him), and the two top decks happening to be Crab and Dragon, Now Face Me will be effective a lot of the time I need it to be. These are going to be my "clean up" bullets. I don't want to draw them in my opening hand, but I'd like to have them if I run out of ammo:

2 X Now Face Me
3 X Steel on Steel

This set of cards needs some support at this point. I have 3 Iwekos in Dynasty, but I need more redundancy to back her up, as well as a way of playing the Now Face Me in case my opponent isn't Crab or Dragon:

Egg of Pan Ku
3 X Kenshinzen

That is my deck if I could play without minimums. Now I start fleshing out the deck with cards that are obvious. I don't really have a use for the rest of my fate deck, since its main job is to kill people and provide focus values. So all I demand from the fate deck are bullets, ways to get more bullets, and ways to make sure I kill people and they stay dead so I don't have to waste another bullet on them. I keep in mind that if I have room, I should definitely add Rhetoric because it has a decent focus value, Kyuden Doji enables its use without heavy commitment to courtiers, and it is one of the best honor control cards in the environment. If I want to see it in my opening hand, 3 copies. If I don't want to see it that early, 2 copies.

3 X Stay Your Blade (Card Draw)
2 X Shadow's Claw (I know I am not going to have a huge chi advantage, so I like this to punish my opponent for focusing)
2 X Keen Eye (Defensive control action denial. Hey, this is going to protect 80% of my actions and make sure I don't waste any bullets)
1 X Remorseful Seppuku (Yet another way of negating Feign Death. I have 6 actions that at least dishonor in case I can't get them to stick. And it's a one of card because there are just those -HR samurai bitches that need to be put down)

I remember the Kyruko Effect and add discard control to complement my dueling control:

3 X Bane of the Wolf
3 X Wear Him Down

And at this time, you should have your basic fate deck. It should be under 40 cards. This is the basis of your strategy and if these cards are effective control during the course of the game, you'll win it. If it's over 40 cards already, you need to start over. If you have no "wiggle room," it means that your strategic outline is not viable. The less cards you are at at this point, the better your deck is, because that is a measure of how independent your victory is from your fate deck. There is no way in hell that a deck that requires every card in your fate deck to win is going to be competitive. That is asking way too much of your fate deck, and you need to rethink your strategy at that point. So there are a lot of things you can do with your wiggle room. Mostly, run meta to patch your weaknesses and experiment with potential cards for future decks. At this point, I am at 35 cards and the rest are generally going to be used for focus values in a dueling deck. I add Excellent Student because in non- ideal dueling situations it allows me to win duels without devastating my fate hand, and I can't ask more from a focus value than 8. I add the Celestial Sword to counter super high chi personalities, and I add Gleaming Wakizashi for both extra card draw and to meta against the anti- control decktype, RED.

Celestial Sword of the Crane
Gleaming Wakizashi
3 X Excellent Student

That makes 40. Later I will remove a card for Ring of Fire because I realize I'm dependent on running Voice to get enough card drawing. Of course, that was a stream lined version. At one point the idea of combining Kakita Yariga with The World Is Empty attached itself to either Kyuden Doji or Kakita Dueling Academy, but putting the deck together, it was not necessary, too much and no room.

Generally Smokes and Mirrors or Loyal Yojimbos are good idea in a dueling deck in this environment. There are some thoughts that would make this article much too long, but basically it depends on how expendable your dueller is. In some decks, such as Ratling dueling or Left Hand dueling, its not really worth it to protect your dueler from Kharmic Strikes and Rends. Its similar in this deck- if I expect Kharmic and Rend, I will use Kyuden Doji to go in and test the waters with someone expendable first before I commit with a more important dueller. I can do this since I am pretty confident with my dueling cards that even my little guys can get it done.

I also have a list of other meta cards that I could be running. First on the list is Rhetoric. After that, Fury of the Dark Lord is useful so that I can nuke the weenies instead of wasting bullets on them. Also I realize that I have a potential weakness against personality generation decks. Gaki- do isn't a problem with all this PK I have, but Ratling Raiders and Companion Spirits can break my personality control. I will have some permanent duels on the board to deal with that, but it still needs to be tested.

4. Forging a Dynasty

At this point dynasty kind of comes together. I scoop up the primordial soup and look at all the contents. I know I need as much card drawing I can get my hands on, so dynasty cards that increase my hand size attract my eyes.

3 X Personal Librarian
Refuge of the 3 Sisters
Fortune's Gift
Birth of the Sword

I am torn on Doom of the Dark Lord and Imperial Ambassadorship. Doom is a standard for control decks, but I'd like to get by without it since it weakens my discard strategy. Imperial Ambassadorship is a lot more important for combo decks, and for this one I wont need card manipulation nearly as much as bulk card draw. Later on testing shows that Birth of the Sword generally goes off too early and sucks when it does, plus the 2 honor is negligible, so that gets cut later on.

There were already more than enough personalities attached to the deck to not have to brainstorm too many additions. I knew I wanted the Crane uniques because they had even more attrition printed on them and were great duelists to use with the stronghold. In the end I had to cut Yariga, Domotai and the 3rd Totani just because there wasn't room for them and they couldn't make the cut against everyone else. Since each one of my personalities has a place in my engine, at this point I know that To Do What We Must/ Overwhelmed isn't a cost effective defensive strategy for me. The uniques I chose were the big three duelists Kurohito, Hachi and Noritoshi because they were all excellent and all generated duels, Mai because she was extremely cost effective and of course was perfect to combo with Iweko and Kenshinzen, Matabei because he is more card draw and is very good with Kyuden Doji and Nakazo since he had that 5 chi which made Masaru appealing to go with Masaru's same gold cost. I consider Isawa Ochai briefly since she was attached to this stronghold and decktype, but I realize at 10 gold and no honor there is almost no chance I will purchase her over anyone else or even more gold. So back she goes into the soup. Boundless Sight is added because I have 4 great Experienced personalities to choose from. I cut a 3rd Totani instead of Masaru because I needed the extra chi in the early game much more than a reusable defensive duel. Totani will be useful in the mid- game when I start to run out of bullets.

I start of with a standard Crane big gold scheme, get the deck to 40 cards and start doing some random first two turns. I realize that I need about 18 gold to consistently get the gold I need, which is a holding turn 1 and two holdings turn 2. In other words, I need to consistently see 3 holdings in my first 7 dynasty cards (since if I see 2 cost holding on my first turn I am going to keep it to Gifts and Favors). I am running 2 X Kobune Port not because I hope on turn 5 or turn 6 to pump Daidoji Merchants to 5 gold, but because its much more important that Merchants consistently produce 4 gold early. Adding 2 Ports means I have a much higher chance, with 5 holdings, of pumping the Merchants early, than with just 3 Marketplaces. At some point I realize that I need a 2 gold cost holding instead of A New Wall since I have absolutely no use for a 3 cost holding on the first turn. I am much better off with a 2 cost holding, and I settle on Shrine to Fukurokujin, which I generally do not play with because Personal Librarian is by far, far, better, but it is satisfactory as a fouth card draw holding behind the Personal Librarians and work takes advantage of Masaru's 5 chi. Finally, I add copies of some holdings that cover a pretty large range of meta: Shrine of the Sun, since there is a ton of duel hate events out there, Corrupt Officials, A Favor Returned and Gifts and Favors. For my last card I am experimenting with Shrine of Courage- at some point this deck will have too many bullets, but I doubt I've reached that point yet. It really should be a Shrine to Daikoku (which is strictly better than a 3rd Kobune Port). At this point, the deck is more or less complete and ready to be tested. The gold scheme gets the job done most of the time. It really can't get any better until Mura Sabishii Toshi comes out.

Here is one last thing to keep in mind when it comes to deckbuilding. When looking at which dynasty cards to cut and which to keep, consider which turn you want to buy the card. For example, take Fantastic Gardens. Fantastic Gardens is actually one of the best costed honor producing holdings, but it is almost never worth playing with. Why is that? An honor deck that could make effective use of Fantastic Gardens expects to cross 40 by the end of turn six and win beginning turn seven. When you realize that, you see there are very few optimal turns that you'd want to actually buy it- most likely turn 3 and turn 4. And even when you do buy it on those turns, it really isn't going to be that good. Turn 3 you will use it 3 times for 6 honor, and a lot of the time it will be much more important to buy a personality. Turn 4 it only gets you 4 honor, hardly better than a person for full. By turn 5, its worse than a personality and it is a completely useless purchase turn 6. Meanwhile, a personality will have use and contribute to an honor runner's offensive control any of turns 3-6. This is the main reason holdings are kept to a minimum in most decks. There are few holdings that are worth purchasing late because holdings are almost always effective over long periods of time. The exceptions are like Personal Librarian, which gives you an insane boost that will help you win almost no matter how late you purchase it. The only reason to run extra gold is to see it enough of it in the first two turns so your strategy doesn't get bogged down. But with every card you consider cutting, think about how many turns you want your games to last and exactly how likely that card is going to show up at a point where buying it will be effective.

5. Battlefield of Shallow Graves

So now it comes to testing. I've tested this deck once, last Saturday. Obviously if there were a big tournament coming up I was planning on attending, I'd test a lot more, have more decks to test and probably not even bother with this one. I had a pretty good time with it, although my poor opponent got pretty frustrated (if you are reading this thanks again for being a good sport Josh!). Lost horribly to Gozoku MGC. Then I ran it against Water Tani twice- after all, if it couldn't even beat the deck it's designed to beat, there is no hope for it. Water Tani- check, looks good. Third game, Josh had enough and switches to RED. No problem, let's see the results. Well, the game is super close and I am down to one province and no fate cards left in my deck by the time I cross, but by then I have enough defensive duels on the board to protect my lone province. Final conclusions? Inconclusive about the deck in general. It's worth developing some more, but probably needs another set to be decently annoying. The dynasty has good stuff going for it, but the fate needs to be changed up a lot. Rhetorics and a copy of Fury probably need to go in, and Excellent Student comes out. I can also ease up a little on strangling Crab. If testing shows that Dragon need to be kicked in the teeth a little bit more, perhaps I Believed in You will find its way in there as well.

And there you have it. I wish everyone who is attending good luck at Gen Con SoCal and everyone happy holidays this year!

The Next Level, Article #3: Understanding the Role of Meta in the Game of Match Ups

2/2005

Tournament L5R doesn�t have a simple Paper, Rock, Scissors (PRS) theory for match ups. However, one simple model is to see that L5R�s theory consists of five, not three elements, as illustrated by the Matchup Wheel below:

Meta--> Honor--> PK--> Defense--> Offense--> Meta

Each element is strong against the two elements to the right of it, weak against the two elements to the left of it and stronger/ weaker the closer they are to the other element.

Offense is a deck�s ability to destroy an opponent�s provinces through personalities and battle. This strategy is reliant on personalities because there are few ways of destroying provinces outside of battle.

Defense is a deck�s ability to use personalities to oppose offense, preventing provinces from being destroyed. The point of defense is to directly counter offense, which is why defense defeats offense.

PK is a deck�s ability to remove an opponent�s personalities. Since both Offense and Defense requires personalities for the most part, PK effectively neutralizes both offense and defense.

Honor is a deck�s ability to garner honor and achieve an honor victory. There are many ways of gaining honor without personalities in play, which is why honor ignores PK. Honor also gets around Defense because it does not use personalities to take provinces.

Finally, this leads us to Meta. Meta is using cards to negate the effects and advantages of your opponent�s Fate Action cards. Meta is strong against Honor and PK because those strategies are dependent on actions that meta disrupts, and weak against Offense and Defense because the definition of Meta is to disrupt effects, not personalities (which is the role of PK). Meta is defined by it�s position on the Match Up Wheel.

The trick to winning L5R on a strategic level is to play a deck that occupies two spots on the Match- Up Wheel. The most successful strategy is to occupy two non- adjacent spots. As you have probably already figured out, this is the basis of some of the most effective decktypes, such as Honor/ Defense, PK/ Offense and Offense/ Honor. These decks essentially ignore one of their spot�s weaknesses since they also occupy the spot that negates the weakness.

As the game has developed, each Clan has evolved towards specializing in two the elements, since those are the ways to achieve victory in L5R. This specialization of clans and players leads to the creation of clan theory.

However, the Match Up Wheel has inherent imbalances.

Because Offense and Honor are the two main victory conditions in L5R, any deck that does not occupy these slots has a difficult time in winning the game. Offense and Honor apply time pressure as well as disrupting your opponent�s strategy. Because PK negates Defense, a deck with strong PK can eventually win through the military victory and, in the case of Scorpion dishonor (which functions similar to PK), leads to an alternative form of the military victory. However, since Defense negates Offense but doesn�t lead to a victory condition, and Meta negates Honor but does not lead to a victory condition, those are the least desirable spots to occupy. In fact, since Defense negating Offense only opens up Meta, while Meta opens up PK, Defense is the weakest spot to concentrate in. But the balancing factor is that some defense is essential to every deck because without Defense, you allow your opponent to win through military.

In conclusion, the weakest spot of all to occupy is Meta/ Defense. Throughout the history of L5R, the clans that have been forced to occupy this niche have been the least successful (at points, Crab, Scorpion, Mantis and Ratling).

Theoretically, L5R should be designed so that each clan occupies two slots, suggested as follows-

Lion- Offense, Honor. Weak Against- Defense.
Crane- Honor, Defense. Weak Against- Meta.
Scorpion- Meta, PK. Weak Against- Offense.
Shadowlands- PK, Offense. Weak Against- Honor.
Crab- Defense, Meta. Weak Against- PK.
Mantis- Defense, PK. Weak Against- Honor.
Unicorn- Offense, Defense; Weak Against- PK.
Phoenix- Honor, Meta. Weak Against- Offense.
Dragon- PK, Honor. Weak Against- Meta.
Ratling- Meta, Offense. Weak Against- Defense.

However, the metagame is defined by fluctuations from this table. To win the PRS match up game in L5R, a player must figure out which spots are occupied by strong decks, and which are unoccupied. This is on of the most important differences between the player who breaks out of swiss and the player who wins the major tournament.

Some analysis of the table-

Ideally, Ratling should be Defensive/ Meta and Crab should be Offensive/ Meta. Crab should be viable and should not occupy the least desirable spot. Crab becomes viable when it is allowed to occupy Offense/ Meta, such as late Open where O- Ushi Sensei allowed Crab decks to tear all sorts of holes in Crane decks and Hidden City Diamond Edition where Crab ate through all of the PK decks. Defensive/ Meta, being the most challenging deck to play, should entertain Ratling players (and ironically is actually best exemplified by the Doom of the Dark Lord Tch� Tch� Warrens deck of the same era).

Dragon and Phoenix tend to fluctuate a lot and fluctuate together, by nature and by the fact that these clans are often tied to spells. Often, when one clan becomes disproportionately strong, it is because Phoenix, Dragon or Scorpion have not been given the cards to effectively occupy their traditional slot on the Match Up Wheel.

Crane and Phoenix also switch spots occasionally.

When Defense is too weak, many clans such as Dragon and Phoenix get to occupy the Offense slot and field military decks.

The term �Switch� can be defined as being able to change strategy by shifting resources from one spot to another. The most common such shift is to move personalities from Offense to Defense, for example Lion Honor Switch.

Using the Match- Up Wheel gives an good indication of which clans are traditionally good and bad match ups of each other. Sometimes it can also be used to figure out the deciding factor in match ups without strong favorites, such as Lion vs. Dragon- we see from the Match Up Wheel that neither clan exploits the other�s weakness, that the game has the capability of turning into a contest of honor, and that Dragon tends to have a slight advantage because PK disrupts Offense.

Theoretically, each spot has four strong match ups, four weak match ups, and one neutral match up. The Traditional Clan Spots table can be used to map out all of the match ups.

Some of the strongest strongholds and/ or decktypes in the match up game have been created because they occupy non- traditional spots. Kakita Dueling Academy, for example, occupies PK/ Honor/ Defense and Kaiu Walls was able to occupy Honor/ Meta/ Defense due to Poorly Placed Garden. One reason for this is that the Honor clans tend to go first and the PK clans tend to go second. PK decks that go first such as KDA and Offense decks that go first such as Lion have a strong advantage.

According to this model, L5R cannot support more than 10 clans without overlapping the niches of some of the clans. Overlapping leads to the situation where one of the overlapped clans are in practice not viable because another clan is superior at occupying that slot.

This model is only an elegant simplification intended to give readers a stronger grasp of playing the metagame- the game of match ups.

The Next Level, Article #4: The Mathematics of 40 Card Decks

5/2005

I. Theory

Table A: 80% Consistency Theshold

xxx Number Drawn xxx
# ___ 1 ___ 2
01 __ 32 __ x
02 __ 23 __ 32
03 __ 17 __ 25
04 __ 14 __ 20
05 __ 11 __ 17
06 __ 10 __ 14
07 __ 09 __ 13
08 __ 08 __ 11
09 __ 07 __ 10
10 __ 06 __ 09
11 __ ?? __ 09
12 __ ?? __ 08
13 __ ?? __ 08
14 __ ?? __ 07

Table B: 90% Consistency Threshold

xxx Number Drawn xxx
# ___ 1 ___ 2
01 __ 36 __ x
02 __ 29 __ 37
03 __ 22 __ 29
04 __ 18 __ 24
05 __ 14 __ 20
06 __ 13 __ 17
07 __ 12 __ 15
08 __ 11 __ 14
09 __ 10 __ 13
10 __ 09 __ 12
11 __ 08 __ 11
12 __ 07 __ 10
13 __ 07 __ 09
14 __ 06 __ 09
15 __ ?? __ 08
16 __ ?? __ 08
17 __ ?? __ 07

*Note- These numbers should be accurate. However, I estimated a couple of numbers so there could be errors.

In this article I will answer the question that often comes up in deck construction:

How many copies of a card do I need to play with to consistently see it in a L5R match?

Here is the explanation of the model I am using.

To be practical, we begin with the following assumptions:

a. I have a 40 card deck.

b. The deck is randomized only once, before the game begins. After that, nothing changes the order of the cards. Note, however, that shuffling the deck afterwards will not signficantly change the probabilities described.

After the deck has been randomized, we can now ask the question: what is the probably that a card within a group now lies in a specific area of the deck?

In other words, these numbers apply to both the Dynasty deck and the Fate deck. The only difference between them is that under the rules of the game, a player sees 1 Fate card a turn and a number of Dynasty cards equal to the number of provinces in a turn. For example, under the most basic conditions, by the end of a player's third turn, he will have seen at most the top 12 cards of his Dynasty deck and the top 8 cards of his Fate deck.

Our next step is to define a consistency threshold: What do we mean by consistent? For most tournament players, an acceptable level of consistency is between 80% and 95%. 90% (9 out of 10 matches) is twice as consistent as 80%(4 out of 5 matches), and 95% is twice as consistent as 90%. Considering that you will play 10-20 matches in most large tournaments, you should definitely be aiming for 90%.

With our math, we will be asking the probability of drawing a card that is a member of a group of cards. What do I mean by group? Some common L5R examples are: Personalities; Gold Producing Holdings; Holdings that produce 3 gold; Holdings that can be bought by Gifts and Favors; Anti- Honor Events; Followers; Terrains; Duels; Force pumps; Meta. When you build your deck, you should be dividing your deck into groups and using the statistics from Table A and Table B to determine how many cards you need in each group to have a 90% chance of seeing a card from that group by the time you need to see a card from that group.

The 2 formulae I used for the table is:

In a deck of X cards,

a. The chance of 1 out of y cards being within the top z cards of the deck is

1 - ((x-z)/x)^(y)

b. The chance of 2 out of y cards being within the top z cards of the deck is

The chance of 1 out of y cards within the top z cards:
1-((x-z)/x)^(y)

multiplied by

The chance of 1 out of (y-1) cards within the top z cards:
1-((x-z)/(x-1))^(y-1)

And you can easily extrapolate the function for seeing 3 cards, 4 cards or any number of cards.

For example,

Let's say we wanted to figure out the probability of seeing 2 Gold producing holdings within our first five Dynasty cards (we're building a Ratling deck) if we included 22 gold producing holdings.

40 - 22 = 18
18/40 = .45
18/39 = .46154
1- (18/40)^5 = .98155
1 - (18/39)^4 = .954623
Probability = .98155 * .954623 = 93.7%

Tables A and B show the turn in which drawing one or two cards from a group of cards has 80% or 90% consistency, respectively.

II. Application

a. Common Applications

When we look at our gold structure, we are concerned with our first two turns, or our first seven dynasty cards (since we will keep a gold producing holding if we fetch Gifts and Favors and we see one of the first turn). By adding 3 gold producing holdings not including Gifts and Favors (from 14 to 17) we double our consistency of being able to buy two holdings on the second turn. For 90% consistency, our Dynasty deck should include at the minimum:

17 boxable cards (not including Gifts and Favors)
12 cards which can be bought with Gifts and Favors

A New Wall can count as a holding, but should not count as a card that can be purchased with Gifts and Favors.

This will allow you to fetch Gifts and Favors on turn 1 and buy two cards on turn 2 90% of the time. 14/9 would give us the minimum 80% consistency. We need at least 9 cards which can be purchased by Gifts and Favors, not including Gifts and Favors itself, in order to be consistent.

I'll leave it to you (think of it as an exercise) to use the tables to figure out when and what you should pitch on your first two turns.

b. Building decks

Most people tend to lay out their decks in groups of 3. That's very neat and tidy, but extremely ineffective. Instead, get into the habit of laying out your cards in groups of 5 and 8. 5 and 8 are the 90% thresholds for 14 cards in. 14 is what you can expect to see in 4 turns on the Dynasty side, and for the game on the Fate side. Your "1 of" Groups should be 5 cards and your "2 of" groups should be 8 cards. A "3 of" group should be 12 cards.

In fact, one good template for designing your deck is:

3 "2 of groups" = 24 cards
2 "1 of groups" = 10 cards
6 "bullets/uniques" = 6 cards

c. Hating Honor

Conventional wisdom says to run 3 anti- honor Events to beat fast honor decks. The more you run, the better- your first event delays them long enough for you to see your second event and your second event delays them long enough for you to crush their provinces. According to the table, this number should probably be around 4 or 5.

It's not necessary to see these events on the first two turns. Fast honor runners gain the majority of their honor on turns 3-5, and that's when you want your Event chain to hit. According to Table B:

3 Events: 80% consistency on turns 5 and 7 (17/25 cards) and
90% consistency on turns 6 and 8 (22/29 cards)

4 Events: 80% consistency on turns 4 and 6 (14/20 cards) and
90% consistency on turns 5 and 7 (18/24 cards)

5 Events: 80% consistency on turns 3 and 5 (11/17 cards) and
90% consistency on turns 4 and 6 (14/20 cards)

5 Events nudges your deck into the sweet spot to pulverize fast honor. Nothing like 5 Events to say I Hate You.

d. The Magic Number for Warrens of the One Tribe

Warrens is the most lop- sided stronghold ever printed in L5R. In return for stunting the Dynasty deck, Ratling players gain the capability of seeing an unmatched number of cards on the Fate deck, with New Years Celebration amounting to "Draw 5 Fate cards," Personal Librarian "Draw your Hand Size," and everything else. When building a Fate deck for Warrens, the magic number is 29. At 29 Fate cards in, you have a 90% chance of seeing:

1 copy of each card of which you have 2 copies
2 copies of each card of which you have 3 copies
3 copies of each card of which you have 5 copies
4 copies of each card of which you have 6 copies

The goal of building a Warrens deck should be to get to that magic number of 29 as soon as possible. Then all you need to be concerned about is how many copies of which cards you need to see in order to win on that turn.

e. The Khol Wall

It is a misconception that pre- errata Khol Wall "reduced the Dynasty deck size." Instead, Khol Wall's ability let it go through an extra 0-4 Dynasty cards each turn. When running 9 personalities, you have a 90% probability of seeing one of them in your top 10 cards and two in your top 13 cards. Khol Walls let a player see those 10/13 cards in the second turn instead of on the 3rd or 4th turn.

The mathematics of post- errata Khol Walls are interesting to say the least. Those extra dynasty cards now come at a cost of increasing your deck size.

A Khol Wall deck sees at most as many Personalities and Holdings as a normal deck.

A Khol Wall deck sees an extra 1 to # of Provinces with Regions attached Events and Regions each turn.

A Khol Wall deck wants to see 3-4 regions as fast as possible.

So, just looking at our table, you will want to run 13 - 15 regions to see two of them in your first two turns 90% of the time, based on a 40 card Dynasty deck.

Our probability of seeing 3 regions by our 2nd turn (10th card), in a 40 card deck with 15 regions (55 total):

.9586 * .93308 * .89474 = 80.03%

Additionally, since our extra dynasty cards must be either Regions or Events, at least half of our dynasty deck should consist of Events and Regions, likely more.

A Khol Wall deck that intends on taking advantage of it's extra dynasty cards as much as possible, should be running 15 Regions, 15 Events and 25 Personalities/ Holdings.

All this leads me to conclude that post errata Khol Walls is most suited for honor running. Khol Walls now wants to gain extra provinces, which greatly increase it's advantages. With 7 provinces (If Chrysanthenum Festival shows up, and Moon and Sun, and Plains of Otosan Uchi) Khol Walls sees a potential 14 Dynasty cards in one turn. Granted, it is near impossible to realize that potential, but anything remotely close to that is a massive advantage. An honor run deck would also be able to take advantage of the extra regions and events better than a military deck would.

Either that, or throw in those 5/ 6 honor hatin' Events and stomp a mudhole over the Cranes.

f. Kakita Osei and the New Economy

Osei fits in my model as both a boxable personality and a holding. If we assume a strategy of fetching Gifts and Favors first turn and have no problems with buying a boxable personality or Osei on the second turn, Crane decks can get away with running an insanely low amount of holdings.

Let's say a basic Courtier template of:

3 Kakita Osei
3 Doji Nagori
3 Marketplace
3 Daidoji Merchants
3 Mura Sabishii Toshi
1 Favor Returned
1 Tsuma Dojo
1 Gifts and Favors

With 18 cards, our groups are:

6 Courtiers (80% consistency on turn 3, 90% on turn 4)
14 Gold Producing Holdings (90% consistency to see 2 by turn 3)
13 cards which can be purchased with Gifts and Favors (90% consistency on turn 2)

If we add in 3 Taneji, we push our courtiers to 80% consistency on turn 2.

So Crane can run those 21 + 19 personalities/ Events/ Regions and have a courtier, box, Gifts and Favors and a Holding out on turn 2, and consistently buying 2 personalities a turn for full honor from box + 3 holdings beginning turn 4. Crane also has the option of exchanging the Tsuma Dojo and/ or Favor Returned for Hiruma Dojo, A New Wall or add in City of Gold, which would increase the chances of maximum chance of boosting Daidoji Merchants/ buy Osei for full on the 2nd turn, perspectively. In fact, this model shows us that Hiruma Dojo (or another 4 for 3 Holding) is always superior to Shrine to Daikoku for this deck.

Good to know for Crane players who didn't pick up Dawn of the Empire. Such as yours truly.

Next time, we will revisit the Match Up Wheel and really begin to explore the finer points of L5R

The Next Level, Article #5: A Tale of Two Decktypes

8/2005

A lot of people did not find Article #3:Understanding the Role of Meta in the Games of Matchups helpful. Some were very confused. Some didn�t feel it had any application. Some thought it was flat out wrong. All good points. I�m sorry if it was confusing, I know I could have written it more clearly. I guess my advice is to not preload definitions and always use my definitions to understand the theory. Sorry. Unfortunately this article isn�t going to clarify things too much because we are going to push forward aggressively and cover a lot of ground. Remember the basis I outlined in the Preface. One step leads to the next. Article #3 sucked, but it�s an essential step to getting to where we are right now, just as this step is necessary to get us to the next point. Article #3, if it had no worth in itself, I hope this article justifies its existence at least a little.

Previously On: the N. L.
(a recap of the powerful vocabulary we�ve established)

Metagame: The game of matchups. The game outside of the game�s rules. A lot of the people do not consider this a part of the game itself, and choose to ignore it, and by doing so, cripple themselves in tournament preparation. If you take nothing else from all I�ve written so far: Winning at the metagame level will dramatically increase your success at L5R. A player who wants to win tournaments consistently must understand and analyze the metagame. I don�t care if you hold onto the belief that L5R would be a better game if good and bad match- ups didn�t exist- it has always been a part of the game and if you want to be a better player, grow up and accept that the metagame exists. The model that I propose to help understand and analyze the current metagame is The Match Up Wheel.

The Match- Up Wheel: A model for analyzing the metagame which proposes that matchups in L5R are not a simple Paper- Rock- Scissors system, but instead consist of combinations of five elements:

Meta--> Honor--> PK--> Defense--> Offense--> Meta

We win at the metagame by figuring out which elements are the strongest in the current environment and deducing a combination which would allow us to exploit the weaknesses of strong elements as well as avoid those strong elements as bad match ups.

Switch: A deck�s ability to change strategies midgame by shifting resources from one element to another, typically from Offense to Defense, or vice versa.

Meta: Defined by its place on the Match- Up Wheel. Defined generally, effects which negate the effects of Fate Action cards. Defined specifically, effects which oppose Honor gain and PK. Another way to understand my definition of Meta is to see that Meta and PK form a dichotomy- PK removes permanent control (personalities and the cards which attach to personalities: Followers, Items and Spells) while Meta removes all other forms of control. Control was defined in Article #2.

The Combo Deck

A combination is a set of effects that synergize with each other and make each effect more powerful. There are many types of combinations, the two most important of which are Divide/ Conquer and Engines.

Divide/ Conquer: One effect sets up a gameplay situation (Divide) and another effect exploits that situation (Conquer)

Engine: One effect produces a lot of or an infinite amount of a resource. Some or none intermediary effects may change this resource to be a different resource. Finally, an end effect uses the produced resource to generate an otherwise unachievable effect.

Some combinations create effects that are so powerful that they are analogous to a Victory condition. While every deck should strive for synergy and use combinations, a Combination Deck focuses on winning the game primarily by achieving a game winning combination.

Consistency is the most important criteria of a Combo Deck. A Combo Deck must optimize the consistency of achieving the game winning combo, even to the point of sacrificing other elements. Card draw/ card access is crucial to a Combo Deck.

In some ways, a Combination Deck takes the work from gameplay and places it on deck construction and preparation. A Combination Deck consists of the main plan to achieve a winning combination, then a first contingency plan, then a second contingency plan, etc� until it runs out of contingency plans. Almost all the work goes into planning how to play the deck: in situation x, if I have y and z cards, my play should be� etc� It is a lot easier to do all this planning with a Combo Deck than with a normal, �organic� deck. A normal deck has general plans and goals while a Combo Deck has specific plans and goals.

However, it is false to assume that a Combo Deck takes less play skill than a normal deck. Consistency is never perfect, and in the case that all the plans and contingency plans fail (and most contingency plans are more shots in the dark than anything else and fail more often than succeed), the player must make up the power difference between his combo deck and the normal deck by outplaying his opponent in order to win. In other words, if the combination fails, you have to beat a player with a deck full of great cards using a deck with crappy/ useless cards.

Between a normal deck and a combo deck, the advantage goes to the combo deck- if the combo succeeds, it is near impossible to win by outplaying the opponent. The combo removes play skill from the equation. However, even if a combo fails to manifest, the player can always hope to outplay his opponent and win off of the opponent�s play mistakes.

To beat the combo deck, a normal deck must attack the consistency of the combo deck, have a �trump� for the combo, or both.

The main advantages of the Combo Deck:

As emphasis is put on preparation, actual play mistakes are less frequent. A deck that requires constant thought and evaluation to play may be more fun and a truer test of play skill, but is less likely to win a large tournament, even if it is more powerful overall.

Odds are better with a Combo Deck. You have a chance of beating your opponent almost completely ignoring their play skill. The Combo gives you an Ace even if you are outmatched. For a skilled player, it is better to play with Aces than try to stop Aces.

In a sense, it is quite analogous to Men�s Tennis. Although Tennis players develop many kinds of skills, one skill- the ability to serve Aces- allows players to ignore their skill deficiencies in other match ups. Thus you have players like Goran Ivanivovitch and Mark Philipoussis that can advance far and win major tournaments simply through their serve skill, whereas it takes someone with superhuman talent, such as Andre Agassi, to win with a return game, and the players that dominate consistently such as Sempras or Federer have the powerful serve game coupled with great skills in all other areas.

It�s not pretty and it�s not entirely fair but it�s the facts.

The 2.5 Deck

The other option, for a skilled player, is to play a 2.5 Deck. In Article #3 I stated that a successful strategy is to play a deck that occupies two spots on the Match- up Wheel. Why not occupy three, four or all five? The obvious answer is that, through the course of a normal game, you wont have enough resources to do that consistently. Four Dynasty cards a turn, one Fate card a turn plus some occasional bonuses: just enough resources to cover 2 spots somewhat consistently, but with just two spots you will still be exposed.

Theory

There are 3 levels of commitment to each element- .5, 1 and 1.5.

To use the model, first apply the effects of each element which is not affected by its counter elements.

.5 commitment applies a -.5 penalty to its direct counter.

1 commitment applies a -1 penalty to the direct and a -.5 to the indirect.

1.5 commitment applies a -1.5 penalty to the direct and a -1 to the indirect.

Next, apply the penalties of all other elements based on the modified commitment.

Example:

Player 1 Offense (1)/ Honor(1) vs. Player 2 Defense(1)/ PK(1)

Player 1�s Meta is applied first because it is the only element that is not influenced by a counter element. It reduces Player 2�s Defense to 0 and PK to .5.

Next we apply all other modifiers. Player 2�s Defense no longer modifies Player 1�s Offense. Player 2�s PK, now .5, reduces Player 1�s Offense to .5.

Player 1 ends up having a favorable match- up against Player 2. Normally a Defense/ PK deck would own a deck based on Offense, but Player 1�s Honor completely changes the match up and protects his Offense.

Bonuses:

Going first grants a functional bonus of .5 to Offense, Defense, PK or Honor.

A mostly Cavalry personality base (Unicorn) grants bonuses of .5 to both Offense and Defense.

Certain stronghold abilities/ personality bases grant a .5 bonus. For instance, Morning Glory Castle grants a .5 bonus to Meta (actually closer to a full point).

Due to their personality base and/ or economy production, some clans have a hard cap as to the effective level of commitment they can achieve in specific elements. For instance, Lion cannot have commitment more effective than .5 in PK, and Crab/ Mantis/ Scorpion cannot have commit more effective than 1 in Honor.

A 2.5 Deck is a deck that �cheats� by splashing a weak .5 element in. It doesn�t quite achieve a .5 level of commitment consistently, but a skilled player is able to use the basic elements of it to fudge it if the match up calls for it. Thus, between going first and whatever advantages due to stronghold/ personality base, it might end up being an effective 3 or 3.5.

For instance, my favorite deck type back during Hidden City, corrupt KDA, had the following bonuses: .5 PK (Stronghold), .5 Offense (Cavalry), .5 Defense (Cavalry) and occasionally, .5 bonus (Offense) for going first. My actual commitments for the deck were PK 1, Meta 1 and a .5 splash in Offense. I was able to �break� the limits due to bonuses and being able to shift about .3 between Meta and Offense using lots of card draw and card access such as Smokes and Mirrors and Personal Librarian, and flushing Dynasty for my anti- honor Events/ holdings when I needed it. The trick is to run enough to have access to a .5, but not so much that you are committed to drawing/ using it. Needless to say, I lost very few matches when I was able to go first.

A skilled player utilizes a 2.5 Deck by recognizing match ups where the .5 would be needed, then adjusting his play to maximize his access to the .5 by giving up an element that he needs less access to, and being able to use all his cards to his max effectiveness.

A 2.5 Deck is hard to run. It�s a lot more powerful than a normal 2 Deck, but it is a lot easier to make mistakes, a lot less forgiving (in some respects) and takes a lot more practice to play. The cards that make a 2.5 Deck work in general, take more play skill to use to their maximum effectiveness. 2.5 Decks also tend to require players who are well- rounded, accustomed to outplaying his opponent in battle and through honor.

Playing a 2.5 Deck is a common way for a top player to win the metagame. However, it is rare for a 2.5 Deck to actually win a major tournament because it is so much harder not to make a play mistake with them. 2.5 Decks are the ones that could have won, but do not. They do not fail the player; inevitably it is the player that fails the deck.

In conclusion, top players are able to use their play skill and experience to compensate for playing riskier decks that break the limits of normal decks, either through a powerful combo effect or a deck that �beats� the match- up game.

So how are we doing? Hopefully now we have a very clear picture of how L5R is played out on a strategic level. Our decisions before a tournament even begins affect our position on two very distinct, strategic levels:

1. Our strategy regarding trump situations (combo decks)

2. Our strategy regarding the metagame

We began with the premise that L5R will be won by taking two out of three theaters: strategy, tactics and logistics. The only theater we have absolute control over is strategy. If we enter tournaments with an inferior strategy, that, coupled with bad luck regarding logistics might mean our play skill will not even be a factor! In other words-

1. Combo opponent + bad luck = loss

2. Bad match up + bad luck = loss

Superior strategy helps us prevent both situations.

Another way of looking at things is that, of the three theaters of victory, we have most direct control over strategy and least direct control over logistics. Both Combo decks and 2.5 Decks are ways players with high play skill can strengthen their strategy through sacrificing logistics. The top player wins consistently through strategy and tactics. He doesn�t completely give up on logistics, but ideally he will triumph regardless of what happens to logistics.

The metagame is the cornerstone of superior strategy in tournament L5R. Strategy is worthless if it bares no relationship to the current metagame. Players who choose to ignore the metagame are playing L5R without any strategy.

Next article, I might discuss the tactics used to defeat top players. You just might be surprised.

This Thing of Ours: The Easy Method of Building an Advanced VtES Deck

7/2005

You�ve been playing VtES for a couple of months. You�ve gotten over your fear and infatuation for stealth bleed. You no longer hate Dominate and have come to accept and embrace such unjust power. You�ve even seen some ridiculous decks such as POT swarm, FOR swarm, PRE swarm or ANI swarm� maybe starting to collect those Embraces and Third Traditions. Yet whenever you try to build a better VtES deck of your own that isn�t as obvious as Euro Brujah or Tsimisze, you keep on hitting a brick wall-

These big vampires have more disciplines than I could use and more importantly: none of these bigger guys share exactly the same discipline spread.

Well there is a very easy method of building a rather dependable VtES deck and this article is going to show it to you. And there are some guidelines as to what type of effects are priority in a successful, well- rounded deck. If you are at this point in your future career as a Methuselah, reading this article will make your next 6 months a lot more enjoyable and a lot less confusing.

I call this method, The Family method. It�s not the only way to win: swarms can win. Pure politics can win. Wall decks can win- in fact, if you haven�t read it before, you need to check out this article on Wall decks after reading this one. Sometimes there are even decks based around crazy cards like Brainwash, Anarch Revolt, Memories of Mortality, etc� However, this method is very easy to apply, very intuitive, very creative and very useful.

1) Choose a Vampire

Find a large vampire, 7-11 capacity that you like. This vampire is going to be the focus point of your deck. Your entire design is going to evolve around this guy and what he can do.

Our Crypt is going to look like this:

4 X The Don (7-11 Cap)
2 X Capo #1 (5-8 Cap)
2 X Capo #2 (5-8 Cap)
1 X Soldier #1 (1-5 Cap)
1 X Soldier #2 (1-5 Cap)
1 X Soldier #3 (1-5 Cap)
1 X Soldier #4 (1-5 Cap)

There�s strength behind building our Crypt this way. In most games you�ll want to bring about 3 vampires. And in most opening draws, you�ll see at least one copy of a vampire from a group of 4. Therefore it�s a good idea to organize our crypt around 3 groups of 4- large, medium and small- so that you�ll have 3 vampires ready to come out from your first four or five Crypt cards.

Unfortunately, not every 7-11 capacity vampire is competent enough to be a good Don. There are three necessary effects that a large vampire *must* have access to in order to be worth the time and cost to bring him out:

1) The ability to untap. A vampire that you�ve sank 25-30% of your pool into needs to contribute more than just 1 action a turn. This is by far the most crucial component of a successful boss. Fortunately it is one of the easier ones to fulfill as well. Most large vampires have enough disciplines to have access to some form of untapping, unless they were misfortunate enough to be stuck with Celerity or god forbid Quietus as a clan discipline� kidding. Actually the most recent sets have had a huge impact for those disciplines with Flurry of Actions, Black Sunrise and Truth of a Thousand Lies (although Setites already had Presence). The more and the easier it is to untap, the better.

Some common ways to untap (in order of preference):

1) TEM (Domain of Evernight and Clotho�s Gift)
2) THA (Rutor�s Hand)
3) PRO (Homuculus, Dual Form, Earth Meld)
4) for (Freak Drive, Force of Will [ick])
5) SER (Truth of a Thousand Lies)
6) CEL (Flurry of Action [kind of restrictive])
7) !Tor (Patronage [kind of expensive])
8) Prince or Justicar (2nd Tradition, the huge advantage of the Camarilla)
9) qui (Black Sunrise)
10) ani (Rat�s Warning, Guard Dogs, Cat�s Guidance, Read the Winds)
11) SPI (Speak With Spirits, Engling Fury)
12) PRE (Majesty)

And of course some vampires have abilities that let them untap like Helena or Lucas Hamilton.

2) The ability to survive combat. Your vampire must be able to protect himself. You can afford to have a 8 pool investment punked by a pot weenie with Undead Strength + Disarm + Amaranth. The safest method is damage prevention. This gets around aggravated damage and Immortal Grapple. Strike: Combat Ends is also acceptable, especially if you can also maneuver to back it up. Finally, it�s a little rough but the ability to hit back just as hard will sometimes have to satisfy. Other methods like dodging or maneuvering don�t cut it because dedicated combat decks that can get around damage prevention or S: CE will generally beat those methods as well.

Some common decent ways to survive combat (in order of preference):

1. FOR (Good old Skin of Rock; Rolling with the Punches; etc�)
2. pro (Flesh of Marble, Earth Meld, Form of Mist)
3. CHI (Apparition, Illusions of Kindred, Mirror Image)
4. CEL (Sideslip, Preternatural Evasion, and the dodges)
5. pre (Majesty, Catonic Fear)
6. NEC (Spiritual Intervention)
7. pot (Immortal Grapple + hitting back)
8. DOM (Obedience)
9. DEM (Voice of Madness)
10. TEM (Lapse)

3) Having a more effective active action to take than just bleeding for 1. Any vampire can bleed for one and most opponent�s won�t care. Your big gun has to be able to increase his bleed to increase the power of his actions, or have a built in power action, such as a rush action. Unfortunately, there aren�t too many disciplines that increase bleed and this is where most of the potential Dons fail.

Some common methods for increasing bleed:

1) dom (Govern the Unaligned, Conditioning)
2) PRE (Legal Manipulations, Aire of Elation)
3) DEM (Eye of Chaos, Confusion)
4) SER (Revelation of Desire, Truth of a Thousand Lies, Enticement)
5) CHI, vic (Fata Morgana, Changeling [ick])

And those are the bare requirements.

As you might deduce, Presence is quite useful, as are Fortitude and Chimestry. Almost any of the Toreador princes can be Dons, as can Tremere, Gangrel or Ravnos with PRE. Some of the common �power� combinations at this point are PRE/ ANI, PRE/ THA, PRO/ DOM and CHI/ DOM.

Here is a list I made of good group 2-4 candidates for Don. It was made before Black Sunrise. Flurry of Actions helped Celerity immensely, but it�s rather limited as a form of untapping.

Howler ANI PRE SPI obf
Siamese PRE SPI ani pro
Ur Shlugi THA DOM OBF QUI CEL aus
Tegyrius FOR PRE AUS QUI CEL
High Priest Angra PRE DAI OBF dem ser
Gwendolyn FOR PRE POT CEL tha aus
Khay�tall, Snake PRE DOM OBF SER aus
Kemintiri PRE THA OBF SER dom aus
Nefertiti PRE DOM OBF SER pot cel
Nehsi PRE PRO OBF SER for aus
Illiana FOR PRO DOM tha
Ingrid Rossler FOR PRO ANI dom
Stanislava FOR PRO DOM ANI CEL
Ellen Fence PRO OBF CEL aus
Genevieve FOR PRO ANI dom aus
Ambrogino Giov. THA DOM NEC POT aus
Silvia Giovanni ANI DOM NEC POT vic
Anisa Marianna L. FOR NEC QUI aus
Unre FOR AUS NEC dom ser thn
Bartholomew AUS MYT NEC dom obt
Lucita FOR DOM OBT pot cel
Francisco de Polon. DOM PRE OBT POT pro
Moncanda DOM PRE OBT POT for aus
Leandro PRE AUS OBF dom cel
Korah DEM AUS OBF ani
Hannibal DEM AUS OBF dom cel
Kanimana Belghazi DOM AUS NEC pro
Harrod ANI OBF POT CEL pre aus
Beast, Leatherface OBF POT ani cel
Cailean PRE ANI OBF POT dom
Yong- Sun THA ANI OBF POT aus
Gabrin CHI ANI for dom
Ankla Hotep PRE CHI FOR OBF pro
Darius Styx PRO CHI FOR ani tha
Konstanin CHI FOR ANI dom cel
Ivan Krenyenko CHI FOR ANI POT obf
Spider Killer CHI FOR ANI OBF aus cel
Ezmerelda PRE CHI FOR ANI tha dom
Mathias OBE AUS FOR nec
Adonai VAL AUS for
Reg Driscoll OBF THN for pre aus
The Baron FOR OBF NEC THN dom
Marcellus AUS CEL pro
Klaus Van Der Vek. PRE CEL tha obf aus
Francois Villon PRE AUS CEL chi obf pot
Alexandra ANI PRE AUS CEL dom
Rebekkah THA PRE AUS pot
Javier Montoya THA AUS pre ani cel
Spiridonas THA DOM pre pot
Goratrix THA ANI DOM AUS vic
Etrius THA DOM AUS OBF pro
Bryan Van Duesen THA DOM pre aus
Ian Forestal THA DOM AUS
Ayelea THA DOM AUS OBT pre
Krassimir TEM POT pre dom nec
Synesios TEM PRE POT obf ser
Nu, the Pillar TEM PRE POT pro ani aus
Sascha Vykos THA VIC AUS dom ani
Lambach ANI DOM AUS VIC pre
Suhailah FOR OBF ser pot
Wilhelm Walberg FOR DOM PRE aus cel
Queen Anne FOR DOM PRE aus obf
Arika FOR DOM PRE OBF aus cel
Dominique FOR AUS ani dom vic
Kyle Strathcona PRE DOM AUS POT for
Lazverinus FOR DOM AUS POT pro
Maxwell FOR PRO PRE POT CEL
Jaroslav PRE POT CEL obf for
Menele THA PRE POT CEL dom aus
Antonio Veradas PRE POT CEL obf
Marcel de Breau PRE POT CEL ani pro
Kahina DOM AUS OBF SER pre nec
Burnhilde FOR PRO ANI pre
Nadima FOR PRO SER ani aus
Karsh FOR PRO ANI POT CEL
Zayyat the Sand. FOR PRO ANI tha aus qui
Soldat PRO POT dom obf cel
Sebastien Goulet DOM OBF pro pre cel
Una FOR PRO ANI PRE dem
Hartmut Stover PRO OBF CEL for dom
Ignazio Giovanni FOR DOM POT NEC obf
Marcus Vitel FOR PRE DOM OBT OBF POT
Nahir ANI DOM OBT POT tha
J. Oswald FOR AUS OBF pre dom
Maris Streck AUS OBF ani dom dem
William Biltmore THA AUS DEM OBF dom
Rachel Brandywine PRO AUS DEM OBF ani
Casino Reeds ANI OBF POT dem cel
Ellison Humbolt PRE ANI OBF POT pro
Julio Martinez ANI DOM OBF POT nec
Ira Rivers AUS CEL ani pre
Fleurdumal PRE AUS DEM tha cel
Christopher Hough PRO PRE DOM AUS CEL pot
Helena DOM AUS CEL pre tha obf
Madame Guil PRE AUS CEL for ser pot
Yitzak THA AUS CEL pre
Venere Carboni PRE AUS CEL ani
Marthe Dizier PRE AUS OBF CEL pro
Virstania THA AUS pre dom vic
Ardan Lane THA AUS pre dom obf
Lille Haake THA DOM AUS pre nec
Oliver Thrace THA DOM AUS obf pot nec
Lucas Hamilton THA DOM AUS CEL qui
Ladislas Toth THA DOM AUS for
Marino Reymundo THA DOM AUS NEC ani
John Paleologus ANI AUS VIC CEL pot
Velya, the Flayer ANI PRE AUS VIC for
Hrothwulf FOR PRE CEL pro dom pot
Katarina Kornfield FOR PRE DOM ani
Lucinde Alastor FOR PRE DOM tha pot obf
Jesse Menkes FOR DOM AUS ani
Amaravati DOM OBF QUI ani chi
Cybele THA ANI PRE DAI OBF SER
Petaniqua THA DAI AUS DEM OBF chi
Count Germaine FOR PRE POT CEL obf
Muktar Bey FOR PRE QUI obf pot
Neferu THA PRE OBF SER dom nec
Seren Sukardi THA OBF SER pre
Enkidu, the Noah PRO ANI OBF POT CEL for
Mitru the Hunter PRO OBF CEL ani for
Doyle Fincher PRO ANI for obf aus
Phillipe Regaud PRO DOM OBF ani aus obt
Cramine Giovanni PRO DOM POT NEC ani pre
Giangaleazzo PRE OBT POT dom
Louhi THA ANI AUS DEM OBF pro
Alicia Barrows PRE AUS DEM OBF POT
Black Annis OBF POT pro ani
Hazimel CHI ANI FOR AUS POT dem
Alexis Sorokin PRO CHI OBF CEL for
Mata Hari CHI OBF for aus qui
Tatiana Stepanova CHI PRE ani for obf
Valerius Maior THA DOM DAI AUS pre nec
Cysek ANI AUS OBF VIC dem
Bruce de Guy FOR DOM AUS OBT

Quite a list, huh? But that�s just the first stage. Some are going to be better than others. These are perks. This is why you see more decks based around Gabrin than say, Spider Killer: the perks. Since we�ve got the basics covered, the perks are going to be rather specific:

1) Stealth- 90% of all decks are going to need some form of stealth to deliver that �final blow� to the prey. It�s going to come down to some action and it�s got a high probability of being cancelled because the whole table is going to be gunning for you. This is where Obfuscate excels, but both Protean and Fortitude provide some excellent, if rather expensive, solution. Or a combat deck can just clear everyone out.
2) Bounce- You don�t want to be the bounce bitch. And unfortunately, Deflection is just *so* superior than Telepathic Misdirection here.
3) Intercept- You kind of want to stop those killer actions. However, more than simply surviving, you probably want AUS and Eagle�s Sight to use your intercept to control the entire table. Incidently, one of the rarest combinations, AUS/ CHI, enables the rather devastating Eagle�s Sight/ Draba combo.
4) Anti- Bounce- Unfortunately there is only one source of this and that is tha for Perfect Clarity. It�s one of the safest ways of finishing your prey though.
5) Anti- S:CE- Most large vampires have great potential to be combat machines. Unfortunately your vampire wont get any respect unless you can get around S: CE, the most common method to be protected in combat. Potence is king, with Immortal Grapple. Auspex has a rather amazing Telepathic Tracking, and Celerity is effective with Psyche! Temporis has the rather expensive Lapse, Dominate has the hardly playable Betray Thoughts and Thaumaturgy has, as a last resort� Perfect Clarity again.
6) Torpor- Your vampire is going to take a lot of actions and presumably, get into a lot of combat. Being able to hit and hit hard is definitely an asset because other Methuselahs will fear your vampire. Some ways cut through Immortal Grapple, others cut through damage prevention. I can�t get into full combat, but even consider silly but effective plays like Apparition + Trap.
7) Maneuvers- a big part of combat for getting away from Grapples and getting into Grapple position. Much more important in most cases than presses, since the first round is usually where most of the damage happens. Celerity is king, but hardly worth it for this alone.
8) Votes- Votes pay for themselves. Political Actions, if unchecked, are sometimes ridiculously powerful, and having some showing means you will almost always get some slice of the pie.
9) Titles- Titles enable a host of very useful cards: Princes have access to the traditions and Parity Shift, for instance.

After looking at the perks, we�ve got to select the rest of the crew. A good Don needs good capos to support him. Capos don�t need to (and often can�t) share all of the Don�s disciplines, but they match most of the important ones, especially the Don�s combat disciplines and stealth mechanism. They don�t necessarily need to untap or to bleed for a ton. And there are some special Dons as well. Some Dons have advanced versions. Now you have a decent incentive (depends on the deck) to throw some cards around. For instance, Yong Sun adv. has everything we are looking for in a Don: The rest disciplines, the votes and most importantly, a built- in bleed bonus. He also merges well with his basic version. So let�s consider, for now, 3 copies of the advanced version and 2 copies of the basic version. We aren�t going to be screwed if we don�t see the advanced version, and we also have a decent chance of advancing him.

Other vampires have �functional� clones. These are those extremely rare large vampires that share most if not all, the same disciplines as another vampire. For instance, Yong Sun, lucky bastard, has a �functional� clone in Khalid. Uncannily, their only difference is Yong Sun has THA/ aus and Khalid has AUS/ tha. Unfortunately for Khalid, that means Yong Sun gets Rutor�s Hand and the built in bleed so he ends up being the capo. So our Yong Sun deck could end up looking like:

3 X Yong Sun adv.
2 X Yong Sun
3 X Khalid

Another one to take notice of as Javier Montoya. This guy, quite amazingly, shares the same discipline as most of the other group 2-3 princes with THA.

Javier Montoya 9 AUS pre ani cel THA
Klaus Van Der Vek 9 aus PRE obf CEL tha
Anastadzi Zagreb 8 AUS dom ani cel THA
Fleurdumal 8 AUS PRE DEM cel tha
Ira Rivers 7 AUS pre ani CEL

As you can see, that is a whole lot of vampires with aus, pre, cel, tha and a bit of ani to build an entire deck around.

How many capos? Well, technically if you can�t find too many others, you can get by with just 1 other capo. Mata Hari is an amazing vampire to build a deck around, but she doesn�t work well with others- she will most likely be stuck with Alexis Sorokin as her capo. Where having more different capos help is in the mid- late game, where you are considering bringing out another larger vampire, it�s nice to have another option. If there is only one other vampire that fits well with your Don (such as Mirembe and Nadima), then have 3 or 4 copies (a consigliere). It�s a fairly easy balance between consistency and having more late game options.

As far as soldiers, unless you�ve got one that stands out, you�ll want for different soldiers. Low caps are by far the best to bring out as your fourth vampire, and there�s a lot to choose from. You�re not going to get too picky: after all, they don�t have too many other disciplines to work with. They�re warm bodies to put more pressure on your prey and off your Don. They function as vampires, bleeding for one, occasionally getting some leftovers. It�s useful if they have some stealth to bleed with and some combat to keep opponent�s honest. Just try to keep them as low cap as possible, because it�s your Don and capo who are going to do most of the heavy lifting.

For example, one of the most common Family Method decks is Gabrin. Gabrin is easily the most powerful of the Ravnos vampires. He has almost everything you�d like to see: he�s the best vampire to use Chimestry, has the Dominate, is affordable at 8 cap and finally even has a useful ability to tap other vampires on top of that. He has a natural capo in Natalia, who shares most of his discipline mix and brings to the table the natural +1 bleed that Ravnos are starving for. Joaquina Amaya is the other natural capo because she has CHI and is underpriced with all 3 Superiors at 6 cap. As far as soldiers go, Sascha Miklos and Spleen, Gutter punk are the cheapest vampires that match Gabrin. For your other two soldiers, Salbatore and Khalil Ravana are the cheapest vampires with CHI, although Sennuwy or Vaclav might be better choices than Salbatore because Chimestry is *so* blood intensive. And since Chimestry sucks at inferior so much, you might be better off with some plain dom weenies instead. So your deck might end up like:

4 X Gabrin
2 X Natalia
1 X Joaquina Amaya
1 X Vaclav Petalengro
1 X Kahlil Ravana
1 X Ingrid Russo
1 X Marciana Giovanni
1 X Sasha Miklos

Or you could get cute: instead of having Vaclav as a capo, Gabrin has the option of running Ezmerelda with her built- in Golconda option.

Now the Library deck� you should be able to take it from here. Just keep the above in mind and you should be okay.

The strength of the family method is that instead of making your library more consistent to have a more varied crypt (forcing you to build your crypt around your library), it is much more powerful to make your crypt draw more consistent and your library more diverse (allowing you to build your library around your crypt).

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