I hate Belgian roads but Red Bull is priceless when it comes to driving for 8 hours by night. 4 hours of sleep, a bit of wandering in desert German streets and gates open. Help Kaze with Pants banners.
So I'm playing Bolt's SSK though I removed Pokku for Jimen for dishonoring and theme deck purpose since he's my Sima Yi
Rd1: Jose Luis Sierra, Phoenix BRT military 1-0
I get a Saya out early which makes a lot of dishonored people on his side. We trade provinces as I steal some with the Khan+Muhito/Taoist. I get Kaukatsu for more dishonor and he concedes at -17 when I'm about to crush him iirc.
Rd2: Camprechts Laurent, Crab Razor 2-0
His Fujiki+Ogre steals my prov but I manage to keep safe the one with Utemaro. With doomed and 2 Front war I can safely attack and once Utemaro's out, without the protection of his followers I just kill his dudes.
Rd3: Nicolas Vaurette "Walker", BSC breeder 2-1
I get an early edge with Yumita+Taoist stealing province with the Khan but he locks it with Etsui while he gets a Saleh, a Fatina and a Jinsai on the table with Wrath of the People (they're ghuls not people !!). I don't remember if I made a mistake by killing the guy he brought in front of me instead of sending him home but he plops a ghul drop mountains of the phoenix and I bring a Muhito/Taoist to get sacrificed to be sure to take the prov. He then procedes to HK Paneki and begins to abuse his SH and his army of undead eat me after he HKed Kaukatsu. He ends at -14.
Rd4: forgot-to-write-his-name, VK 3-1
I chose to keep the Khan t1 and then can only buy Saya t2 which is enough to keep from taking provinces. I then steal provinces. When time is called I have 2 Saya, Jimen, Kaukatsu, he's down to 2 prov and 20 honor. With the advice of one of his friend he admits he won't win it and concedes.
Qualifier 2 will start soon and I had considered dropping to join it but winning againsta VK with such a bad start sounds like a good omen
Rd5: Vidal Daniel, DVD 3-2
Ouch, I know it's gonna be hard. He wins the roll and chooses to begin. I get gold flood (not much of a problem against control though) but don't see the Khan so I have to attack on a Saya'ed Pokku that steals my Taoist, he IP my army and I think about using unexpected on Pokku so I 2 front war Utemaro in ... and get shot by my Taoist. Doh. I never take a province, he wins the Kaukatsu race so I keep on seppukuing the SH, he HK Paneki and I don't see Tsimaru or Assigning.
Rd6: Sorokin Maciez, KK 4-2
Polish guy but speaking flawless French. That helped. Ninjas with The Khan laugh at Beniha or Ayano xp and I steal provinces easily. He HK Tsimaru early though, I accept a challenge of Aikune against my biggest Yumita which nets him quite some honor with Beniha but Jimen dishonors the big phx. When time is called he's down to 1 prov, I got 3 Saya, Jimen and Paneki out. He wants to do the last battle assigns Saya'ed people including Domotai. He kills 2 guys with Aikune, I kill him, he duels someone else with Domotai she got a Taoist arrow ... well he should be down in the 20s or less but still thinks he can get my army (while I have Seikitsu out and he's got mainly duels without duelists) And insists on rolling. I do 1 (on a d12), so does he. I do 5, he does 2. New pairings are already up but the judge accepts to count my win. I can still make it.
Rd 7: Jean-Pierre Lacroute, Razor 5-2
Thanks to Seikitsu I can send a lot of people and steal provinces with only Aroru. Utemaro being naval proves to be invaluable since he does flanking and knowledge on his defenders. Doomed kills his peeps on the defense.
Rd8: Vincent Destombe, 7th Tower 5-3
Yay my 3rd Crab ! When I see 7th tower I feel better since I usually have big units and his guys die immediately. However he got a godly start with secluded t1, he gets only Otoya t3 but I can only get a Yumita and no arrows in hand. Which doesn't matter since he HK Yumita and drops his only 4f to take a province. He then attaches the Tao on Otoya so my Yumita are no longer out of the SH range and he has Sozen xp1 so I never can defend reliably. Painful to lose the qualification without really playing :'(
Pretty tired so I go to sleep early.
2nd chance tournament.
I wonder if I should switch to dishonor but since I submitted the military for theme and I still have to much headache to play bomb ...
Rd1: Nowak Meik, Western Steppes 1-0
He buys only Obsidian Dragon ?! I get Aroru and Muhito. He tries to HK+deter Aroru but has to wait a turn cause OD's not a sam. I kill OD and he loses Kohana on a duty, only gets Chen out. I then cheat a lot cause I forgot Chen can't be targeted by political actions and I keep on Kaukatsu/Saya him. Sorry but it wouldn't have made much of a difference since a HK on Tsimaru left him unable to buy anyone.
Rd2: Cousinier Mael,Lion Xroad 2-0
He just made the deck and don't know it too well. Looks like some classical switch though (Yufu, Benika, the 2 courtiers). I get a Saya out early which helps me save provinces and his honor drops. I play it safely and we trade provinces with Paneki sniping his dishonored courtiers. We're down to 1 prov but since he's at -14 I prefer to defend in fear of his sup strat but he just doesn't have much to fetch anyway.
Rd3: Gegerly Peter, MST 2-1
He climbs slowly, Saya keeping his RoA combo dude busy, but so do I,especially since he destroys my shrine leaving me pretty poor. Contemplation bows Tsimaru before my first true attackand I bounce. He then destroys the Khan and Seat. He crosses 40 and I can't bring him down enough to come back next turn.
Rd4: Zuolaga Jose, Maw's Grave 2-2
I'm glad I'm not playing straight dishonor but it still lefts me with a blank box. He gets a Nairu with Tsukuro's tale on him and a Fujiki, both with huge followers. I have Tsimaru so I manage to get Nairu opposed and betraying but he has RoW to save him. He HK Tsimaru to get his own out and be a pain to Aroru. He kills Paneki I just got out with his seat. My only hope is to get Utemaro out quickly and I'm glad when I discard his by taking the right prov. Never comes and he family libraries for his. He draws a lot with glory and enlistement and I don't my own followers.
Rd5: Constant Michael, Spider Lair breeder 2-3
Wrath 1st turn. He gets the usual crew, drops a Maseru. Paneki gets HKed, Yumita+Taoist touched by death. He gets Utemaro out to top it all. Did I say how I hate Fatina ?
Out so I can have laid back games again
Rd6:Schetgöke Torsen, DVD bleed 2-4
I win the race for Tsimaru and break 2 provinces with him. Slops for gov district for not being political. Through some brain fart I think at some point it'd be good to have other people out (well a courtier was needed for the 2 assigning) which leads to Tsimaru becoming a collateral damage of Kaukatsu. Pankei gets HKed righ away. Since I avoid targeting his courtier he never share (which would've helped me by dooming) and I almost kill him twice with the SH but he luckily can buy Jimen then Paneki for full. BTW while it sounded pretty funny when I did it, I realized later I couldn't play Unexpected on my betraying Tsimaru to get his force back. Sorry.
Rd7: Pietak Radek, MFC Kensai 3-4
I keep my t1 Aroru and get him out. He makes the mistake of discarding a deter for Kei's tactician and I save both provinces. He then procede to make the horrible mistake of trying to HK Aroru and Kei bites it (that's merciless I know but the best way for him to remember). He then learns that dueling a 5C duelist is not a good idea (never realized duelist "negates" duelist). Since it was a quick victory, I think I have time to report and chat with people on the way ... so I'm still officially at 2-5 ...
Rd8: Skourtal Rafail, Phx KA 4-4
He gets gold scrzewed, I get Saya and Aroru. I take provinces and kill people. He tries to Imp summon a ninja which gets redirected on Kaukatsu ... He scoops with 1 prov and 21 honor.
So my main losses were to Spider breeder and DVD which made me heavily regret there's nothing to deal with people at home. Not sure Irishi replacing Maemi will help against Etsui, Fatina or scorp peeps, HK is too expensive. Maybe I'd try Manipulation instead of Furious (that I never got to really play) though it's another card that needs courtier on the table.
Getting out of the 2nd tournament allowed me to enjoy the greek restaurant with Faber and the Dutch crew (Sanders, Benny, Hans and Franz), Ivan, Abilio, Stasi, Steve, Drew, Rob, Mark and John Z.
Sunday was draft for more Chikayo and koku, lost my first, won the second over Kaze thanks to Mamoru's bye.
Ended up on the stage to get "Pride of the Scorpion" deckbackers for winning 4th place in knowledge while one of the guy I came with got top lion and his ticket for LA.
Managed not to end up in Poland while driving back without any map thanks to Salman's guidance (then got a bit lost in belgium cause I hate belgian roads)