Kuroiban

Hey, I've returned from the LA championships and... man did I do bad.

But first, general stuff.

I showed up on Thursday after a long flight and bumped into the Australia crew who were awesome folk. We hung around a lot before the tourney and chatted.

Friday we went to the offices and it was awesome. They let us into thee storeroom and we got a bunch of free swag. We also got to play games and hang with the AEG staff. After that we went out to lunch and chatted a lot before the social event in the evening. Hooray for open taps!

I'd go into detail but I don't know what really to say. I hung out with people at the tourney and from AEG and it was all around awesome. It's hard to write about just hanging out and chatting. 

I must admit I hadn't been playing L5R a lot because Gencon Indy I played a few bad games that soured my love of the game. Thankfully all the people at LA were awesome and it really brought back my love of the game. Thanks to everyone for being so awesome. And I'm sorry if I forget people's name. I've said it before and I've said it again, I have a horrible memory. It wasn't helped by the fact I got little sleep all weekend and was exhausted all weekend. I nearly collapsed on Sunday night as many can attest to.

Well, onto the tourney. 

Well, I built my deck to fight military/straight honor since it made up over 2/3 of the field. My deck sucks vs switch/high honor military (Don't all dishonor?) and vs other Scorpion it's about 60/40 in their favor because they run more control. It's not a terrible matchup but it has a huge dice roll factor (Like all mirrors, who gets the power unique’s first). What happened was hilarious (I apologize if this games are in the wrong order. I was tired and things sorta blurred together)

Round 1: Lion Mil 

This is a bad matchup for me. But I got a good start and it was a tight fight. I dishonored all his peeps and when he came for my last province I dropped him to -20 by killing his dishonored guys and using onnatagu's memory. It was a real nail biter.

Round 2: Scorpion dishonor.

This one was against Keiga. I get a great Dynasty start but my hand sucks (1 share, no assigns and all my anti-military cards. Yay for refugees VS Scorpion dishonor). He hits Paneki first and uses Shrine to Fuku and I do not joke. He pulls, I believe, 2x Assign, 1x Share, and 1x Stay your blade off of it. I don't stand a chance.

Round 3: Scorpion Dishonor

Dang, again. This one was Stephen I believe (Crimson Scorp?). This game goes pretty well. We trade back and first but he hits Paneki first. Gah. He ends up winning  Sorry if I was a bit miffed. I hated fighting all these Scorpions and it was driving me crazy.

Round 4: Mantis Magistrates

He concedes because he wants to have a fun game with someone else. We end up playing a silly multiplayer game. Awesome guy. Sorry I can't remember your name. But it was awesome when you played the KW deck drunk on Sunday night.

Round 5: Unicorn Western Steppes (Aken)

My decks actually pretty good vs Tod Unicorn, worse vs Western Steppes. He's running some battlemaidens in his deck which messes me up. He gains 4 honor per turn off guys and uses the 6 gold movement unicorn to gain extra. This means I have to win by military, not fun. He swings in, using duty on Ensign Ricky to take my Ranged 3 vs chi attacks thanks to duty. He gets me down to one province and swings in. We trade blows but thanks to unexpected betrayal I'm winning the battle. He drops ordered retreat and runs. He attacks again and it's very close. It looks like I'm winning but he drops iron Tetsubo on Chen and drops three Stone river. I can't do anything to that and he sweeps. It was a very tight game.

Round 6: Scorpion Dishonor. (I'm so sorry I always forget your name. It's Ian isn't it?)

Seriously, another Scorpion. It's a tight game and then he gets Paneki. Sigh. This happens every game. It's actually really close but I make a play mistake targeting one of his guys. If I hadn't I would have been able to double assigning him down below -20. It was nice to see you again and I hope to see you at Indy next year. Thanks for letting me crash in your room Sunday.

Round 7: Scorpion Dishonor

Okay, seriously guys. Seriously. We both pull a good dynasty start but he pulls everything he needs. I think I get hit with 2x share, 2x assigning, and 1x unfortunate on turn 6 without him using any card draw/search. Ouch. 

Round 8: TOD (AJ)

Finally, a military deck. We both pull well and I get a great hand. I bounce him, kill his guys and generally stifle him. I have total game control. He hits -20 and I win the game.  

Alright, I'd fought high honor mil, and Scorpion so many times it's statistically ridiculous. Still, I should get mil, shouldn't I...

Round 9: Lion Swtich.

Ugh, my worst matchup in the entire environment (Maw's grave is better... no joke..) He gains lots of honor and stampedes all over me. I don't even see Saya.

Well, I did terrible but I had an awesome time. It's kinda funny that I had more fun at LAX where I scrubbed than I did in Indy even though I did so much better there. I got to talk with more people, I played a lot of fun games with people like Bryan Reese and Greg Wong and other things I didn't get a chance to do as much at Indy due to the size of Indy, logistical issues and the early closing time of the convention. L5R has hands down the best players out of any game I've played and the crowd at the LAX were all around awesome. 

Props: 

1. The players for all being great.

2. The staff for being really great guys. Todd, Zinsner, Reese, Shawn, and all the others. You ran an amazing event and you were all awesome people. 

3. AJ and (Ian?) for letting me crash with them.

4. L5R Chives for doing a great job and being really great guys/girls. Also thanks to  one member for trying to strangle me to death (I have been promised that video will be up on the Chives site) 

5. Craig for sharing a room with me. It was nice meeting you, you were a great guy.

6. AEG for giving us a tour and for driving all the way to get us. 

7. Any one else I'm forgetting (And I'm sure I am).

Slops:

1. My bad matchups, but I still had a great time.

2. Sleep, for evading me. I was exhausted the entire event and probably would have done better if I had slept.

3. The cost of flights to the US. Way too expensive.

4. Hotel food being too expensive and the Radisson not having any nice restaurants near by.

5. AEG for managing to prevent me from stealing all their Clan War models. :) 

6. The event being too short and the Auzzies/Europeans I met being too far away. I won't get to see them at Indy. 

Now for my decklist. Even though I scrubbed out I would only change a few cards. It worked very well and beat the decks it was supposed to beat. I just never pulled those decks.

Decklist:

Dynasty: 41

Holdings: 15

1x Magistrate Station

1x Private Trader

1x Seat of Power

1x District Governor

1x Castle Moat

1x Private Library

3x Castle Walls

3x Geisha House

3x Secluded Waystation

Events: 2

1x A New Wall

1x Third Yasuki War

Personalities: 24

1x Paneki

1x Kaukatsu

1x Tsimaru

1x Jimen base

1x Kurumi EXP

1x Pokku EXP

3x Saya

3x Maemi

3x Arashii

3x Yumita

3x Uyeda

3x Chikyao

Fate:

Items: 1

1x Naseru’s private Journal

Actions: 40

3x Knowledge

3x Doomed Inten

3x Assigning

3x Share

2x Ramifications

1x Onnatagu’s memory

3x Refugee

3x Stay your Blade

3xUnexpected Betrayl

3x Insolence Punished

2x Hunting the Prophet

2x Reinforce the Gates

2x Orders Retreat

2x Raze to the Ground

3x Arrowed From the Woods

2x Manipulation

Despite my poor showing I wouldn’t change the deck. The Raze’s were worthless (I ran them because I feared magistrate station/Kitsune den). I’d probably replace them with outer walls, hired killer, or 1 more manipulation and a reinforce and add sorrows path to the dynasty. I might change things a little but it worked very well when it fought the decks it was designed to fight. It does what I meant it to do.

Regards.