Rokugan is a land where honor is a force more powerful than steel, where samurai would die rather than dishonor themselves. But when your enemy is the Moon itself and you're fighting for nothing less than the survival of humankind, ideals have a tendency to be thrown out in the name of practicality.

With this in mind, hundreds of people trekked to Milwaukee for Gen Con's War in the Heavens tournament. This Extended-jade-format tournament would have something new for Legend of the Five Rings players: for the first time, players would be seeded into the final day of the tournament. The winners of Kotei Emperor tournaments, as well as players who had performed superbly over the last six months and the highest ranking lifetime player of each Clan would automatically advance to Sunday's finals.

As the contestants gathered Thursday morning for the first of three qualifiers, L5R brand manager Luke Peterschmidt and Doomtown brand manager Ed Bolme proceeded to whip the crowd into a frenzy, and Ree Soesbee read from the Book of the Void, the source of the Legend of the Five Rings storyline. She described the armies under the banner of the Kami Shinjo marching upon Otosan-Uchi, and the veil of Shadow that had engulfed the imperial city. Also, on a lonely northern mountaintop, Hitomi, champion of the Dragon Clan, lifted the three obsidian artifacts she had gathered and challenged Onnotangu, Lord Moon himself, to a duel.

Thursday produced varied results, as the top 16 included nine of the thirteen Clans. The rules guaranteed a spot to each Clan from each qualifier, and also for two random qualifiers to be entered each day. So, after seven rounds of Swiss-format play, twenty-two players had joined the seeds in advancing.

Friday morning saw a slightly smaller qualifier, with many of Thursday's participants burned out from the previous night's Midnight Madness tournament. Ed again appeared to get everyone's adrenaline pumping, and Ree continued her story from the day before: The armies had reached Otosan-Uchi and were fighting their way through the armies of Shadow before them. Hitomi's duel with Lord Moon was not going so well, as the Moon's power seemed incredible and he drove her back to the cliffs edge. Again, the top 16 featured nine Clans, so with two more random qualifiers, Friday also provided twenty-two players for the finals. Included among these was Monk player Tom Cottone, who had both his and his daughter's deck stolen less than an hour before the tournament but was able to rebuild it through the generous donations of the L5R community and power into the finals with a L5R record.

Saturday's qualifier was the smallest, with forty-four players having already qualified. Despite having practically yelled his lungs out the day before, Ed was there once again to fire up the crowd. This time, Ree's story turned: The clans fought their way to the throne room, where Onnotangu created an avatar to fight off the champions of each clan. Hitomi drew Lord Moon's blood but he continued to dominate their duel. The results of this final qualifier were less varied, with only six Clans taking up the top 16 places. As such, twenty-five players qualified for the finals on Sunday.

Due to time constraints, Sunday's final would be run in a never-before-seen double-tournament method. The ninety finalists would engage in four rounds of Swiss-format play, with the winners advancing to a sixteen-player, single-elimination final. Then sixty-four of the remaining seventy-four players would fight in four sixteen-player, single-elimination finals to determine which clans would capture each of the four walls of Otosan Uchi.

When the smoke cleared from the Swiss rounds, one Unicorn, two Cranes, two Lions, two Monks, three Phoenix, and five Toturi's Army players stood ready to take down Lord Moon, and a lone Ninja player continued on to defend his dark Master.

At this point Ree revealed the identities of the champions of the eliminated Clans and described in detail how each was defeated by Lord Moon. She then ripped up a card of each Personality and handed it to the highest finisher in each Clan. After the first round of single elimination, both Cranes, the Unicorn, and the Ninja had been knocked out, and their champions fell as well, not killed, but merely defeated. The quarterfinals led to the elimination of the last Lion, and Matsu Turi found him self thrown out the palace window. The semifinals involved a pair of Monk players, one facing off against Phoenix, the other against Toturi's Army. Both Monks prevailed, and as the other Clans' Personalities fell, the only named casualty of the tournament, Hasame, lost his life taking a blow aimed at the Emperor.

The finals featured a pair of contrasting Monk styles. Bret Swanson's deck was based on attacking, using the Ring of Water to avoid Defenders, whereas Stefan Zarzynski followed the traditional Monk victory condition, Enlightenment. At this point, Ree stood up and declared that the fight was no longer to determine who would defeat Lord Moon, but how. After a tense game, Bret took Stefan's last Province when Stefan had played four Elemental Rings, not having been able to draw the Ring of Air in time. And so Takao stepped forward and used the power of Void to destroy Lord Moon's avatar in the throne room. High in the Dragon Mountains, Lord Moon roared in pain, and Hitomi cleaved his head from his shoulders. The Moon had died.

Of course, this death was not without a price, and for many, that price was their honor. Phoenix decks teemed with Bloodspeakers. Crab, newly freed from the restrictions of the Kaiu Walls Stronghold, allied with the Shadowlands. Crane used the Gold of the Kolat for victory. And the Monks left their peaceful ways and won the day with good, old-fashioned power. What these developments and the death of Lord Moon will mean for Rokugan shall be seen in the next L5R release, the Ambition's Debt set, and beyond.

Winner: Bret Swanson Brotherhood of Shinsei (Military)
Runner-Up: Stefan Zarzynski Brotherhood of Shinsei (Enlightenment)

North Wall: Stephane Cornier Phoenix
South Wall: Mark Wootton Crane
East Wall: Bruno DiNapoli Phoenix
West Wall: Brian Farmer Corrupt Lion

Top Clan Finishers

Brotherhood of Shinsei Bret Swanson

Crab Alan Nagorny
Crane Terry Madden / Neil Canuel
Dragon Matt Loomis
Lion Noel Meyer
Naga Jacob Lesgold
Ninja Vaughn Derderian
Phoenix Antoine Blanchardv Scorpion Robert Ciccolini
Shadowlands Horde Dave Salsman
Toturi's Army Michael Jahnke
Unicorn Richard Riley
Yoritomo's Alliance Demetrios Saites

Clan Breakdowns

Brotherhood of Shinsei 50
Crab 49
Crane 48
Dragon 61
Lion 27
Naga 35
Ninja 32
Phoenix 83
Scorpion 49
Shadowlands 45
Toturi's Army 65
Unicorn 70
Yoritomo's Alliance 34

The Total Numbers

Thursday's qualifier 243
Friday's qualifier 215
Saturday's qualifier 190
Final battle 90

Bret Swanson

1st Place-War in Heavens
Super Monk!

Fate deck (40)

Rings

1x Ring of Earth
1x Ring of the Void
1x Ring of Water

Kihos 1x Banish All Shadows
3x Chasing Osano-Wo
1x The Winds Truth

Actions 2x Charge!
3x Deeds, Not Words
3x Destiny Has No Secrets
3x One Koku
3x Rallying Cry
2x Refugees
3x Test of Courage

Followers 3x Ashigaru
3x Elite Pikemen
3x Shireikan
1x Shiryo no Tetsuya

Items 1x Armor of Earth
1x Gunsen of Water Sensei
1x Kaede Sensei

Dynasty deck (40)

Personalities

1x Hasame
3x Hoshi Maseru
1x Hoshi Maseru Exp.
3x Ikudaiu
3x Kirazo
3x Komaro
3x Shioda
3x Yoshun

Events 1x Blessings of Isawa
1x Corruption of the Harmonies
1x Imperial Gift
1x Inheritance
1x Kolat Duplicate
1x Occult Murders

Regions 1x Golden Sun Plain
1x Palace of Otosan Uchi

Holdings 3x Large Farm
3x Merchant Caravan
3x Prayer Shrine
3x Small Farm

Stefan Zarzynski

2nd Place War in Heavens
Monk En"lightning"- ment

Fate deck (40)

Rings

1x Ring of Water (lead)
1x Ring of Air
1x Ring of Earth
1x Ring of Fire
1x Ring of Void

Kihos

3x Banish All Shadows
3x Rise from the Ashes
3x Walking the Way

Actions 2x Block Supply Lines
2x Dharma Technique
3x Double Chi
3x Entrapping Terrain
3x Flooded Pass
3x Iajutsu Art
2x Toturi Is Drugged

Items

1x The 12th Black Scroll
3x Armor of Osano-Wov 1x Gunsen of Water
2x Hammer of Earth

Sensei

1x Kaede Sensei

Dynasty deck (40)

Personalities

3x Asako Hosigeru
3x Heichi Chokei
3x Hoshi Maseru
1x Hoshi Maseru Exp.
1x Ikudaiu (style points)
2x Ninube Ogoku
3x Shioda
3x Yoshun

Events

1x Blessings of Isawa
1x Chrysanthemum Festival
1x Emperors Peace
1x Imperial Gift
1x Inheritance
1x Iris Festival
1x Peasant Revolt

Regions 1x Grove of the Five Masters
1x Prophet's Tower
2x Refuge of the Three Sisters

Holdings

3x Jade Works
1x Ki-Rin's Shrine
3x Merchant Caravans
3x Prayer Shrines

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