Decks designed by Terry Doner and Nik Olah
This issue, we bring you two more deck designs, each proven to be winners in tournments. We open with a Phoenix Enlightenment Victory Deck. This nameless deck designed by Terry Doner was proven under fire when it won a multiplayer tournament in December 1996. Here's how the deck works, in Terry's own words: "The object of this deck is to get the Rings out as fast as you can. I've only had success with it in multiplayer games. The Ring of Earth is the first priority. Use a Walking the Way if you have to, but get it out if attack decks go after you. If you have the time, go for the Hammer of Earth and help defend someone else's province - then play the Ring of Earth. If things are hectic, then go get the Iron Citadel and cast it. Remember, if you go this route, get all the money you can first (especially the School of Wizardry). "The Ring of Air is the easiest with this deck. With the innate shugenja abilities flying around this is not a problem. "The Ring of Water is the hardest. You have to go into a battle and win. This is not easy with a Phoenix deck. That is what the Ambush, Sneak Attack, Night Battle, and Deadly Ground are for. If you are under attack, play Night Battle. Then use Isawa Tomo to move enemy units out of the battle until you have an advantage (maybe use a Shout or two to insure this). Once you have that, play Superior Tactics and a Deadly Ground. "The Ring of Fire needs the Mantle of Fire to work, unless you have Isawa Tsuke and Kuni Yori out. If your opponent is low on cards in his hand, use Kuni Yori and make him discard. Then, challenge one of his highest Chi Personalities with Isawa Tsuke. You play the one card first that Tsuke is allowed, and your opponent either strikes or goes into fits because he has no cards to play - or no cards that he wants to play. "The Ring of Void works with either Kuni Yori or just by playing normally. This deck isn't designed to keep cards in your hand. "The main thing to watch out for is not to play each ring as the chance occurs. The moment your opponents figure out what you're up to they will come after you. Try to play 2 or 3 rings in one turn. Your opponent will know what you're up to but need a turn or two to do anything about it. That means you get one more turn to finish the Enlightenment win." Phoenix Deck by Terry Doner 3x Silver Mines Return of Fu Leng 3x Isawa Tomo 2x Ambush
2x Block Supply Lines 1x Iron Citadel of Fu Leng Next up, we have an interesting Naga deck from Nik Olah Nik found that this deck performed well in one-on-one tournaments, especially against the notorious Lion Speed Decks. "Hawks & Falcons & Sanctified Temples are to handle refusing Iaijutsu Challenges and the occasional Breach of Etiquette if I get ahead in honor," writes Nik. "The Price of War slows down other decks more than mine. I have lots of cheap personalities, and pay the 2 less gold to force them out nearly all the time. The Dragon players I was up against relied on getting the honor for putting personalities into play." Nik also spiked the deck with the Doom of the Crane and Doom of the Dragon cards since they were the most common Clans in the tournament. "Early in the game, I have to be more defensive. Late in the game I'm the military powerhouse. I use a pretty big dynasty deck, but I force all my personalities into play, and never pay full cost unless I can't spend the gold on something else. "With this deck, don't be afraid to discard anyone with a high gold cost early on. Later in the game, you have enough gold to do anything." Naga Deck by Nik Olah
2x Bushi Dojo 1x Plains of Otosan Uchi 3x Balash Back to Imperial Herald Vol. 2 #1 Table of Contents Back to Imperial Herald List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master List of Magazines © Copyright 1996 by Alderac Entertainment Group This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. |