Every man has something to hide. Behind the veneer of Bushido a thousand lies are allowed to hide. These are the unseen threats from which we must protect the Empire. We must throw aside the veils and reveal the shame of our enemies. Confront them with their own honour, a wise man will take his own life, a foolish one will be destroyed. Anyone who seeks to raise his hand against what we reveal only strikes himself. We are all martyrs to the cause of the empire, for we know that what we do supports our oath to the Celestial Order. Find the secret that your enemy hides and his own kharma will destroy him.
Bayushi Tangen's Lies
With the advent of Ambition's Debt my Scorpion dishonour deck (see previous version) had yet another major overhaul. The advent of even more anti event cards in the new set convinvced me that I needed to thin down on the events even further, dropping from 12 to 7. I could have gone even lower but the attraction of Dragon sword is Broken and the Fallen lion Fortress was just too much for me. I had also, in the light of playing at Gaelcon 99 and against a number of shadowlands and Ninja decks, come to the conclusion that the deck needed a second fiddle of some sort to play against these decks. I went for Abandoning and Aramoro, always a favourite pair of mine, since I realised that having this combo available against half the Phoenix decks I played would have been a godsend. Since then I have managed to defeat Ninja and hold off Shadowlands to a near victory on my part, which is more than I ever managed before. Perhaps I should add a third test of honour for such games. I also took out Yogo Shidachi in favour of the more expensive Taoshi. Although he will not come off the stronghold, Taoshi also does not die to the first scroll is opened, and can form a wonderful combo with Goshiu 2 capable of dishonouring the Ninja. He also adds a bit more needed force. While not much this allows me to stand up to Ninja Military at least.
Further minor fate deck changes include the removal of Face of Ninube, which had simply not proved useful enough, in favour of Dirty Politics, a wonderful card and so in theme with this deck its not true. This give me a way to fight honour gains on crucial turns (and if I am relaly lucky turn them into honour losses that i could redirect back to my opponent) and has the potential to win games against something like the sepulchure of bone (they bring out shadowlands marsh, I court jester the honour loss to 20, and then dirty politics to gain 20 honour... yum). As an experiment I also am trying one banish all shadows and one Dark Lord's Favour, which I know wins a lot of games for other Scorpions. I am not overly enamoured with the performace of either, and will go back to two marries I think.
Other possible changes are to replace the geisha houses with black markets. Although not as good gold wise they are not corrupt and mean that I will not get hit by my own Fallen Lion Fortess (I am still not sure that i don't *want* to get hit by this however). I must also remember to always look at my opponent's hand before using the wind's truth. In a game vs. the Kolat recently I breeched myself and redirected the honour loss with a Wind's truth Blessing'd onto Jomyako (who had been targetted with Goshiu xp2), and it was Sun in Shadowed. Net reult he loses nothing and I lose 7 honour (5 for the breech and 2 for bowing jomyako).
The Shadow Stronghold of the Bayushi
Personalites (23)
3x Yogo Shidachi
3x Bayushi Hisa
3x Bayushi Eiyo
3x Soshi Jujun
3x Shosuro Yudoka
2x Soshi Jomyako
2x Bayushi Muraisan
2x Soshi Taoshi
1x Bayushi Aramoro xp2
1x HojynEvents (4)
1x War Weary
1x Far from the Empire
1x Kisada's Funeral
1x Imperial GiftHoldings (14)
3x Small Farm
3x Corrupt Geisha House
3x Geisha House
3x Jade Works
2x Den of SpiesRegions (2)
2x Refuge of the Three Sisters
Items (1)
1x Obsidian Mirror
Actions (36)
3x Breach of Etiquette
3x Shame
3x The Wind's Truth
3x Confusion at Court
3x Plea of the Peasants
2x Martyr
2x Court Jester
2x Unrequited Love
2x Disgraced
2x Dirty Politics
2x Test of Honour
2x Explosives
2x Bad Kharma
2x Kitsuki Evidence
1x Marries a Barbarian
1x Dark Lord's Favour
1x Banish all ShadowsSpells (6)
3x Secrets on the Wind
3x Rise from the AshesRings (1)
1x Ring of the Void