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 Honour Bound my Scorpion dishonour deck (see previous version) had a major overhaul, mostly in the selection of personalities. The arrival of Jomyako and Jujun, and the return of Shidachi, gave me the strong shugenja presence I had needed before. Though very vulnerable to the First Scroll is opened they give me greater versitility in using secrets and Force of Will. (Note the Force of will was later removed see post-gencon section below). I cut down on the events with the arrival of Yokuni Sensei and better cards for my dynasty deck. Star amongst these is Goshiu, in both versions. The XP2 version can be used to turn an oppoent's only holding or a significant personality into an honour loss, and can be sacrificed to a refuge to bring the other version into play later should they come out in that order. In more than one game Goshiu's 2 honour loss has made the difference for me.
I also gave the fate deck an overhaul. Most significant was the addition of the Wind's Truth, which changes a lot of dishonour strategies, and because of it Kitsuki Evidence to counter my opponent's Wind's Truth. This is a very effective combo and allowed me to win a game against neo-pheonix bloodspeaker at GenCon UK 99 by redirecting a breach to my opponent, who then redirected it back, allowing me to use Kitsuki Evidence to redirect it again and win the game. The fact that he had the Shiba stronghold and two Wind's Truth in hand didn't help him at all when the Evidence was used. As well as Wind's Truth I made some other additions to the deck, removing Remorseful Seppuku (maybe a mistake?) and Deeds not Words (which I have not missed since except against a shrine deck), and adding a second bad Kharma and Plea. I don't think I would need more than two Kharmas but I would have killed for a third Plea against the METH decks at GenCon.
Post GenCon
I played this deck at GenCon UK 99 and came joint 8th. While the deck did well against traditional Military it just did not stand up to the speed of the Mantis Empty Hand decks. The top placing Scorpion, who came second, was using the Yogo Stronghold, which gave him some protection, as well as Rise from the Ashes, which I think were even more key to giving him the time to survive. Because of this experience I have dropped the Force of Wills I did have for Rise from the Ashes, to give me more military defence, as well as substituting Rebuilding the Empire for the Kolat Duplicate I had before, more to reduce the ammount of corruption in my deck than anything else though I admit. Similarly I dropped the Ring of Air that I did have in the deck for a third Martyr, so as to up the number of dishonour cards. I also definatly confirmed that I would probably kill for a third Plea of the Peasants to put into this deck, as it was a very key card. Another thing that I might considor adding a third of is the Corrupt Geisha house which, along with the Wind's truth, has won me more that one game.
The Shadow Stronghold of the Bayushi
Personalites (15)
3x Doji Shizue
3x Soshi Jomyako
3x Soshi Jujun
2x Yogo Shidachi
2x Bayushi Yokuan
1x Bayushi Goshiu xp1
1x Bayushi Goshiu xp2Events (12)
1x Blessings of Isawa
1x Death of the ki-Rin
1x Doom of the Brotherhood
1x Emperor's Peace
1x Imperial Gift
1x Imperial Ambassadorship
1x Kisada's Funeral
1x Naga Storm Mirumoto Mountain
1x Proposal of Peace
1x Rebuilding the Empire
1x Restoring the Doji Treasury
1x SuspicionsHoldings (11)
3x Small Farm
3x Geisha House
2x Merchant Caravan
2x Corrupt Geisha House
1x TutorRegions (2)
2x Refuge of the Three Sisters
Items (2)
1x Obsidian Mirror
1x Broken Sword of the ScorpionActions (35)
3x Breach of Etiquette
3x Shame
3x The Wind's Truth
3x Confusion at Court
3x Martyr
2x Court Jester
2x Unrequited Love
2x Marries a Barbarian
2x Disgraced
2x Face of Ninube
2x Test of Honour
2x Explosives
2x Plea of the Peasants
2x Bad Kharma
2x Kitsuki EvidenceSpells (6)
3x Secrets on the Wind
3x Rise from the AshesRings (1)
1x Ring of the Void