Modern Dragon Deck

So here is the Modern format Dragon deck that I built.  It was made with just Combat in Kowloon and Reloaded cards along with promos.

Foundation

Student of the Dragon x5

Junkyard Boys x5

Tech Squad x3

Characters

Major Prescott Rogers x2

Chinese Doctor x2
Prince of the Ice Pagoda
Dr. Amanda Snow
Shang Bojing x2
Big Bruiser x2
Inspector Will Zhurong

Events
Scrounging
Never Found the Body x2
Dirk Wisely’s Gambit x2
Final Brawl x4
Never Surrender
Open a Can of Whupass x5
Back for Seconds x3
Stunt Driving x2
“Is That All You Got?”
Golden Comeback x2

State

Shadowy Mentor

Feng Shui Sites

Gambling House

LaGrange Four

Manufactured Island x2
Martyr’s Tomb
Medicinal Flower Garden
Mirrored Lake
Mobius Gardens
Precious Lotus Monastery
Temple of the Angry Spirits
The Iron Palace
The Red Lantern Tavern
Whirlpool of Blood

This deck basically is Open a Can of Whupass and Back For Seconds for making a really buff Character and attacking with it twice.  I personally like Shang Bojing in this deck.  When he opens a can for 13 Fighting with Guts, it goes pretty far.  But in one game, I was even able to take out an early Great Wall using stunt driving Junkyard Boys with a can and coming back for seconds to finish it off.

When I built this deck, I found it was really unfortunate that the CiK deck was a vehicle deck and the best character in Reload was the Big Bruiser.  This anti-combo really limits the deck building options for Dragons.  For the foreseeable future all Modern Dragon decks are going to revolve around the Big Bruiser.  This deck certainly uses him, but does not rely exclusively on him. 

With the two new sets available, I need to put in some Fortune Favors the Bold, Heroic Bloodshed, and Fighting Spirit cards.

After Action Report for August 11

So we got a group together at Epic Quest Games in Hartland to get some trials in before Gen Con.  It was Willow, Tim, Chris, and me.  I delayed publishing this so as to not give away any secret tech before the convention.  We played two four player games and one three player game that Tim sat out.

Game 1:
Willow - Dragon Hitters w/ Unturning
Tim - Lotus Exploding Demons
Jim - Jammer
Chris - Asc/Lotus "Terrible"

I won this game taking four sites on the final turn.  I played King Kung and took Willow's Hanging Gardens and LaGrange Four with one attack.  LaGrange Four then used the sites to attack with the big monkey two more times taking the remaining two sites needed for victory.

Game 2:
Willow - Modern Monarch
Tim - Lotus Exploding Demons
Jim- Dragon/Monarch Discard
Chris - Asc/Lotus "Terrible"

I started well.  I was killing off opponents foundation characters and damaging sites with my foundations backed with Eagle Mountain and Nightclub.  I got up to having Silver Jet out.  Chris put a Shadowy Mentor on him.  Tim got out White Ninja.  Chris then put a Shadowy Mentor on her and won the game.

Game 3:
Willow - Dragon Hitters w/Unturning
Jim - Ascended "Piece of the Action"
Chris - Asc/Lotus "Terrible"

I won this game with a Shadowy Mentor on Willow's Bei Tairong.  Bei seized Willow's LaGrange Four which was exposed using my Endless Corridor.  I then played Claws who took two sites using the LaGrange Four.

Bring It!

This is a deck I made or Who's the Big Cheese Now!?! in 2009.  The only change was to upgrade the foundation and replace one Bring It with Preserving Chi

"Bring It!"

Foundation:
Brave Villagers x5
Redeemed Gunman x3
Hacker
Willow Warriors x5
Buddist Monk
Righteous Protector

Characters:
Sidekick
Chinese Doctor
Ting Ting
Steven Wu
Dr. Amanda Snow x2
Queen of the Ice Pagoda (old)
Exiled Monk
Iron Monkey
Lui Yu Min
Shung Dai

Events:
Final Brawl x3
Thunder on Thunder
The Willow Bends... x2
Secrets of Shaolin
Dirk Wiseley's Gambit
Secret Pact
Golden Comeback x2
Shaolin Surprise x2
Violet Meditation x2

States:
Four Mountain Fists
Running Out of Time
"Bring It"
Preserving Chi
Crane Stance x2
Real Bad Cat
Fortune of the Turtle
Legacy of the Master

Edge:
Shield of Pure Soul

Site:
Kar Fai's Crib

FSS:
Bountiful Fields x2
City Square
Dragon Graveyard
Fox Pass
Gambling House
Golden Mile
Kinoshita House
Mobius Garden
Sacred Hearts Hospital
Temple of the Angry Spirits
Waterfall Sanctuary
Whirlpool of Blood x2

Dr. Amanda Snow is the star of this deck.  She brings the states back (esp Crane Stance), and then if she's killed, she shares with Legacy of the Master.  If needed the Sidekick can carry on her generous legacy.  This deck is slower than a lot of my other decks.  It is better for 4-player where it can take time to load up the smoked pile with states and then get out Dr. Snow.

Gen Con 2010 World Championship

Saturday was the Final Brawl World Championship.  I felt woefully under prepared for this event.  Leading up to Gen Con, most of my decks had been greatly modified to try out Empire of Evil cards, and none of them were well tuned.  I was working on Lotus recycling deck ideas (Hopping Vampire with or without Mysterious Return, or Unholy Legionaries with Dragon Throne) but nothing seemed like a solid build.  I finally decided to go back to an old standby - Yakuza Enforcers and Final Brawls with a few updates.  Again, the deck is not well tuned, but the basic concept is simple and simple to play.

First round was against Robert Stetler and Greg Zimmerman.  I got off to a good start and wrapped this up quickly.  Robert was quite upset when he found out that Sword of the Master cancelled the fighting bonuses his Twelve Thousand Skulls put on Feng Kan.  Then when is cancelled the Escalation bonus, it added insult to injury.  I ended up with a 10-Fighting Hacker going for the win.

Second round was against Willow and Braz.  Willow was playing her Ballad of Jade Willow deck.  I warned Braz not to burn any of her sites or a free Jade Willow would come flying out of her hand.  We were able to make her pay full price for Jade Willow, but we couldn't quite put stop Jade Willow from dominating the rest of the game.  Willow won the round.

The third and fourth round games I was able to win to lock a seat in the final.  The other finalists were Julian Leighton playing Eating Brains in the Service of the Lotus deck, Tim Lindon playing a Morse Code Poet deck, and Mike Lansinski playing a Monarch deck. 

I got a quick burn with two Redeemed Gunmen taking Mike's front row turned site.  I burned for victory, which was a mistake.  I really should have burned for power, which I needed over the next couple turns.  Julian build up a formidable army of undead and vampires.  He was taking Tim's battleground sites to fund his army.  Tim played a long site structure of big FSS (The Great Wall), Hall of Portals, and battleground sites.  In front, he had up to three Morse Code Poets.  Mike was having a hard time getting started.  I don't think he ever quite got back from my taking his site. 

During one of Tim's attacks, which I believe was an early attempt for the win, Julian asked for help stopping it.  I foolishly mentioned that I had Final Brawls available.  Julian then Tortured Memories the Poet to stop the attack.  I believe Julian then spent part of the rest of the game trying to draw out the Brawls.  Because most of his characters were four fighting or lower, the Brawls potentially could devastate his position.  On his last turn he attacked me to the right.  I had seized his Death Ring earlier and he claimed he was coming back for it.  No one intercepted.  At the last minute, he revealed and turned an Endless Corridor to switch my back row unrevealed FSS with the Death Ring which now made this a winning attack.  I still sat on the Brawls.  He hit for 7 and left the Disco with 1 body left.  Tim when next.  He took my damaged Disco and then launched the winning attack.  When I tried to Brawl (twice), he had two Delay the Inevitables to save his attackers and win the game.

Looking back I made several mistakes that I remember (I'm sure there are more that I don't)
1) Burning for victory rather than power when I took the early site.  This would have funded at least one hitter and given me some sustainable forward momentum.
2) Revealing that I had Final Brawls in my hand.  Unfortunately between when I spoke up and the final turn of the game, I did not draw any additional ones or Equal-Opportunity Butt-Kicking.
3) Not playing the Brawls earlier.  There were a couple opportunities (When Julian started a Face-Off with Lin when I played her, when Julian played Sword of the Master on a Hopping Vampire before attacking the Death Ring, when Julian attacked the Death Ring) that could have been more advantageous.

Ah well, live and learn.

Deck - Last Man Standing (57):

Foundation (11)
Brave Villagers x5
Redeemed Gunman x3
Hacker x3

Characters (10)
Yakuza Enforcer x5
Lin
Marisol
Big Bruiser x2
The Spirit of Kongxiangsi

Events (20)
Final Brawl x5
Equal Opportunity Butt-Kicking x4
Escalation x3
Dirk Wiseley's Gambit x3
Never Surrender
Ashes of the Fallen
Is That All You Got x2
Kiii-YAAAH!

State (1)
Sword of the Master

Edge (2)
Pony Express x2

FSS (13)
Sacred Heart Hospital x2
Whirlpool of Blood
Temple of the Angry Spirits
Festival Circle x2
LaGrange Four
Gambling House
Disco
Ancient Stone Arch
Cave Network x3

A somewhat updated version of an old deck.  The basic core is play Yakuza Enforcers and Brawl/Kick-Butt as much as possible to keep other characters off the board.  One new combo that I like in particular is Escalation with Sword of the Master.  My character's fighting is doubled until the end of the attack and you get nothing.

Casual Play Report

After a long hiatus due to a little family accident, I was able to get together with Willow and Tim for a few games.

Game 1:
Willow played her willing deck from Plattecon featuring Jade Willow.
Tim played his standard detonating Destroyer deck.
I played a 7 Masters / Ascended deck that I was going to take to Plattecon.  I'll post the deck later.

Willow got out the White Ninja but wasn't able to muster enough fighting to take a site.  Tim Tortured Memories the Ninja and burned Willow's front row site for power.  This let Willow drop Jade Willow for free.  I dropped the Queen of the Ice Pagoda (old) and attacked the Ninja.  We exchanged Monkey Fools the Tiger and both characters were smoked.  Jade Willow then got Fortune of the Turtle and went on a rampage.  Shortly after that Willow won the game. 

Game 2:
I played a Darkness Deck,
Willow played a Syndicate Deck
Tim played a Dragon Deck

Willow got a fairly fast start using a Bird Sanctuary to good effect to get an early Song, the Little Dragon.  I could not get a second Monarch resource to save my life.  By the time Tim was able to play a Big Bruiser, Willow had Hirake Kazuko in play, which would make the Big Bruiser a big mistake.  Again, Willow was able to win this game in short order.

Game 3:
I played a Jammer Deck,
Willow played an Architect Tank Deck,
Tim played an Ascended Tentacles of the Squid Deck.

On Tim's first turn, he played a Gangster and attacked Willow's undefended Feng Shui Site.  I played Out of the Barrel to drop a free Cocktail Waiters.  I joined the attack with the Waiters and Just Another Consumer.  I thought putting 5 damage on the site would soften it nicely for me to take it next turn.  Nope, it was a Maze of Stairs!  Tim got a burn for power on his first turn.  Fortunately, for Willow and me, he could not get a second resource right away.  I was able to get some more cheap characters and burn Tim's front row site and was lucky that Tim did not have a Bite when I burned it for power.  After that I was able to roll to a quick win.

Game 4:
Tim played Willow's championship Punchy Hand deck
Willow played her Monarch/Dragon deck
I played an Ascended Wisdom of the Owl / Discard deck

I was able to play a Wisdom of the Owl on my first turn.  Willow and Tim attacked it repeatedly, but were foiled with multiple Operation Killdeers.  I used a Coral Reef, Coil of the Snake, and the Palace of Virtual Light to cycle through my deck to get to some big characters.  Finally I got Adrianne Hart and went for the win.  I was decimated with the denial that came out.  Willow came on strong with the Queen of the Ice Pagoda (new) with an Ice Sword.  She took some of my sites over then next few turns, but stalled at victory conditions.  Tim had two damaged sites in his front row, and Willow's front row site was also damaged.  I was able to superleap "El Tigre" over the Queen to take Willow's site.  I then played a site to put me at victory.  I then dropped Liquidators and Tentacles of the Squid who were up to 10 damage at this point.  They were able to take a site from Tim for the win. 

Overall a fun night after not playing for 3 months.