Mirumoto Tactical School - Deck Analysis #1

SUPER MONK!! Bret Swanson - GenCon '99

Winner of GenCon 1999 - Jade Format

Deck List:

FATE (40 )

• Kiho (5) 1x the Winds Truth,1x Banish All Shadows,3x Chasing Osano-Wo
• Action (22) 3x Deeds Not Words,3x Destiny Has No Secrets,3x One Koku, 3x Rallying Cry,3x Test of Courage,2x Refugees,2x Charge!, Ring of (Water, Void, Earth)
• Follower (10) 3x Elite Pikemen,3x Shireikan,3x Ashigaru, Shiryo no Tetsuya
• Item (2) 1x Armor of Earth,1x Gunsen of Water
• Sensei 1x Kaede sensei

DYNASTY (40)

• Personality (20) 3x Yoshun,3x Shioda,3x Hoshi Maseru,3x Kirazo,3x Komaro,3x Ikudain,1x Hoshi Maseru exp,1x Hasame
• Event (6) 1x Inheritance,1x Imperial Gift,1x Occult Murders,1x Kolat Duplicate,1x Corruption of the Harmonies,1x Blessings of Isawa
• Region (2) 1x Golden Sun Plain,1x Palaces of Otosan-Uchi
• Holding (12) 3x Prayer Shrine,3x Small Farm,3x Large Farm,3x Merchant Caravan

Commentary on deck composition

Actions - gold cost is 0 for all actions, can bow all lands for Personalities,Followers or Items and still have effective offense / defense. Average Focus value is 1.77. There are 7 Battle actions (17.5%), 3 Political actions (7.5%) and 17 Reactions (42.5%). Actions make up 55% of the Fate deck. Note- numbers don't add up to 100% due to some cards having multiple categories.

Followers - average gold cost is 1.8, average Force approximately 1.2, and average Focus value is 3.1. They make up 25% of the Fate deck.

Items - average cost is 8.5. Average Force bonus is 1, Chi bonus is 2 and average Focus value is 3.

Kihos - gold cost is 0 for all Kihos. Average Focus value is 3.2. They make up 12.5% of the Fate deck.

Personalities - average gold cost is 3.85 with an average Force of 2.1 and an average Chi of 2.4. Average personal honor is 1.8 per card. All are Unaligned and belong to the Monk. Personalities make up 50% of the Dynasty deck.

Events - there are 6 Events or 15% of the Dynasty deck.

Holdings - there are 12 Holdings making up 30% of the Dynasty deck. Average gold production per Holding is approximately 1.85, with the Merchant Caravans producing a variable amount. Each Holding produces more than it costs to put them in play.

Regions - make up 5% of the Dynasty deck. The Golden Sun Plains adds 2 to a gold producing Holding.

Sensei - Kaede Sensei was a significant boost to both military and enlightenment Monk as discarded Rings could be retreived easily.

Stronghold - not noted on post GenCon letter from Bret Swanson. Assumed to be The House of Tao, with a province strength of 5, Family Honor of 3, and gold production of 4. The special ability is:

You begin the game with one Elemental Ring in play, chosen after your opponent's strongholds have been revealed.

If you put a Shadowlands card in play, all of your Elemental Rings are discarded from play.

Respectfully submitted,

2nd Lieutenant Mirumoto Miko

reference - SUPER MONK!! Bret Swanson

This concludes the basic statistical analysis of the winning military monk deck. Further analysis on the tactics and metagame strategies (i.e. what made this deck so effective against the other decks in the tournament) are welcome.

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revised October 6th, 1999