Scorpion Dishonour...

The original and still the best. No matter what you have heard Scorpion dishonour is the way to go. Scorpion military is a nice distraction, and a nessacary second string to our bow - no one seems to like us all that much so we need to be able to protect ourselves and the Yogo do this admirably. With this protection the Bayushi can go back to the heart of the empire and root out the scum. A lot of the time it may appear that we are not honourable but this is the price we pay for rooting out others.

Now that the intro has been laid I can move on. The dishonour variant I play auto looses to Ninja and the Horde, but wins all other match ups especially against military, the Phoenix are a tough match up, them and their six Winds Truth, but it requires only a little thought to work around that.

Early dishonour is key, on that start of your opponents third turn he must be on negative honour. This stops him bringing out more dudes and allows your personality kill to knock off whoever he brought in.

The problem I hear most often voiced about dishonour is that you cannot draw the cards you need to win fast enough. The key to this is The Ring Of The Void. The ring is easily the most amazing card in L5R, the ability to drop the ring and draw five new cards is astounding. Merchant caravans are the key to getting the last of those cards out of hand. Remember that no matter what is in your hand you want to draw five at the end of turn, unless your hand _will_ kill next turn you should ditch it to draw five new ones. Even play Command of the Kami for no effect if it will let you draw five.

Enough about my favourite card...

Fate Deck. 39 cards + Kaede Sensei

3 Breach of Etiquette

3 Shame

3 The Winds Truth

3 Face of Nanube

3 Command of the Kami

3 Plea of the Peasants

2 Unrequited Love

3 Test of Honour

3 Dark Lord's Favour

3 Secrets on the Wind

3 Force of Will

2 Walking the Way

3 Rise from the Ashes

1 The Jade Throne

1 Ring of the Void

The rest of the fate deck is mostly a no brainer: Breach, Shame, Dark Lord's Favour, The Winds Truth etc.

Some folks like martyr, I am not one of those people. If you wish to play it then pull the Unrequited Loves from the deck. I have tried playing martyr and it only ever helps me defeat opponents that I would beat anyway, and its easier to ditch UL to get the RotV action going. :)

Dark Lord's Favour is amazing, you get to dishonour a guy and - most likely - your opponent takes a seven point honour loss, this is what TWT is in here for, anything else TWT does is only an add on, it is here to combo with the DLFs.

Face of Nanube. For when you absolutely positively have to breach on the first turn.

I only run 2 Walk the Ways as the deck is already full of spells. But you are always glad to draw this card. The other spells are just good :)

The Jade Throne helps you get the favour, the favour is key. You must control the favour. Some folks prefer The False Tao, as it combos well with the Death of the Ki-Rin, but dishonour already squashes military flat like a bug. :)

Dynasty Deck. 40 Cards The Shadow Stronghold of the Bayushi.

3 Merchant Caravan

3 Geisha House

3 Corrupt Geisha House

3 Jade Works

3 Den of Spies

1 Grove of the Five Masters

3 Yogo Shidachi

3 Soshi Jomyako

3 Soshi Bantaro

1 Bayushi Goshiu

1 Bayushi Goshiu Exp.

3 Doji Shizue

1 Shosuro Taberu

Inheritance

Kolat Duplicate

Imperial Gift

Death of the Ki-Rin

Emperor's Peace

Suspicions

As the Shadow Falls

Doom Of the Brotherhood

Rebuilding the Empire

The gold scheme looks a little tight but it plays REALLY well. Don't forget that MC + Den = combo :) No clan charter as it won't make spells for me.

I like Shugenja, and I hate the first Scroll is opened, that is why Bantaro makes the grade with his three chi in place of Jujun. Shidachi makes the cut as he is off the box for honour, which can be useful. And Jomyako has a spiffy ability :)

The two Goshiu's are extra Wind's Truths, and we know what that combos with.

Do not under any circumstance make a Goshiu if your opponent is playing the Egg of Pan Ku or Kolat Master, as he WILL kill you with him.

Unfortunately there is no space for Kachiko inExp :( She helps out with people's personal honour for the killing of them.

Shizue has an honour requirement which is a tad off, but still she is damn good for eking out those extra points of honour both ways.

Kolat Dup is in there for Kitsuki Kaagi's journal, or whoever needs to be gotten off the board. Rebuilding the Empire rather than Chris festival as Chris helps your opponent more than it helps you. And I have been hit by the doom a couple of times but it really helps with enlightenment. The other events should be clear enough.

The Match Ups.

Military.

Rise early, rise often. Though it is very possible to win without rising.... You should never lose this match up.

Enlightenment.

BREACH, or DLF (take the 7 points yourself) and shame. You must deny them dudes, without dudes there is no enlightenment. Bluff not having a Doom in the deck. Grab the favour and stop them drawing cards with it. This is a closer match up, watch out for him Wind's Truthing it back at you. You should win four out of five games.

Honour Runners.

Taberu is da man. Shizue is da woman. Honour run you opponent, stay ahead by dishonouring him and stealing his honour gains. Also Rise stops him gaining honour so do the Rise thing, the earlier the better. I do not face many Shinsei's shrine decks so I don't run Doom of the Crane.... This match up isn't to bad - although it _always_ looks really bad circa turn four.

Dishonour.

Every other dishonour deck has honour requirements on their shugenja, save some of the fox scum. So whip out some early dishonour and grab the favour and start drawing extra cards. Also the corrupt gold give you the speed edge over other them. Whatever you do don't lose to dishonour, as the irony other people percieve can be fatal.

Other Random Decks.

Squish 'em dead no worries.

Conclusion.

Dishonour feels good. Your opponent is scum, remind him of this a lot. Do not be afraid to shame your own dudes and winds truth it... especially if your opponent has only Samurai on the board.

And now that %$^£ Sagoten. Use the stronghold to stay on lower honour, and the Jade Throne to keep the favour.

Now lets us pray for a 0/3 Scorpion shugenja for 5 gold with -honour requirement and 1 personal honour. With the ability "Limited: draw a card, discard a card. Do this only once a turn."

That is all the dishonour for now. So get out there and show the world that your opponent is scum. :)

Good luck to all those going to Gen Con... May your opponents be playing corrupt gold and dudes with honour requirements, without that silly new sensei.