Toturi's Army

The strongholds from the eyes of a veteran Toturi Army Samurai.

Ahhhh.....Toturi's Army, when I think back to the old days when TA players had one of the worst strongholds in L5R (tying, perhaps with the old YA stronghold!!). There we were, a few years ago Mark, Rob, Brian and myself. We were all on an even playing field back then, simply becuase we all had feck all cards!! I still like the old stronghold " Toturi's Army " because of what it represented (ronin fighting for a greater cause etc.) and because of my own attitude of TA. I found it a challenge to try and build a deck that stood some chance of winning. The old stronghold was o.k., its ability to ignore the honor requirements of your TA personalities annoyed dishonor decks a bit and meant that we could play black markets without worrying about honor requirements etc. However, it did not compare with Mark's charging lion, or Rob's honor running Crane stronghold. Although, my deck did beat them quite often, this was more to do with luck and the fact that I had some good metagame cards for Lion and Crane, more than the fact that my stronghold was so good!?

I laugh now when I think back at some of the initial games we had. I would bring out my dishonored Toturi, in a multiplayer game and wait nervously, until everyone took their turn, without any of them playing remorseful seppukku!! If he did survive until my next turn, Toku (0/1) would step forward and declare that " The Fault was his! " and Toturi would be re-honored!! (yippie!) or Toku (0/1) taking out Matsu Gohei in a duel with a bend like a reed. Oh the fun we had!?

So what tricks were generally used in the old TA deck? Well, there were two main deck types. Dueling (with Mikio, Dairya, and Toturi) and fast follower military (ashigaru, ashigaru levies, bandit gangs, later on imperial legions etc.) combined with some boosters like destiny has no secrets, charges, frenzy etc. Access to loads of low cost TA dudes also helped this. (Ginawa, Tohaku, Toku exp, Hasame etc.) Other cards used included Stand Against the Waves (some things never change!?), Poison Weapons, One Koku, Flanking Manuevers (this card surprises alot of people, in the first L5R Storyline tourney in the UK, I bowed a 70 + force Naga Warlord with a Toku exp, with one of these babies!!)

Another combo was your TA/Dragon personalities and the event Alliance. (That's Togashi Mitsu, Mirumoto Hitomi, Mirumoto Daini exp, and Kitsuki Kaagi all off the box for less!!! Togashi Mitsu and Alliance first turn, upset quite a few opponents?!)This type of combo was used more in dueling decks becuase of their high chi. Togashi Mitsu pumped with a Tetsubo was another nasty sight to behold!

As more powerful strongholds came out winning with the TA stronghold became more and more difficult. But for those who kept the faith, (and for the bandwagoners, unfortunately!) our time did come in Dark Journey Home, with the Palace of Otosan Utchi. This was a powerful stronghold, with great abilites, some even described it as broken. ( I did not view it as such, very powerful but not broken i.e. how many major tournies/storyline events have TA won with this stronghold..... one maybe two, and I won't even start on about the Phoenix?!)

So what could you do with this stronghold? Well, it was quite flexible. It made honor running a viable option (although, it tended to start second to most honor runners, Crane, Phoenix, Lion, and now Fox!) Having the favor at the start gave it a little protection from breaches and the like. Honor runners tended to have quite a few Imperial cards in it as well (like the Imperial Standard, Imp. Ambassodors, Imperial personalities like Toku exp 2 & Toshiken etc.) Also included would be a heap of ph 3 guys.

Dueling is also an option, especially with the latest new dueling cards like Come One at a Time, etc. These dueling decks tend to be combined with honor runners and there are a lot of TA personalities with high chi.

Fast military, seems to be the most popular of TA decks, and has done the best of the three so far. Staple diet for these monsters are cards like Stand Against the Waves, Imperial Legions, Light Infantry, Berzerkers, Toku exp2 etc.)

An unfortunate varitation, of this deck is CTB - Corrupt Toturi Blitz. This deck incorporates everything into it, in order to get its speed! Corrupt holdings, Akuma, (+ exp), Toku exp, Take's - personalities off the box, etc. Extreme versions of this deck included Moto Tsumes, Oni no Ugulus, Zombie and Skeletal Troops. These did add to TA effectiveness somewhat, but did have major drawbacks. Dishonor decks tend to kill it and more solid based decks

with something in its arsenal for CTB tended to out last it, if it could withstand the initial onslaught. This is because if CTB does not kill you in 3-5 turns, it has little back up to left to play with (except for stands.)

Honorable military blitz has evolved as TA best option, as it has less problems with dishonor and tends to have a little back up for any game that may drag on a little. It also can hold onto the favor, which is a big plus.

So what about the new monkey stronghold? Well, this is not as powerful as the palace but does have some potential for dueling and honor running decks and well as tactician decks, we will have to wait and see.....

Sayanora for now,

Fight for your clan,

Sean "Takaun" Frank - Toturi's Army Samurai - Protector of Toturi's Soul