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From the Sensei: Scorpion Strategy for The New Orderby Bryan ReeseSince Ivory Edition released, I’ve been looking forward to making a Monk deck that abuses the Elemental Rings. I’ve always been a fan of “Kung Fu Monks”, as well as using the Rings to their full potential, and with Ivory Edition and the fact that many of the Rings have Repeatable Actions, this is more true than ever. With the tools we get in The New Order, I’d argue there’s never been a better time than now, so here’s such a deck that I have put together in the Arc format. This can quite easily be adjusted to Strict, if that’s your preferred play format, and that will be discussed later.# Pre-Game (2)# Stronghold (1)1 The Remote Monastery of the Dragon# Sensei (1)1 Brotherhood Sensei# Dynasty (40)# Event (1)1 Wisdom Gained# Holding (19)1 Bamboo Harvesters - exp3 Fudoist Temple3 Jade Pearl Inn3 Jade Works3 Protected Temple3 Remote Temple3 Suana Dojo# Personality (20)1 Kimura, Forgiver of Sins1 Mirumoto Shikei, the Laughing Dragon - exp3 Togashi Gozato, the Wise Monk3 Togashi Korimi1 Togashi Mitsu - inexp1 Togashi Noboru - exp21 Togashi Noboru, the Shattered Star - exp3 Togashi Ogure3 Togashi Shao3 Togashi Yayoi# Fate (40)# Follower (6)3 Anonymous Monk3 Dragon Elite Inkyo# Ring (4)1 Ring of Air1 Ring of Earth1 Ring of the Void1 Ring of Water# Strategy (30)1 A Game of Dice3 Banishing Breath1 Contentious Terrain1 Elemental Adroitness3 Find Your Center2 Honed to a Razor's Edge2 Kharmic Threat3 Long Term Fruition3 Nubane's Defense3 Palm Strike1 The Crystal Tears3 The Wrath of Osano-Wo3 Undone by the Enlightened1 Unexpected AttackThis is a straightforward Monk deck that defaults to starting with the Ring of Air in play, thanks to the Stronghold Trait, and uses Brotherhood Sensei (though more for its Ability than its Trait.) That said, its Trait is pretty “sexy”, and can be really strong with an early Togashi Korimi or two, preventing you from having to discard Fate cards at inopportune times. The Battle/Open straighten Action, is what I’m after, though. It could be worth adding Summer Court, allowing you to use the Ability on both player turns. Moreover, unlike other -1GP Sensei, the Brotherhood Sensei comes with an extra 3 Gold-for-4 Gold Holding in the form of Protected Temple. This gives it a key economic advantage over other -1GP Sensei, such as Yung Sensei.Regarding the deck itself, Wisdom Gained should require no explanation. There are 19 Holdings, which could be too many, especially with the ability to play a total of six 3 Gold-for-4 Gold Holdings. Some of these “extra” Holdings could be replaced with Events, such as Glimpse of the Unicorn to keep that Fate hand filled--again, the Sensei’s Trait is beneficial here. Among the Holdings are nine Temples, which should be more than enough to make the Sensei’s Trait work effectively (especially given that, thanks to the Stronghold, we start with a Temple in play!) Six of the Temples are new ones; three Protected Temples and three Remote Temples. The Holding scheme is otherwise pretty self-explanatory, with Jade Works making Dragon Elite Inkyo cheaper. If we weren’t using the Brotherhood Sensei, and as such were not using Protected Temples, we could definitely play two or even three Jade Bazaars. With the Jade Works, they become 3 Gold-for-4 Gold Holdings themselves. Although Dragon does not go second all the time, when we do, getting that extra Dynasty flip is very nice and any extra advantage to help combat the tempo loss of going second is good.Regarding Personalities, we have an excellent suite of Monks to choose from--so many, in fact, that I had to cut some pretty good ones. The only ones we probably need to talk about are Togashi Gozato and both versions of Togashi Noboru. Noboru is fantastic in both versions, but many people will question playing with two of the same Unique card. I’ve rarely found this to be an issue, whether playing both versions of Noboru in a deck like this one, or using both versions of other Personalities in other decks, such as Daigotsu Kanpeki in Spider. Rarely do they conflict, and when they do, you can generally find other things on which to spend your Gold on that Turn. I find it similar to playing two copies of a Singular card, such as Counting House (to any new players, Counting House used to have the keyword Singular, but we abandoned that Keyword with Ivory Edition).Togashi Gozato is a bit of a trickier call. He is 3 Force for 7 Gold, which starts him off on the wrong foot, but he quickly makes up for it. His 5 Chi is excellent with respect to cards like Wrath of Osano-Wo and Banishing Breath which, incidentally, are two of your most powerful Fate cards. Beyond this, he has a strong and very versatile Ability, allowing him to retreat or straighten. You can defend with Gozato, play Wrath of Osano-Wo to kill something, then bow your Ring to move him Home. This allows you to cause some attrition and lose nothing yourself except a Fate card. Such “hit and run” tactics in fact make up a different version of the deck.In the Fate deck we have, of course, the Rings. You’ll notice the deck does not contain the Ring of Fire. The reason for this is that I personally feel you either start with the Ring of Fire in play, or you simply don’t play it in this type of deck. If you don’t essentially build your deck around starting with the Ring of Fire in play, then I don’t believe you get enough value out of it to make including it worthwhile. However, a great build for this deck actually starts with the Ring of Fire in play and focuses on early “hit-and-run tactics”, giving you extra time to set up and develop a superior table position. Wrath of Osano-Wo plus Ring of Fire on defence is a brutal detriment to an early attack. With the right draw, you may even get off a Redirecting Rage, killing three cards for one of yours. I really like this version of the deck, but for this article, I am focusing on starting with the Ring of Air in play (although even this can be tailored, depending on your opponent; for instance, if you know you’re facing a defensive deck that relies heavily on Send-Home effects, you might want to consider starting with the Ring of Earth in play).Regarding attachments, we play six. The three Dragon Elite Inkyo are simply fantastic, fueling cards like Banishing Breath and Wrath of Osano-Wo without costing yourself any Force. The three Anonymous Monks are also solid Followers. They begin the game with 2 Force and Expendable, thanks to your being Dragon. As soon as you get a second Ring into play, they give the Monk to which they’re Equipped Cavalry; at this point, I don’t need anything else. I always love having one or two Cavalry units at Home, allowing me to commit only the forces I need while holding back extra units. If you do get that third Ring out, which happens frequently, you also get the extra bonus of an additional point of Force.As for the Strategies, there are all solid Monk- and Ring-based cards. The Rings give you the versatility to repeatedly get the effects you need without expending resources such as cards from your Fate hand. I’m frankly not sure which Terrain is the best to include in this deck, so currently there is one copy of each of three different Terrains, in order to test them out. It could very well be Unexpected Attack that makes the cut because having Terrains of your own does not seem crucial, making this is more of a Terrain protection slot. If that’s all we’re doing, then we might as well draw Fate cards from it and maximize our value from those slots, digging to strong Monk actions like Palm Strike and Banishing Breath. Honed to a Razor’s Edge is another solid, new addition to this deck from The New Order. The big advantage it has going for it is that it is a Kiho with Discipline, so you can discard it for the Actions on, say, Togashi Ogure or Remote Temple and still be able to use it for its Action by paying its Discipline cost. It might be worth playing Contemplative Shrine in this deck for the same reason, although I would look at then maximizing the effect of the 3 Gold from Contemplative Shrine during the Action Phase by playing some more Attachments. The last card that we get from The New Order for this deck that is, to me, really exciting is Undone by the Enlightened. This is actually two effects in one, though that may not be immediately apparent. Not only does it unconditionally kill a card without Attachments--an incredibly powerful effect on its own--it also puts the Ring back into your Fate Hand. This may seem like a drawback (and, at times, it will be) but remember that when the Ring goes into your Fate hand, it has gone both out-of-play and “face down”, meaning you can use its Abilities again that turn. So, for example, you could use your in-play Ring of Air by bowing it to straighten a card, then use Undone by the Enlightened to kill an enemy card without Attachments, causing the Ring of Air to go back into your hand, then play the Ring of Air from your hand to straighten yet another card. In a key battle, this extra use to straighten a crucial card could mean the difference between victory and defeat!I now find myself looking at different variations of this deck that I may want to try. Two other variations come to mind--one using Shugenja, and one in the Strict format.If you want to try this deck with Shugenja, I consider adding Komori Taruko and Tamori Wataru. These personalities have 4 and 5 Chi respectively, which is great for both Banishing Breath and Wrath of Osano-Wo. Wataru’s ability is very strong, especially with the Ring of Air allowing him to bow for his Ability, then straighten to be ready for battle. Komori Taruko compliments the deck very nicely, allowing you to attack with multiple units, subsequently straightening them with a combination of the Brotherhood Sensei, the Ring of Air, and Taruko, making you more than ready to defend. With the addition of Shugenja, I would play at least one Spell--specifically, three copies of Stones of Purity. Since you’re already playing Jade Works, you immediately have some synergy at work, and that Spell is worth 4 to 5 Force on your Shugenja, which is phenomenal for only 3 Gold (i.e. what it will effectively cost you to Equip Stones of Purity by bowing a Jade Works). If you want to build this deck in Strict format, I would suggest going with the Shugenja adjustments above, while changing the Sensei to Yung Sensei. Yung Sensei gives you access to Self and No Self, particularly during battle. This allows you to use the Kharmic effect to discard this card during battle, possibly for free, while drawing a card and straightening a Ring. You also could add Aligned with the Elements and the Ancestral Armor of the Dragon Clan, effectively offsetting the loss of Elemental Adroitness and Find Your Center. In such a build, I would also consider starting with the Ring of Fire in play and playing a slower, more control-oriented variant of the deck that uses defensive, hit-and-run tactics to save its Provinces early, while causing some attrition (as described above). It’s remarkable how effective the Ring of Fire can be at this. Also, when changing the deck to Strict format, the deck as it sits currently would only have three cards with Focus Values lower than 3, and many with a Focus Value of 4. You also have seven Monks and/or Shugenja who start with 4 Chi, plus another nine or so who start with 4 Chi. I would definitely explore using Weakness Exposed and perhaps even some other Duel effects (although there would probably not be a need to focus too heavily on Dueling).So there it is, my first attempt at a Monk deck that attempts to make full use of the Rings, based on new cards from The New Order, plus some ideas on how to adjust it to add some powerful Shugenja options and adjust it for play in the Strict format. I’m really excited for the potential of Dragon with The New Order. Take this deck, make it stronger, and may the wisdom of Togashi always guide your path.
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