Despite one MarcoPulleaux 's comments about him, I feel Yi Shan** can be a force to be reckoned with in NewFS , if he is built and played properly. To that end, I present to you this deck, designed to use and abuse his (IMHO fantastic) attack support:

Yi Shan - The Iron Dragon:

Starting Character:

Yi Shan** (6 HS 26 Vitality) (Earth, Life, Water)

Actions (4):

4 Tieh Lei, Iron Thunder (2/5 +1H) (Earth, Life, Water)

Assets (2):

2 Pendant of the Western Paradise (3/5; Unique) (Earth, LIfe, Water)

Attacks (18):

4 Yi Shan's Dragon Tail Leg Sweep (3/3 3L3 +2L; Kick) (Earth, Life, Water)

4 Hilt Impact (4/3 3H3 +1M; Stun: 2) (Earth, Good, Life)

4 Yi Shan's Tiger Claw (4/3 3H5 +3H; Stun: 1) (Earth, Life, Water)

4 Striking Thunder (5/3 3M6) (Earth, Life, Water)

2 Rage of the Dragon (6/3 4M6 +1M; Punch, Yi Shan Only) (Earth, Life, Water)

Foundations (36):

4 The Man Behind the Mask (0/5 +3M) (Earth, Good, Void)

4 Brooding (1/5 +3H) (Death, Earth, Fire)

4 Torn Hero (1/5) (Earth, Good, Life)

4 Atoning for the Past (2/5 +3M) (Earth, Life, Water)

2 Dark Past (2/5) (Earth, Life, Water)

4 Killer Android (2/5 +2L) (All, Earth, Void)

4 Maniacal Laughter (2/5 +3H) (Chaos, Death, Earth)

4 Regretful Existence (2/5 +3M) (Earth, Good, Life)

2 Repentant Hero (2/5) (Earth, LIfe, Water)

4 Stand Off (2/5 +3M) (Air, Earth, Fire)

Side Deck (8):

2 Ymirfang (3/4 +2M; Unique, Weapon) (Death, Earth, Fire)

2 Monastery of Mt. Lao (4/4 +2M; Terrain) (Earth, Life, Water)

4 Ka Technique (2/5 +3M) (Death, Earth, Void)

General Deck Strategy:

Nothing too out of the ordinary here; you rush with attacks that are bolstered by Yi Shan** 's free E to go into your face-up momentum, which in turn make your consequent attacks stronger. In the end, you can score a kill by coming down with a lethal attack rush or busting out something large, like a Rage of the Dragon after you've collected some face-up momentum (and turned it into what you need to kill your opponent with Tieh Lei, Iron Thunder ). If you get attacked, don't sweat it: you have plenty of blocks, and your staging area can help you out a bit.

Card-by-Card Breakdown:

Yi Shan ** - The guy who makes the deck go. He has solid stats (6/26 is OK), and his effects make running this deck a heck of a lot smoother.

Tieh Lei, Iron Thunder - This is a beautiful card in this deck. Not only does it have a very pretty block (a +1H on a non-attack in NewFS , you say?) and a pretty solid buffing effect, it can also set up your kill turn beautifully by transforming the cards in your face-up momentum into the cards you need to put your adversary away. Don't forget the anti-discard effect, either.

Pendant of the Western Paradise - Damage bonuses are always nice to have, and a +3 for an E Commit is solid in my book. Additionally, it can make itself useful by triggering off any of the abilities that require me to discard momentum (or even when my opponent discards my momentum via momentum hate) in order to grab another attack to smack my opponent with or block an incoming swing. This is the card that I believe really allows Yi Shan** to hold his own against momentum hate users.

Yi Shan's Dragon Tail Leg Sweep - A solid "poke" attack, it has solid stats, a nice block, attacks and defends the hardest zone to defend right now ( Low ), and has a potentially useful effect in your face-up momentum, especially if your Tiger Claw or Striking Thunder gets blocked next turn. A very solid piece overall.

Hilt Impact - Another "poke" attack in the arsenal, this one hits up high, has a solid Stun rating, and a beautiful block to round it out. Great to play as an opening salvo, especially if you have a Tiger Claw in hand to take advantage of this attack being blocked (and believe me when I say that the only way you're gonna get stopped is if they commit to completely blocking your attacks).

Yi Shan's Tiger Claw - An attack with very strong stats (more damage than difficutly, and it has a Stun ), this bad boy also has a very nasty effect if it manages to land in your face-up momentum (giving every attack you play Stun is made of win).

Striking Thunder - Probably the best attack in this deck to have in your face-up momentum, it also comes in for a pretty hefty amount of damage for its difficulty, and that's always nice to have.

Rage of the Dragon - The finisher. Nothing more really need be said, except maybe a word on how this thing's damage balloons with some support combined with a Tieh Lei (sort of like a Combo attack, really).

The Man Behind the Mask - A 0-difficulty beauty with an absolutely awesome effect once your health gets a bit low (considering Yi Shan** 's only average 26 vitality, this isn't the hardest deadline to meet).

Brooding - A 1-for-1 vitality-for-damage trade on a foundation with great stats and doesn't commit to get it done. To boot, it can help me reach the required threshold for my other free damage E (on the above foundation) to come into play.

Torn Hero - Some good committing effect protection in a cheap foundation. It can potentially save your skin from just about any commit effect in NewFS , so it's a pretty good foundation to have.

Atoning for the Past - This can function as a catalyst for a kill turn by simultaneously cleaning the card pool and adding face-up momentum, or as a second effort to get an attack into your face-up momentum. Either of these applications is good.

Dark Past - A solid amount of damage buffing by tossing face-up momentum (+3 damage a pop in this deck, and it doesn't commit itself to do so). If you have the Pendant out, you can use it to fish for an additional attack to bonk him over the head with. A very good piece to have.

Killer Android - +2 blocks on foundations are rare. Low blocks in general are rare. This foundation provides both, and with a nice asset-protection effect. As a very nice aside bonus, this also stops Kazuya Mishima* 's "blow up the world" F dead in its tracks.

Maniacal Laughter - Munches on foundations for some extra Stun power, and can provide some extra momentum for Tieh Lei to work with. Awesome.

Regretful Existence - Some pretty painful destruction hate, and a "break in case of emergency" sort of damage buff.

Repentant Hero - Damage reduction by tossing face-up momentum. If you have the Pendant out, you can also use it to fish for a block. Sweet.

Stand Off - An extremely versatile foundation, it can pump damage, reduce damage, or commit out my opponent, all of which favor me in this build. Too good not to have, if you ask me.

Ymirfang - Offers big damage if you're willing to blow up foundations, and a surefire way to deal with assets if you're willing to pay some life. Good stuff.

Monastery of Mt. Lao - It's a Terrain , so it can deal with others of its kind, and that +1 speed or +1 damage can make a bit of a difference. If you manage to collect some face-up momentum, the Yi Shan F is solid gold.

Ka Technique - A beautiful piece of sideboard tech (it sure gives Gay Vampires the finger, I can tell you that from experience) that can work for you on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.

Give me your thoughts on this, if you will.

I would test Rising Hilt instead of the Leg Sweep, could turn around a failed kill turn. Also i would sideboard Perfect Sense of Balance for Torn Hero because both have no block, Torn Hero is cheaper and on stuns it works better. Also your deck will have momentum to protect something from targeted commit which is a bit rare but still existant. In the case your opponent forgot to include commit effects, both cards are useless so... the cheaper one wins right?

Indeed; don't really know what I was thinking, there.

Well, time to make my first playtest report! I was able to gut out a win against my housemate's Astrid deck, and I have a few comments:

1. Block 4 is a lot of fun . Deck construction is still a bit straight-forward (not much variety to choose from yet), but the actual game is a load of fun and great to play.

2. This guy can hit like a truck , and he can defend. One copy of Striking Thunder in this guy's face-up momentum or 2 copies of anything else (especially the Tiger Claw ), and he becomes a stone-cold killer capable of dropping opponents in a single turn. To boot, he basically the only guy with a solid staging-area based defensive scheme (takes the sting off some of the shots he takes).

3. Speed is still necessary. Even though I have a lot of pieces in the deck that are dedicated to making blocking as hard as possible for my opponent, I still got stuffed a few times, so don't take hitting for granted in Block 4.

4. Believe it or not, it's a bit more tactical than before. Resources are not freely replenished here (I'm looking at you, Battle Prowess ), so you have to manage them a bit better in order to stay alive. Very appealing.

All in all, my foray into Block 4 has been very satisfying, and I look forward to playing it in the future, especially as long as my favorite character sticks around.

iv got a very similar yi shan deck apart from the assets, im running 3 pendents and 3 POTM. very nice pump on the last attack in a string (namely leg sweep cos of the low diff)
glad yours seems to be doing ok, mine isnt working out so good atm, all the other decks in the meta are too fast for yi shan to get enough attacks out...
anyways, i say POTM but u might want to remove another asset from the deck for it so as not to overload on assets, which one i dont know, that would be a tough descision.

Theo

Not to mention getting Path of the Master is almost impossible for a person who was unable to go to the tournaments (I live in Puerto Rico , so no major tourneys for me), but I'd gladly unload my Pendant of the Western Paradise if I could get my mitts on some.

I didn't like Eiserne Drossel due to it hurting you. With little to no healing in sight it could be a bit more risky. Other then that I like the general function of the deck.

I've found most opponents are so eager to block the attack after I use Eiserne Drossel's first E that the damage rarely occurs. Since most of my attacks are low difficulty, I just string a few together accepting that the first might not go through.

What Worker_X said, though I'm planning to add Close Throw as an attempt to remedy that sort of situation, and I am debating the symbol of choice for the character as well; I think Yi Shan** gains much offensive power (mostly in the form of throws) if he switches to Earth , but I'm not sure it's worth the assured face-up momentum hits I get from running attacks with Yi Shan** 's support and liberal amounts of speed buffing (which do more good in the face-up momentum) as he is right now (off Life ), which is what genuinely makes the character special. Thoughts?

After playtesting an Earth version of Yi Shan** , I have concluded that Life is the way to go for the Dragon of Mt. Lao . Speed and stunning trumps throws in this case, since his support doesn't pack any throws by default, and it's important that attacks get in and deal their damage.

Until LIFE gets throws the thing that is sure that is guranteed damage increases is not happening. One thing that might have to be looked into is combining a bit more of Ivy's offense and maybe a lowdown neb finisher after a chain combo of 3 or 4 attacks.

Close Throw is the hotness, darklogos 8)

darklogos said:

It may not be 100% guaranteed, but it's pretty **** close. An off-zone Stun: 2 + attack with 5-9 speed is a rough block to make, even if it's the first attack of the turn, and the rest will be around that range, so I can tell you I've had very few problems getting through enemy defenses with this deck. I've been considering Genius Alchemist , but only if Purified Body doesn't work out well for me. I also have had little problem mustering up the damage to kill, because I've been getting face-up momentum. Overall, the deck runs pretty smooth, actually.

Unfortantly its hard to remember that when twindragon doesn't have the card on there. So I'm a bit left out in my research.

That's true; 2HD is still behind the Block 4 rotation shenanigans.

LordAggro said:

That is why I'm working on Zhao Daiyu so much. The power given by Dark Past, Iron Body Technique and Zhao Family discipline can not be ignored. One has to play anti-momentum tech to stop good life and earth decks. I'm seeing this deck being one of the top decks if it can handle knightmare, Jin, and Kazyuma. If you have enough Iron Bodies and enough face up momentum you are stopping Ivy cold. Seigfried is the only other life character that do more damage then Yi Shan due to his E. Add in Mesmerizing dance, Needs not Ally and Master Robes and its game. Yi Shan can beat out Seigfried/life by having more attacks that are face up that give him cool abilities. There is the concern for Hilde but I haven't seen how she is supposed to be super crazy with what is left. No one has posted a b4 build of her. Since you are not using Genius Alchemist you are not having check problems I assume.

No, I am not having any check problems. The problem I have had is drawing into only 1-2 attacks after my defense has stuffed my opponent, and finding it hard or impossible to finish him off.

My experience with Nightmare * is that I need very few foundations to finish him off, so I'm able to put him away without too much trouble.

We'll see if I can handle Kazuya* and Jin* , but I don't think they'll be any more troublesome for me than they are for anyone else. To be honest, I'm more worried about King* ; he tosses out throws like candy corn, and he can make me toss my precious momemtum bit by bit. Hilde is OK right now, but Siren's Call or Odin's Wrath + Dual-Wielding is a hard combo to pull off before I can score a KO (this deck works fast, especially with all the Stu n attacks I'm packing and with her only having 18 Vitality). I think Yi Shan** 's unparalleled ability to abuse his foundations ( Dark Past , Iron Body Technique , Repentant Hero , Zhao Family Discipline ) is what puts him over Siegfried * , considering that all he can really abuse better than anyone else is Needs No Ally .

Anyway, talking about the changes now. I've been drawing into too few attacks lately, so I decided to add another Stun attack in Close Throw (which, as the name implies, also provides me with throwsauce, a la Earth ). Purified Body hasn't been doing much of anything, so it goes out to make room for the extra attacks, as well as to finish my playsets of Dark Past and Repentant Hero . Thoughts?

I'm using pretty much most of your support you are talking about in my Seigfried deck and seeing pretty good results. The ability to check for more damage pumping every turn has panned out well. I think that your kill ability would go up if you could get 2 or 3 copies of Yi Shan * in your deck. His ability is more damage focused. Then you can get your kills in. Other then that from what you said there is nothing really to change. I'll have to post my Zhao deck here so we can try to tweak that.

darklogos said:

Isn't that Yi Shan* Block 3?

Nekuro said:

Crap it is. Man and I ordered some not paying attention assuming they were legaL. Crap more money wasted.

darklogos said:

Unfortunately, that is true. I have been running Yi Shan* since he came out, basically, and sudden rotation basically made me start over. My condolences on your investment. And yeah, I'd like to see your Zhao Daiyu** deck, because every time I look at Chaos ' foundation base, I cringe over the utter lack of blocks on it, so sell me something there (unless you're running her off Death or Evil , which is what I'd do, frankly).

You're missing your Genius Alchemists and Keeper of the Watchers.

IMO, Keeper of the Watchers and From the Hawk are staples in the format. You're afraid of what they have? Blocks? Actions? Not anymore. Keeper is speed pump and revealing, which will better help you determine your moves, especially when they so foolishly leave 1-2 cards.

I have a Life Yi Shan built, and while damage output is key, you can afford to lose a Dark Past, and maybe even a Repentant, although I do realize how important they are. Genius Alchemist is simply too useful, especially for Yi Shan who simply LOVES playing strings of low diff, high damage attacks.

You have my ear, Marco (or do you prefer Shinji ?): what do you suggest I toss for them, then? I could trim Dark Past and Repentant Hero somewhat to put in one, but what about the other?

*Bump!*

Just wanted to comment on the deck's performance so far; I've gone 3-0 since going up to 20 attacks, and against Astrid , Ivy , and Nightmare , no less (not so low tier now, eh?). I'm feeling good about where this deck is right now. I also wanted to comment on a pretty minor fix:

+1 Atoning for the Past, Regretful Existence

-1 Dark Past, Repentant Hero

This will hopefully make me a little more efficient at blocking, as well as crunch-time face-up momentum and damage. Good stuff.

How to make room for Alchemists:

-Tieh Lei, Iron Thunder
-Iron Body Technique
-Zhao Family Discipline
-Keeper of the Watchers
+4 Genius Alchemists

Reasons:

Tieh Lei, Iron Thunder: While this card IS a staple in Yi Shan (and probably Yi Shan only), you only really need to use it ONCE in a game to get your desired face-up momentum. Yi Shan's E, plus Atoning, see to it you're likely getting what you want in your momentum anyways.
Iron Body Technique: While it's pretty good late-game if you have plenty of face-up momentum, you're already running 2 Repentant, and with my suggestion, 3 Iron Body. It has no block, and does nothing without face-up momentum.
Zhao Family Discipline: Pretty much same as Iron Body Technique, but for damage.
Keeper of the Watchers: Awesome card is awesome, but it doesn't take 4 copies to be good.

I have a Life Yi Shan built as well (only because I lack GOOD cards =p), and Alchemist has taken me very far. I've played a whole 6 attack string thanks to them, and walled behind Iron Bodys during their assault next turn =). That, and with Alchemist in your deck, you could bait them with stuff like Hilt Impact and Tiger Claw, remove progressive difficulty, and hit em hard with Thunder and Rage.