Decklist here .

Drove out with Sean Bailey and Andrew Narzynski from SoCal again. Stayed with Thomas Stavlo and had dinner at an exotic meats restaurant. I had escargot (tasted a lot like mushrooms) and ostrich (tasted pretty much like beef). Thomas also has the cutest puppy ever.

We decided on site to cut to X-2, despite the relatively low turn out. Should be an interesting day.

R1 - Dragon Military (Derek Deboer)

I believe he goes first and shows me Ring of Earth. I show Ring of Air. His T1 flip had a Gold Mine in it, went straight to dynasty to buy it. I wrecked him.

R2 - Crab Military (Tim Stephens)

I botch an early attack where we wipe armies. He doesn't attack me once though, and I am able to apply continuous pressure to eventually win out.

R3 - Phoenix Brotherhood Honor (Jared Ro Bear)

Rematch from the Sacramento stream. I promise him I'll start the correct ring today. As it turns out, he switched his deck up to a more battle capable deck and I wind up getting hit with force penalties such that even his pitiful force defeats me. He gains a handful in battle resolution and that's more or less it. I didn't see a single piece of force penalty meta all game. Can't win if you don't see the cards at all, right?

R4 - Scorpion Shibata Sensei (Adam Funk)

**** this sensei! Adam is from San Diego and almost drove up to LA on Thursday to hitch a ride with us, though it did not work out that way. My gold was strong, and his T1 was good, but his T2 flip was atrocious. I think he wound up buying a Bayushi Junko and a Forgotten Legacy. He didn't seem to have drawn any Mercantile Conflicts, and I had Aranai's Armors, the Ancestral Armor and Spirited Dispute to stay upright. He conceded after I took his second province.

R5 - Scorpion Ninja (Ethan, I think)

My deck has a pretty good match up vs dueling decks due to Dragon's generally high Chi, and being able to equip 2 weapons. I arm a Reiji with 2 weapons and an armor and smash his first province. His Longji starts challenging him to grind out his Chi. I get out a Hooded Ronin and give him a Naginata. We stall for a bit, until I get a Hida Kozan to lock out his Longji and go bananas over his provinces.

That's it, so we take the cut, and I have to play in.

Play-In Round, Best of 1 - Scorpion Shibata (Sean Cullen, I think)

I start Ring of Air. And I'm correct, as he's playing Kensai. He makes an ill-advised defense against me and I take his army 3 unit army and province. He concedes.

Top 8, Best of 3 - Dragon Military Dueling (Jim Chin)

I've never played against Jim. I spent most of my career at the low tables, whereas he's usually at the mid-to-high tables.

Game 1 - I win the roll off and go first. He buys a Tsukazu and a holding T2. On T3, he attaches an invested Stockpiled Weapon. I have no gold up and I had a VtD and a Your True Nature. I should have played VtD to make him forget how to Kensai, but instead I pass and allow him to attach an uninvested Stockpiled. This I break for free, but he goes all in and attaches his 3rd Stockpiled to him, invested, and takes a province. I flip up a Coronation Festival, which makes me breathe a sigh of relief, but I promptly forget to use it. I had no weapons in hand and had to pitch most of my power uniques already, so I scoop to save time.

Game 2 - I forgot exactly what happened here, and maybe Jim can chime in. All I remember is some muttering about Clash of Blades. He scoops to me to go to Game 3.

Game 3 - He goes first now, as per modified Palmer rules. He gets a Reiji, as do I. He loads him up, snipes a province and buys a Higaru XP, and straightens Reiji on my turn. I can't swing because I fear Come One, so I hang back and buy an invested Hitomi. "This game is mine because he can't duel her", I think to myself. He loads up Higaru and send them one at each. I defend against Reiji because he's not a duelist, and I can hit him with a Standing Fast. He uses Sudden Movement to bring his Higaru in and now I don't have an action I can use against him. I pass, letting Lady Moon die for The Greater Good ^TM . He takes the other province and I am down 2, and he buys a Togashi Yokuni. "The game is his", I think to myself. But I draw into a lot of attachments via Destined, and I notice I have a Swifter than Sight and an Accessible Terrain. I swing in and he defends with Yokuni. He drops Come One at a Time and tries to kill one of my kensai, but I Swifter than Sight negate his death. I break the terrain. He plays Way of the Dragon and I have Courage Beyond Question. I hit Yokuni with Standing Fast. He moves in with his straightened Reiji and I hit him with Rewards of Experience. I take army and province. Unfortunately, I can't afford anything, and he still has a Higaru XP. I have a naked Reiji, so I send him to die in a glorious last stand. He gets hit with a Way of the Dragon, but I CBQ it, forcing him to use a Weakness Exposed. So I lose my 3rd province and he buys a Yoritomo. I can't let him sit back and build up, so swing in to him at two. He declines to defend, so he is at 1 as well. I CBQ one of my guys, and straighten the other for the impending attack. I hit his army with Standing Fast and bow 2 units. He uses Weakness Exposed with Yoritomo and I focus him out until I find my Spirited Dispute. I break Yoritomo's weapon and Jim is pretty much out of things to do.

Top 4, Best of 3 - Phoenix Yung (Stephen Vann)

I'm guessing he's playing honor, because it's really the deck with the best return on effort. I think their super shugenja deck is better, but much harder to pilot.

Game 1 - I get a Nexus T1 and leave an Otomo Bureaucrat face up, hoping to get a 2G holding. I do not, but I buy it anyway since it makes An Honored Guest pointless in his hand. I also resolve The New Order successfully. Regardless, I run out of uses of Ring of Earth at the final battle.

Game 2 - I do not find an Otomo Bureaucrat and he is at 24 honor on T4 and I haven't taken a province yet. I concede.