Well, instead of commenting on all the different Rugi-Fire decks, I will post my own:

Characters: 1
• 1x Mitsurugi 6HS 28HP

Actions: 4
• 4x Mist Stance 2/5 +2M

Attacks: 20
• 4x Cleave 5/3 4H5 Weapon +0H
• 4x Pommel Smash 3/3 2H1 Weapon Stun:1
• 4x Full Moon Disembowel 5/3 3H6 Weapon Combo(Action) +2M
• 4x Midnight Launcher 4/3 3H7
• 4x Execution Technique First Rite 4/3 3L3 Stun:2 Weapon +2L

Assets: 3
• 3x Reaver’s Axe 2/4 Unique Weapon +2H

Foundations: 37
• 4x For the Money 2/5 +3M
• 4x Relentless 2/4
• 4x Financial Troubles 2/5
• 4x The Strength Within 1/5 +2M
• 4x Brooding 1/5 +3H
• 4x Defeated the Rifle 2/5
• 4x Looking for a Thrill 2/4 +3H
• 4x Battle Tested 2/5
• 3x Stand Off 2/5 +3M
• 2x Paid to Protect 2/5 +3M

Side: 8
• 2x Paid to Protect 2/5 +3M
• 3x Warrior’s Path 2/5 +2M
• 3x All Life is Prey 2/5 +3L

This deck is still in the early stages, but I have looked at quite a few other versions of Rugi, and this is what I came up with.

Mitsurugi: Rugi himself is quite a powerhouse. +3 damage to attacks of a certain zone is very, very nice when most of your hard hitting attacks are the same zone. And the more attacks you can string along, the better the investment becomes. His speed bump is also very nice, very similar to a built in Drossel or Robes. 6 hand size puts him with the crowd, though 28 HP does have him up with some of the beefier characters.

Mist Stance: Oh how I could talk about this card. Has you draw a card for playing it, pumps damage just for being there, and gives a little speed bump to start off everything. Could not want more in a card, except for some way to negate the progressive.

Cleave: I have not seen this card in many Rugi builds, and I don’t know why. It is amazing with his buffs, and only gets better with a foundation base. Cheaper than some, Cleave has the added benefits of a very good block, and a nice synergy with First Rite. As a weapon, it can also work with Relentless and Reaver’s Axe, which is always nice.

Pommel Smash: Control. Pure and simple. Takes out their problem card. Though it can be boosted up into hurting range fairly easily. Rugi F, Mist Stance and Rugi E make it a 6H6 attack. Stack on the damage, and your opponent will be hurting to stop it with one of their precious blocks.

Full Moon Disembowel: A high, high damage attack that has a staggeringly effective ability set on it. Look at your opponent’s hand, boost damage, and, if possible, change the zone so they cannot full block. Great way to follow a Mist Stance.

Midnight Launcher: Not a weapon, I know, but in a deck of high attacks, Launcher is tops when it comes to damage. At 3H10 with just Rugi’s F, this attack will quickly make heads roll. Unfortunately, a lack of a block can make things hairy, but drawing into one of these can really put the nail in the coffin on a kill turn.

Execution Technique First Rite: Not High, for a reason. The benefit of this attack is very high in this deck. As a Stun attack, it has its uses, but the E is really where the benefit is. Use this attack after a Mist Stance, with Rugi’s E, and you have a 7L3 attack, that will make your next (5 diff high weapon) attack -2 difficulty. Pressure is on to block this one, but that makes blocking later very difficult.

Reaver’s Axe: Have you seen my weapons? Yeah. That’s why.

For the Money: Speed and damage need good checks, and with the Stun in this deck, using these early can be game breaking. Very key card.

Relentless: Weapon tech standard. Draw power in the middle of attacking can keep it going, or give me blocks if the kill does not happen.

Financial Troubles: Yeah, draw power tech. Either it’s a card advantage, or it’s a card advantage. I cannot complain. And the less cards in hand they have, the less attacks I need to really bring the hurt.

The Strength Within: Great stats on this card. Simply great. And versatile, which is what I am going for with my foundation base.

Brooding: With Mitsurugi’s large HP pool, I feel this foundation, while it only boosts damage, is very worth while, especially early game, where little bits of damage can help out.

Defeated The Rifle: Another card that is very versatile. I can use it to pump Speed and Damage, or use it to control Assets. Very worthwhile, even without a block.

Looking for a Thrill: This card is one that I feel might be a bit underappreciated. Comparing it to other foundations with similar stats, +3 to either Speed or Damage after a damage or speed bump is very cheap for just a commit. If I use Mitsurugi’s E, it suddenly becomes “E (4+), commit 1: +2 Speed, +3 Damage.” And, with all my crossing buffs, I will be able to use it at pretty much any time I need.

Battle Tested: At first I looked at this card and did not think too much about it, but then I realized that it did not commit itself. That means that pretty much every attack that either deals 5+ damage to them, or 4+ to me lets me draw cards. Very powerful, considering the amount of discard out there now.

Stand Off and Paid to Protect: Yeah, grouping together because they are obvious. Speed buffs hate PtP, and Stand Off is a great way to finalize a finisher, or knock some damage off an attack. Their numbers are partly due to personal collection, but also I did not want to load up on just the usual.

Sideboard: Yeah, Paid for more speed hate, Warrior’s Path for better comboing, and discard hate, and All Life as another Low block, as well as a decent damage pump, combining For the Money’s cancel and Mitsurugi’s F. Also good if someone tries to get cute with Maniacal, or NtD, or Intimadating.

Questions? Comments?

-Tinman

This is my favorite Mitsurugi build. Why did no one reply to it?

I have wheel kick->dragon lifter in mine, otherwise a lot of similarities.

needs hungry for battle somewhere. lots of 4 checks makes that card hot fire. solid list. somehow I had overlooked mist stance

Hmm. I had forgotten Hungry for Battle. I may need to look into it.

I did make some changes to this deck after some testing. Financial Troubles and Stand-off both are a bit too slow for my liking. Troubles just became a committed foundation most of the time, and the lack of a block messed me up once or twice. Any time that I knew I wanted to flush their hand, I already had all the attacks I really need, so I like having that extra foundation a bit more.

Stand-off was a bit of a personal choice. I looked at the foundations I have, and decided that having an ability that could be canceled just slowed down the build. Most, if not all, of my foundations have at least +2 damage by themselves, so commiting them for a possible canceled +4 damage was not worth it.

To replace these, I did want to look into filling in some Low blocks. The 2 foundations I looked at were All Life is Prey, and From the Mouse, Humility. All Life is Prey never really added much damage by itself (only real destruction in the deck is Rugi, and For the Money to an extent). From the Mouse took a bit more work to get really running, but the results were pretty nice. Being able to pull attacks back from momentum really nice, and it can pretty much force your opponent to full block the attack. A nice mix with Full Moon, because Full Moon should, at worst, be half blocked, and this assures I have some follow up.

Another card I looked at was Inhuman Speed. With Rugi's E, and Mist Stance, I could easily make any attack any zone. Also allows me to grab the +2 damage from Mist Stance on my First Rites.

-Tinman

I also ended up cutting troubles, I actually replaced it with Hope for one's People, just to spam more foundations turn one, hopefully setting up a better turn 2 kill.