There's this Crane deck I've been having a little fun with, ever since the Phoenix pack came out. The basic idea is to keep slamming Air and Fire, honor as many of your folks as possible, and get to 25 as fast as you can. I realize there isn't much of an answer against high Military stats, that's something I may consider in the future. Granted, I've only played three games with it so far, and no wins yet, but I do get to 23, 24 honor before they take my Stronghold (maybe I DO need to do something about that Military...). Even so, it's a joy to pilot.

Seal of the Phoenix is in there in case you need to make more Phoenix Shugenja, to use Benten's Touch. I'm not 100% sold on using either Hotaru or Yoshi, but they're definitely powerful cards, so for now, they're in.

Constructive criticism is always appreciated!

https://fiveringsdb.com/strains/0f0ec036-5b02-11e8-9ce5-8e1ccf16fca4/view

Seal of Phoenix grants scholar not shugenja or are you making your existing crane shugenja into Phoenix?

maybe Kakita Blade to get some extra honor from a duel?

hard to say if going with Kami Unleashed and Hotaru and keeping seeker role are better for honor running?

i was trying something similar with unicorn by using Tetsuo to drag the SoK into battles to grant air and just try to win rings. Then if you can get somewhere near the high teens try to resolve Way of the Crystanthumumumum

1 hour ago, Ishi Tonu said:

...... Then if you can get somewhere near the high teens try to resolve Way of the Crystanthumumumum

IT, you get a Like simply due to your proper ‘enunciation’ of crysthamum-mmmum-muh-mum-mmm, which is the best that I’ve read on the internet.... Your advice on the other hand sucks.

(Crane sucks; bunch of pansy Elves) ?

Hey if they want to run honor all I can do is try to support them. Good advice would be “don’t”. I’m just not that kind of person to try and discourage someone from trying something different.

I leave that to you oh blunt one, crusher of dreams, drinker of tears, and puncher of kittens. ?

7 hours ago, Ishi Tonu said:

Seal of Phoenix grants scholar not shugenja or are you making your existing crane shugenja into Phoenix?

maybe Kakita Blade to get some extra honor from a duel?

hard to say if going with Kami Unleashed and Hotaru and keeping seeker role are better for honor running?

i was trying something similar with unicorn by using Tetsuo to drag the SoK into battles to grant air and just try to win rings. Then if you can get somewhere near the high teens try to resolve Way of the Crystanthumumumum

Seal: to make my Cranes in to Phoenix. Plenty of Crane Shugenja in here to light on fire.

Kakita Blane: That's... a pretty sweet idea. I didn't want to go duel-heavy, and this pretty clearly telegraphs "I have duels!" But with the even minor military bump it could be worthwhile.

I doubt your Policy Debates will be much of a surprise for most opponents anyhow. May as well have the extra Political Kakita Blade gives you in duels to make it that much easier for yourself (and the extra honor/military buff are nice, too).

You might need to slam earth harder than fire, in my opinion. Decks like these are usually at a disadvantage on conflict cards because you have to bid low, so hitting their hand will help keep you from losing games.

Depending on how comfortably you can win some conflicts, you might be able to drop the Seals and Benten's Touch in favor of Magnificent Kimono. It's not good if you're potentially losing conflicts, but if you can handily win your politicals, you can use it as a cheap means of honoring, which frees up room by dropping Seals. Seals never seem worth the trouble of trying to combo to me.

I do agree that Kami Unleashed would probably do good work for you, but I'm not sure how to fully drop more influence points and take the Seeker role. You'd have to swap out a couple seekers or Kaito to fit it, and even then maybe some against the waves. Not sure that's a good trade overall.

A friend has an honor deck with crane, and his build focuses on a lot of duels as well. Kakita Blade is definitely worth it in his deck. It's probably good in yours too simply as an extra chance for more honor, and it really does help with the Policy Debates. Without another duelist in there though, I'm not sure about it.