Ivory Edition Kotei Military Deck Analysis

As discussed earlier this week, AEG has started collecting and publicizing the T2 decks from each Kotei (in theory I’m still a proponent of them collecting and publishing every deck that makes the cut, although I have to say that after spending a ton of time compiling the information just from the T2 decks, I’m also kind of glad they didn’t). So what I thought it would be interesting to do with those decks, now that we have all of Ivory Edition, is break things down card-by-card and see what actually got played.

For this post, I’m going to be looking at the pretty straightforward military decks. By my count, that’s 78 of the 102 T2 decklists. There are some I might be wrong on, so I erred on the side of excluding anything that looked borderline (for example, is that a military Scorpion deck with some dishonor, or is that a dishonor deck that tries to win fights? also, what do I do with Stewart’s Lion deck with attacking-only cards but also Kabuki Theater Troupe – is it designed to take a couple of provinces and then sit back, or are the KTT’s a ‘just in case’ backup plan?). There will be a followup post that throws everything in together, and then probably a third post that looks at the “everything else” pile, although just mixing honor and dishonor in together may not be that helpful (and I’m pretty sure I’m not going to write anything breaking down just dishonor or honor decks).

So, how helpful is this? I’m not sure, really. Ideally we’d have something like a comparison between all of the decks that did well and all of the decks that didn’t, so we can contrast them. If a card never gets played except in a few T2 decks, that might mean it’s a hidden gem – but if it gets played all the time, but barely ever makes T2 decks, that might mean it’s just bad. But we don’t have that sort of data, and processing it would take an insane amount of time. So we’re just going to sort of assume that a card showing up in a lot of T2 decks says something positive about its power level/importance, and a card showing up very little generally says something negative.

Additionally, there’s no getting around the fact that the sorts of cards that show up in this list a lot are either generic ones or ones that are specific to really good decks. And cards from themes that are not so great are not going to show up. So the fact that, for example, several Scout cards show up, but Kensai cards mostly don’t, likely says just as much or more about the strength of those decks as it does about the strength of those cards (except for Advance Warning, that think is the nuts).

But you can talk about that in the comments down below. Note that, if you want to skip the analysis part, you can scroll all the way to the bottom and just get the list I’m talking about in the analysis. Note that this is not raw data (the raw data is the decklists, which you can find here). Rather, it is a curated set of data drawn from those decklists. Again, I had to pick which decks to include, and ended up with 78. Also, with this many numbers flying around, there’s a non-zero chance that I made a data transcription error at some point. I sort of apologize if that happened – I’ll feel bad if it did, because I’d like the analysis to be as solid as possible, but not all that bad, because I already spent way too much time on this.

Clan Spread

The Impregnable Fortress of the Crab (2)
The Exquisite Palace of the Crane (26)
The Remote Monastery of the Dragon (5)
The Honorable Garrison of the Lion (9)
The Fruitful Port of the Mantis (12)
The Eternal Temple of the Phoenix (1)
The Shadowed Estate of the Scorpion (3)
The Sinister Citadel of the Spider (1)
The Golden Plains of the Unicorn (19)

That’s the clan spread of the 78 decklists, if you’re counting.

Cards That Most Good Military Decks Played

Creating Order (77)
Ring of Earth (71)
169 Jade Pearl Inn (61)
Ring of Air (61)
120 Unsettling Gathering (57)
Bamboo Harvesters Experienced (55)
116 Sudden Movement (48)
61 Deep Harbor (47)
112 Back to the Front (46)
112 Famous Bazaar (45)
113 Advance Warning (42)
A Game of Dice (41)
114 Unholy Strike (40)

You’ll note that there are two numbers for most cards. The number in front is the total number of copies played in the 78 decks (so a maximum of 234 for non-Unique cards). The number behind is the number of decks that ran the card. There’s no number out front for Unique cards. With 78 decks, any card that appears at least 40 times was in more than half of the decks, hence the section title.

I’m not sure how much there is the way of surprises here. Creating Order, Ring of Earth, and Ring of Air just have really strong effects that aren’t duplicated anywhere else (the fact that Ring of Air is essentially a lousy Creating Order, and is still played in over 75% of military decks, tells you something about how bonkers Creating Order is, even after its errata). The power of Jade Pearl Inn and Unsettling Gathering is well-documented. Deep Harbor is everyone’s favorite JPI target. Famous Bazaar has been a known great since it was first printed. And all of them slot into pretty much any military deck. Unholy Strike should also not come as a surprise to anyone, although I think it has appeared a bit less after the Crane nerf, since they were pretty likely to run the Ranged Attack Follower suite, which really likes the +2 ability on Unholy Strike.

Bamboo Harvesters and A Game of Dice are somewhat noteworthy in that they both have what I see as a counterpart (Oracle of the Void and Ring of the Void), and I was curious to see which came out on top. Each of these two beat its rival by about 15 appearances.

But the most noteworthy thing, I think, are the non-Unique strategies near the bottom of this particular list, because I’m not sure how much of the playerbase realizes how strong Back to the Front, Sudden Movement, and Advance Warning are. Getting your big (possibly bowed) unit into the battle is a huge deal. Being able to eject with a bonus is a big deal, and Advance Warning provides a big bonus. Note that, while Advance Warning’s numbers are as high as they are because the two strongest Clans have some (possibly an entire deck worth, in Crane’s case), Advance Warning is not at all limited to Scout decks or even decks with Scouts.

Oh, and if you’re curious, if we created an entry for “Clan Holding,” it would be present as a 3x in all 78 decks. That may seem pretty obvious, but it’s not true once you include non-military decks.

Too Big To Fail

Oracle of the Void Experienced (39)
106 Productive Mine (37)
81 Breaking the Rhythm (36)
92 Nexus of Lies (35)
70 Fall Back! (35)
87 Entrenched Position (33)
76 Versatile Army (32)
The Shakash Experienced (30)

Also known as the “at least 30 decks used this card” category. While Unholy Strike was on a bit of a downswing, Breaking the Rhythm was been on an upswing in the second half of the Kotei season (that is, Unicorn and Abbott/Wong style decks liked it better than Crane Scouts did). We also see the much-adored-by-me 4-4-4 Holdings here. There would probably be more, but Unicorn isn’t super-enthused about them and Crane Scouts pre-errata liked to run things like House of Prophecy or Heavy Infantry Dojo, using the Stronghold to make up for the missing gold production on the 4G Holding.

I think that Fall Back! is a somewhat lesser part of that Back to the Front/Sudden Movement array that gives you a lot of options for getting your nasty units into (or out of) battle, and straightened, as needed.

Much like Advance Warning was boosted by Scouts, Versatile Army is boosted by Unicorn, where it is extremely powerful (there isn’t much else in the environment that has an action so versatile and strong). But (as you can tell if you count the number of Unicorn decks and the number of decks sporting Versatile Army) it is not limited to Unicorn, or even to decks with a large Cavalry presence.

And look, it’s our first Personality! I have to say, after I went on and on about how good he was in my Ivory Edition On the Cheap articles, I was happy to see that he did end up penetrating pretty far into the competitive environment. I think that he has also been on the upswing as the season has gone on (along with his little buddy, who is below).

Systematically Important

60 The Crystal Tears (29)
80 Family Dojo (28)
77 New Cavalry Tactics (28)
58 The Turtle’s Shell (28)
30 Iuchi Wattu (28)
Zansho Experienced (28)
Dark Audience (28)
30 Yukihime’s Hot Springs (27)
Ring of the Void (27)
78 Marketplace (26)
53 Deliberations (26)
Temple of Tengen (26)
The Exquisite Palace of the Crane (26)
Akagi Sensei (26)
72 Traveling Market (25)
25 Counting House (25)
Daidoji Tametaka Experienced (24)
67 Daidoji Kinta (23)
58 Justice of the Crane (22)
Iuchi Karasu Inexperienced (22)
61 Daidoji Tametaka (21)
61 Daidoji Tanshi (21)
60 Expert Archers (21)
41 Lakeside Retreat (21)
The Dark Naga Experienced (21)
Asukai, the Tireless (21)
59 Spitting Llama (20)
52 Incapacitated (20)
41 General’s Hatamoto (20)
40 Contentious Terrain (20)
Ring of Water (20)

This list is getting a little unwieldy, and will be the last of the entries that are just X number of card cutoffs. I’m just going to skip over some of these because they’ll get touched on later.

I note that the exact same number of decks that played Family Dojo played New Cavalry Tactics, and in almost the same quantities. It’s almost like it’s a combo or something!

Yuikihime’s Hot Springs is, of course, the #2 JPI target in this environment. Traveling Market is the top choice of Lion/Unicorn decks (a lot of JPI still in pony though).

With Counting House, Ring of the Void, Iuchi Wattu, and Temple of Tengen we continue to see that efficient card draw/cycle is valuable.

Cards That Showed Up More Than I Thought They Would

23 Family Library (17)
24 House of Prophecy (10)
17 Kikage Zumi Initiates (6)
Kaiu Esumi – Experienced (4)

Just some random things that jumped out at me (and I’m not going to talk about anything that only showed up a couple of times). Family Library is a card that I personally find myself having no interest in, but it has shown up as a singleton a good amount late this season (including in Abbott’s Mantis deck). House of Prophecy I’m surprised about because a lot of its appearances were after the Crane errata. I am clearly more fixated on hyper-stable gold than those at the top tables of your local Kotei.

Most of Esumi’s appearances were out of clan. Not a guy I would have thought was going to show up out-of-Clan, even if 4 times isn’t exactly a ton.

So many good Followers, I had somehow missed that there were actually non-Spider decks doing things like running Kikage Zumi Initiate and Okura is Released.

Top Crane Personalities

Daidoji Tametaka Experienced (24)
67 Daidoji Kinta (23)
61 Daidoji Tametaka (21)
61 Daidoji Tanshi (21)
Asukai, the Tireless (21)
51 Daidoji Gensai (19)
50 Daidoji Ujirou (18)

I could make the cutoff here 14 decks, since that means these Personalities were in most Crane decks. But the next most-played Crane Personality after these only had 9 appearances, so there’s a pretty big gap. Unless you count Myuken, who showed up in 13 decks, almost all of them Crane, and could comes close to faking his way onto this list. Note him, and note Daidoji Tanshi – it is not the only time that vanilla 3F/4G Personalities are going to show up. Not much unexpected here. Tametaka XP and Kinta show up highest because they appear in non-Scout decks as well (yes, there were CrOni decks and others around before the nerf).

The Crane lineup was really quite homogenous. The lineup above accounts for around 15 of the Personalities in most of the top Crane decks. I don’t think you see that with in-clan Personalities in any other faction.

Top Lion Personalities

27 Ikoma Ichimoko (9)
26 Matsu Miura (9)
23 Matsu Agai (8)
16 Matsu Misato (8)
Akodo Dairuko, the Steel Lion Experienced 2 (8)
Akodo Tsudoken Experienced 2 (7)
Jikoji, Fist of Stone (6)
14 Ikoma Yoshimoko (5)
Akodo Kamina Experienced (5)
Akodo Uehara Experienced (5)

No, wait, maybe you will. OK, these guys get less homogenous more quickly, but that’s still a suite of about 14 Personalities showing up by default in a Lion military deck.

Q: Do Soul’s Sacrifice and Sparrow Clan Aide count as having an orange border? A: Only if you don’t include honor decks.

Top Mantis Personalities

Tsuruchi Inexperienced (19)
Tochiko, the Jagged Tusk of Death (15)
Yoritomo Yashinko Experienced (12)
30 Yoritomo Toganin (10)
Moshi Tomiko Experienced (10)

The Mantis list is drastically different, in no small part because the most common Mantis list features only one Mantis non-Unique. The rest of this list is pretty boosted by out-of-clan presence – Tsuruchi and Tochiko show up more than the Mantis Stronghold does. Tomiko is also bolstered by out-of-clan appearances. Yashinko the broken holding shows up in every single Mantis deck, as she should.

If you want to count the unaligned folks who show up because of Mantis decks, you can also add Miniku no Oni, Ogre Bushi and Ichiro Otani to the list here.

Top Unicorn Personalities

30 Iuchi Wattu (28)
Iuchi Karasu Inexperienced (22)
Moto Ming-Gwok Experienced (19)
40 Shinjo Okiau (14)
Moto Naleesh, the Living Goddess Experienced (13)
36 Moto Okano (12)
29 Shinjo Yoshie (11)
24 Iuchi Chiwa (10)
Shinjo Kinto Experienced 2 (10)

Unicorn presents a much more fragmented Personality base than the other high-performing Clans, which could bode well for them going forward. These numbers overall are much closer to appearing in only a little more than half the decks, and the top non-Unique Personality (Wattu doesn’t count, he’s just a card cycle) doesn’t even show up in three quarters of decks. Remember how I pointed out the 3F/4G thing above? Note that the most commonly appearing non-Unique is, again, a 3F/4G blank guy.

Top Personalities of Clans That Aren’t Worth Giving Their Own Section

Nishoji, the Steel-Eyed (11) (most-played Crab)
Bayushi Nitoshi Experienced (11) (most-played Scorpion)
Togashi Mitsu Inexperienced (6) (most-played Dragon)
6 Ninube Shiho (2) (T-most played Spider)
Daigotsu Arakan Experienced (2) (T-most played Spider)

Sorry, guys, but being the “most played” Personality out of 1-2 in-clan decks is not much of a feat. What you’ve got here are mostly Personalities getting played out-of-clan. Dragon has more decks that that, but still not much to note except that Kimura, Forgiver of Sins (aka, I’m free now) was the most-played Dragon Personality who only showed up in Dragon decks. Note the lack of a Phoenix Personality. No Phoenix Personality showed up more than once, in the one Phoenix deck out of our 78. Spider had Arakan and Shiho show up once out of clan (and once in the lone Spider deck), so we’ll let them on the list.

Top Events

Dark Audience (28)
21 Glimpse of the Unicorn (10)
Frost Dragon Festival (8)
Inari’s Festival (6)

As always, the Event category makes me a little sad. It was never going to happen anyway, but the whole “one box per clan” thing has really killed any hope I had of convincing Reese to design a Dragon Stronghold that let me stuff my deck full of events that were otherwise destined for the binder. Maybe a Sensei? Someone start a petition!

As you can see, Dark Audience was far and away the top event (Family Sword or Justice of the Crane? You decide!). Glimpse of the Unicorn, Frost Dragon Festival, and Inari’s Festival were often clumped together in the Wong/Abbott style decks.

As for the controversy lightning rod, Purge of Fudoism, three copies of it were played in two decks, making it the sixth most played event in military decks (it will go down further once the honor/dishonor decks get added in).

Duels and Related Strategies

36 Weakness Exposed (13)
27 Come One at a Time (13)
14 Kharmic Strike (7)
15 Demonstrating Technique (5)
8 Iaijutsu Dojo (3)
7 Do Not Delay! (3)
2 Sanctioned Duel (2)

Because I know this is the sort of thing some players really focus on. You can see a pretty standard 3x Weakness Exposed/2x Come One At A Time package here for military dueling decks. Hojatsu Sensei helps most of the other duels see play.

Eject

113 Advance Warning (42)
70 Fall Back! (35)
32 Strategic Withdrawal (12)
23 Storm­forged Blade (9)
16 Discretionary Valor (6)

A couple more ways to get out of the battle here.

Harpoon

41 Coward! (18)
19 Determined Challenge (9)
6 Roaming Caravan (3)

Not a lot of harpoon played. Coward! is the most played, but that’s in no small part because you can just use it as card draw.

Terrains

60 The Crystal Tears (29)
41 Lakeside Retreat (21)
40 Contentious Terrain (20)
27 Come One at a Time (13)
17 Blanketed Forest (8)
4 Lonely Battlefield (2)
2 Blind Honor (1)
2 Higher Ground (1)
1 Encircled Terrain (1)

This feels like one of the most Terrain heavy environments every, in no small part due to Terrains now blowing each other up instead of blocking each other (good design call). The spread above works out to about 2.5 Terrains per deck and while obviously there are outliers, it felt like a rare deck that did not pack at least two.

Other Things There Weren’t Much Of Compared To the Buzz They Got

17 Planted Evidence (8)
15 Expensive Achievement (7)
10 In Stillness, Forge the Soul (4)
2 Find Your Center (2)

I don’t have a lot to say here, just thought these might be relatively low play rates worth noting. Find Your Center is one of my own – I feel like it’s an auto-include for Dragon, but only half of the Dragon decks played it.

Attachment Throwdown

Total Followers Played – 451
Total Weapons Played – 258
Total Non-Weapon Items Played – 87
Total Spells Played – *lol*

Followers vs. Items is the real highlight here. Followers definitely had a greater presence, and a as you’ll see below, a greater spread of cards played.

Weapons

Koan’s Staff (27)
58 Justice of the Crane (22)
45 Family Sword (16)
38 Khalimpeh-jiak (13)
22 Utaku’s Destiny (12)
23 Storm­forged Blade (9)
24 Versatile Blade (8)

There’s a pretty clear dropoff after this, with only a few stragglers left. Koan’s Staff was unsurprisingly the top Weapon pick, frequently showing up in otherwise Follower heavy builds because of its Ranged Attack. Justice of the Crane and Family Sword also showed up a lot as expected for their good F/G ratio. This makes for a very top-heavy Weapon lineup, with 65% of the Weapons played being the same four cards, even though one of those is Unique.

Followers

60 Expert Archers (21)
59 Spitting Llama (20)
42 Elephant Cavalry (15)
37 Ashigaru Spearmen (13)
33 Frontier Farmer (12)

The top four Followers, on the other hand, occupy only 43% of the total Follower slots used, although all are non-Unique. There’s a much bigger long tail of Followers, which I won’t list out here (but that you can look at below, of course). As with some of the other cards, you see something of a Crane/Unicorn split here – Expert Archers for the Crane and the first half of Kotei season, Spitting Llama for the Unicorn and the second half of Kotei season.

I continue to be delighted that Spearmen is a playable card, showing up with 21 copies in 7 different decks.

Other Items

The Egg of P’an Ku Experienced (17)
Ancestral Armor of the Unicorn Clan Experienced (14)
34 Ominous Armor (12)

Just a few that I want to point out here. Despite being the most-played non-Weapon Item, I feel like the Egg is underappreciated. The Unicorn armor was the only one that got significant play in military decks. The rest of them are just way too expensive for what they do.

Spells

8 Searing Siege (4)
Koan’s Whisper (3)

I’ll have you know that I’m listing these under protest. I just don’t want Jay and other spell-loving hordes to yell at me for “forgetting” to include them. These are the only Spells that showed up in more than once deck. Other than the lone Phoenix deck, these appear as a splash in some Unicorn decks that have enough shugenja.

Rings

Ring of Air (61)
Ring of Earth (71)
Ring of Water (20)
Ring of the Void (27)
Ring of Fire (1)
False Ring of the Void (2)

Most of the Rings showed up earlier, with Air, Earth, Void, and Water getting significant play. Ring of Fire is awful for military. And Rokugan has, thankfully, almost entirely rejected the filthy scourge that is the Fudo Rings. I swear Dragon players are only packing Fudoist Temples because we want you to hit them with Purge of Fudoism.

The Adjustment to Ivory

One of the things that has been observed, by us and others, is that the pre-Ivory Edition cards aren’t always quite on the same power curve as Ivory Edition itself. So I thought it might be interesting to look at see how many of the very top cards were from Coils of Madness, Gates of Chaos, Aftermath, or were promos – these all came out before Ivory Edition (and therefore will rotate away from Standard/Arc come 2015).

For baseline purposes, there are 146 relevant cards in Aftermath, 129 in Coils of Madness, 142 in Gates of Chaos, and about 65 promos. There are 372 Ivory Edition cards. So you’d normally only be expecting 40-45% of the cards to be from Ivory Edition itself anyway.

Most Decks Play These Cards – Seven out of thirteen from Ivory Edition.
Too Big To Fail – Two out of eight from Ivory Edition.
Systematically Important (excluding cards that will repeat in later categories) – Nine of twenty from Ivory Edition.
Crane Personalities – Five of seven from Ivory Edition (the five that are non-Unique).
Lion Personalities – Seven of ten from Ivory Edition (mostly non-Uniques).
Mantis – None from Ivory Edition (four of five are non-Unique).
Unicorn – Four of nine from Ivory Edition (mostly non-Uniques)
Other Clans – One of five from Ivory Edition (the one non-Unique, Ninube Shiho).
Events – One of four from Ivory Edition (Glimpse).
Weapons – Three of seven from Ivory Edition (the three least-played ones).
Other Items – One of three from Ivory Edition (the Unicorn Clan Armor).
Followers – Two of five form Ivory Edition.

Overall, I do think that you see Ivory Edition holding its own. But there are two places you see it getting crushed that you’d expect – Weapons and Unique Personalities. With Unique Personalities, that has to do a lot with overpowered Coils of Madness cards (and the preponderance of Ivory Edition Personalities has a lot to do with a lot of overcosted non-Uniques in Gates and Aftermath, especially Gates). With Weapons that has to do with the giant gap for Ivory Edition Weapons (I’ll let you judge whether the IE Weapons overcorrected). There would also be a pretty enormous Holding shakeup if the pre-Ivory sets rotating out, with all of the 4-4-4 Holdings and the top 3-4-3 Holdings, all of the card draw Holdings, and some other utility things like Family Dojo all leaving.

The Big List

Well, that’s it for analysis, so here’s a big mess of cards for you to look through. What trends do you think are important/noteworthy?

The Impregnable Fortress of the Crab (2)
The Exquisite Palace of the Crane (26)
The Remote Monastery of the Dragon (5)
The Honorable Garrison of the Lion (9)
The Fruitful Port of the Mantis (12)
The Eternal Temple of the Phoenix (1)
The Shadowed Estate of the Scorpion (3)
The Sinister Citadel of the Spider (1)
The Golden Plains of the Unicorn (19)

Akagi Sensei (26)
Hojatsu Sensei (4)
Satoru Sensei (7)
Jutsushi Sensei (3)
Akikazu Sensei (3)

3 Abundant Farmlands (2)
6 Ashigaru Fort (2)
4 Coastal Pearl Bed (2)
1 Colonial Harbor (1)
27 Copper Mine (9)
25 Counting House (25)
3 Deeds and Words (1)
61 Deep Harbor (47)
80 Family Dojo (28)
23 Family Library (17)
112 Famous Bazaar (45)
2 Farmer’s Market (1)
19 Fudoist Temple (7)
9 Geisha House (3)
15 Gold Mine (5)
13 Heavy Infantry Dojo (5)
1 House of Exotic Goods (1)
24 House of Prophecy (10)
3 Humble House (1)
4 Imperial Explorer’s Dojo (2)
6 Iron Mine (2)
28 Jade Mine (10)
3 Jade Works (2)
169 Jade Pearl Inn (61)
36 Kobune Port (12)
78 Marketplace (26)
7 Merchant Atoll (3)
92 Nexus of Lies (35)
4 Recruitment Station (2)
6 Roaming Caravan (3)
106 Productive Mine (37)
3 School of Wizardry (1)
4 Secluded Outpost (3)
3 Secluded Shrine (3)
34 Shrine to Hachiman (16)
3 Shinomen Marsh (1)
3 Silver Mine (1)
35 Slave Pits (12)
4 Small-Time Bully (2)
27 Suana Dojo (9)
57 Stables (19)
72 Traveling Market (25)
3 Vast Paddy Fields (1)
9 Vengeful Populace (4)
30 Yukihime’s Hot Springs (27)
Temple of Tengen (26)
The Topaz Dojo (6)
The Emerald Dojo (7)
The Ivory Dojo (1)

Bamboo Harvesters Experienced (55)
Oracle of the Void Experienced (39)
41 General’s Hatamoto (20)
5 The Breeding Ground (2)

21 Glimpse of the Unicorn (10)
2 Military Alliance (2)
3 Purge of Fudoism (2)
Dark Audience (28)
Frost Dragon Festival (8)
Inari’s Festival (6)
Journey’s End Siege (5)
Legionnaire’s Appointment (1)
Riot in the Second City (1)
The Empire’s Foe Exposed (1)

3 Hida Ayahi (1)
3 Hida Iguchi (1)
3 Hida Kurabi (1)
3 Hida Saiyuki (1)
6 Hida Toranosuke (2)
3 Hiruma Itta (1)
3 Hiruma Koru (1)
3 Hiruma Tsurao (1)
6 Kaiu Gorobei (2)
1 Kaiu Nakagawa (1)
Hida Kaji Experienced (1)
Hida O-Ushi – Inexperienced (2)
Nishoji, the Steel-Eyed (11)
Kaiu Esumi – Experienced (4)
Kuni Renyu – Experienced 2 (1)
Hiruma Nikaru, the Flesh Eater Experienced 2 (5)
Hida Kisada, the Little Bear Experienced (1)

51 Daidoji Gensai (19)
67 Daidoji Kinta (23)
4 Daidoji Soken (2)
61 Daidoji Tametaka (21)
61 Daidoji Tanshi (21)
10 Daidoji Tobei (4)
50 Daidoji Ujirou (18)
3 Doji Etsuki (1)
13 Doji Soeka (6)
23 Kakita Ibara (9)
7 Kakita Ujirou (3)
Asukai, the Tireless (21)
Daidoji Tametaka Experienced (24)
Daidoji Tametaka Experienced 2 (5)
Doji Hoturi Inexperienced (1)
Doji Makoto, the Smiling Blade Experienced (1)
Kakita Hideo, the Fallen Keeper Experienced 2 (3)
Kakita Ichigiku Experienced (1)
Suzume Shindo, the Final Blade (1)

7 Mirumoto Hatsuto (3)
8 Mirumoto Higaru (3)
3 Mirumoto Hikuryo (1)
3 Mirumoto Kazuya (1)
8 Mirumoto Niwa (3)
5 Mirumoto Nokkai (2)
4 Mirumoto Tsuda (2)
7 Mirumoto Tsukazu (3)
1 Mirumoto Yasushi (1)
8 Togashi Korimi (3)
Kimura, Forgiver of Sins (4)
Kitsuki Kinaro Experienced (3)
Mirumoto Kalen Experienced (3)
Mirumoto Shikei, the Laughing Dragon Experienced (3)
Togashi Mitsu Inexperienced (6)
Togashi Noboru, the Shattered Star Experienced (2)
Togashi Noboru Experienced 2 (1)

10 Akodo Daiken (4)
11 Akodo Kenaro (4)
27 Ikoma Ichimoko (9)
14 Ikoma Yoshimoko (5)
23 Matsu Agai (8)
2 Matsu Choiko (1)
26 Matsu Miura (9)
16 Matsu Misato (8)
7 Matsu Morito (3)
9 Matsu Ryohei (4)
6 Matsu Tayuko (2)
Akodo Kamina Experienced (5)
Akodo Kano Experienced (4)
Akodo Uehara Experienced (5)
Akodo Dairuko Experienced (1)
Akodo Dairuko, the Steel Lion Experienced 2 (8)
Akodo Tsudoken Experienced 2 (7)
Ikoma Ayumu Experienced (1)
Jikoji, Fist of Stone (6)
Matsu Nimuro Experienced 2 (3)
Morito Inoue, Scourge of the Plains (4)

3 Moshi Ikako (1)
6 Moshi Madohime (2)
3 Sasada (1)
8 Tsuruchi Gosho (3)
9 Tsuruchi Kaito (3)
3 Tsuruchi Rin (1)
3 Tsuruchi Shusaku (1)
8 Yoritomo Ichido (3)
3 Yoritomo Matsuo (1)
3 Yoritomo Mikaru (1)
30 Yoritomo Toganin (10)
3 Yoritomo Tonogi (1)
Moshi Rukia Experienced (3)
Moshi Sasako Experienced (1)
Moshi Tomiko Experienced (10)
Okazaki, Breaker of Wills (3)
Tsuruchi Inexperienced (19)
Tochiko, the Jagged Tusk of Death (15)
Yoritomo Kanaye Experienced (1)
Yoritomo Hiromi Experienced (2)
Yoritomo Hiromi, the Growing Storm Experienced 2 (1)
Yoritomo Minori Experienced (2)
Yoritomo Yashinko Experienced (12)

3 Isawa Hibana (1)
3 Isawa Ikariya (1)
Asako Chukage Experienced 2 (1)
Asako Kaitoko Experienced (1)
Isawa Norimichi Experienced (1)
Shiba Iaimiko Experienced (1)

6 Bayushi Akane (2)
3 Bayushi Jin-e (1)
3 Bayushi Masashi (1)
3 Bayushi Mifuyu (1)
8 Bayushi Meiko (3)
3 Bayushi Mituya (1)
9 Bayushi Shizuka (3)
6 Bayshi Toshimo (2)
3 Shosuro Keiichi (1)
3 Shosuro Tosaku (1)
3 Shosuro Tagiso (1)
9 Yogo Nobukai (3)
Bayushi Kachio Experienced CoM (1)
Bayushi Nitoshi Experienced (11)
Bayushi Nitoshi The Poison Mask Experienced 2 (3)
Shosuro Kameyoi Experienced (1)
Soshi Kodanshi Experienced (1)
The Sorrow Experienced (1)

6 Ninube Shiho (2)
3 Daigotsu Konishi (1)
3 Daigotsu Meguro (1)
2 Daigotsu Roburo (1)
2 Daigotsu Onosaka (1)
1 Daigotsu Endo (1)
Daigotsu Arakan Experienced (2)
Daigotsu Kanpeki – Experienced 2 (1)
Daigotsu Kanpeki, the Shadow Emperor Experienced 3 (1)
Daigotsu Gyoken Experienced (1)

24 Iuchi Chiwa (10)
30 Iuchi Wattu (28)
15 Moto Alagh (6)
1 Moto Chinua (1)
3 Moto Daiken (1)
36 Moto Okano (12)
9 Moto Paikao (4)
4 Moto Ulagan (2)
40 Shinjo Okiau (14)
17 Shinjo Sujikaro (6)
10 Shinjo Tobita (4)
29 Shinjo Yoshie (11)
23 Utaku Hyo-Yeon (9)
5 Utaku Izimi (2)
21 Utaku Sakiko (7)
24 Utaku Sang-ju (8)
9 Utaku Sayaka (3)
Iuchi Karasu Inexperienced (22)
Moto Ming-Gwok Experienced (19)
Moto Naleesh, the Living Goddess Experienced (13)
Moto Taigo, the Skull Taker Experienced (2)
Shinjo Kinto Experienced (5)
Shinjo Kinto Experienced 2 (10)
Shinjo Tselu Experienced (8)
Shinjo Kinto Experienced 2 (4)
Tsiang, the Benevolent (14)

8 Komori Taruko (3)
30 Minikui no Oni (10)
37 Myuken (13)
30 Ogre Bushi (10)
3 The Lost Colossus (1)
Ichiro Otani, the Stone Breaker (9)
Iweko Seiken (2)
Kokujin Inexperienced (1)
Legulus (3)
P’an Ku – Experienced (1)
The Dark Naga Experienced (21)
The Shakash Experienced (30)
Zansho Experienced (28)
Tsi Hayamizu, the Hand of Steel (5)

9 A Champion’s Strike (5)
3 A Champion’s Tactics (1)
6 A Magistrate Falls (2)
3 Absolution (1)
113 Advance Warning (42)
24 Allied Efforts (9)
112 Back to the Front (46)
17 Blanketed Forest (8)
2 Blind Honor (1)
2 Block Supply Lines (1)
81 Breaking the Rhythm (36)
27 Come One at a Time (13)
40 Contentious Terrain (20)
41 Coward! (18)
9 Death of the Winds (3)
7 Do Not Delay! (3)
53 Deliberations (26)
15 Demonstrating Technique (5)
19 Determined Challenge (9)
1 Directing the Battle (1)
16 Discretionary Valor (6)
1 Encircled Terrain (1)
87 Entrenched Position (33)
3 Expanding the Gardens (1)
15 Expensive Achievement (7)
70 Fall Back! (35)
8 Fearful Volley (3)
3 Final Sacrifice (1)
2 Find Your Center (2)
18 For the Fallen (8)
1 Hidden Storehouse of House Rafiq (1)
2 Higher Ground (1)
14 Holding Cells (7)
8 Iaijutsu Dojo (3)
2 Imperial Summons (1)
52 Incapacitated (20)
3 Inexplicable Challenge (1)
2 Inspired Devotion (1)
10 In Stillness, Forge the Soul (4)
24 Ivory Magistrate Outpost (13)
14 Kharmic Strike (7)
41 Lakeside Retreat (21)
4 Lonely Battlefield (2)
2 Lost in Transit (1)
19 Marshal Your Strength (7)
1 Move The Troops (1)
77 New Cavalry Tactics (28)
12 Okura Is Released (4)
5 Pack Tactics (2)
17 Planted Evidence (8)
19 Reprisal (8)
2 Return to Action (1)
3 Ritual Preparation (2)
2 Sanctioned Duel (2)
2 Sleight of Hand (1)
2 Sneak Attack (1)
26 Soul’s Sacrifice (9)
22 Steal an Advantage (11)
32 Strategic Withdrawal (12)
6 Strength of the Bear (2)
116 Sudden Movement (48)
16 Suffer the Consequences (8)
10 Tactical Setback (4)
60 The Crystal Tears (29)
19 The False Route (9)
2 The Greater Threat (1)
18 The Tale of the Disgraced (8)
58 The Turtle’s Shell (28)
3 The Wrath of Osano-Wo (1)
32 Thoughtless Sacrifice (15)
9 Tonfajutsu (3)
14 Treachery and Deceit (7)
2 Two Steady Breaths (1)
3 Unassailable Defense (1)
3 Uncertainty (1)
4 Uncovering the Culprit (2)
114 Unholy Strike (40)
4 Unpleasant Truths (2)
120 Unsettling Gathering (57)
76 Versatile Army (32)
36 Weakness Exposed (13)
2 Wounded in Battle (1)
A Game of Dice (41)
Creating Order (77)
Elemental Adroitness (4)

37 Ashigaru Spearmen (13)
19 Band of Brothers (7)
15 Bounty Hunter (6)
3 Brothers of Jade (1)
6 Camel Mounts (2)
6 Commander’s Steed (3)
9 Chagatai’s Legion (5)
42 Elephant Cavalry (15)
18 Enslaved Djinn (6)
60 Expert Archers (21)
33 Frontier Farmer (12)
4 Fudo’s Fiends (2)
16 Incendiary Archers (6)
17 Kikage Zumi Initiates (6)
1 Legulus’s Legion (1)
9 Light Cavalry (3)
11 Long-Range Scouts (4)
7 Medium Cavalry (3)
12 Merchant Guard (4)
3 Shield Wall (1)
6 Skeletal Troops (2)
22 Sparrow Clan Aide (8)
21 Spearmen (7)
5 Spearmen Cavalry (2)
59 Spitting Llama (20)
9 Watch Commander (4)
Maddened Horde (1)

8 Akodo Kaiken (3)
4 Exquisite Nagamaki of the Fox Clan (2)
45 Family Sword (16)
58 Justice of the Crane (22)
38 Khalimpeh-jiak (13)
3 Reinforced Parangu (1)
2 Sadamune Blade (1)
23 Storm­forged Blade (9)
4 Tiger Claw (3)
22 Utaku’s Destiny (12)
24 Versatile Blade (8)
Koan’s Staff (27)

34 Ominous Armor (12)
2 Fortune’s Charm (1)
6 Haramaki-do (2)
4 Hellbeast (2)
3 Kshatriya Artifact (1)
Ancestral Armor of the Crab Clan Experienced (1)
Ancestral Armor of the Lion Clan Experienced (1)
Ancestral Armor of the Mantis Clan Experienced (2)
Ancestral Armor of the Scorpion Clan Experienced (1)
Ancestral Armor of the Unicorn Clan Experienced (14)
Heart of Fudo Experienced 2 (2)
The Egg of P’an Ku Experienced (17)

2 Deafening Thunder (1)
2 Fire and Air (1)
2 Fueling the Flames (1)
1 Kiyoshi’s Wrath (1)
2 Sailor’s Warning (1)
8 Searing Siege (4)
3 Servitors of Stone (1)
3 Steal the Candle’s Flame (1)
2 Summon Fushicho (1)
3 Ward of Air (1)
1 Yojimbo of Earth (1)
Koan’s Whisper (3)

Ring of Air (61)
Ring of Earth (71)
Ring of Fire (1)
Ring of Water (20)
Ring of the Void (27)
False Ring of the Void (2)

9 thoughts on “Ivory Edition Kotei Military Deck Analysis

  1. Thanks for the data analysis-really appreciated. For your comment on Find Your Center, most of my Dragon decks use Elemental Adroitness in that slot instead-nearly the same effect (unless you are running Void), but the first time you play it usually means you win that battle as your opponent doesn’t see it coming. That being said, decks that run Void would probably benefit more from Find Your Center.

  2. When I first read through this article I suspected that if you looked at 4-for-4 holdings instead of specific holdings you might have found that the total number of decks for that would be higher. A review of the data however, reveals the opposite, that Nexus of Lies and Productive Mine were more often than not played together in full play sets, usually in combination with Jade Pearl Inn.

    I don’t know about anybody else, but I found that pretty interesting, if only because locally we usually see 4 slots with the split based on how well the deck performs against Spider/Corrupt.

  3. I am somehow surprised you did not list Sudden Movement also in the Harpoon section. I use it as much on my opponents to get rid of these pesky control personalities than I do on my own guys, if I can get away with it.

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