1 Bite of the Jellyfish
5 Family Estate
1 Hostile Takeover
1 Monkey King
1 Operation Killdeer
1 Political Lock
1 Realpolitik
2 Soul of the Dragon
1 Soul of the Shark
1 Student of the Bear
1 Swiss Banker
4 The Pledged
5 Triumvirate Dealmaker
1 We Know Where You Live
3 Dump Warrior
1 Entropy Is Your Friend
2 Gorilla Warfare
1 In Your Face Again
2 Jamal Hopkins
1 Monkeywrenching
1 New Manifesto
5 Resistance Squad
1 Too Much Monkey Business
1 Avenging Thunder
1 Blanket of Darkness
5 Brain Fire
5 Claws of Darkness
4 Counterfeit Heart
1 Darkness Pagoda
4 Darkness Priestess
1 Fire and Darkness Pavilion
1 Fire Pagoda
1 Fire Sled
1 Fire Warriors
1 Ice Courtier
1 Ice Diadem
1 Ice Healer
1 Ice Pagoda
1 Ice Shards
1 Ice Tiger
1 Ice Warriors
2 King of the Fire Pagoda
5 King of the Thunder Pagoda
1 Mark of Fire
3 Molten Heart
1 Netherworld Return
2 Queen of the Darkness Pagoda
2 Queen of the Ice Pagoda
5 Shields of Darkness
1 Sibling Rivalry
1 Soul Diver
1 Spirit Pole
1 Thunder Knights
1 Thunder Pagoda
5 Alchemist's Lair (Magic)
3 Anomaly Spirit
3 Art of War
1 Discerning Fire
1 Dragon Mountain
1 Elevator to the Netherworld
2 Festival Circle
1 Field of Tentacles
1 Fortress of Shadow
5 Fox Pass
5 Illusory Bridge
1 Inner Sanctum
5 Killing Ground
1 Killing Rain
1 Kinoshita House
1 Locksley Station
1 Monkey House
1 Mourning Tree
1 Netherworld Passageway
1 Peacock Summit
3 Perpetual Motion Machine
1 Pinball Hall
1 Ring of Gates
1 Rust Garden
1 Sacred Heart Hospital
1 Shattering Fire
2 Soul Maze
1 Supercomputer
1 The Faceless
1 The Hungry
3 Turtle Beach
5 Turtle Island
1 Wall of a Thousand Eyes
1 Whirlpool of Blood
1 Year of the Rat
= 166 cards
The main idea is to get out lots of edges and use them to both generate
power and control the game. When the power is flowing, use it to bring
out the Four Monarchs and then the game is yours. Of course, the way the
deck develops will be rather unpredictable and so one must be alert for
interesting combos like Shields of Darkness/Fox Pass and Molten Heart/Anomaly
Spirit.
The deck's main defenses against Discerning Fire are Brain Fire and
the Counterfeit Heart. These defenses were not really tested during the
tournament - I think I played the only Discerning Fire that I saw. The
card that deserves a particular mention is Hostile Takeover. This is not
often seen but was in its element here - lots of competing Monarch decks.
I only played it once - when someone matched my Elevator to the Netherworld
- but it was worth packing it just for the shock that it gave him.
Last modified: January 16, 1998.
Please send comments to nickolof@scf.usc.edu.
Send server comments to durrell@innocence.com.