Deck Name: The Eeeeevil Crab Deck
Format: 30/30 Open
Date of Construction: Jan. - Mar. 1998

Stronghold: War Fortress of the Crab

Dynasty (30) 3 Iron Mine 3 Corrupt Iron Mine 3 Merchant Caravan 3 Jade Works 1 Kuni Wastelands 3 Ogre Outlaw 3 Oni no Ugulu 1 Oni no Akuma 3 Hida Amoro 2 Hida Unari There is No Hope The Return of Fu Leng Inheritance Imperial Gift Winter Warfare Regions of Rokugan

Fate (30) Ring of the Void 1 Ancestral Sword of the Crab 3 Berserkers 3 Frenzy 3 Destiny has no Secrets 1 Charge 3 Evil Portents 2 Oath of Fealty 3 Superior Tactics 2 Traversable Terrain 3 Test of Courage 3 One Koku 2 Avoid Fate

Strategy:

The ultimate in speed, this Rotten to the Core Crab deck is one of the most vicious ever produced. Its sole function is to get your heavy-hitting units into play fast, attack, and take out provinces (and armies) with help from the fate deck. A real monster in action, I myself played the deck to 6 tournament wins in early 1998. Another player used a carbon copy of the deck to win 2 additional local tourneys, and another friend brought an identical deck to a convention and took their Open tournament. The move to 40/40 significantly weakened the deck, however, and I haven't bothered to work with it much since then.

Speed is of the essence; to this effect, the deck has been optimized for getting expensive units into play with maximum speed. Inheritance is a no-brainer, but not always reliable. The more sublte "Juno Inheritance" combo of Regions of Rokugan + Kuni Wastelands can give you free Oni no Ugulus, or reduce the cost of your Ogre Outlaws to 3 (enough to bring out off the stronghold, or a single gold holding). Oni no Akuma is zero gold for 6 force, can be oathed, and is helped by Evil portents. One Koku allows you to bring up the all-important Hida Amoros on the first turn. Once you have a unit, saddle it up with Berserkers if you've drawn them, and charge in. The multitude of force-boosting fate cards should help you topple any force that stands in your way. The various events help to speed up your deck and slow down the Bane of the Crab, cheesy honor decks like Crane and Dragon. Dragon is a particular threat; anti-duel cards may need to be included if they are prevalent in your area. Try to save Avoid Fates for the Iris Festival.

This page created and maintained by Hida John.
War Fortress graphic by Robert Barr, aka DarkIsawa.

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