From Chris Bergstrom, 

WARNING: This report is extremely lengthy. When I do reports, I try to get
into as much detail as I can about not just the tournament, but my
experiences
surrounding the entire event, and both before and after. Just a warning.
Reading this might take a while at 5000 words. ;)

Well, here we are again.

In spite of last year's complete tragedy with the northwest Kotei in
Seattle, I
was extremely anxious to attend this one. Last year's I won't even get into.
I'm sure many of you remember my rant about it, but let me assure you, The
WotC guys ran an excellent weekend this time around. A lot of thought and
preparation went into it this time. I'd particularly like to thank Dan
Tibbles
for running/judging, and being a pretty excellent guy in doing so and giving
up the chance to play. Seattle tournaments, since he started organizing and
running them, I have had absolutely 0 complaints about. Thanks Dan. Also, to
Frank (Moogic) Chafe, Andy (Box 0 Greed) Heckt, Steve (I get promoted fast)
Horvath, Luke (I whomped on Bergstrom with a Junzo Sealed at Nothing to
Lose)
Peterschmidt, and of course, Mindy (Coffee Maus) Sherwood. Apologies to any
of
the staff I forgot, including that new guy I hadn't seen before. The one who
was a Jon Palmer clone. ;)

Anyway, I was really anxious for this tournament. I knew that the staff was
upset about last year's and wanted to make up for it in a big way. In the 3
weeks before, I tested quite a few decks, working on everything from basic
FETA/Mo5 (which I had played in the previous 4 tournaments prior to Race,
winning 3 swords with 1st/1st/and 2nd finishes, and losing in the top8 in
the
latest one) to Corrupt Naga Blitz. The deck I worked hardest on because it
was
A) different, and B) extremely unexpected was a Dragon Exploding Honor deck.
In the few weeks I tested it, making minor tunings and adjustments, it went
undefeated in the net games I played (One of the problems of living in Rural
Oregon is that you don't get to play very much in real life). I was feeling
ok
with the Dragon deck and was leaning towards playing it at the Kotei. Then,
the night before I was to leave (Thursday night, I left Saturday very early
morning), it lost two straight, and both games were not even close. This led
me to second-guess the deck, and about 6 hours before I left, I threw
together
a Fox Blitz deck that in the few games I tested, was pretty darn fast.

So, with both decks in tow and 4 hours of sleep under my belt, I leave from
Corvallis, Oregon at 3:30AM to embark on the 5 hour drive up to Seattle. The
drive was pretty uneventful, except for the fact that right when I crossed
from Oregon to Washington, it started raining and didn't stop until I parked
in the Rite-Aid parking lot across from the WotC game center at 8:00AM
sharp.
I made pretty good time and was really excited at the aspect of the coming
tournament. I grab my backpack out of my car, walk through Rite-Aid to
University Dr. (All you Seattleites will understand the importance of
Rite-Aid
;) and walk down a few doors to the game center.

It's locked. Shoot.

Some random people wandering around outside tell me that the place doesn't
open until 10:00. Hmmm.

Well then, I've got 2 hours to blow, it's Saturday morning at 8AM, and
absolutely *nothing* is open. I sit in my car for an hour and listen to some
CDs to pass the time, but it's going really darn slow. I get back out of my
car, backpack not in tow this time, and wander around until I find a Burger
King that (mercifully) is open. I grab a drink and a newspaper and sit there
until about 9:45, at which point I go back to my car, grab my bag, and head
back to the game center where a decent sized crowd is now ambling around the
entrance. I meet up with Josh Powell, a good friend of mine from Chilliwack
B.C. who's Dad was extremely gracious enough to drive him 2 1/2 hours just
so
he could be there, Kyle Anderson, a Seattleite, and numerous other people I
see most every time I hit Seattle for a large tourney. Don't be offended if
I
don't mention you here, you all know who you are. :)  Josh proudly displays
his "Team Bad Player" Jersey he just received in the mail, Kain (his IRC
nick) number 68. ("Can't quite make it to 69".) :p

At about 10:10AM, the doors open, and we're in. Tibbles (aforementioned
Judge
and Organizer) is there, taking registrations and such. Turns out the
tournament starts at noon instead of 11, which is ok, cause I'm still trying
to decide which deck to play. Around 11 or so, after playing the Fox deck
around a bit and generally whomping up, I sign up as Fox. Looks like I'm
gonna play the Blitz.

Oh, by the way, now is a good time to tell you what the organizers were
doing
for the weekend. The entry fee was $25 for the weekend, and that got you
entry
into the Kotei. If you didn't make the final 16, for those that participated
in the Kotei that didn't make the final were invited to a free sword
tournament on Sunday. Tibbles knows how to take care of his kids. ;)

Important point also. The final 16 was double elim.

Remember Josh? Look up three paragraphs. Yep, that's him. He brought with
him a
nasty Corrupt Naga Blitz deck that I was certain he'd make it to the final
16
with (he ended up not making it, but it this was good or bad, I'll leave the
decision up to you at the end ;p). We're talking it over, and I'm telling
him
about the two decks (which he had already known about) and he ends up
convincing me to go with the deck I had tested vs the deck I made on a whim.
So he goes up and tells Mindy for me that I'm changing to Dragon, and here
we
stand, ready to do battle over whatever for whatever, with 50-some
representatives of all clans. The deck list is at the end, along with a
corresponding strategy article to explain various facets of the deck. A
quick
summary would tell you that it's Dragon Honor Run, off the Iron Mountain
Box,
and Hantei sensei. I hoped I would at least make the final 16, heh.

Anyway, We get our match-ups, and sit in our appropriate places. Tibbles
announces the rules, prizes, etc, in typical Tibblesian way, voice cracking
several times (we like to kid him about that, cause he looks a tad younger
than he actually is ;p), we have our Bonzais led by (if I remember
correctly),
Frank Chafe, and round 1 begins.

Round 1 - Fox Blitz
-------------------
Figures, this was one of the guys I had just so recently tested my Dragon
deck
with before the tournament. I honestly don't remember his name (I'm really
bad
with names, unfortunately), but he was one of the guys who hung out with us
all night at Tibbles, which I'll get to later. Anyway, he's a fairly new
player, and his deck is almost entirely common. Not this this is bad, during
the game, he pulled off some surprising things which really floored me how
well
he knew the game with being so new. He got an amazing start, clearing his
provinces every turn for the first 3, and me getting no gold. We had a darn
close close, me pulling off an honor victory with 1 turn to spare before his
weenie horde closed in on me. I ended the game with 1 province left. During
the
game, 3 separate turns of 1 Evil Portents made his army lose like, 10F each
time, and prevented him from attacking. I end the game with 2 cards in my
hand
and no fate deck left. 1-0
-------------------

So, 1-0. I was happy that with such a poor draw I was able to come back, but
it was darn close. Josh lost his first one to no gold, and round 2 begins
amidst the guest Bonzai. Each round had someone different doing it, with
Bolme
making an appearance (the originator of the Bonzai call at GC 99) in round
6.

Round 2 - ?
-----------
Here comes the one fallacy in my memory of the weekend. I know my opponent's
name was Chris, but for the absolute life of me, I don't recall what he was
playing. I don't remember this game being very close, and I apologize to
Chris
for forgetting :(  2-0
-----------

2-0 is a good start for 6 rounds of swiss. Means I'll probably have decent
tie-breakers if I end up hitting the win/loss ratio for the cutoff. Round 3
approaches...

Round 3 - Lamar/Naga
--------------------
I hadn't seen Purusha before, and please dear God, let me never see Purusha
again. Lamar's a darn cool guy and I don't recall ever seeing him in Seattle
in
previous tournaments. He gets an average draw, as do I. He starts bulking up
the Naga Forces, and pulls out a Purusha turn 3 or so. I look at Purusha and
am amazed. I'm gonna have to block with 2 people just to get an action. He
attacks with Naga Horde + Purusha, I block with 2 guys, and to stave off
further Purusha problems, after he ranged attacks one, I TDWWM on Purusha,
losing a Daini and an Uso to destroy Purusha. If I remember correctly,
Flooded
Pass saves the province. He does his turn, I do mine, more guys on both
sides. His turn comes up and what do we have? Another Purusha. I stave off
another attack, he buys his Purusha, more guys for me. His next attack, I
have
to block with 2 guys again to get an action, and I TDWWM Purusha again, but
I
lose the province. He buys more stuff, I buy more stuff, he gets 2 more
Purushas. And I'm pretty much done with. I was extremely thwomped. I was
down
to 1 prov and 1 guy, no favor, and the 1 guy had HMF and 12th BS, but it
didn't matter. ;) 2-1
--------------------

Well, Purusha was an unforeseen obstacle. There were 4 naga players,
including
Josh, who at this point was 1-2, and 2 of which were doing well. I didn't
want
to see Purusha again, heh. Looking around a bit, I even saw some Fox decks
playing with him. Darn strong card. I take my 2-1 record to round 4 where I
meet up with..

Round 4 - Warren/Junzo
--------------------
Warren's another of the Vancouver guys. That group, Warren, Fred, Pierre,
and
1 other, were all darn good players. Warren's running Horde with Nio.
Doesn't
get a take. I get a good start, he gets a guy and no gold. I start building
up, and by the time he's able to attack turn 3, I have my defenses all in
place. He attacks, I explode his army. He attacks, I explode his army. He
gets
quickly sick of Mountains of the Phoenix, and Ki-Rin comes out when I'm at
32
honor. Game, set, match. He couldn't take a province. That felt pretty good.
No harm nor foul to Warren, he's been a good friend for at least a year. It
isn't much fun to beat a friend in an important round, but that's the game.
3-1.
---------------------
I was worried that Nio sensei would cause me trouble. The Ki-Rin late turned
out the save me in a later game, and on that note, someone asked me about 2
minutes before the tournament started if Ki-Rin was in my deck. I said
"Hmm..
oh yeah. huh", and took out a SancTemp to add it. Ki-Rin worked excellently
throughout the tournament, once even gaining me 5 honor. On to the next
really
important round...

Round 5 - Unicorn/Dan
---------------------
Again, a friend of mine from the Seattle circuit. Of course, I've been up
there enough that I know most everybody there now, and it was nice to see
Dan
again. He was running a PCP. I win the cut, buy gold, he buys a Silk Works.
I
buy some gold and guys, he gets out Yokatsu inexp. I'm holding a Mountains
of
the Phoenix and some other misc stuff,  so I'm not terribly worried. I buy
more stuff, and on his turn, he doesn't attack. Darn. Good play. He buys 2
more guys. I buy more stuff, gaining honor pretty fast. He attacks this time
and I hold him off with assorted Hand Tricks. This repeats for about 4
turns,
I break 40, and he couldn't break a province. 4-1
---------------------
Thank god for the Iron Mountain's cav abil, heh. Anyway, of the 50some
people
that attended, they were doing a 16 player final and with a 4-1 record I
thought I had a decent chance even if I didn't win the 6th round. Lamar, who
beat me earlier, was 4-1, so that was a pretty good tiebreaker. On to round
6...

Oh, before we get to that. As we sit down and I'm talking it out a bit with
Pierre, my Phoenix opponent. Ed goes into a session about honor and duty,
etc.
He's comparing Magic to l5r where Magic is all about Winning, and l5r is all
about the game and the competition. He makes a comment of something like
"There are no losers in l5r!". The aforementioned Josh, currently out of it
at
2-3 but playing the rest of it for fun, yells out clearly amidst the silence
something like "Except if you're playing Dragon!" Which got a good laugh.
How
very ironic and apropos his statement would be...

Round 6 - Pierre/Phoenix
------------------------
Phoenix had the most tournament representatives at 8. Pierre's Phoenix was
anything but a typical Phoenix. If I had to classify it under anything, it'd
be weenie attack. However, it honor ran pretty well also. He's pretty much
got
me from the get-go. Lots and lots of guys. He's honor running, but I'm
keeping
right at or behind him. He decides about halfway through the game that he's
going to attack me with his horde. I stave off his 15+ guys with Flooded
Passes for a few turns, but he eventually takes 2 provs. He foregoes an
attack and decided to just hit 40. He gets up to 42 and I'm at 30. Well
fudge.
But I have a plan...

So my turn comes along, and I get exactly what I need. A Daini in #1. How
does
a Daini help me, specifically in #1? I play HMF on one of my guys, putting
me
at 35. GM+ST for 2 honor, putting me at 37. I play Tribute to Your House,
putting him at 7, take the favor from him, and SH+SF for Daini puts me at
40,
but with 1 province left.

On his turn, he attacks everything (50someF in like, 15+ units) to my last
prov, and I block with my 14F or so. No sneak, and I play Flooded Pass. He
bows 2xCultists to put him at 55. With my defending army, my tricks all
gone,
he needs 56 to break, he's got 2 cards in his hand, and he's looking
disdainfully at them, So I think I have him.

He sits there for a few minutes thinking about it, and suddenly spies his
Gennai exp in the battle. He bows him and draws junk. I pass, he bows his
egg
of Gennai and the 2nd card is a suptact. He plays it down with extreme vigor
and I can't do anything else. A very very good game. 4-2
-----------------------

So here I am. 4-2. Lamar won his 6th game, so I have a good shot of making
the
final 16. Both my losses were to people who ended up 5-1. Josh finished at
3-3
and he's already thinking about Sunday's sword tournament. I finish 9th seed
of the top 16. The confidence I have in my deck is dwindling fast. Josh and
I
head out driving around and hit a local McDonalds and talk about books and
other misc stuff for about an hour or so, then we head over to Tibbles
place.
Tibbles was holding an all-night l5r gathering like he's done before on his
l5r tourney weekends.

I got drunk. Heh.

I really don't drink, I just had my first drink in February when I turned
21.
I've had occasional Mike's an such since then, but nothing really. I had 6
drinks that night, and it turns out I get pretty wacky when I get plastered.
I
didn't expect to do well on Sunday anyway, having very little confidence in
my
deck. We head to sleep around 2AM or so, ready to get up at 9AM. There were
5
of us in misc places in Tibbles bedroom, and bunch of people slept upstairs
in
the main room. The 5 of us, Chris (playing CCO, who made the top 16), Ian
(resident Broken-Mo5 player, playing mo5, also made the top 16), Dan
(Judging), Josh (who had made a Ninja lockdown for Sunday), and myself.
Chris,
Ian, and I (with a little help from Josh) discussed movies, baseball, and
anime for like 2 hours until we all went to sleep.

Woke up without a hangover. Guess that's good, not that I really know what
it
feels like, but I can probably guess I didn't have one, heh. I wake up
feeling
very nervous about my deck, and just hoping I don't quickly lose 2 straight.
We hit the game center, get in, etc. The final 16 and the sword tournament
both start at noon. The sword tournament gets 30some people, as most
everyone who didn't make the final 16 at Kotei came back to play in it. The
final 16 starts...

Round 1: Pierre. Phoenix
------------------------
Figures. Our seeding matches us up against each other again. Darn weird
Phoenix. He goes first. CSM/CSM/SM.

Oh boy.

I get a Hiruma Dojo, flush my stuff. He gets 3 guys. I buy Yuyake and
Shinseken for full. I'm in trouble from the get-go. He can't attack me yet,
so
he gets 2 more guys and a Karasu exp2. I buy some gold and a Pekkle, after
bowing Yuyake for the favor. His turn, he gets all gold in his provs, and
eggs
his Karasu exp2, stops both my guys from defending, and attacks and takes a
province. But I've got a plan... again... ;)

I tried to Portents twice against Pierre in round 6, but I didn't
realize he had a Fortress of the Dragonfly out. This game he had no early
Fortress. I draw a portents on the opening hand, and one turn 2. On my turn,
Shinseken walks. Yuyake takes the favor, and I portents bomb, killing my 2
guys (but getting Pekkle bigger!), and destroying everything he has out. He
takes about 4 turns to rebuild, at which point when he could attack again,
I've played 12th BS and am motoring in honor. The turn he gets Jujun to
cancel
12th BS, I'm at 40. Talk about a comeback. 1-0 (5-2 overall)
------------------------
Well, I'm glad I didn't scrub out. Heh. The initial pressure of round 1 is
over, which is good. Still not feeling great about my deck. They've got the
ladder displayed on a table and we were heading to the next game as soon as
both participants were done with their games, which was fine with me. I head
over to the winner of Ian's game and find that Ian lost, and I'm playing the
guy he lost to.

Round 2: Monk Enlightenment
---------------------------
I don't remember this guy's name, unfortunately. He was playing Tao Monk,
revealed a Ring of Water and Kaede sensei. I was guessing either
Enlightenment
or Water attack. I go first and got a reasonable draw. He gets some gold, I
get
guys, he gets guys. He arts out Ring of Fire and now I know what kind of
deck
he's playing. I Walk the Way that turn for an One Life, One Action, just in
case of Finding the Harmony. Hantei sensei isn't too reliable in that
respect
because of Forgotten Lesson. I'm at 20 honor on my turn, I've got 2 Dragon
Clan Sagotens out, and a Walk in my hand. Hmm.. shoot, even with a Tribute,
I
can only hit 38. I do the next best thing. I walk for a Portents, and play
the
other one in my hand, killing all but 2 of his monks. I didn't give him time
to rebuild as I hit 40 two turns later. He had out 3 rings. 2-0 (6-2
overall)
----------------------------

Whoa. I'm doing well. The confidence in my deck is still not there, but
everything's going ok so far. Josh is 1-1 in his sword tourney, but he's
having a good time, as we all are.

My deck was pretty heavily meta'd vs honor, and I hadn't played an honor
deck
yet. So here we go:

Round 3: Tiernan (Crane)
------------------------
Tiernan drove just as far as I did to make it to Seattle. He came from
Spokane, a friend of a friend of mine who used to live there. He wins the
cut, gets some gold, I get an average draw, we go back and forth
another turn, buying peeps and gold. and I get out a Sagoten. I gain some
honor with him, he does more honor, going really darn fast. I get out
another
Sagoten, gaining more and more honor and keeping up with him. On his last
turn
he hits 39, but he I.Arted a Sagoten and dishonored him. I'm at 28. I use
the
favor on my turn which I had controlled and not let go of since turn 1 to
rehonor sagoten, gained 10, played 2 guys, and won by 1 turn. Very very
close
game. 3-0 (7-2 overall)
------------------------

Whoa again. I'm in the top 4. With Dragon, beyond all else. Even if I lose
this game, and the next, I still get 4th place. The winner of the next game
would get to the finals and have to be beaten twice to lose.

Round 4: John (Junzo)
---------------------
Nio Junzo again. I had pretty good luck against the last one, and this was
the
same. I go first, get out gold, he gets a pretty good draw, a guy and
3 gold, if I remember correctly. I get out 2 guys. Daini and Yuyake. He
doesn't attack on his turn, and gets out 2 more guys.

Ki-Rin appears in province 2. I'm sitting at 10 honor cause I bought Daini
full and Yuyake cheap. My MC of a 2 instead of a 4 might have cost me,
because
I could only make it to 13 that turn. Ki-Rin sat in the prov. Because I
really
want to save Ki-Rin, and I have a solid hand, I Hantei Sneak Attack.

Well, his turn is obvious. He blitzes Ki-Rin. I defend with both my guys,
Daini and Yuyake, and play Entrapping. He suptacts. I play another
Entrapping, he suptacts. I BSL his biggest guy, he tests. I BSL him again.
He
mutters and passes. I lose my two guys but save the prov. My next turn, I
buy
Ki-Rin and 2 other guys, he buys stuff, goes back and forth. He never sees a
2nd Evil Portents or an Ambush. He didn't take a province. 4-0 (8-2 overall)
---------------------

Now I'm feeling pretty good. I have a good chance of winning, and of the 3
decks left, I've played and beaten 2 of them. Tiernan plays Chris (playing
CCO) in the losers bracket and shrinelocks him turn 3. Then Chris goes up
against John, Crab vs Junzo, and wins via first turn Inheritance/Okura,
Test of Honors. etc.

Round 5: Finals. Chris (Crab Oni)
---------------------------------

So here we are at the finals. Chris vs Chris, Honorable Dragon vs Corrupt
Crab
Oni. With my explosions and such, I think I'll do ok. I don't think I'll
lose
two in a row to his. The game starts, I get a pretty good draw, first turn
Creating the Monkey Clan, and some gold. He gets Yakamo exp, Small Farm,
Okura, and Inheritance, which I promptly avoid. He buys his farm, I buy more
guys. He gets Akuma and another Personality. On my turn, I get a Dragonized
Pekkle and more people putting me around 20. He Oaths, I pass, he puts a
Journal on Akuma, and I play Edicts. He looks at his hand, heads to dynasty,
and flushes everything cause he spent all his gold on the book. I buy more
stuff, not much in the way of honor gain for that turn, but I did get a 3
turn Age of Man (and the next card was Troll Raiders, which was cancelled).
His turn, he passes, I edicts again. He heads to dynasty and buys some more
guys. I get some more stuff. I cancel some nasty events on his turn with
Age of Man. He passes on his turn, I pass. He splits up his attack, AKuma to
one and the rest of the horde to another. I block with 1 guy at the horde.
He
does Akuma first, and I flooded pass. Akuma heads home. I entrap, he
suptacts,
I BSL his big guy, he tests, he takes the province and kills my one blocker.
My turn I hit up to mid 30s. On his turn he portents, and he attacks the
same
way again, Flooded Pass saves the Akuma prov, but I can't save the other
cause
I can't block Okura. I'm down to two provs. He gets out some more guys. I
hit
40 on my turn. Age of Man ends. If he gets a Desperate Measures I'm pretty
much done for. He doesn't, tho. He splits up his attack, Big Yakamo Oni to
one
and the rest to the other. I block my 11F to the Oni. He does the other, I
pass, he takes it. I do mine, I pass, cause I'm bigger. He wedges. I BSL.
And
that's game. 5-0 (9-2 overall)
--------------------------------

That was my Kotei experience. I may be mistaken on some of the facts, but
generally I have everything right. The weather coming home was terrible, as
the Pacific Northwest generally is. I won a sword I didn't have (a shiny
blue
one), GC Airfare/Entry into GC, the bye into the finals, and some other misc
prizes. I learned when I got home that Josh won the sword tourney, and was
really happy about that. He's a good guy, he just tends to scrub himself out
by making huge mistakes in finals/semi-finals.

Anyway, here's the deck:

Exploding Dragon - DYNASTY (40)
-------------------------------
Mirumoto Yuyake x3
Mirumoto Uso x3
Mirumoto Daini x3
Togashi Shinseken x3
Agasha Gennai x3

Asako Sagoten x2
Oni no Pekkle x3
Ki-Rin

Gold Mine x3
Merchant Caravan x3
Small Farm x3
Hiruma Dojo x2
Sanctified Temp x2

Sorrow's Path x3

The Age of Man
Troll Raiders
Creating the Monkey Clan
-------------------------------
Exploding Dragon - FATE (41)

Hantei Sensei

Deeds, Not Words x2
One Life, One Action x2
The Wind's Truth x3
Avoid Fate x3
Tribute to Your House x2
His Most Favored
Remember What You Have Seen x2

To Do What We Must x3
Block Supply Lines x3
Flooded Pass x3
Entrapping Terrain x3
Mountains of the Phoenix x3
Imperial Edicts x3
Evil Portents x3

Ring of the Void

Walking the Way x2

12th Black Scroll
-------------------------------

The deck goes like this. On your first turn, if they have a guy out. You buy
a
guy and any free gold, of course. If not, buy some gold. If you have no
choice, get whatever's best. ;p  Keep doing this until your opponent has a
guy
out. Block and Explode until your opponent cries. ;)  Remember What You Have
Seen is pretty key for honor, Creating also. Sorrow's Path is extremely
strong. I've had many times where one guy takes out 3 with Mountains, TDWWM,
and Sorrow's Path.

Anyway, that's it in a nutshell. Seattle Kotei was a blast. Thanks everyone
who ran it and everyone that attended!

--Chris Bergstrom