august 2003 kiii-yaaah! - shadowfistnetherworld.chimpshack.org/subs/mags/ky04.pdf · 2008-07-13 ·...

IN THIS ISSUE:Critical Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Recent Rulings and RW FAQ

Registry of the Damned . . . . . . .3Red Wedding Card List

Red Wedding Combos . . . . . . . .4by David Eber

West Coast Offense . . . . . . . . . .5by Tim Wong

Student of Who? . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Fiction by Jeremy Barwick

Jammer Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . .8by Brian Bankler

Faceoffs Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . .9by John Castellucci

Deck Reconstruction . . . . . . .10When 10,000 Bullets Aren’t Enoughby Max Hufnagel

10KB - Speed Kills . . . . . . . . . .11New Speed Techby John Castellucci

Using Bad Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . .12by Brian Bankler

Convention Report . . . . . . . . . .132003 World Champ Deck

Convention Report . . . . . . . . . .142003 Origins 10-Hour (!)Final Brawl Report

Convention Report . . . . . . . . . .152003 Gencon DuelingChampionship Deck Lists

Scrounging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16Power for Promos Program

From the desk ofTHE UNSPOKEN NAMEI'd like to thank everyone for their

patience in waiting for a new Kiii-

Yaaaah!!! hardcopy newsletter. It

was worth the wait as we got 16

pages full of strategy articles and

other important rulings and info. We

also included the new Shadowfist

poster/playmat, plus Red Wedding

promo cards including the new 7

Masters faction promo! Let me stop

here so you can get right on to

reading. Enjoy!

Kiii-YAAAH!T H E J O U R N A L O F T H E S H A D O W F I S T S E C R E T W A R S O C I E T Y

A U G U S T 2 0 0 3

Summer Convention 2003 Report!

RULING: CB Radio, KinoshitaHouse, and the End of the Attack

U NDER THE Z-MAN RULES, the endof combat with the target of the

attack has been handled differently thancombat with an interceptor. In interceptorcombat, there is a scene right after combatdamage is inflicted where effects that maybe triggered by the combat damage aregenerated. This scene is still considered totake place during combat, so mostvoluntary effects are not permitted untilthe scene, and combat, are complete.

However, voluntary effects wereallowed in this scene if combat was withthe target of the attack (unless the combatwon the game.) This was meant to allowtricks that were legal under Daedalusrules, such as playing Bite of the Jellyfishthen Bull Market when somebodyBurned for Victory a Site. This alsoallowed a number of other tricks that mayor may not have been possible underDaedalus rules, like Vivisecting aCharacter that was Avenging Thunderedor a Plasma Trooper that would die whenits Fighting bonus wore off. These werenot considered a problem.

More recently, players have found moreserious abuses of this timing loophole. Itwas possible to attack twice with aCharacter by pulling it out of an attackwith either Kinoshita House or CB Radioafter it had inflicted its combat damage.

For this reason, and to make thetiming of the end of combat moreconsistent, it is no longer permitted togenerate voluntary effects after attackersenter combat with their targets. Thisrestricted period lasts until the attackends and attackers have gone home.

This does not prevent the use of effectsthat are permitted by something thathappened in the combat, such as City Park,Baptism of Fire, and Bite of the Jellyfish. Italso does not prevent the use of effects thatspecifically respond to an effect that wasplayed, such as using Confucian Stabilityto cancel a Bite of the Jellyfish.

A Character with Ambush that is thesubject of a CB Radio may still takeadvantage of the window of permission touse Tactics (and thus unturn to attackagain) between Ambush damage andnormal damage, even if the Character

being attacked has been smoked by theAmbush damage. (Since Ambush does notwork against Sites, you cannot attack twoSites in a turn by use of this trick.)

RULING: Shaolin Surprise,Shadowy Mentor, and Moving States

N ORMALLY, abilities that contradicteach other (such as multiple cards

taking control of the same Character) arehandled by the most recent to resolveoverriding older ones. However, whencards like Shaolin Surprise and Wong FeiYi move States from one card to another,the bookkeeping required to handle anynew conflicts becomes impractical.

For this reason, when a State ismoved, the time of its resolution isconsidered to be the time at which theeffect that moved it resolved. The Statedoes not actually resolve again, (forinstance, moving a Replacement Partswould not heal the new subject) it justoverrides other conflicting abilities.

Example: If you move a Shadowy Mentorfrom a Golden Gunman to a Quan Lo who isalready the subject of an opponent’s Mentor,you will take control of Quan Lo, no matterwhich Mentor is older.

Shaolin Surprise complicates matters,because the moved State is often returnedto its original subject and controller. In thiscase, the State also returns to its old positionin the relative ordering of abilities. Here isthe rules text of Shaolin Surprise:

“If you don’t control targetState, pay 1 Power :: Take controlof that state and place it on anylegal subject. If the original subjectis in play at the end of the turn,return control of the State andplace it on the original subject.”Example: You use Shadowy Mentor to steal

John Tower. Later, an opponent plays ShiftingLoyalties to take control of all PledgedCharacters, including John Tower and yourShinobu Yashida.

Later, you play Shaolin Surprise to takecontrol of the Mentor, and move it from John toShinobu. John Tower remains where he was; theMentor wasn’t the most recent card to takecontrol of him, so removing it doesn’t affectcontrol. You do take control of Shinobu, eventhough the Shifting Loyalties is newer than yourMentor. If John Tower left play before the end of

the turn, you would retain control of Shinobu.However, if John Tower survives the turn,

the Mentor returns to him, the Mentor’sprevious controller gets it back, and it returns toits previous place in the dispute over whocontrols John Tower. Since the ShiftingLoyalties is newer than the Mentor, it continuesto override the Mentor on John Tower.

Things would behave similarly even ifyou used the Shaolin Surprise to movethe Mentor from John Tower to JohnTower; you’d get control of him for theturn, and give him back when theShaolin Surprise expires.

Red Wedding FAQ ExcerptsDr. Timbul Damiri The timing on thiscard is the same as that of the Vivisector;the chosen Character is sacrificed whenthe effect resolves. If something preventsit from being sacrificed, then it will notbe returned to play, either.

While you can choose an opponent’sCharacter, you cannot sacrifice a card youdon’t control, so nothing happens unlessyou gain control of the chosen Characterbefore Dr. Damiri’s ability resolves.

When a card leaves and returns toplay, it is considered to be a new card,without any of the baggage it had before.Some uses for Dr. Damiri’s ability: • Re-trigger Characters with “enters

play” abilities, such as Primus. • Save a Character from an effect aimed

at it. (This won’t help against globaleffects, such as Neutron Bomb, justthings like Nerve Gas.)

• Heal a Character. • Make a Character stop attacking or

intercepting. • Remove States and other alterations to

a Character. • End an attack on a Character. • Allow repeat use of Characters with

“once per turn” abilites, such as Mutator. (Note that all of the above will happen if

relevant, even if you don’t want them to.)As the rules card describes, if you use

Dr. Damiri on an attacking Character, itwill enter play at an opponent’s location,then immediately move to your choice ofyour locations. It doesn’t have to go backto the location it started at, because it’sconsidered to be a new card.

continued next page

S H A D O W F I S T S E C R E T W A R S O C I E T Y J O U R N A L , A U G U S T 2 0 0 3 2

Critical Shift

Recent Rulings and Excerpts from the Red Wedding FAQ


COMMONSAether Spirit

Artillery Strike

Ashes of the Fallen

Blood Lust

Blow Things Up!

BoBo Splitter

Bomb Factory

Bouncing Benji

Bribery

Broken Wheel Brigade

Buddhist Monk

BuroMil Scout

Chi Detachment

Dark Traveler

Demonic Plague

Diamond Beach

Dragon Graveyard

Evil Whispers

Helix Mine

Ice Tigers

IKTV Special Report

“Is That All You Got?”

Little Grasshopper

Loyalty Officer

Mad Scientist

Morphic Spirit

Official Harassment

Ogre

Paradox Garden

Red Dragon Troupe

Reluctant Hero

Scrappy Kid

Secrets of Shaolin

Shamanistic Punk

Skin and Darkness Zealots

Stone Dolmens

Stone Spirals

The Ickies

The Orange Principle

There's Always One More...

Thunder Apprentice

Thunder Gladiator

Tracer Implant

Trade Center

Transmogrification

Verminous Rain

Wave Disruptor

Wrath of the Monarchs

Yakuza Enforcer

Red Wedding Rules Card

UNCOMMONSArena Warrior

Armies of the Monarchs

Assassin Bug

Battle Arena

Big Bruiser

Bio-Salvage

Black Ops Team

Brass Monkey

Butterfly Armor

Cassandra

Chizu

Contest of Arms

Corrupt Bookie

Dr. Timbul Damiri

Echo Cancellation

Exile Village

Fire Sword

Frag the G!

Green Sage

Information Warfare

Leaping Tiger Troupe

Mano a Mano

Monkey vs. Robot

Napalm Belche

Never Surrender

Orange Sage

Ornamental Garden

Paradigm Recoding

Peacock Summit

Police Station

Reverend Zebediah Paine

Secret Pact

Shell Game

Slo Mo Vengeance

Snowfall

Sonic Reducer

Spin Doctoring

Stand Together

The Enemy of my Enemy

Uprising

Violence Junkies

Void

Wandering Hero

War of Attrition

Wasting Curse

RARESAkani Hideo

Bei Tairong

Black Market Connections

Bonebreaker Jun

Bring It

Chamberlain

Dr. Jean-Marc Ngubane

Escher Hotel

Fakhir-al-Din

Friends in Low Places

Gus Andropolous

Ice Pavilion

Jan Zvireci

Jormungandr

Jueding Shelun

Kauhuhu

Lodge Machinations

Ninja Six

Paradox

Rebecca Dupress

RedGlare Chapel

Reverend RedGlare

Ring of Ice

Ring of Silver

Robbing the Kong

Silver Jet

Ten Thousand Agonies

The Forest of Fallen Banners

The Thunder Dome

Throne of Skulls

Two-Face

Xiaoyang Yun

Zino the Greek

Red Wedding Card List by Rarity

Red Wedding FAQ, cont’d from previous page

The card enters play turned if it wasturned when it was sacrificed, not if itwas turned when you turned Dr. Damiri.

Jan Zvireci The stolen Event is notknown to any other players but you andits owner.

Stealing a Toast It Event does notsend it straight to the toasted pile beforeit can be played, but it will go to thetoasted pile if you play it.

You have to pay the Event’s cost inorder to play it.

The Event is returned too late for itsowner to play it at the end of the turn.

Lodge Machinations Your opponent’sSite does not have to generate Power.

Sites are considered to be Power-generating if they have a positivenumber in their Power-generationdiamond, even if something (such as aTrade Center) is preventing them fromactually generating Power.

If either Site leaves play in response,the other Site is revealed, but does notchange controller.

If either Site changes controller inresponse, it doesn’t affect which player isentitled to which Site. (If a playeralready has the Site he’s entitled to, itdoesn’t get to move or unturn, and theother player still gets the other Site.)

Silver Jet Nobody can play the namedcard in response to the attack beingdeclared, not even you.

After the initial scene, the card can beplayed normally.

All cards with the chosen title arediscarded, even if they’re not identical.

You are not required to name a cardthat actually exists.

For those with a promo but not thefinal RW version, Silver Jet’s rules textfollows: “Unique. Independent. When youdeclare him as an attacker, name a card,which cannot be played in response :: Histarget’s controller must show you his or herhand and discard all cards with that title.”

For more info on card-specific Red Weddingclarifications, consult the online FAQ at

www.shadowfist.com/html/news_faqs.htm

Red Wedding Combos

by David Eber

R E D W E D D I N G contains a host ofpowerful new cards introducing

mechanics which, though strong on theirown, are even better in combination.Here are a few:

CASSANDRA and THE MAN WITH

NO NAME. This is a great way to getthe card you need, when you need it.Use Cassandra to rearrange the top fivecards of your deck so that the best onesits on top. Then use the Man With NoName to immediately draw that card.You can also do this combo with anycard that lets you draw a card, such theArcane Scientist, Coral Reef, or evenThe Bazaar.

DR. TIMBUL DAMIRI and

YUNG CHANG. As with “Is That AllYou Got?”, Dr. Timbul Damiri isanother one of those cards that comboswell with a ton of other cards; BlueMonk, Evil Twin, Void Sorcerer, BlackOps Team, and Primus are just a fewexamples. However, the combo withYung Chang is particularly brutal. PlayYung Chang, permanently increasing thepower generation of one of your sites byone. Then use Dr. Damiri to replay him,increasing the power generation of thesame site – or any other – by one. Thenuse Dr. Damiri to replay him…..

VIOLENCE JUNKIES, BUFFALO

SOLDIER, and UPRISING. BuffaloSoldiers do a good job of protecting yourweenies from events, but they don’t domuch for your hitters. Not so with theViolence Junkies, who are hitters thatwill still receive protection from theBuffalo Soldier. Note that both theJunkies and the Buffalo Soldier have thedesignator “Rebel”. That means that youcan use Uprising to replay both theJunkies and the Buffalo Soldiers at thesame time, and since the Junkies onlymake you sacrifice a character whenthey’re played from your hand, you won’teven have to worry about killing off yourown characters when you play this card.

DR. JEAN-MARC NGUBANE and

NAPALM BELCHER. Turn theNapalm Belcher to blast your opponent’scharacters and sites at one location, thenturn Dr. Ngubane to unturn the Belcherand wreak havoc again. Of course, mostplayers will move their characters to anew location in response to your first useof the Belcher, so Dr. Ngubane lets youuse the Belcher to hit them anyway (aswell as clearing out the defenders at alocation) What’s more, if you’re feelingespecially bold, you can add PubOrdRaid to the mix to pin those charactersdown before you use the Belcher, thenblast them twice with this combo.

“IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?” and

BIG BRUISER. “Is That All You Got?”works great with a whole host ofcharacters with a Fighting of 5 or less,such as the Good Ol’ Boys, Dirk Wisely,Iron Monkey, Dark Traveler, etc. TheBig Bruiser gets special mention though,because it’s a 5 Fighting character that’sreally an 8 Fighting character. Thismeans that for 1 power, you’re going tobe recycling a whole mess of beatdown.

ESCHER HOTEL and

ORNAMENTAL GARDEN

The Ornamental Garden is a double-edged sword; it boosts your powergeneration, but doubles any damageinflicted on the site that it’s played on.Since this site has to be in the frontrow, that makes it a tempting targetfor your opponents. The Escher Hotelgets around this by letting you play theGarden on the back row site, whereit’s safe from attack. Or better yet,play one on the front and back rowsites, doubling your power. By theway, you can also pull off a similartrick with Eagle Mountain, effectivelygiving your characters Toughness: 2when they attack. The Escher Hotelalso goes great in most Battlegrounddecks as well

SPIN DOCTORING or “THERE’S

ALWAYS ONE MORE” and PLAINS

OF ASH or DUMP SCROUNGER

Spin Doctoring automatically recyclescards from your smoked pile, givingyou the potential to use thoseOperation Killdeers and MoleNetworks over and over again.However, what gets recycled is chosenat random, and while getting aShadowy Mentor back is great, youprobably won’t have much use foranother Student of the Bear. Use thePlains of Ash to weed out unnecessaryfoundation characters in your smokedpile, ensuring that the Spin Doctoringwill only recycle the good stuff. Youcan also pull off a very similar trickwith “There’s Always One More” andDump Scrounger, so if you use both inthe same deck, you’ll clear your smokedpile that much faster, and you-ll have alot more opportunities to recycle youruseful cards.Violence Junkies, BuffaloSoldier, and Uprising.

S H A D O W F I S T S E C R E T W A R S O C I E T Y J O U R N A L , A U G U S T 2 0 0 34

S H A D O W F I S T S E C R E T W A R S O C I E T Y J O U R N A L , M A R C H 2 0 0 3 5

WE S T C O A S T - S T Y L E S H A D O W F I S T

revolves around a core principle:“Whoever controls the most power has thegreatest chance of winning.” Each actionin a game of Shadowfist can be describedas a change in power and/or tempo.“Power” means more here than counters inyour pool - it also includes cards you havein play and in your burned for victory pile.

The balance of power ebbs and flowsduring a game. Examples of power shiftsinclude stealing power, stealing cards,taking sites, smoking characters, andgenerating/gaining power. Most actions canbe measured as a power differential; not alldifferentials are completely quantifiable as anumber of tokens, but are definitelyanalyzable as positive or negative.

Tempo refers to elements of play,resources in your pool for example, whichmodify the application of raw power. It hasa direct correlation to the speed at whichone accumulates power. Gaining temporefers to plays which gain strategicadvantage (Inauspicious Reburial), widenyour options (increasing hand size withTemple of Celestial Mercy), decrease theutility of opponents’ power (Flying Kick),or increase the utility of your power (Backfor Seconds).

Here is an example of a typical turn (2player game). Shifts will be enclosed in ().Comments will be italicized.

ESTABLISHING SHOT • Generate 2 Power from 2 Feng Shui

Sites (+2)

MAIN SHOT • Spend 1 power to play Friends of the

Dragon. (0) Spending 1 power to play acharacter worth 1 power is net 0.

• Attack with FoD against The Pledgedwith Dirk Wisely’s Gambit. (0) Using 1power (FotD) to eliminate 1 power(Pledged) is net 0.

• Attack is successful. Gain 2 Power.(+2 & Tempo Advantage)DWG generates 2 power if the attack issuccessful. DWG also provides resources and

may also free you from the need to playanother resource character later.

• Play Ki-Yaaah! Steal 3 power. (+6 &Tempo) Using a 0 – cost card to eliminate3 power from your opponent and then giveyou 3 power generates a massive 6 powerswing. This also generates tempo becauseyou eliminated 3 power that your opponentcould have used.

• Expend 5 power, play GoldenGunman. (0) Again, using power to play acharacter is net 0, though many considerplaying the Gunman a positive swing or atempo increase because he is immune toEvents that your opponent might use to gaina power swing.

• Attack Feng Shui (Blessed Orchard),Attack Successful, Burn for Power (+1& Tempo) Triggering Blessed Orchard’sability is a –2 power shift. Burning forpower gives you 3 power, so the total net ofthis action is +1 power. However, a tempoadvantage is also involved in this exchange.Your opponent now has one less site togenerate power.

EXERCISES TO THE READER – 1. What if your opponent played Op

Killdeer against your DWG attack? – 2. What if your opponent played Bite in

response to the Burn?3. What if Hacker is played in response to

Bite?

Play in the Bay Area revolves aroundgetting positive exchanges of power.winning the game is seen as a gain of infinitepower. Cards that see the most playgenerate a differential, e.g. Final Brawl,Nerve Gas, Glimpse of the Abyss, Bite ofthe Jellyfish, Shadowy Mentor; generatesome kind of large tempo advantage, e.g.Shaking the Mountain, Wind on theMountain, Blood of the Valiant; or disruptopponents’ generation of differentials, e.g.Confucion Stability, Iron and Silk.Characters played usually deliver highfighting versus power spent, or haveabilities that generate their own differentials(White Disciple, Virtuous Hood), or

weaken opponents’ power assets (withimmunities or evasion abilities like Stealth).West Coasters favor abilities over increasedfighting score. 4 power-6 fightingcharacters with good abilities are usuallychosen over 7 fighting characters with nouseful abilities.

Decks tend to be tighter (with multiplesof key cards) and smaller to maximize thechances of drawing cards that generatefavorable differentials. Though larger decks(80+) are often more robust and flexible,smaller decks (0-79) are more generallyconsistent, and this consistency is oftenfavored. Bay Area players usually favorsmaller Feng Shui whose special abilitiesgenerate bigger power differentials overlarge-body FSS that require opponents tocommit more fighting for a victoriousassault. Proving Ground, Turtle Beach,Gambling House, and Sacred HeartHospital find their way into decks becausethey generate power beyond theirproduction. Whirlpool of Blood is a staple todisrupt the many turning sites.

The West Coast environment isaggressive; players strive for rapid, largepower- and tempo shifts. Because powershifts are more significant with less powerin play, and easier to engineer with moreinformation about hidden factors of thegame (unrevealed sites and opponents’hands), players attack early and often,removing opponents’ characters from playand revealing as many sites as possible.Burning for Power is common - it gives aburst of power to fuel favorable swings,and doesn’t weaken PD/VM/Scrounging.Any card that can’t deliver an immediateswing is usually discarded in hopes ofdrawing a more immediately usable card.

In the end, there is no substitute forexperience and skill. The model brieflydescribed here is simply a useful tool thatwe use in play dissection and deck analysis.Time has shown that the West Coast playgroups breed some of the best playersShadowfist has seen - and knowing yourfoe is an edge, Secret Warrior.

West Coast OffenseAn Analysis of the San Francisco Bay Area Metagame

and Philosophies by Timothy Wong

HE WAS NOT AN ORDINARY Student of the Bear. It wasn’t his looks, which

were plain. And it wasn’t his size, which,though large, was not unusual for a Studentof the Bear. He wore street clothes, had curlybrown hair, and looked, for all intents andpurposes, to be completely normal.

The Unspoken Name stared at himthrough the swirling smoke that filled hissmall office. At length, he said, “Do youknow why you’re here?”

“Yes, sir.”“Good.” Crushing the butt of his cigarette

into a silver ashtray, The Unspoken Nameflipped through one of the manila folders onhis desk. It contained a picture of theStudent, along with detailed reports of hispast training and missions. “I’ve heard goodthings about you. What do you think aboutyour next assignment?”

The Student shrugged. “Well, the subtletydoesn’t exactly appeal to me. No disrespect,sir, but I’ve never liked all the cloak anddagger business. Just give me a target andsome weapons, and I’m happy. But, I’ll beable to pull it off. Don’t worry about that.”

The Unspoken Name smiled. “It’s goodto see that your latest training hasn’tchanged you too much.” He looked up fromthe dossier. “Which reminds me. Were youwell treated in the 70’s juncture?”

“Yes, sir.”“Did you like it there?”The Student shrugged again. “Not

really. I’ll take a good rock band over thatsissy disco stuff any day.”

Chuckling, the Unspoken Name closedthe file. “I think we’ve picked the right manfor the job. You’ll find your completebriefing papers outside.” Reaching into adesk drawer, the Unspoken Name pulledout another cigarette, placed it in his mouthand lit it. “Just be wary. This is no GoldenCandle agent or Shaolin Student you’regoing up against. This is the real thing.Don’t mess up.”

“Yes, sir.”“Very well. Get going.”

THE TRIP TO NEW YORK'S CHINATOWN wasuneventful. As he emerged from the subway,the Student tugged his long leather jacket

tighter around his neck and headed towardthe commercial section. It wasn’t really verycold, but the last thing the Student neededwas some rookie cop catching sight of hisshotguns and starting a brouhaha. Not thathe wouldn’t mind taking out a few upstartDragons, but if he screwed up this mission,he doubted the Unspoken Name would lethim off lightly.

As he entered Chinatown proper, theStudent forced himself not to wrinkle hisnose. The smell of raw seafood and nearly-rotting vegetables disgusted him. He pulleda wrinkled slip of paper from his pocket andread it for the hundredth time. It said, “PoChi Lam clinic, Chinatown. Wong FeiHong.” He wished the directions were moredetailed; Chinatown wasn’t exactly a smallplace. In fact, it took an hour of wanderingaround the crowded streets before he foundthe clinic, which was squeezed into a sidestreet close to the Manhattan Bridge. Bythen, the Student was footsore and morethan a little irritated.

When he finally shoved open the door ofthe Po Chi Lam clinic, he was surprised tofind a pretty American woman behind thecounter. She had blonde hair, big browneyes, and a very enticing figure. “Can I helpyou?” she asked, looking up from themagazine she was reading.

Caught off guard, the Student couldn’tget the words out. “I’m . . . um, I mean, Ineed . . .”

“Are you hurt?”“No, no,” he replied, quickly gathering

his thoughts back together. “I’m looking forsomeone.”

“And who might that be?” she asked.“Wong Fei Hong.”The woman looked at him blankly.

“Wong Fay who?”The Student clenched his jaw. “Wong

Fei Hong. Look, you can stop the act. Ineed to talk with him. I’ve been sent by theUnspoken Name.”

“Unspoken Name? Sir, I think you’re inthe wrong place. Perhaps you should – ”

The door behind the counter opened, anda tall Chinese fellow stepped into thereception area. He wore a long blue robe, andthe front of his head was shaved clean. The

rest of his hair hung down his back in a longbraid. “It’s okay, Shirley,” he said, with aslight accent. “I’ll see him. Why don’t youclose up and go home early.” Affixing theStudent with a calm gaze, he said, “Wouldyou like to step into my office?” He gesturedat another door on the other side of the room.

“Sure,” said the Student. He waited untilthe man, who was obviously Wong FeiHong, walked in front of him and openedthe door. Then he moved toward the office,slowly pulling down the zipper of his jacket,being careful not to let it slip open. Theoffice was large but simple, with a desk andchairs on one side, and a long, low table onthe other. The only decorations on the wallswere a couple paintings of Chinesecharacters and a big fan with cranes on it.Once inside the office, the Student of theBear took a seat, being careful to sit in sucha way that his weapons were well hiddenbut still accessible.

Wong Fei Hong closed the door, satbehind his desk, and folded his hands beforeof him. “Why are you here?” he asked.

At least he didn’t beat around the bush.“I was sent by the Unspoken Name,”replied the Student.

“I heard that already. What exactly doeshe want?”

“He wants to know why there’s been anincrease in Guiding Hand activities latelyin this juncture. He was under theimpression that Quan Lo didn’t care muchabout the modern world.”

Wong Fei Hong sat back in his chair, afaint smile playing on his face. “First off,this world may be ‘modern’ to you, but Iwas born almost two hundred years ago.This is the future to me.”

The Student rolled his yes. “Look, call itwhat you want. I was sent to getinformation, not play word games. What isthe Guiding Hand up to?”

Wong Fei Hong’s eyes narrowed. “Sincewhen has the Guiding Hand informed theAscended of its plans? And since when hasThe Unspoken Name sent Students of theBear out on reconnaissance missions? Ithought you were the brawn, not the brains.”

continued next page


Student of Who?

Secret War Fiction by Jeremy Barwick

STUDENT OF WHO?continued from previous page

The Student gritted his teeth, and sat onhis hands to prevent them from reachingtoward the shotguns under his jacket.“Look, I’m prepared to give you some of ourinformation in return for some answers. Ifyou don’t want to work with me, then I’lljust leave. I could care less either way.”

“What sort of information are youoffering?”

“I’m sure your operatives have noticedthat the Lotus suddenly seem very interestedin this juncture. I can tell you why.”

Wong Fei Hong leaned forward. “Go on.”“Not so quickly,” chuckled the Student.

“I’ll only tell if you tell first.”Wong Fei Hong sat thinking for a few

long moments, until a small smile touched hisface. “Very well. I’ll tell you what I can.Basically, it’s because of the Lotus’ suddeninterest in this juncture that we’ve increasedour activities here. We can’t afford to let theLotus gain any edge that would give themthe upper hand in the first century.”

The Student nodded. “Right. Well, Iguess that makes sense. From what we’velearned, the Lotus believe that if they get ahold of some modern weaponry, they canget the upper hand on you guys in theirown juncture. Pretty simple, huh?”

“Too simple, if you ask me.” Wong FeiHong frowned. “Are you sure thisinformation is accurate?”

“Yes.” The Student rose to his feet.“Sorry if it isn’t what you expected.” Heheaded toward the door, but stopped withhis hand on the knob. “Oh yes, there’s onemore message I’m supposed to deliver.”

“What’s that?”“Have a nice life!” The Student whirled,

pulling a shotgun out from under his coat.He cocked it with a metallic ‘ka-chink’ andthen pulled the trigger. The deafening roarthat filled his ears and the powerful kick ofthe gun against his arm brought a grin tothe Student’s face. This was the part of themission he’d been itching for..

Wong Fei Hong’s desk and chairinstantly shattered into splinters, but themartial artist was gone by the time the shothit. The Student spun to the left, pumpingthe gun and firing again at the doctor, whowas running toward him from the far side ofthe room. The second shot missed.

Before he could pump the gun a thirdtime, Wong Fei Hong was on him. Dancing

onto one foot, he shouted, “No-shadowkick!” and then launched an attack so rapidthe Student could barely see his leg moving.The next thing the Student knew, he waslaying on his back on the other side of theroom. His chest felt like it’d been hit by afreight train. Lifting his head, he saw thathis shotgun was a good two or three yardsaway.

Before he could even try to retrieve it,Wong Fei Hong had crossed the room andwas kneeling over him. “The UnspokenName is a bigger fool than I thought if heonly sent a single Student of the Bear to killme.”

“He’s no fool,” growled the Student.“You see, I’m not an ordinary Student of theBear!” His hand snaked out, grabbingWong Fei Hong’s throat. The doctor’s eyesbulged. “I’m also a student of Master Chin!”

His other hand lashed out, catchingWong Fei Hong full in the chest andsending him flying back into the remains ofhis desk and chair. The Student vaulted tohis feet and cracked his knuckles, whichnow flickered with purple energy. As WongFei Hong climbed out of the wreckage ofthe desk, the Student took a step forward.“This is all a pretty ingenious plan, don’tyou think? Not only do we get freeinformation about the Guiding Hand, butwe get to kill one of their biggest honchos.”

Wong Fei Hong brushed splinteredwood off of his shoulders. “I guess it mightseem ingenious to someone like you. There’sjust one problem with the plan.”

The Student slid into a defensive posture,one fist next to his chest, the other handopen and held forward. “What’s that?”

“You’re still no match for me.” Wong FeiHong lunged forward, sending a flurry ofopen-palmed blows at the Student’s head.

The Student deflected them easily, andsent a kick of his own back at his opponent.Wong Fei Hong was ready. He twisted,grabbed the Student’s ankle and threw himacross the room. The Student’s flight pathwas cruelly interrupted by a thick woodenwall, which creaked in protest as thethickly-muscled Pledged slammed into it.The Student slumped to the ground, hiswhole body aching. Wong Fei Hong stoodon the other side of the room, his legsspread wide, his arms outstretched in aclassic Hung Gar stance. “Why are theAscended suddenly making deals with theEaters of the Lotus?” he asked.

The Pledge struggled to his feet. “I’d love

to tell you, but there’s something else I’drather do.” He pulled his second shotgun outof his jacket, pumped it, and fired.

Wong Fei Hong was not so lucky thistime. He dodged to the right with lightningquickness, but wasn’t fast enough to avoidthe deadly shot. It ripped into his left armand shoulder, instantly turning flesh intoribbons of blood. The Student pumped theshotgun again. “How’d you like that?”

Wong Fei Hong grimaced, but didn’tseem fazed by the attack. “I like it about asmuch as you’ll like this.” He leapedforward, his robes fluttering.

The Student raised the gun and fired, buthis aim was off, and he didn’t come close tohitting the doctor. Instead, Wong Fei Hong’sfoot slammed into his chest, sending himback into the wall again. This time, the wallgave, and he flew back into the receptionarea in a shower of broken wood. He tried topump the shotgun and raise it for anotherblast, but wasn’t fast enough. The last thinghe saw was Wong Fei Hong’s handdescending toward his face.

THE UNSPOKEN NAME ground his cigaretteinto the ashtray and perused the report forthe last time. There was no way of knowingwhat information had gone back and forthbetween the Evil Master Student of theBear and Wong Fei Hong.

It was safe to say, though, that the wholemission had backfired. Not only was WongFei Hong still alive, but now the Hand knewthe Ascended and the Lotus were workingtogether. The Unspoken Name gritted histeeth in anger. How could the Student havefailed to kill Wong Fei Hong? With twoshotguns, and 6 months of Lotus training, hewas more than a match for the Handoperative. Shoving the report into theshredder next to his desk, he lit anothercigarette and placed it in his mouth.

Next time, he would chose the rightperson for the job. And next time, therewould be no mistakes.



Evolution of the Jammers, part 1

by Brian Bankler

8

T HIS SERIES OF ARTICLES looks at theevolution of the Jammers from a

player’s point of view. The faction will beexamined starting with the Standard setfrom Daedalus through the most currentrelease from Z-Man. We’ll design a multi-player deck using Jammer and unalignedcards from each era, then played andadjusted until victory is achieved.

STANDARD SET

The Jammers have very few cards inthe first set, making deck design bothsimple because of limited options anddifficult because of few ways to win. Thecharacter set is good, but events arenonexistent, so we will have to rely ongetting hitters out fast, fighting throughother characters and denial. We will alsohave to maintain a large nonthreateningsite structure. Lots of sites are neededfor reliable power, but if the deck isperceived as a threat, there is littlechance of comeback from a concertedbuttkicking from other players.

With only two foundation characters,Edge Warrior and Dump Warrior,available, the deck will have to be small.Using the Rule of 5 (1/5 foundation, 1/5characters, 1/5 0-1 cost events andstates, 1/5 Feng Shui, and 1/5 other), thisleads to maximum of 50 cards. Becauseno cards have more than one resourcerequirement, ten foundations work wellfor a fifty card deck.

Characters will be the key element ofthe deck. Taking a look at the choices, theBattlechimp stands out as the card thatwill be key to victory. His ability to unturnJammer characters is the most powerfulability available to us. Key uses will be tounturn the $10,000 Man or ChromosomeScreamer for follow up attacks or to healthe Screamer during an attack, and tounturn any Jammers to give themexplosives during an attack. The abilitycan be maximized by adding states to the

characters to increase fighting. Unturninga 4 cost 6 fighter is good, but unturningone with a Robot Arm is better. Putting inthree Battlechimps will make him areliable draw without often clogging ourhand while one is in play. The $10,000Man is a better cost to fighting ratio thanthe Screamer and his toughness is criticalto punching through interceptors. TheScreamer, however, is not useless as hecan turn to heal and has guts. If he is thesubject of a state that increases fighting,both of these will be enhanced. Four$10,000 Men and two ChromosomeScreamers seem about right. The finalcharacter slot will be an unalignedcharacter, a Mysterious Stranger. Havinginterceptors’ controllers lose all power canbe a useful evasion power.

Low cost states and events will beused to juice up the strategy ofunturning pumped-up characters. ThreeExplosives and two Really Big Guns arethe core, plus three Fusion Rifles – beingable to shoot opposing characters beforecombat can be more useful than adamage bonus. It keeps your charactersalive long enough to unturn. The onlytwo events are one Orbital Laser Strikefor denial and one Satellite Surveillanceto reduce surprises.

One preference I have for the rule of5 is to have half of the Other category bealternate power generation. Given thecard set available, this is going to have tobe non-Feng Shui sites. I will use oneDrug Lab, one Secret Headquarters,and two Secret Laboratories. The lastwill be used as an extra Feng Shui site.The rest of this category will be moreexpensive states to pump up characters:one HAVOC Suit, one Combat Aircar,and three Robot Arms.

Feng Shui sites for the card set arevery limiting. I am still concerned aboutalternate power generation and any typeof comeback potential. I will use 2

Hallowed Earths for possible comebackand 2 Blessed Orchards for possiblepower generation. These can alsodiscourage attacks. Two Inner Sanctumsand two Jagged Cliffs will also be usedto discourage attacks. One ProvingGround is added to help get charactersinto play faster. One Kinoshita House isused for denial or counterdenial if anauction comes up. Finally, a SacredHearts Hospital is added to be used toheal the $10,000 Men.

“Old Skool Monkeys”

FOUNDATIONS5 Edge Warriors

CHARACTERS1 Mysterious Stranger

2 Chromosome Screamer

4 $10,000 Man

3 Battlechimp Potempkin

0-1 COST EVENTS / STATES1 Satellite Surveillance

1 Orbital Laser Strike

3 Explosives

2 Really Big Gun

3 Fusion Rifle

OTHER1 Havoc Suit

3 Robot Arm

1 Drug Lab

FENG SHUI 2 Blessed Orchard

2 Inner Sanctum

2 Jagged Cliffs

2 Hallowed Earth

1 Kinoshita House

1 Proving Ground

1 Sacred Heart Hospital

1 Combat Aircar

2 Secret Laboratory

1 Secret Headquarters

5 Dump Warriors

9

S H A O L I N SH O W D O W N I N T R O D U C E D anew game mechanic to Shadowfist --

the Faceoff. The concept is drawn fromthe world of action cinema, where youwill often find a climatic scene where thehero and the villain confront on another.While you can build an entire deckaround Faceoffs, don’t overlook theirpower as an addition to any deck. Thenew Shadowfist expansion, RedWedding, revisits Faceoffs and opensmany new options for deck builders.

While you might initially be drawn to aFaceoff because of the Winner effect, youalso need to be aware of the most basicfunction of a Faceoff -- character-to-character combat, usually resulting in oneof the two being smoked. While smokingcharacters is easy for the Architects, it’snot so easy for some of the other factions,and that’s part of the secret strength ofFaceoffs. Two cards that can initiate aFaceoff, Death Ring and RW’s ArenaGladiator, don’t even have Winner effects,revealing just how key smoking youropponents’ characters is to the mechanic.

Of course, you’re still going to want tobe the Winner since you want yourcharacter to stay in play and certainly youdon’t want your opponent getting thenifty effect (if there is one). The easiestway to win is for your Character to havemore Fighting than your opponent’s. Ofcourse, that’s not always going to be anoption, so having a few combat supportcards available to you is a must. Effectsthat go well with Faceoffs include+Fighting (like Sword of the Master),damage redirection (Righteous Protector,Yellow Senshei Chamber and TurtleBeach), Toughness (such as Path of theStorm Turtle and Ice Shields), and otherdamage reduction effects (like OperationKilldeer and Opium Den). Many of thesecards can be held in your hand and usedto surprise your opponent, but watch out,your opponent will be trying to do thesame to you!

Remember that to back up yourFaceoffs, Red Wedding has the newBattleground site, Battle Arena, whichcan almost assure your victory in aFaceoff – as long as you can defend it!

Now that you know how to win aFaceoff, you still have to master the timingof when to initiate one. First off, you can’tstart one during an attack, so you’re goingto have to remember that. But, you canplay a Faceoff at any other time during anyplayers’ Main Shot, and that is the key.

A Faceoff during your turn is ideallygoing to clear the way for another of yourCharacters to take a site. This works wellwith both thugs and Characters withevasion abilities (Stealth, Superleap) ifyour opponent is setting up a defense.This also has the chance to draw out somestoppage before your main attack withoutrisking having an unsuccessful attack (aFaceoff is combat, but not an attack, soeven if you are the loser, you can stilldeclare an attack).

But, a significant amount of time, youwill be using your Faceoffs during anopponents’ turn. My favorite use of one isto take out a character in response to itbeing played. For example, say you aresitting on a pile of power and an opponentjust played Iron Monkey - you can haveyour Ting Ting go Mano a Mano with theMonkey in response, taking him outbefore he can steal from you.

The most sneaky use of Faceoffs is asa bushwhack -- waiting until the lastpossible moment before your turnbegins to start the Faceoff. Wait until theplayer to your right declares end of turn,and then go to town. Removing anopponent’s character this way often willopen up a target for you to attack. It alsogives you the chance to turn to heal theyour character, denying your opponent’sa chance to take advantage of thedamage it received. Just watch out forleaving yourself or another playervulnerable -- the player to your right has

the option of backing up into their MainShot and launching an attack to takeadvantage of the situation.

Now that you have a good idea ofwhen and how you will use yourFaceoffs, which ones do you choose?While they all can be useful depending onthe situation, I have a few that I prefer.Tiger vs. Crane can be useful early gameto expose targets (along the lines of Markof Fire). Late game Bear vs. Fox can be agame-breaker, by allowing you access toyour opponents’ Events. Don’t like youropponents’ Events? Get back your ownwith the new Four Monarch’s Faceoff,Contest of Arms. And finally, I think myfavorite is Monkey vs. Robot -- not onlycan play it for free with GenocideLounge, the Winner effect of doing 5damage to a Site is one of the best.

On a final note, a common mistake fornovices is over-loading a deck withFaceoffs. The Faceoffs don’t take theplace of the staple Events like OperationKilldeer and Confucian Stability -- ratherthey supplement them. I recommend aratio of 1 Faceoff to every 20-25 cardstotal -- that means if you are playing atight 50 card deck, you don’t want morethan one or two Faceoffs. If you areplaying an average 65 card deck, you cansqueeze 3 Faceoffs in, and I recommend amaximum of 5 Faceoffs total in any deckunder 100 cards. The exception of courseis when you are trying to make a Faceoffdeck, in which case you want about 5-6Faceoffs total in 60 cards, along withsupport cards.


AND THE WINNER IS –

Getting the most out of Faceoffsby J. Castellucci


When 10,00 Bullets Just Aren’t EnoughAdvice for those new to the Secret War by Max Hufnagel

I F YOU’RE LIKE MANY new Shadowfistplayers, you’ve started with a 10,000

Bullet Starter deck and a couple of boosterpacks. While the 10K Starters are anexcellent way for you to begin your path toShadowfist mastery, after playing with onefor a time you may feel your deck is missingsomething – something elusive, a qualitydifficult to quantify or even name. Withoutit, you see your deck is pretty good, andpretty fun to play. With it, though, yoususpect your deck would be really good,and really fun to play. If only you couldfigure out what that missing somethingwas, you and your deck would really rock!

That missing something is what somepeople call synergy, or Focus. Focusrefers to the amount of inter-connectedness between the individualcards in your deck, the way the cards inyour deck interact beneficially with eachother. The more the cards in a deckinterconnect, the more Focused the deckis, and the more effective and fun thedeck tends to be.

Some people might disagree with thisstatement, and point to the effectivenessof what is commonly referred to as a“Good Stuff” deck. A “Good Stuff” deckhas very little Focus, and yet can be verysuccessful. To build one yourself, justthrow together all the strongest cardsyou own from a faction or two, add in afew good Magic, Chi, or Tech Events,and toss in your favorite Feng ShuiSites. The theory behind this is that if allthe cards in your deck are good, thenanything you draw or play is going to begood. Unfortunately, while this is mostlytrue, these “Good Stuff” decks tend to bepretty dull to play. Furthermore, whilethese decks can be effective, theygenerally fare poorly against decks withmore Focus. This is because the cards ina deck with Focus work well on theirown, like the cards in a “Good Stuff”deck, but work even better together –

something the cards in the “Good Stuff”deck do only by accident, not design.

So, as a new Shadowfist player, howdo you build a deck with more Focus?Since most new players have at least one10K Starter, let’s start with one of themost popular of them, the Dragons, andsee how it’s done. We’ll first identify anexisting Focus in the deck, then work tostrengthen that Focus by adding andremoving cards.

One Focus in the 10K Dragon starteris immediately obvious: Guns.Specifically, playing Guns on characters,protecting those characters, andwhuppin’ on opponents with them.Other decks we could easily build fromthis starter include Big Hitter Recursion(bringing big hitters back from yoursmoked pile again and again), Cops(numerous of Cops, Police Stations,Partners, etc.), and Lots o’ Weenies(hoards of low cost characters bolsteredby cards that benefit many of them atonce). Any of these ideas could be thebasis of a good deck, but we’ll stick withGuns for this example.

Now that we’ve chosen Guns as aFocus, let’s evaluate the cards in the deckand rebuild it with our Focus in mind.

The first thing is to choose whichGuns we want in our deck. Pump-Action Shotguns and Sub-MachineGuns are good, but Bag Full of Guns ismore appropriate to a Lots o’ Weeniesdeck. Fusion Rifle and Elephant Gunare also excellent Guns. I’d also increasethe number of Gun cards to 9 or 10 – thisis a Gun deck, after all.

Now, let’s move on to the mid-rangeand heavy hitters. One of the first tojump out is Ex-Commando. He’s onlyFighting 3 for 3 Power, but if you haveGuns to play on him he becomesexplosively dangerous, often able to takemultiple sites in a turn. Since he’s notUnique or Limited, he’s a character we

always want to see.Karate Cop jumps out, too, but for a

different reason. While he’s a goodcharacter, he’s not a great character, andthe benefit he gets from Guns is nothingspecial. So, to increase the Focus of thedeck, we’ll remove the Karate Cops andreplace them with more Ex-Commandos.

Continuing with the deck’s hitters,Johnny Tso and Tricia Kwok bothbenefit from being in a Gun deck, sowe’ll keep them. Ting Ting and StevenWu are both excellent characters, sothey’ll stay, too.

Foundation characters are prettyeasy, since there aren’t really that manychoices. In a mono-Dragon deck, Ialways start with 5 Hackers – Hacker issimply that good. Redeemed Gunman isgood in an aggressive deck like this, as isStudent of the Dragon.

Moving on to Events and othersupport cards, the Dragon starter alreadyhas one of the most important cards in aGun deck: Both Guns Blazing. This cardis so outstanding, in fact, that we wantmore of them – 4 or 5 if we can get them.“Now You’ve Made Us Mad” is forgenerating Power, but in this deck DirkWisely’s Gambit is probably better sincewe don’t expect to have many woundedcharacters on the board at any given time.Golden Comeback is always good, as isFinal Brawl. Kar Fai’s Crib, a nice card inmany decks, is pointless to have in this one,so we dump it. Other cards to consider areGot My Mojo Working (to protect acharacters holding lots of Guns), Victoryfor the Underdog (to stop those nastyArchitect Events), and Slo Mo Vengeance(for the late game win).

Finally, we come to Feng Shui Sites.The proper selection of Feng Shui Sitesis an often-overlooked aspect of deck

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design. Many people use a stock set ofthem, the same they use with every deck,while others simply toss in whateverFeng Shui Sites they have lying around.The better players choose sites based onthe strengths and weaknesses of theirdecks – they choose sites that contributeto the deck’s overall Focus.

Of the Feng Shui Sites included in theDragon 10K Starter, Festival Circle isthe best for the Gun deck. Since we’rerelying on single characters (armed withloads of Guns), Feng Shui Sites that helpprotect those characters are a goodchoice. Other choices include TurtleBeach, Sacred Heart Hospital, Ring ofGates… you get the idea. And don’tforget Whirlpool of Blood – whensomeone tries to use their own Whirlpoolto stop you from using a Festival Circleto protect your hitter, you want to be ableto stop them. In addition, you want tomake sure you maintain a decent numberof Feng Shui Sites that help you whenyou’re behind (like Nine DragonTemple), generate extra Power (likeGambling House), or have other neateffects (like Temple of Celestial Mercy).

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

Dragon Starter Deck (Some Focus)

• 3 Hacker 5 Redeemed Gunman 4 Everyday Hero

• 2 Ex-Commando 3 Karate Cop 1 Johnny Tso 1 Tricia Kwok 1 Ting Ting 1 Steven Wu

• 2 Pump-Action Shotgun 2 Sub-Machine Gun 2 Bag Full of Guns

• 2 Both Guns Blazing 2 Dirk Wisely’s Gambit 2 “Now You’ve Made Us Mad” 2 Golden Comeback 2 Final Brawl

• 1 Kar Fai’s Crib

• 1 Bird Sanctuary 2 Cave Network 1 City Park 1 Festival Circle 1 Fireworks Factory 1 Gambling House 1 Garden of Bronze 1 Jade Valley 1 Nightclub 1 Nine Dragon Temple 1 Temple of Celestial Mercy

Dragon-Gun Deck (Lots of Focus)

• 5 Hacker 5 Redeemed Gunman 2 Student of the Dragon

• 5 Ex-Commando 1 Johnny Tso 1 Tricia Kwok 1 Ting Ting 1 Steven Wu

• 4 Pump-Action Shotgun 2 Sub-Machine Gun 3 Fusion Rifle 1 Elephant Gun

• 5 Both Guns Blazing 4 Dirk Wisely’s Gambit 2 Final Brawl 2 Got My Mojo Working 2 Slo Mo Vengeance1 Golden Comeback

• 2 City Park 3 Festival Circle 1 Gambling House 2 Nine Dragon Temple 1 Ring of Gates 1 Waterfall Santuary 2 Whirlpool of Blood

Obviously, this same process caneasily be applied to any of the 10KStarters. For example, if you have aGuiding Hand starter, you could Focuson Martial Arts, Chi, or Redirection. Ifyou have an Ascended starter, you couldFocus on the Pledged, Sneaky Tricks, orCops. If you have the Jammer deck, youcan Focus on Monkeys, or … well, whoneeds more than Monkeys?

Anyway, keep the Focus, and go kicksome butt!

S H A D O W F I S T S E C R E T W A R S O C I E T Y J O U R N A L , A U G U S T 2 0 0 3 1 1

10KB - Speed Killsby J.Castellucci

10,000 Bullets gives you two newways to help bring out a monstercharacter on turn two – IsomorphicSpirit + Mathemagician and Templeof Celestial Mercy + Fatty Cho.

As long as you're not the firstplayer to take a turn, playing a firstturn Proving Ground and Mathe-magician, followed by a PocketDemon second turn, will usually haveyou sitting at 3 Power. Then if youropponents were foolish enough toleave your Mathemagician in play,you can use its special ability to playthe Isomorphic Spirit (at -2 costusing your Proving Ground) with 1power left to play a second ProvingGround or Mathemagician to insureyour Spirit is a hefty 8 Fighting.

The Temple of Celestial Mercy isjust what a super-sized Fatty Cho hasbeen waiting for. Again, when notgoing first, play the Temple ofCelestial Mercy first turn, along witha Golden Candle Society and anyother 1-cost Guiding Hand character(I like 10KB’s Yellow Geomancer).Start off your second turn with aViolet Meditation, and use your 2power to play Fatty, discarding yourentire hand to make him 7 Fighting.And, if you were lucky enough todraw the Art of War first turn (andnot lose it!), the Chubby Cop canreach 9 Fighting second turn – that’sa lot of donuts!

E ACH FACTION CONTAINS staple cardsthat appear in almost every deck: Final

Brawl, Operation Killdeer, Imprison,Tortured Memories, and more. Other cardsget neglected. The cardboard equivalent ofthe last kid picked for baseball. You may notwant them on your team, but they can go tobat for you. Imagine attacking a Dragon’sFeng Shui site for the win. You’ve got aWandering Teacher, he has a Stunt Man. Heplays a Brawl (Stunt Men have guts…). Youplay a Festival of Giants, and he respondswith … a Last Outpost! The teacher doesn’tkill the intercepting Stunt Man. LastOutpost is not a good card by any stretch ofthe imagination, but it stopped you.

Let’s try again. Your opponent playsthe Final Brawl and rather than play aFestival of Giants, you just take thedamage, since you have a Blood of theValiant. But he doesn’t intercept, andjust plays a … Healing Earth, using chifrom a dead Ting Ting and JennyZheng. Good attack, but not enough.Next turn the Stunt Men attacks and,with a Flying Kick, superleaps over theTeacher for the win.

Bad cards lack versatility, but fivecopies of a staple isn’t flexible. Anyway,you lost because there were too manypossibilities to consider. In a hypothetical,your opponent can always have the perfectcard for any situation. Covert Operationhelps the Ascended by removing a card;but you also learn his limitations. A handfull of sites means it’s time to go to town.By only using staples you limit your hand,which is nearly as damaging. Bad cardsprevent this. By playing a few weak cards,you occasionally pull off a stunningreversal. More importantly, you plant theseeds of doubt in your opponent’s mind. Ifyou always play the classics, youropponent can read you after a few turns.Attacks from unexpected angles areharder to defend against. More

importantly, your opponent may freeze upor miscalculate.

Wrong decisions happen. If youknew your opponent couldn’t playanything, you could attack with theperfect amount of force. The uncertaintyforces a choice: send the ‘perfect’amount, expecting your own cards toprovide backup, or over commit. Eitherchoice can be wrong, depending on whatyour opponent has. Too little equals afailed attack, too much means no followup. Events force your opponent to take aposition. Staples allow your opponent tomake that decision incorrectly, but carddiversity turns an opponent’s unluckydecision into a catastrophe.

Now that you feel tempted to diversifyyour decks, what to do? Not all bad cardsare equally useful. Surprise makes themarginal card playable. Characters don’tqualify, unless they have an impactinstantly. Attacking with a newly playedcharacter doesn’t surprise, and noamount of wishing will turn a HoppingVampire into an Evil Twin. Eventssurprise the most, and should be yourfirst candidate. However, any card thatcan be played during an attack or whenbeing attacked should be considered, andthis includes a few characters (like DropTroopers). States, sites and edges count ifthey provide an immediate impact. FengShui sites, with their ability to stay hiddenuntil used, also work; but in general, lookto mediocre events. Also consider goodevents that you have to scrounge forresources to play. Dragons can play Chior Magic events (with some pain), andthere are a growing number of charactersthat provide an out of faction resource.Using a surprise resource to play a good(out of faction) event can be gamewinning, but you have to be nonchalantabout getting the resource. A foundationcharacter will appear obvious.

And definitely play with a quota,around one card in twenty. That’s 2 or 3cards in a moderate sized deck. Take outa copy of one of your staples. Toss awayan Imprison for a DisinformationPacket. Now you can take a site when allthe hitters are turned. This demonstratesanother rule: the lesser cards shouldcover a situation that the standardsdon’t. Architects have plenty ofcharacter removal, but what if you arefacing three hitters or more? NeutronBomb clears the board, including yourown characters. Limiting yourself tofour cards keeps your opponents fromknowing when you’ve played them all.

What if your weak card turns out tobe useless? Well, it will certainlyhappen. Chuck it. If your groupannounces discards, you’ll still get someadvertising benefit. (“You discardedwhat?”) This also illustrates why youshould only play with a few cards: youdon’t want too many to show up at once.More than one can lead to problems.

Playing weak, mediocre, unexcitingcards provides tactical options,confounds the enemy, and makes thegame fun. And you may discover thatyour initial impression was wrong. Withall of the cards in Shadowfist, it is easy tomisjudge a few. If you are careful, you’llbe able to win games and brag aboutdoing it … with Total War!


Using Bad Cards

by Brian Bankler

The Summer 2003 Shadowfistconvention tournament seasonis winding down, and wethought those of you whoweren’t able to attend mightappreciate a recap of sometournament winners deck lists,and highlights. Everyone whodid attend, it was great seeingyou and throwing down again –see you next year!

ORIGINS 2003 WINNERSFri. Final Brawl - Troy DuffySat. Final Brawl - Braz KingWho’s The Big Man Now? -

robin parmarComrades in Arms - Rick GarmanWhirlpool of Blood - Steve WamplerWho Wants Some? - Ben BarnettBoth Guns Blazing -

Andrew Sackett

GENCON 2003 WINNERSFinal Brawl - Gavin Edwards (World Champion)

Both Guns Blazing -Joshua Kronengold

Who’s The Big Man Now? - Julian Lighton (World Champion)

Comrades in Arms - Julian LightonWhirlpool of Blood - Jeremy Dale100 Names - Dave EberRob Campbell - Baptism of FireSun. Final Brawl - Conrad Mikaelian

Who Wants Some? - Dan Mauldin

GenCon 2003 FinalBrawl Winning DeckGavin Edwards2003 World Champion

I'M AN AGGRESSIVE PLAYER: a sharkrather than a turtle. So in five years of

Shadowfist, this was only the secondGuiding Hand deck I ever built. It’s gottwo ways to win: the first is the amazingPeasant Leader / Hands Without Shadowcombination. (A tip of the hat to JoshuaKronengold, who pointed it out to me.)Hands on my interceptor reduces anopposing player’s hitter (the White Ninja,say) to just one fighting, which means thePeasant Leader can then grab her. When Iturn the Ninja to heal--and this is thebeautiful part--I still maintain control overher. (I mean “beautiful” in the Shadowfistsense of “makes opponents want to gougeout their eyes,” of course.)

Of course, the Leaders are only 1fighting, so they’re somewhat fragile--especially to Final Brawl. The Festival ofGiants and Confucian Stability cards areboth there to protect against that, but Ican’t count on my little demagoguesstaying alive. So the second way to win isjust to start dropping some of the Hand’sexcellent hitters, maybe using RigorousDiscipline to pass Superleap around orusing Quan Lo as the coup de grace for aSuperleaping army.

The deck has very little in the way ofalternate power generation events--just oneHeat of Battle. But it does have the crucialShield of Pure Soul, a Fox Outfoxed, theIron Monkey, and Yung Chang, all of

which improve power flow. In addition, Icount on being able to keep my FSS, bothwith their defensive abilities and a steadysupply of Iron and Silk. (Healing themwith Chinese Connection or Yung Chang isa fun trick too.)

I trimmed down the deck from the high70s to the low 70s before GenCon; onecard I was especially sorry to see go wasSuperior Mastery, which allows you toslap Hands Without Shadow as a surpriseon an interceptor during someone else’sMain Shot (or Mad Monkey Kung Fu ona Peasant Leader, letting him steal a four-fighting character). It would be interestingto build a different version of this deckmore focussed on the good Hand and ChiStates, starting with swapping in Fortuneof the Turtle for Confucian Stability.

The deck has a lot of interesting waysto combo, of course; on the turn where Imade my winning attack in the world-championship game, I didn’t pull a hitter. Idid, however, draw a Righteous Protector.The Temple of Boundless Meditationmade him 6 Fighting, while the VioletSenshi Chamber gave him Superleap(from the dead Billy Chow in DanMauldin’s smoked pile), and my jury-rigged beating stick won me the game.

Part of the reason I do well with thisdeck is that it makes me play in a waycounter to my usual tendencies – I haveto marshal my strength, while I can stillgo hit something when I see a ripeopportunity. Any Shadowfist playercould benefit from the same exercise: ifyou’re usually a cautious turtle, try a deckthat makes you come out swinginginstead. Your game will benefit.


Summer 2003 Convention Report

“VILLAGE GREENPRESERVATION SOCIETY”

FOUNDATIONS5x Golden Candle Society

2x Little Grasshopper

1x Buddhist Monk

3x Righteous Fist

3x Righteous Protector

CHARACTERS5x Peasant Leader

1x Blue Monk

1x Xiaoyang Yun

2x The Iron Monkey

EVENTS / STATES / EDGES2x Confucian Stability

2x Festival of Giants

5x Iron and Silk

1x Heat of Battle

1x Onslaught of the Turtle

2x Rigorous Discipline

1x Storm of the Just

1x Wind on the Mountain

1x Contract of the Fox

4x Hands Without Shadow

1x Mad Monkey Kung Fu

1x The Fox Outfoxed

1x Chinese Connection

3x Shield of Pure Soul

NON-FENG SHUI SITES1x Green Senshi Chamber

1x Yellow Senshi Chamber

1x Violet Senshi Chamber

FENG SHUI SITES1x City Park

1x Fox Pass

1x Kinoshita House

2x Maze of Stairs

2x Puzzle Garden

1x Roller Rink

1x Sacred Heart Hospital

1x Temple of the Angry Spirits

1x Temple of Boundless Meditation

1x Temple of Celestial Mercy

3x Whirlpool of Blood

1x Leung Mui

1x Yung Chang

1x Billy Chow

1x Quan Lo

THIS IS A TRANSCRIPT of what is probably thelongest recorded 4-player Shadowfist

tournament final ever. Several players and onlookerstook notes, and coverage is predictably episodicgiven that the final started at 4:30pm and ended 10hours (10 hours!) later at 2:30am. Folks, these areprofessionals – don’t try this at home.

Okay, a few people have asked for this. Duringthe game Cavebear took notes, assisted often by oursole ‘audience member’ for most of the game, TimLinden. Robin also took notes. I wrote a singlecomment: “Shadowy Mentor / Shaolin Surprisemadness ensues” before I took my nap.

The notes were taken in an episodic manner andI inserted ----[BREAK] between episodes to help itmake a bit more sense. Much is missing of course,but you can get a flavour of the game. Where Icouldn’t read the writing I inserted “???”.

PLAYERS AND DECKS:

John Merrill ‘Hot & Cold’ (MON Fire / Ice)robin parmar (HAN w/ASC Splash)Jeff ‘Cavebear’ Stroud - (DRA w/ConcourseGodard, K.F. Crib, Evil Twin, CHAR, etc)Braz King ‘Heroes of the Twilight’ (DRA/LOTCops with designator tricks)-----------Seating (clockwise): John Merrill, robin parmar,Jeff ‘Cavebear’ Stroud, Braz King-----------EARLY GAME

Braz 2FSS, Police StationsJohn 2FSS, Fire Acolytesrobin 2FSS, Golden Candle Society, Shield of PureSoul, Chinese Connection, Family EstateCavebear 2FSS, Nine Dragon TempleFirst burn (for Power) robin (Cavebear’s 9DT)First Golden Comeback Lusignan (Mojo cancelledby robin’s Confucian Stability first.)First seize Kar Fai’s Crib to John.-----------Braz Plays Magnum Justice. Attacks John’sPuzzle Garden with Rookies and Karate Cop.Much calculation and discussion ensue. Fails.John Passes.robin attacks wounded Puzzle Garden w/ BlueMonk (immune to Netherworld). John’s pleas forhelp fall on deaf ears, esp. Cavebear’s. Braz redirectsto his Karate Cop (6) w/new Fox Pass. Splat goesthe Monk. Plays new Blue Monk (Netherworld),attacks again! Success, BfV. Plays Iron Monkey -attacks Cavebear’s 5 body 9DT - Final Brawl!Brawl Confucianed. John plays Mark of Firesaving 9DT. Attack hits, IM steals 1 power.Cavebear Gambles. Steven Wu. Pass.Braz Earth Poisoner. Gambles. Karate Cop heals.Poisoner attacks Iron Monkey, John sends twoFire Acolytes to join. Dead Iron Monkey.

John New site (all at 2 FSS, robin has 1 BfV).Weenies hit Cavebear’s 9DT. Fire Acolyte killed bySteven Wu, other Op Killdeered by robin.robin draws 5! (Temple of Cel. Mercy). Waffles alot. Shadowy Mentors Karate Cop.Cavebear Gambles. New Heroes. Plays FSS.Steven Wu attacks K.F.Crib w/ D.W.Gambit. robinblocks with Blue Monk (dies).Braz Shifting Loyalties - gets Karate Cop back.Attacks Temple of Cel. Mercy - seizes it. (robin’strick to use Shield of Pure Soul works!)John Plays Feeding the Fires. Attacks Cavebear’s9DT with 2 Darkness Priestesses - Wu kills one.Success. BfV. Cavebear reacts to burn with CityPark. robin wastes Iron and Silk on Wu.robin plays Temple of Cel. Mercy, auction, HostileTakeover to win auction and get 2 power. Yen Fan(forgot to Family Estate).Cavebear Gambles. Steven Wu attacks K.F.Crib,Braz Fox Pass to Karate Cop. Steven retreats withK.House. Redeemed Gunman.Braz Gambles. Cavebear predicts robin’s victory onnext turn. Sinister Accuses Yen Fan - “Assassin”.Assassins in Love takes Yen Fan. Yen Fan attacksCavebear’s Gambling House. “Discussion” overtiming - oh well. robin Saolin Surprises ShadowyMentor onto Yen Fan and takes him for the turn.Attack fails. John reveals Fox Pass and winsauction with Braz.John Plays new FSS. ----[BREAK] Shaolin Surprise / Shadowy Mentormadness ensues. ----[BREAK] Cavebear Concourse Godard andSteven Wu take Puzzle Garden from John, whoAvenging Fires. ----[BREAK] 8pm (Approaching 3-1/2 hr mark)robin has Iron Monkey and K.House.Cavebear finally twins Concourse Godard and takesone of Braz’ Police Stations.Braz attacks left with 2 Underworld Trackers,Karate Cop, Rookies, and Yen Fan, the Assassin inLove, and is hit by a 4-point Discerning Fire.John Feeds the Flames and builds to 4FSS.robin Mentors Twin of Concourse Godard. SwatsJade Valley for 9. Attacks Dr. John for 3 with IronMonkey.Cavebear plays Lusignan. Lusignan and ConcourseGodard attack John’s Puzzle Garden. Lusignansnowblinded. CG hits for 3.Braz Yen fan goes superleaping to Cavebear’s JadeValley but robin Killdeers him.robin’s Fist of Shadow smokes Feeding the Flames.Blood is discovered on Lusignan (for real). ----[BREAK] 9pm (4 1/2 hours) John’s first Monarch,old Fire King, hits the table. Kills 9 damaged JadeValley with Palm of Darkness.robin and Cavebear make nuisance attacks.

Braz Twins the King of the Fire Pagoda.Braz helps John take robin’s Temple of CelestialMercy. John doesn’t want to seize: he has only 5cards left. He burns for Victory and robin biteshim. ----[BREAK] Cavebear Dr. John and ConcourseGodard attack John’s Desolate Ridge. Concourseis Snowblind and Dr. John is blanked by the Eyeof Darkness but Claw of the Dragon lets him killKing of the Fire Pagoda and almost take site - IceSorceress saves site, then Wu Ming Yi seizes it.Braz Wu Ming Yi graduates from the Braz Schoolof Medicine to gain the designator Dr., andcelebrates by gambling at Casino Brazorama. TwoUnderworld Trackers attack Concourse’s EvilTwin. Shaolin Surprise makes the Twin of King ofthe Fire Pagoda join robin. ----[BREAK] Dr. John killed by joint work of allothers. Braz Twins the White Ninja of Cavebear.Team up kills White Ninja. Retaliation killsConcourse’s Evil Twin .----[BREAK] Braz Maverick Cop, Taggert and EarthPoisoner attack robin’s K.House for the win.Cavebear Fox Passes Taggert. Braz DiscerningFires ??? robin confucian, Cavebear Mojo Workingon Evil Twin of Concourse Godard, Desolate Ridgedoes two to attacking Earth Poisoner. Attackdoesn’t take the K.House. ----[BREAK] Cavebear sends all his guys at OrangeSenshi Chamber. ----[BREAK] Mondo Mentor and 4 Shaolin Surprisestop Braz’ massive victory push. John still holdingwith one card left. ----[BREAK] robin goes for victory. Xioyang Yun iskilled. Mentored Jack Donovan is pulled back withhis own K.House - stopped from taking the site butstill hits. Plays Yen Fan and Yen and Jack attackagain. Braz Brawls so Cavebear can unturn (Mojo)and block Yen Fan but robin Confucians it.Cavebear blocks with a wounded Wu Ming Yi,heals with S.H.Hospital, smokes Jack Donovan butnobody can block a superleaping Yen Fan SOJOHN PLAYS HIS FIRST CARD IN ABOUT 4HOURS TO STOP ROBIN W/ EARTH, WIND,AND FIRE TO HEAL THE KING AND KILLYEN FAN!!!! ----[BREAK] Cavebear pushes for the win. Johnplays Mark of Fire and does the 4th pt of damageto robin’s K.House, denying Cavebear the site andthe win. ----[BREAK] Braz pushes for victory. Cavebear’sLusignan with a Claw of the Dragon interceptsBraz’s newly played Wu Ming Yi. Braz deputizesWu Ming Yi and kills the Fool. robin’s Fox Passpulls the Evil Twin of the King of the ThunderPagoda to his mentored 30-fighting Taggert!!! ButBraz gets through with his two UnderworldTrackers.----END!


Marathon Men

Origins 2003 Final Brawl Transcript


Secret Wind AcrossHeaven Techby Julian LightonGencon 2003 Dueling Champion

5 Student of the Dragon3 Redeemed Gunman2 Hacker

2 Proving Ground2 Whirlpool of Blood2 Eagle Mountain2 Stone Spirals1 Kinoshita House1 Phlogiston Mine

4 Final Brawl2 Kiii-YAAAH!3 Dirk Wisely's Gambit3 Ting Ting's Gambit5 “Is That All You Got?"

3 Consumer on the Brink3 Old Uncle2 Ting Ting5 Good Ol' Boys

Rocket Jamby Joshua KronengoldGencon 2003 DuelingChampionships Finalist

4 Proving Ground2 Whirlpool of Blood2 Eagle Mountain

1 Bandit Hideout1 Genocide Lounge

2 Street Gang5 Resistance Squad1 Portal Jockey

5 Dallas Rocket1 Ba-BOOM!1 Major Hottie

5 Scrounging2 Close Call3 Street Riot2 Who's the

Monkey Now?

1 Payback Time

Stealth Cheeseby Conrad MikaelianGencon 2003 Dueling Championshipssemifinalist

5 Jade Wheel Society2 Student of the Bear3 The Pledged

2 Ninja InteriorDecorators3 Rat Fink3 Coil of the Snake3 Gruff Lieutenant1 Serena Chase1 Kinoshita1 Phillipe Benoit1 Yen Song1 Juan “El Tigre”Velasquez1 Monkey Chang

2 Bite of the Jellyfish3 Bull Market2 Shadowy Mentor3 Operation Killdeer5 Mole Network

4 Explosives3 Pump-Action Shotgun

1 Golden Mile1 Night Market1 Gambling House1 Mobius Garden2 Fireworks Factory3 Nine Dragon Temple2 Blessed Orchard

Creeperby John MerrillGencon DuelingChampionshipssemifinalist

5 Sinister Priest5 Palace Guards

1 Death Ring

2 Evil Twin1 The Emperor2 Gnarled Horror5 Walking Corpses1 Seven Evils

4 Inexorable Corruption2 Hell Charger2 Big Rig

1 Underworld Contract1 Spies Everywhere

2 Inauspicious Reburial2 Discerning Fire2 Die!!!1 Infernal Pact2 Pocket Demon

5 Puzzle Garden2 Gambling House2 Desolate Ridge2 Fox Pass1 Temple of the AngrySpirits

Gencon 2003 Dueling Decks

Note Julian’s ultra-secret WindAcross Heaven tech - don’t playit. There must be something to it,though, as this deck not onlywon the dueling championshipbut went to the final in the worldmulti championship as well.

Power for Promos

Did you notice that Shadowfist starterand booster packaging has numbers indiamonds that look like the PowerGeneration stat from Feng Shui Sites?Well, they are, sort of.

Each starter box or booster wrapper isworth an amount of Power Points. Youcan trade them in at our website (see thePower for Promos program) for niftypromo stuff, while supplies last. Eachbooster is worth 2 Power (clip the 2 in

the diamond on the back of thewrapper) and each starter is worth 5(clip the 5 on the box flap). Send yourPower along with a self-addressed,stamped envelope (for players outsidethe US, please send the appropriatenumber of International Reply Couponsfor airmail) and anything you’d like toprotect your item to Power for Promos,Z-Man Games, Inc., 6 Alan Drive,Mahopac, NY 10541.

The stuff we offer for redemption willchange over time. We’ll keep a currentlist online (at www.shadowfist.com/buy)and we’ll update the list in the FAQwhenever we update the FAQ.

DETACH PAGE OR PHOTOCOPY

Name _____________________________________________________Address _____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________Power Pts Enclosed __________ Phone# _________________________SWS Member? No Yes/Faction ___________________________

White Ninja

90 PPts for general public.80 PPts for SWS members.

Quantity: __________

Power Pts: ________

Nine Cuts



Power Pts: ________

The Junkyard



Power Pts: ________

Elephant Gun



Power Pts: ________

All items are subject to availability. Allow 2-6 weeks for delivery.

The Eastern King90 PPts for general public.80 PPts for SWS members.70 PPts for registered

Ascended SWS members.


Power Pts: ________

Once and FutureChampion90 PPts for general public.80 PPts for SWS members.70 PPts for registered Four

Monarchs SWS members.


Power Pts: ________

Time To Kick Ass!90 PPts for general public.80 PPts for SWS members.70 PPts for registered Dragon

SWS members.


Power Pts: ________

Primus90 PPts for general public.80 PPts for SWS members.70 PPts for registered Purist

SWS members.


Power Pts: ________

Che Gorilla90 PPts for general public.80 PPts for SWS members.70 PPts for registered Jammers

SWS members.


Power Pts: ________

4 Burn for VictoryCounter Cards90 PPts for general public.80 PPts for SWS members.

Quantity: __________(sets of 4)

Power Pts: ________

Silver Jet90 PPts for general public.80 PPts for SWS members.70 PPts for registered Four



Power Pts: ________

Yung Chang90 PPts for general public.80 PPts for SWS members.70 PPts for registered Guiding

Hand SWS members.


Power Pts: ________

Wedding Gifts90 PPts for general public.80 PPts for SWS members.70 PPts for registered Four



Power Pts: ________

Ho Chen90 PPts for general public.80 PPts for SWS members.


Power Pts: ________

august 2003 kiii-yaaah! - shadowfistnetherworld.chimpshack.org/subs/mags/ky04.pdf · 2008-07-13 ·...

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