Evaulating Ambition's Debt - Part I
Dark Path of the Shadow Strategy Article - iguesi@aol.com

So what did the Shadow gain from Ambition's Debt? Well I believe that depends on the type of deck you play. When building a Dark Path deck, I am most comfortable with Military, Abandoning and Enlightenment. Therefore, I may overlook cards, others would find important to their style of play. In this first article we'll look at the Dynasty Cards that I believe would help the above decks the most.

Let's Start with a Few Events.

First, the only 'Ninja specific' Event, is Unmaker's Shadow. Until your next Events Phase begins, all Ninja Personalities gain the ability "Battle: Once per turn, move this Personality from one of the defender's Province to another. Lose 3 Honor." (Note the honor loss would not impact us, because our Ninja cards can never cause us an honor loss.) If you're playing militant, I would consider this card as a small boost, but not a game breaker.

Plague of Locusts destroys all Holdings in play that entered play for 0 Gold. This bad boy could definitely aid an Abandoning deck. However, be mindful. If you use a Ninja Stronghold to 'pay' for any other holdings, they will get devoured.

Some of the Ninja theme decks I have built would be brutally injured by Calm Winds. For the rest of the game, negate all card effects that bow cards, other than effects from cards controlled or played by the bowing cards' controller. This does not affect cards bowed during the Attack Phase. Ahhh!! Cards like Yogo Asami, Ninja Kidnapper, Toturi is Drugged and Deadly Message become useless. I strongly recommend Avoid Fate in these types of decks.

What About People?

I like shugenja. Therefore, I rejoiced with the addition of Goju Utsuei to our a family. He/She/It is a 1F 3C -HR 4G 1PH Unaligned Ninja Shugenja. Lose 3 Honor. An innate ability would have been nice, but I'm happy.

Hirariko returns and she keeps all of her old traits while adding an innate dueling ability. She certainally has potential, especially in a militant deck. Her measurements: 2F 5C -HR 10G 0PH Unaligned Ninja Duelist. Experienced. Unique. Lose 4 Honor. Items give no bonuses and create no effects in a duel against Hirariko. Battle: Issue an unrefusable challenge to an opposing Personality with a Gold cost greater than the Personality's Chi plus Personal Honor.

The Shadow Beast is definitely a theme card. I wouldn't add 'em to a deck unless I added other Shadowlands peeps in order to make 'em really pump. Stats: 1F 4C -HR 6G 0PH Unaligned Ninja Creature. Shadowlands. Lose 5 Honor. The Shadow Beast will not join a Shadowlands player. Open: Once per turn, each other Shadowlands Personality has -1C, to a minimum of 1, until the turn ends. The Shadow Beast gains +1F for each other Shadowlands Personality in play. I am still searching for the right combo of Ninja and taint to make this guy work. Oh the questions... Drawing Out the Darkness? Black Finger River?

Egads! Another zero force Ninja. But wait, he's also a tactician with a solid battle ability. Hmmm... Shosuro Yudoka might just make the grade. (I know he'll make it in my Scorpion military deck.) Shosuro Yudoka has the following stats: 0F 3C -HR 6G 1PH Scorpion Clan Ninja. Tactician. Lose 2 Honor. Battle: Bow Yudoka. Destroy a Terrain in play for this battle.

A Region and a Holding

One region and one holding stand out as possible additions to my Ninja/Shadowlands deck. Morikage Unique. When Personalities appear face-up in the Province, they permanently gain the Ninja trait. Rats... why did it have to be unique? Black Finger River was not unique. Therefore, the odds of this type of Region being much help are slim. However, the Shosuro Dojo might be a more reliable option for giving out the Ninja trait. 5G Unique. Limited: Bow the Shosuro Dojo. Target a Personality face-up in a Province, with under 2 Personal Honor and without the Ninja trait. The Personality permanently gains the Ninja trait and permanently has -1C. Lose 2 Honor. Why is this NOT A NINJA CARD! Either way, it could be used with the Ninja Stronghold, to bring big people in cheap. It can also be used to hose over 1 chi people in your opponent's provinces. :)

Returning to the darkness of the shadows...