by Marek Laskowski
“Rise of the NeoBuro” - Online Proving Ground spring 2007 duelling event winner.
5 BuroMil Grunt
5 DNA Mage
4 Test Subjects
3 Arcanowave Researcher
4 Bouncing Benji
2 Johann Bonengel PAP
2 Elsa Winterhagen
2 Dr. Curtis Boatman PAP
2 Arcanotechnician
4 Artillery Strike
3 Dangerous Experiment
2 Imprisoned
2 Neutron Bomb
4 Pocket Demon
2 Paradox Cube
3 Probability Manipulator
5 Rise of the NeoBuro
2 The Rackets
5 Dragon Graveyard
5 Nine Dragon Temple
2 Thousand Sword Mountain
2 Stone Dolmens
Yes, it really is 70 cards. It's not a mistake. This deck burns through cards as a resource for both Artillery Strike fodder (damage and reload) as well as reloading Bouncing Benjis. In a pinch it can draw a new hand and still generate power: when you pay the reload cost for the Benji, you can pay it again in response, and thus discard as many cards as you like while reloading a single Benji. If you don't care which cards you discard, Artillery Strike will work the same. Due to the 5 namesake Rise of the NeoBuro's you can also quickly see a big chunk of the deck quite fast. It's really the only card you need to draw, which is why there are five.
Artillery Strike is the second most important key card due to it's versatility. It will kill a pesky character. It allows for superb card flow. It slows the opponent down by destroying their sites if necessary (or your own to prevent burning for victory). Also takes care of utility sites.
This deck is very power lean. It can survive happily with one or even zero sites out. You'll note that there is little defense for the Feng Shui Sites. There are only two Imprisoned. Thousand Sword Mountain discourages probing attacks since those could potentially result in this deck getting free power for several turns. Because it is a slow deck, almost all the sites give me some advantage when they are attacked or are lost.
Even when not generating any power, this deck can sit back and draw cards using Rise until it gets a Pocket Demon or Dangerous Experiment, which can yield enough power for several Artillery Strikes. In situations like this there's a very real danger of being overrun if your opponent can get up to 6 Feng Shui sites in quick succession. It's like riding the razor's edge. Experience on when to Artillery Strike and how to read the board are key here. I could probably write another article of this length on just that topic. A rule of thumb is to keep the opponent at least two sites away from victory. Ideally, leave them with two Feng Shui sites out. It only costs them one power to bring out a second site, which is how much Artillery Strike costs, and there are other reasons to keep them at two sites which I will go into later.
Probability Manipulator is the secret kung fu of this deck. It's strong on it's own and can hose a lot of the opponent's cards. It also has really great synergy with almost all the sites, characters and edges in this deck. Take a look to see what kind of wacky effects you can pull off with it. It's particularly effective when you have two Manipulator effects by copying Probability Manipulator using Paradox Cube.
Eventually you'll probably want to bring out The Rackets. With a Probability Manipulator out, you can ensure that an opponent can't ramp up enough power to play something big if they only have one or two sites out. Also, many events that can screw you require power, so by stealing power you pretty much have a free pass on your turn.
If things don't go particularly in your favor, you still might have forced the opponent into a situation where they can't play more cards because they risk decking in the late game. You can finish them off with Arcanowave Researcher(s) who are incidentally also good at protecting your cards by either forcing the discard or use of potentially threatening cards before you play your own vulnerable cards. This, I would say, is a legitimate use of the discard mechanic. If you've used Rise of the NeoBuro during most of the game, haven't discarded many cards, and tended to place Feng Shui sites at the bottom of the deck, you probably still have 8-10 sites in the 20 or so cards left in the deck, so a viable option is to just play and take sites for victory. In my experience, most opponents will either concede or deck themselves in a tournament to deny you points, which sucks, but hey, a win is a win.
There is a lot of nuance in what cards to play when and what cards you should place on the bottom using Rise of the NeoBuro. That's where experience gained from playing the deck comes in.
Since it appears to be such a slow deck, many opponents will leave themselves open to a quick and brutal attack expecting you to just twiddle. In the early game, two BuroMil Grunts and an Artillery Strike can take down almost any undefended site. Since I'm expecting to lose my sites, I can afford this risk of attacking early. If my opponent's game is to get out something using Cave Network or a similar mechanic, they can choke on all their cards related to that combo for the rest of the game. Later in the game, 5 power from a Dangerous Experiment can get you 9 damage for 4 power with Johann and a Benji or Grunt from your hand or similarly 11 damage for 5 power. I guess the point is that even though most of the time the deck is slow in nature, it can do a 180 and come at you with both guns blazing!
If I want make one point sink in, it is to learn from experience. Although there was a deck with Thunder on Thunder in the tournament, I didn't have to play against it. That probably would have been my toughest match and I very well may have lost. I need Hacker(s) in here for next time. Also, Dangerous Experiment might be cut in the future, since I can't really afford to lose a Probability Manipulator or the Rackets, making Dangerous Experiment almost useless when I have those out. While Stone Dolmens is in here specifically to counter Shadowy Mentor, I am considering cutting it for another site as I think my Benjis are naturally strong against all control effects, and most others I can off (besides Elsa) with relative ease if they are stolen. One opponent came up with the novel tactic of skipping power generation so that I could not steal his power. I did not expect that and at first was not sure how to deal with it, but next time I see somebody do that I will know how to react. Experience.
Now let's compare to the Queen's Ball
Queen's Ball
4 Queen of the Ice Pagoda
2 White Ninja Promo
5 Railroad Workers
4 Netherworld Return
5 The Willow Bends...
5 Confucian Stability
3 Fire Sled
5 The Jade Dragon
5 Hidden Tomb
2 Plains of Ash
Originally a mono-Hand deck, but I realized that their characters suck. Considering resource conditions, Queen of the Ice Pagoda and White Ninja were a good choice. I haven't played this deck much but I heard that a similar deck did quite well at Origins '07.
Note that this deck revolves pretty heavily around the Railroad Workers, Hidden Tomb, Jade Dragon combo on turn 1. The deck needs to be very small in order to pull this off with any kind of consistency. Instead of bringing out a mid-sized character on turn 2 like Rocket Jam, this deck aims to have by turn 3 or 4 a White Ninja or Queen out, backed up with Confucian Stability and Netherworld Return. Plains of Ash combos nicely with Netherworld Return.
This deck is more on the fast side than Rise of the NeoBuro. Unlike Rise, it has a reasonable expectation to defend its sites for those first few turns because of 8 body, Toughness: 1 and The Willow Bends...
For decks this small it's probably okay to stray from the 3:1:1 rule of card to foundation to Feng Shui site ratios.
This deck has been horribly screwed over by Kinoshita House I had to add the Fire Sleds in there.
In my opinion, Shaolin Hoedown is not a good fit for this deck, even though that's what inspired the deck name. It requires Chi, which would be tough to produce without diluting this deck further. It's also rather limited in scope, so I exchanged it for Confucian Stability since I have no problem generating power for it.
There are a lot of cards I'd like to put in here such as Difficulty at the Beginning and Spear of Destiny but it's hard without diluting the above combo, which is a real drawback in these tight, speedy and focused decks that revolve around a certain combo.
In the future, I think I will replace Netherworld Return with Positive Chi, and then play 2 Discos instead of Plains of Ash. That way I can sometimes have enough power on turn 3 to play one of my hitters and still have enough for Confucian Stability. Maybe find a way to squeeze Wind on the Mountain in there, too, to recycle those Confucian Stabilities.
Marek Laskowski is also known as freezeconsumer! on ccgworkshop.com's gatlingEngine. He will usually accept a competitive (as opposed to using pre-constructed starters) dueling challenge when online, or you can feel free to hit him up for advice or a deck critique.