Ussuran Grand Admiral : Gen Con 2024

Record: 7-1
5 Assassinations, 1 Economic on time, 1 Economic on concession
Assassinated 1 time

This is not explicitly an Assassination deck (although it certainly does).

The overall goal of this list is to utilize Yevgeni’s 4 fist and 12 resolve to send enemy non-leader characters to the locker, in order to create an overwhelming advantage for pursing an Economic/Assassination victory. It is supported by ridiculously powerful Ussuran cards.

Decklist

Approach

Leader
Yevgeni (Sorcerer)

Characters
Ekaterina Ilyanava
Torsten Vakt
Elina Georginova (Sorcerer)
Miyato and Ota (Tooth and Claw)
Ved’Ma (Sorcerer)

Schemes
Midnight Shipment
Let’s Haggle
Winter’s Winds (Tooth and Claw)
The Boar’s Guile
Leshiye of the Wood

Faction

Ussuran (29 | 25 core | 4 Tooth and Claw)
2x Indomitable Will
2x Iron and Velvet
2x Matushka’s Command (Sorcery)
2x Matushka’s Efficiency (Sorcery)
2x Mireli Sabre
2x Mireli’s Revision
2x Predatory Pursuit
2x Razrushitel
2x Strong Hands
2x Stubborn
2x Sunder

1x Blood like Winter (Tooth and Claw)
1x Grandfather’s Hammer (Unique)
1x Justice Served Cold (Tooth and Claw)
1x Matushka’s Sight (Sorcery)
1x Strength of Ten (Unique)
1x Ussuran Intrigue (Tooth and Claw)
1x Voice of the Gods (Sorcery, Tooth and Claw)

Neutral (11 | 9 core | 2 Tooth and Claw)
2x Appealing to the People
2x Bleed Out
2x Pull (Sorcery)
2x Throwing Knife

1x Collateral Damage (Tooth and Claw)
1x Matchlock Musket
1x Relentless (Tooth and Claw)

Deck Explanation

Yevgeni is an absurdly powerful leader, when you play to his strengths. Add to that the versatile trio of Ekaterina, Torsten, and Elina with a bunch of high-impact cards, and you’ve got a terrifying deck.

I’ve talked about “overwhelming threat” / “efficient combat” in more detail in my Eisen Full Strategic Breakdown, but I’ll provide a brief recap restate it here because it is the cornerstone of this deck too (who was I kidding, humph brief).

Overwhelming Thrust

1. Wounds don’t matter unless they kill
2. Restricted hostilities limits the number of wounds per round *super important*
3. Sending 2/3 threat above restricted hostilities effectively negates opposing defense
4. Minimizing the rounds of combat (currently) minimizes the wounds you take

So, we’ve got 4 Fist, 12 Resolve Yevgeni. If he challenges a 4 Resolve character, they will immediately die if they refuse (plus he has his once per day en garding Reaction).

Further, if they attempt to duel back, the first combat card Yevgeni plays should always be able to finish them off, as long as it has ideally 4+ base thrust/Ripsote (although 3 + the 1 from Yevgeni is likely sufficient). Therefore, unless they are playing a Lethal card like Heroic End or Rough ‘Em Up, you can’t take more than twice their restricted hostilities, max.

Based on this, if you challenge a 2 Fist character, you’ll at worst trade 4 health to send the challenged character to the locker. I even encourage you to play 0-defense, 5-thrust Matchlock Musket to take their initial 2 max damage and secure the kill. Then you can play a high defense, low-thrust card to potentially soften their final attack.

On the other hand, if you try to minimize the wounds you take by playing high-defense, low-thrust cards throughout (Appealing to the people, Tending the Wounded), especially against Montaigne, your opponent might be able to either chip more damage through over multiple rounds and/or safely parry out/take the hit. (It also severely weakens the killing potential of your 3 or less fist characters.)

So, be the Boar. Be brutal.

Pacifist Meta Acknowledgement

Pacifist, parry-out meta posits: that’s fine, I’ll play/gamble into a card with only parry (Hidden Corridors) which will end the duel (no threat) and keep my character alive with 1 Resolve. Since wounds don’t matter unless they kill, I got my opponent to expend their leader for no effect at minimal to no cost. I can use this tempo advantage to win, before they can issue my character a second challenge to finish them off.

To counter this, we bring multiple ways to deal 1 extra point of damage outside of combat: Razrushitel, Predatory Pursuit, Bleed Out, Relentless, and even Matchlock Musket as an expensive final option. What if, however, they played a 2-parry parry-out (The Pressure is On), their character has 5-Resolve, or you’re initiating a challenge with a 3-Fist Character (Torsten, Carmella)? In all of these situations, their character is left with 2+ Resolve meaning we can’t reliably finish them off.

Pacifist Meta Counter

To counter this, we need to send more threat in the challenge, to neutralize their parry-out’s effectiveness. The best in-faction option is Grandfather’s Hammer on Yevgeni. Since you can activate the +2 thrust technique on the challenge, you can issue a challenge with 6 threat. Even the strongest 2-parry parry-outs will only block the excess thrust, still resulting in the immediate death of the challenged, 4-Resolve character. It can also crush through the plethora of 2 defense cards that do send back threat, making that the only return-threat you will have to deal with this duel. Nasty.

Syrenth Hand is similarly ridiculous from the City deck. The +1 Fist means you are issuing a challenge sending 5 threat (instead of 4, enabling you to 1-shot 5-Resolve characters), AND you can take a wound to negate 2 parry on their combat card. To survive that challenge they need some combination of Riposte, tons of parry, and/or high Resolve. Even a Not Today will result in them taking 3 damage AND going home engaged, sending no threat back.

Eager Blade, Mirelli’s Sabre, and Throwing Knife are lesser versions of the above that still enable us to, at minimum, get our challenged opponent into Bleed Out range.

Pacifist Response

If this seems as overwhelming as it should, how can you counter it? Well, if you can survive the initial duel, healing effects like Triage, Madre, Twist of the Arcana, already-equipped Dark Gift, etc can get you out of Bleed Out Range, in the 1-action window you get between the duel, and getting finished off.

This window can be bypassed by the new Relentless but Quick Reflexes can stop either (as can cancelling effects like A Night of Drinking). I initially didn’t think spending 2+ cards to heal a wound was worth it, but if the meta shifts to challenge + Bleed Out effects, 2 cards to effectively recruit/muster a character already in the City is absolutely worth it (especially since the rest of their wounds don’t matter).

How do you survive getting challenged by a Grandfather’s Hammer or Syrenth Hand Yevgeni though? You don’t. Hope they don’t see them. Otherwise, avoid/engage Yevgeni at all costs, throw bait in front of him, and/or capitalize on the 1-action window to claim/etc between him moving into your location and smashing you.

Fight Back?

What if you get tired of Yevgeni bullying you and want to bring the fight to him? Good choice, as challenging him is one of the best counters.

I keep saying wounds don’t matter, and they don’t because they are a resource (like Health in Magic the Gathering), but if you run out/low of that resource, you either outright lose or at minimum lose access to one of the strongest aspects of your deck. If your opponent is able to inflict 8+ wounds onto Yevgeni, he’s just a 4-Resolve character, and we know how easy those are to kill. Yevgeni can either be attacked directly by bulky, big-fist bruisers or by the agile and/or devious.

If your Langschwert-equipped 5-Resolve character is able to challenge Yevgeni, you likely do 2 or 3 wounds on the challenge, another 2 to 3 wounds with your first combat card (since Yev can only do a max of 4 damage unless boosted even if he drops the 7 thrust Strength of Ten), and another 2 to 3 wounds as you die to Yevgeni’s second combat card (assuming you are also sending overwhelming threat). If one character gets 6 wounds onto Yevgeni, your next one threatens assassination.

But why fight Yevgeni head on. Make him cry with a Veronica’s Guile Influence challenge. Have him stumble over himself with an official Guild Challenge. Or even turn the tables on him by yelling out “You Cheated!” If you can force a fight in any other attribute, you strip away his terrifying 4-Restricted Hostilities. A 6-thrust Matchlock Musket can be shrugged off when it can do a max of 1 wound. In most circumstances, Yevgeni is forced to refuse and take his 3+ wound lumps, cutting into his killing resources and threatening the integrity of his strategy as a whole.

RPT Considerations

Unlike my Kaspar/Otto Eisen deck that reliably draws 2 more cards a turn than this, and is more than happy to play combat cards from hand, Yevgeni’s 5 Panache severely limits that option. Thankfully for Ussura, they have above-average RPT cards, plenty with 4 Ripsote/Thrust (offense/O) and frequently attached to 2 Riposte/Parry (defense/D). However, relying on Gambling for aggressive cards means we want to dramatically limit any sub-par aggressive gambling cards from our deck, unless they are spectacular. 

So, no Opulence, Not Today, or any of the 3 or less offense cards tied to 2 or less defense where we can help it. 1 defense 4 offense is much better for us than 2D/3O (hell, even 0/0/4s are better than -/2/3). If we were ever to gamble into 2 poor offensive options we risk our quarry surviving Yevgeni’s first combat card and either getting away or inflicting another round of wounds.

2x Sunder was specifically included for the RPT, although the effect was repeatedly … used (was going to say helpful but not sure how many times my opponent survived a Sunder duel). Great RPT card I was happy to play again and again, would not cut (unless displaced by future expansion cards).

1x Matchlock Musket was also specifically included for the straight 5 thrust RPT. I had it at 2, but my last cut was dropping the 2nd copy for a 1x Voice of the Gods to experiment with it (first time playing this specific list was round 1 of Gen Con). My thought was that the 4 thrust +1 from Yev/Torsten was probably sufficient, and the card had potential to do cool things. Also, I wasn’t planning on equipping Musket frequently as it is super cost inefficient to do 1-wound. Voice of the Gods was played, can trigger Elina’s or Ved’Ma’s Reaction, and Elina’s action can stand her back up after it, but I’m not sold on it. Musket stays until something better drops.

2x Appealing to the People was included because spending 2 cards to En Garde a character is strong, but I also wanted a couple more high defense cards, for blunting final attacks without sending me home or ending duels if unluckily gambled into. Never played it for its action, but I was pleased with its blunting of wounds.

2x Iron and Velvet was one of the toughest decision points for me. Not only is it bad RPT, but it also doesn’t play nice with the overwhelmingly powerful Hammer or Hand (or underwhelming Sabre). Its effect to issue a duel either without engaging or while engaged is gross though. I could not resist my greed to run it, and it performed great, frequently played by Torsten/Carmella. Would not cut. (Also amazing flavor text.) 2x Throwing Knife was also included as a way to push an extra challenge-thrust that self-destroys allowing Iron and Velvet and/or Hammer equip afterwards (Eager Blade working similarly). Never actually threw a knife, still testing.

1x Strength of Ten: 3 defense, 4 to 7 offense. Potential Assassination action use. Unlikely to cut.

2x Mireli’s Revision, while technically not included for its own RPT, although 4 defense or auto wound are nothing to sniff at, its inclusion does help offset other RPT concerns. I want this card for its Reaction. I want to be able to shoo away a Not Today to kill a character or a Heroic End to save my own, since I can’t afford to run my own Not Todays. This card is precious and should be treated as such. If playing it won’t basically guarantee a kill, hold it. If your opponent is playing an Assassination deck, particularly Vodacce, if they aren’t dropping Rough ‘Em Up or equivalent, it (probably) isn’t the time. I consider it core and don’t want to cut it.

Remaining Faction Card Choices

1x Grandfather’s Hammer: +2 thrust on challenge deletes 4-Resolve characters. Absolutely worth playing as a 2-cost card and a major reason to play Ussura, will never cut. It’s a good thing it’s unique because it is oppressive, but that also means it can’t be Shoddy Craftmanshipped. It has a reaction but it seems incredibly unlikely I’ll trigger it since Yevgeni doesn’t need lethal, and I’m unlikely to equip it to anyone else. Only use case I can see is as the final card towards a leader Assassination or maybe to set up a follow up Iron and Velvet.

2x Mirelli’s Sabre I really didn’t want to include this card. Turns off Iron and Velvet, and its main purpose is to send an extra challenge threat, ignoring the +1 parry, and effectively being a half-as-good Langschwert, meh. But, half as good Langschwert is still good enough to make the cut for now, and it is better than not drawing the Hammer. Acceptable RPT too, but not what I’m looking for.

1x Justice Served Cold, anti-brute tech. I actively want to recruit mercs and/or prevent my opponent from recruiting mercs, so that side is less relevant. I wouldn’t want to draw more than 1 in a match, and I don’t need to draw it, but it can be incredibly powerful, bad RPT as well, since Maneuver isn’t likely to fire.

2x Predatory Pursuit and 2x Razrushitel both help enable me to smash an avoidant character and/or inflict the final wound on them. Can also be used for general movement, in theory. Razrushitel has an option to expend the performer to send the target home, but the cost for the effect seems incredibly unlikely to be worth it, at least in this deck. Maybe Penya would do it, but it seems like lost potential most of the time. Both desirable RPT, core to the deck, won’t get cut.

2x Matushka’s Efficiency, 2x Stubborn, 2x Pull are all additional ways to keep or get characters where they need to be. Stubborn being a reaction is incredibly powerful because if you move onto a location to attack someone, and they spend their action to try to move you away, you react, stay, and then may immediately attack. Pull and Matushka’s Efficiency are both sorceries so they can trigger Elina’s Reaction. Importantly, Matushka’s Efficiency is not a City Action, so you can send an engaged character like Carmela or Ekaterina back into the city from Home. Similarly, Pull can pluck an engaged character from your opponent’s home. Pull can also target your own characters to potentially bypass counters like Blood Like Winter. Core cards, will never get cut.

Pull + Predatory Pursuit is also one of my favorite combos in the game. Pull forces your opponent to move from a location. Predatory Pursuit lets you move your character with them and deal a damage. A magic corpseboard ride, if you will. (And I did: https://www.tomsepicgaming.com/a-magic-corpseboard-ride/). If I ever manage to get Strength of Ten, Pull, Predatory Pursuit, into Iron and Velvet, I could happily retire my Ussuran pursuits.

2x Bleed Out and 1x Relentless finish off characters 1 wound from death. Both desirable RPT. I was a bit hesitant to include multiple Relentless as wounds can be relevant, but I definitely wanted at least 1 to instill the fear of relentless into my opponents, more on that later. Only played each card once, but with how unpopular combat currently is, Relentless is really nice, especially as a way to try to push Torsten to his second wound. Might up Relentless to 2-of, and it can hit Leaders.

1x Collateral Damage as a cute, high-setup-required card included to synergize with Miyato and Ota. Since Miyato and Ota can duplicate a maneuver, this could be used to finish off/Assassinate a character that thinks it is safe at 2 wounds remaining. It can be put back on top of the deck too, as a Flourish, but this would very clearly telegraph my intent, probably forcing my opponent to refuse the duel/parry out…although, it they intervene, they can’t refuse… Bad RPT but it stays for the dream, never played. It could also theoretically pick off a brute, but if they had a brute at a location, it is probably intervening in this duel.

1x Matushka’s Sight is another sorcery to trigger Elina, and it can be used to stack any non-approach deck (errata to prevent discarding Approach Characters/Schemes). This is particularly powerful to stack an opponent’s next 2 gambles, or your own, or the city deck. I originally saw this and wanted to use it to help dig to Hammer, but it was not worth it. Reasonable RPT as well. This could get the axe as Elina’s Reaction wasn’t used once during the tournament although it was triggered multiple times. Ekaterina was generally enough Renown movement/interaction by herself. I like it though, and it was originally at 2x, but probably won’t go back.

1x Blood Like Winter because I don’t necessarily want to draw 2 of it; It is fairly limited in what it can counter, and it has subpar RPT. However, as a Reaction counter to something that might engage or move Yevgeni, similar to Stubborn, it can be really nasty when it goes off and lets me immediately turn sideways to challenge afterwards. More on the one-of’s later.

1x Ussuran Intrigue was never played. The effect is so niche and small even with Ekaterina and Elina to self trigger, that it should probably be cut. I can definitely imagine situations where it could clutch, but it probably isn’t worth the deck slot when there are so many other powerful cards.

2x Matushka’s Command is included as one of the most feared Ussuran cards. It is our 2-parry Parry-Out, and that is the only way I used it in the tournament, but its effect can be a major blowout. The ability to engage all other characters at a location and/or send them home is enormous. If there is a major stack at a location of enemy characters, you could engage 2+ for just 2 cards and a self-engage/send home. I’ve used this in the past to engage down multiple enemies and have Yevgeni flee home when being hunted. It is just explosive and forces the opponent to play around it. Core card, will never get cut.

2x Strong Hands is one of the most powerful cards in the deck. Our strategy is to remove enemy characters to restrict enemy actions as much as possible. Force them to commit early to what they want to do, while keeping our options open. As a claim action that neither requires engaging nor relies on Influence, we can force our opponent to expend a lot of resources to fight over a location and barely claim it, only for us to over-claim it with nothing but expended characters. It is both back-breaking and soul-crushing when saved until the critical moment, mmmmmmmm delicious. Core card, will never get cut. (Great RPT too.)

2x Indomitable Will is the other Economic Victory powerhouse. Being able to stroll Yevgeni or even 6-Resolve Torsten into a location and claim it, without needing any stat-advantage, while preventing reclaiming, is nice. Stubborn and Blood Like Winter also help to keep you on it, letting you lock down a 3+ Renown location. The location does need to be unclaimed, so you can’t wait too long when they start stacking characters onto a location, but if you are able to wait until they overcommited, ahhhhhh, so sweet. Thinking about playing Ussura just gets my devious/sadistic side so happy, and I love that for me. Core card, will never get cut. (Another 3 defense card if we’ve killed enough characters to lock down the economic victory.) This can also make a Day 1 Domination victory much harder for your opponent, if they start committing but leave you an opening.

One Of’s Philosophy

Not including 2 uniques, I am running 8 cards as 1-ofs. I primarily include cards as a 1x instead of a 2x if

1. I actively don’t want to see more than 1 in a given game
2. It isn’t core to the deck’s strategy

For quick reference these are: Blood Like Winter, Justice Served Cold, Matushka’s Sight, Ussuran Intrigue, Voice of the Gods, Collateral Damage, Matchlock Musket, and Relentless.

Some of these I would consider going up to 2x, but most of them are highly situational/niche. Even if I might want to play more than 1 copy in a given game, the odds that that situation would arrive multiple times (or even once) are exceedingly low. That being said, if the situation does arrive, being able to do it once can be game deciding.

Further, one of’s can increase the cognitive load on my opponent without negatively impacting our own. Since there aren’t a lot of ways to draw additional cards during High Drama, you don’t have to think about what cards you might draw. You can figure out your general strategy and contingencies for each day and work through them based on the cards in hand. Your opponent; however, has to consider whether or not they want to play around all of your potential niche answers. If they don’t, they might get blown out be a very specific interaction. If they do, and you don’t have the answer, they might not take a line that could have seriously benefited them.

Relentless is one of my favorite one of’s (although I could see myself going up to 2). I love the fear it instills. Unless you know my decklist, seeing one, implies that I’m likely to run a second, which means you can’t freely refuse/end duels with 1 health remaining. Knowing this, you might continue a duel to try to throw a little bit of extra threat, when I needed you to continue or else I couldn’t finish off your character. Even just gambling into/past Relentless puts that fear/doubt into my opponent, which can also cause them to hyper-fixate on that possibility to potentially overlook the other possibility that loses them the game.

Similarly, I was complimented on how open and deliberate I am about making sure my opponent knows all of my possible actions on the board, and how I let the vast majority of moves be taken back. I swear that isn’t to add to my opponent’s cognitive load … probably. Prooooobably. (In all honesty though, it’s more fun that way.) All of my characters also have incredibly impactful abilities as do my schemes.

Cards Not Included (Briefly)

Most Ussuran Faction cards are great. Borets is just bad. Just kill them with a better RPT card, and they can’t use techniques/maneuvers. Or have a stronger effect in hand.

My Fight, Alone isn’t good enough as a 3O/3D or heal a wound, that is also conditional.

Temnota is reasonable as 0-cost +1 Resolve, that can also enable sorceries from unexpected locations, and/or pitch attachments I don’t want, while having fair RPT. But unless I’m not running Yevgeni, I don’t want to get rid of Syrneth Hand nor Eager Blade, and the rest are meh except probably Captain’s Coat. Nothing wrong with the card, but I want other cards more.

Approach Deck

The core three characters are Ekaterina Ilyanava, Torsten Vakt, and Elina Georginova. Day 1 muster is Ekaterina if there’s a Merc I want, otherwise Torsten. Day 2 muster is the other. Day 3 Muster is Elina. Ved’ma | Miyato and Ota get sent straight to the Locker because I’m already at Crew Cap by then with a merc recruited.

Ekaterina Ilyanava is a 3-Influence character and Ussura’s recruiter. She also has two ridiculous abilities. With Yevgeni and Torsten taking out enemy characters and/or intervening to protect Ekaterina, she is usually pretty safe to sit on a location after and opponent moves to it. If they commit above 3 Influence to claim it, Ekaterina strips a Renown from it, and then poofs another Renown to a different location.

She can also go to a location without committing to it. As long as there is at least 1 Renown there (since moving it is part of the cost), she can get her 3 Renown wherever it is needed to either block or issue a claim. That’s right, neither of her abilities cause her to engage/nor require her to be en garde. She caused my opponent’s so much hassle at Gen Con, and it was glorious. Probably my favorite character in the game to play, and I am looking forward to seeing what she does as a leader.

Torsten Vakt is our 6-Resolve, 2-Influence, 3-Fist, bruiser that can cancel a Sorcery targeting him and who turns into a mini-Yevgeni after taking 2 wounds. Since I repeatedly forget this, if you have enough threat coming in that you would take 2 wounds in a duel, your passive does not trigger until your next combat card. For example, if you have 0 wounds, 4 threat coming in and you play Sunder 2/0/2, you will only push 4 threat back, not 5.

Anyways, his statline is just bonkers. Arguable better stats than the leader Odette (since the 4 Finesse is usually irrelevant outside of Guild Triskilion). While the difference between 5 and 6 resolve is magnitudes less important than the difference between 4 and 5, it is still nice, especially with Indomitable Will. 2 Influence is so nice on a bruiser too, to help protect against claims. In the pacifist meta, if you can get 2 wounds on him, it is definitely worth it to make him a bit more aggressive, especially since he likely won’t get another 4.

Elina Georginova is our swiss army knife. She is another sorcerer to utilize all of our powerful sorceries. Her City action to free move and possibly en garde is terrifying. And her City Reaction to move around Renown was great when I played her in the past. (I did not resolve it once at Gen Con, although I triggered it a couple times.) At only 2 Fist and 1 Influence, she isn’t great at either killing or controlling locations, but she inflicts considerable cognitive load onto the opponent and can do very tricky things. I was also surprised to see her getting into multiple fights for value.

Miyato and Ota were included as an additional 5-Resolve, 3-Fist bruiser, but in actuality because I really wanted to try to copy Collateral Damage Assassinate someone. (Double direct wound with Mireli’s Revision was also tempting.) My plan was to bring them in if I felt like I needed another bruiser and/or if I carried a Collateral Damage over from a previous hand. I believe I mustered them once without sending them directly to the locker.

One final potential use of their second technique, aside from setting up a gamble, is to get a Flourish you want to redraw back on top of your deck. If you don’t gamble into it, you are guaranteeing you redraw it (outside of shenanigans). Flourishes in deck being Mireli’s Revision, Collateral Damage, Sunder (great RPT), and Justice Served Cold. I stand by the decision to include them, but I would cut them if a new 5-Resolve 3-Fist Bruiser came along. The – Influence makes them very dangerous to muster early against Domination decks.

Ved’ma was included because I wanted another back-up sorcerer and another back-up 3 influence character. She was never mustered without going straight to the Locker. She’s great with Matushka’s Command or Voice of the Gods, but I would easily replace her with a character I liked more in the future.

Midnight Shipment and Let’s Haggle are my signature schemes. They are both very high initiative to get me first crack at the mercenaries in the city. So one or the other is usually my opening scheme. Midnight Shipment’s City Action move is also so crazy strong, I really don’t understand why more people don’t play it. It does get much worse if two people play it on the same day though, so maybe stay away y’all. Let’s Haggle also has the Grand Bazaar equip scam; It lets me send Yevgeni out immediately to guard a merc or other city card at a non-Docks location, and if anyone tries to go to the Docks, I can vacuum the attachment I want off of it by sacrificing the -1 cost discount.

The Boar’s Guile and Winter’s Winds are my two +1 Panache schemes if there is nothing in the city I actively want to fight over. I usually put The Boar’s Guile effect onto the non-leader character that either is a bit harder to kill, or more important to kill. Winter Winds is great if I am going to be at crew cap either this or next round making me not want to recruit a merc. Engaging played Brutes and/or the Reputation Meritee muster are quite nice as well.

Leshiye of the Wood is a solid scheme if I want to funnel the activity into only 2 locations (for violence) and/or protect against domination victories. It can also delete a dangerous card for my opponent that I don’t necessarily want, like Guild Triskilion. One thing I had not thought of going into the tournament was how nasty it is against Castille’s Docks-centric scheme, or even Midnight Shipment/Let’s Haggle for that matter.

Deck Strategy

Day 1

Muster Ekaterina with either Midnight Shipment or Let’s Haggle day 1 if there is a merc we want. Otherwise, generally muster Torsten with either of the above if there is an attachment we want otherwise one of the +1 panache schemes, if against Vodacce/Montaigne, probably Winter Winds, otherwise probably Boar’s Guile targeting their non-leader. Leshiye is a possibility against Vodacce/Castille to deny possible Day 1 domination and/or increase likelihood of a fight.

Immediately send Ekaterina to the Merc we want or Yevgeni to the attachment we want. If opponent moves to threaten recruit/equip, immediately recruit/equip, otherwise it can wait.

From there, try to challenge the opponent’s non-leader character if they commit, and you can do so safely without opening yourself up to a day 1 loss to Domination. This is a fairly reactive day for us, as it is when we are weakest. If your opponent passes without committing their character’s engages or many cards in hand, it is probably right to accept the pass even if Yevgeni is en garde at home, as long as we got our Recruit/Equip and denied them to our opponent. This is generally true even if the opponent has a location or two claimed. We can come back from a Renown deficit, but not a Domination.

Cards to be particularly aware of

Against Castile:
– Adaptable if they are going first, strong way to dominate day 1 with Soline
Nothing we can do about the rest, and they aren’t too impactful day 1.
– That being said, also “Padre” Anibel (character) since his en garde effect + a movement card threatens day 1 domination.
– As can Patricia Moustakas (character), although it seems much less likely.

Against Vodacce:
– Pack Tactics, arguably the best card in the game at turn 1 Domination, since it doesn’t require an engage nor a character to start at that location
– Alcee, a potential 3rd character to claim a location. Due to the Don’s +1 influence, she actually has an influence of 2
– Bravos, more of an issue on later turns, but can let a thug come back from the discard pile (Alcee), to turn on Pack Tactics or another claim at that location.
– Veronica’s Guile, if you aren’t sending a bonus threat, this Parry Out can safely send your challenging character home, potentially enabling an otherwise blocked claim. Due to this card, if you have Iron and Velvet and want to use it Day 1, use it first while your character is en garde, so you can still move them back out from Home if necessary.
– Objection, this can cancel an attempt to reclaim a location from a Domination victory, especially if they do it with Pack Tactics or some other means that theoretically lets you reclaim it on board.
– Plans Within Plans (Scheme), if they claim on top of you, this + a movement card can enable day 1 domination.
– Cirilo Naucriparos (Character), not domination related, but this can let them recruit a big merc for only 1 cost. It does turn it to a brute though. In general, if you can catch your opponent with 2+ brutes in play, getting both players to pass will force them to discard all put 1. On second thought, not actually that great a card since it only provides a 1-discount on recruit vs a 3 Influence character specifically for 5 cost mercs, more of a trap for them it seems.
– Vittoria Anselmo (Character), assuming they still have their 1 or 2 starting brutes in hand, you can’t rely on smashing Vittoria if you need her out of the way.

Against Montaigne:
– Reputation Meritee (scheme), there isn’t much you can do about this, they will almost certainly muster a bonus character.

Against Eisen:
– Generally speaking, try not to let them challenge you
– There are convoluted ways for them to turn 1 Domination, but probably not worth them trying
– Denying them the merc in the city and forcing them to use Kaspar’s Action is great for you and also prevents the possible recruit from city, prepare, recruit from Action

Against Ussura:
– The Yevgeni that challenges wins, as long as you are both running aggressive RPT cards, with weapons potentially changing the math

Day 2

Assuming we don’t lose day 1 to Domination, and that we grabbed the only available merc or an offensive attachment, we go into Day 2 with an advantage. With that advantage and the disruptive combo of Ekaterina/Torsten, we can start aggressively bullying/hunting.

For schemes it is fairly similar to day 1; however, important to note, if we got a Merc day 1, get a merc day 2, and none of our characters have died by start of day 3, our day 3 muster will put us over Yevgeni’s 5 Crew Cap. So, rushing to recruit a second merc day 2 is much less valuable, which makes Winter’s Winds more valuable. It also highlights Yevgeni’s role as a bully, especially when winning the initiative.

Bullying

Most decks, particularly right now with minimal combat capability, really, really don’t want Yevgeni fighting. If Yevgeni moves to a location, they are highly disincentivized to go to that location and get smashed. This if further exacerbated by the fact that if we move there first, anyone that moves into that location afterwards will be ceding the very next action to Yevgeni turning sideways on them. They have no opportunity to use/play an action to preemptively engage Yevgeni (Amore). We exploit this, hard.

If there is a merc/attachment/location with the majority of renown on it that we don’t want our opponent to have, Yevgeni goes there, menacingly. Anyone that follows is almost guaranteed to die or peace out (Not Today). We don’t particularly care which character that is either. As long as we are reducing their crew numbers, we are strangling them of potential plays/influence. In the vast majority of my games, Day 2 onwards, I favor this “fight me” mindset, while Ekaterina and Torsten terrorize the other locations. Further, if my opponent engages all of their characters and has minimal cards in hand, Yevgeni can always turn sideways to chal…claim? That 1-Influence is sufficient to claim that 2+ uncontested Renown. Or, if it isn’t safe to disarm the bully by expending/claiming, we can always let the Renown ride into the next day and do it again with a potentially even greater character advantage.

Or, we can use our movement cards at this point, once our opponent is more committed, engaged, and with less options, to pounce onto vulnerable characters. Everyone not-engaged on the other side of the city, let’s Pull the engaged Odette on over to Yevgeni. 2 engaged characters adjacent to Yevgeni with minimal chance of them swooping in to claim our bullied location, Matushka’s Effeciency on over to say Hi! Even just engaging to walk over and drop a Yevgeni Iron and Velvet will likely gain us greater advantage going into day 3.

Hunting

The other way to utilize Yevgeni is as a Hunter. Wait until a juicy character or two moves to a location. Drop the Yevgeni there and give them 1 action to pacify him with an engage and/or move effect (or claim or recruit). If you move into a location with only 1 character, it is probably correct for them to move away, but we do have Predatory Pursuit for that. If they try to move you, we have Stubborn and/or Blood Like Winter, the latter being able to stop risks targeting your character as well. In general though, if they move a vulnerable character to a minimally valuable location, especially early, it is probably a trap to defang Yevgeni (possibly even if they go to a valuable location unprotected).

A vulnerable/questionable move could also be a sacrifice to attempt to win this day. If they claim the location, and we spend our action attacking, we need another character (or Strong Hands) to reclaim it. This could still result in us getting Dominated or falling too far behind in Renown. Further, moving into a character opens up the possibility of them challenging Yevgeni, either as an Eisen Bruiser or as a non-fist fighter. Playing the hunter role, especially early in the day, is risky.

Additional Cards to be Aware of

Day 2 has greater possibilities of big Renown and/or character swings which makes cards more worth playing. In addition to the cards above, here are a few more cards that can cause consternation:

All movement cards: Come Hither, Hidden Corridors, Pull, Sea Legs
All en garding cards: Appealing to the People
Anti-Merc Tech: Paid Off, Marooned (scheme) both of these cards can be played around by using your mercs as bullies though. Get them to key places first, so your opponent has to move into them, so you get first action after they do, before either of these can be triggered. Until Morale Improves is similar.

Against Castille:
– Amour, especially when initiated by Penya
– Drinking Games, watch for them stacking a bunch of characters at a location, although Yevgeni usually can’t be drunk under the table.
– Improvising, this is a tricky one because it can be any of your events. Due to the existence of this card, you should consider adjusting your gambles to not put powerful Risks into your discard where possible (generally not worth too much gameplay warping though). The only cards they can hit against us, since they don’t have sorcerers and can’t use reactions, are Appealing to the People, Indomitable Will, Strong Hands, Justice Served Cold, Bleed Out, Razrushitel (one of our best for them), or Iron and Velvet. Most of these cards aren’t great for Castille thankfully
– Night of Drinking, the best counter card, although importantly, it can’t hit our sorceries which are really powerful.
– Taunt, movement card which can target our characters at Home
– You Cheated, the bane of our Fist-based combat existence, especially with Soline’s -1 Feet. Importantly, this is a Scoundrel only effect, so watch out for Scoundrels. Not much we can do about it though, so we generally have to charge right into it.

Against Vodacce:
– Brutes in general to intervene in our duels
– Rough ‘Em Up can be a particularly scary combat card especially if our opponent is stacking Red Hands, like brutes. Particularly nasty with
– Ambush if Yevgeni starts to get low on health or to target fire down Ekaterina
– Unyielding Loyalty another cancel for targeted effects if can pitch/sac a red hand/thug
– Veronica’s Guile (action), the maneuver is really good and beloved by pacifist decks, but that action has caught me off-guard a few times as one of those ways to fight Yevgeni away from his 4 Fist, watch out
– Pull the Strand, I don’t know if I’ve seen anyone run it, but it seems good for claiming a location you thought was locked down
– The Pressure is On, beware preemptively claimed locations.

Against Montaigne:
Generally know that they can issue a lot of challenges, have impactful attachments, and have above average RPT that has both good Defense and Offense. Musketeers can stack and Jean Urbain Parry, so try to kill before that happens. Bastien can dance the Musketeers, but super squishy. Only two real cards needing remembering
– A Heroic End, great card for turning a low-fist character into an unexpected threat
– Battle of Wits an Influence challenge

Against Eisen:
Lots of movement options and don’t forget their guns can wound. The guns also represent possible
– Last Word, excellent enemy movement card.
– Strategee, which can let 2 characters move together, even from home
– Regroup, movement
– Move Along a challenge that doesn’t require engaging, particularly nasty against our en garde non-fighters like Ekaterina
– Press the Advantage is also strong against Ekaterina/Elina. It’s expensive, but it’s worth it in the right circumstances, and Ekaterina is frequently that
– Well-Equipped another en garding card, specifically for an equipped character
– Trial of Faith can unexpectedly disrupt or push through a claim

Against Ussura:
You’re running all of the cards you should be scared of.

Day 3

Elina recruit. She may seem unassuming, but having the movement, renown movement, and extra sorcerer is so great, easily makes up for the lower Influence and Fist when paired with the rest of the crew. This will usually complete your 5-person crew when you include the merc you likely recruited Day 1 or Day 2, so you are at your strongest on Day 3. From here on out, you rely on either winning or killing characters to prevent your opponent from over-taking you in character advantage.

That being said, there isn’t really any game play changes or extra cards to worry about beyond what I mentioned day 2. The main difference is you need to make sure you are claiming renown by this point, but you should have enough bullies, claimers (primarily Ekaterina and Elina), and manipulation to make this happen. Torsten generally fills either a hunter, bodyguard, bully, or claimer role as needed. (Yevgeni is the better hunter with 4-Fist, but he is our point bully most of the time.)

Day 4+

Not too common to get past day 3 without the game being effectively decided by your aggression. But, if you do, there are a few additional considerations. If you are at crew cap, your core 5 are likely still better than Ved’ma or Miyato and Ota (especially if your merc is Carmella). When reaching day 4+, I frequently found myself doing the required muster and then just sending that character straight to the Locker to preserve my others. Due to the low crew cap, you can also afford to be even more aggressive with trading your characters, since you’ll lose them to crew cap otherwise.

With regard to schemes, thinking about which of them you want to play on Day 5 is about as important as which one you are playing on Day 4. Leshiye is a weird beast in this regard. Generally speaking, Domination isn’t a victory condition I want to actively pursue as Yevgeni with only 5 characters and not a ton of influence.

As you near the time limit, it is important to be aware of how tie breakers work. When time is called,

1. You finish any in progress actions, like a duel
2. Go straight to Plunder
   1. Check for Dominance Victory
   2. Collect Renown from controlled locations and effects like A Boar’s Guile
   3. Check for Economic Victory
   4. Check for Tie Breaks in order until no longer tied
      1. Player with the most renown wins
      2. Player who controls the most locations wins
      3. Player with the most Influence across all of their characters/attachments in play wins
      4. Player whose Leader has the fewest wounds wins
      5. Draw

Due to this, if you know end of time is approaching, don’t slow play if you are in the lead (or behind for that matter), but do prioritize claiming locations earlier than you might have otherwise. Generally, I leave claiming locations until late in each day, after exhausting my opponent’s resources and becoming fairly certain they can’t claim them back. With time fast approaching though, if you have an overwhelming character advantage, with an almost certain win if time was not a factor, that means nothing if you don’t claim the location(s) you need, to have the Renown or Location claimed advantage.

Running tournaments are a time and resource intensive endeavor that affects a significant number of people, and time limits are a necessary part of that. I for one greatly appreciate Pine Box Entertainment for putting them on, and they are so much fun to be a part of, best part of Gen Con/Gamehole Con (which I will be at in 2024 as well). So thank you everyone at Pine Box Entertainment and everyone else that helps put them on and/or provides prize support (so much cool prize support). Also thank you to the community for being a lot of fun to play/talk about 7th Seas : City of Five Sails with.

Conclusion

Ussura is (currently) my favorite faction to play, but Eisen still (currently) has my heart. I hope this helps to show how powerful Ussura can be, and I actively do not think they are underpowered (nor is combat, specifically when overwhelming thrust is leveraged).

I will happily provide my thoughts on any specific questions regarding this or my other decks, why I made certain card choices vs others, what I think of the evolving meta etc., either in the comments below, in the official Pine Box Discord https://ptb.discord.com/invite/b6UduBwK?utm_source=Discord%20Widget&utm_medium=Connect (especially if I’m @ed since I frequently get behind: tomsepicgaming), or through direct discord messages when available. Great game and I look forward to continuing to explore other factions in future tournaments and writing about them (or at least the build of them I’m most drawn to).

Also, I still plan on recording information about the individual games from the tournament (especially the streamed games) which I will add link(s) to, but this is both long and delayed enough as is.