La Brea Tarpits

Think of it as evolution in action.

Mind control of various types and unpleasant sites.

La Brea Tarpits

Feng Shui Sites - 15

2 City Park
4 Heart of the Rainforest
2 Jagged Cliffs
2 Rainforest Temple
1 Sampan Village
4 Lily Pond

Sites - 4

4 Family Estate

Edges - 3

2 Monkey King
1 Political Lock

Events - 9

2 Lodge Politics
5 Tortured Memories
2 Shifting Loyalties

States - 14

4 Security
5 Shadowy Mentor
1 Inexorable Corruption
4 Deathtrap

Characters - 25

4 Pledged
4 Cabinet Minister
1 Triumvirate Dealmaker
1 Shinobu Yashida
2 Vassals of the Lotus
5 Claw of Fury
5 Walking Corpses
3 Purist Sorceror

In future tuning, replace:

Triumvirate Dealmaker and possibly a Cabinet Minister with another Pledged hitter.

Security with Political Lock (possibly).

Rainforest Temple with Heart of the Rainforest

Notes

Pre-Flashpoint, this deck resembled its name a good deal more. However, it hasn't quite evolved away from its original intent or name. The first tune had Marshes instead of all of the current Flashpoint sites, and more Political Locks and some Netherworld Passageways to lend mobility.

The Cabinet Ministers are partially to turn off or steal back the Ascended edges if they fall into the wrong hands; the Monkey King, stolen, can be rather tragic for this deck, though since the Lotus cards aren't very expensive, not as bad as you'd think. They're also to cancel the Political Locks so that other people can intercept the bad guys, with the bad guys defined as anyone trying to win but you.

As with any heavy mind control deck, it's dependent on some good characters coming out among one of the other players, so that you can steal them away. I've won games without using a Shadowy Mentor, though. It might be embarassing to send a force of Cabinet Ministers out to take a site, but when it's the only character you have...

Also as with any heavy mind control deck, it will come under attack a great deal. I deal with that with the states, which can make a site very unpleasant to attack. An unturned Lily Pond with a few Securities and Death Traps on it makes your site very obnoxious for little characters to take, and can replace any feng shui site under attack. Heart of the Rainforest is also a natural for all of these states; I didn't have as many as I wanted to put in. In a losing situation, swap a targetted Lily Pond with a Jagged Cliffs. Boom!

It also compensates by having obnoxious characters: Claws of Fury, the Cabinet Ministers, Triumvirate Dealmakers and Purist Sorcerors are all prime targets in the right sort of game, and they're cheap -- play all the characters you get, figure that people will target attacks against your characters rather than your sites, and just make sure that they spend more power killing them off than you did bringing them out.

For maximal effect, the Monkey King is excellent for bringing your wounded and useless Walking Corpses back into your hand, so you can play them out again. You can also take the Inexorable Corruption off that site you're about to seize, or reclaim a Death Trap from a stolen site. You can use them offensively, too, but I almost never do except as a threat.

This deck was created just before Flashpoint came out and was retired just before Throne War. The concept is still solid, but a rival control deck using Shaolin Surprise was done so well by a friend that the deck seemed less interesting. The deck could use a touch more power generation, but otherwise is fine.