Theoryfaux: Asami

[Skitt_Happens]

While I'm waiting for Her Oniness to ship over the pond, I've been watching out for snippets of book 4 information and am starting to build crews in my head. Would appreciate some community thoughts:

Upgrades - for me Nefarious Pact is a must. Johan is too popular a merc to ever assume your opponent will not have condition removal, and card draw is massive for summons,  even if it is to fuel the rest of your crew or shape next turns hand. Other than that, I like the idea of Servant of 5 Drags. What are other people thinking about upgrade wise? The appearance of Terracotta Warriors means situational upgrades can now be taken and swapped out if not applicable.

Totem - I think Asami has 3 legitimate totem choices: "Our Man, Jack" looks like a good cheap activation. Hard to shift and hits surprisingly hard late game. I like the  to sh aura, but... 9...? And I'm not yet convinced I'll care too much whether my summons last till the next turn. Interference and Reconnoiter, I guess.

Child: thematically, I love the idea of Asami adopting a Malifaux Child! In practise it's another cheap activation that allows you to get off the movement shenanigans or focus tricks that are really good on Asami's card, but I imagine you just don't want to spend her AP on... plus, heal!

Kamaiachi: at first glance, not a strong option. Bit more expensive, doesn't do massive amounts. However, add in the Terracotta Warrior (I know we are now at 9ss) and it gets mental! Wonder Weasel counts for Strat, draws a card, gives a heal, gives a small push, gives a big push, hands out burning, charges for 1AP and makes use of Betti's flay aura. I think this could be utterly disgusting, particularly if you then add in Shadow Emissary! Summon a model and charge with  attacks against an opponent with -2df...

What thoughts are other people having?

 

[Skitt_Happens]

Ouch!:

50 SS Ten Thunders Crew
Asami Tanaka + 7 Pool
 - Nefarious Pact (2)
 - Servant Of 5 Dragons (1)
 - Feigned Weakness (1)
Kamaitachi (4)
Ohaguro Bettari (8)
 - The Fate of Mortals (2)
 - Equality (1)
Shadow Emissary (10)
 - Shadow Conflux (0)
Mr. Tannen (6)
 - Smoke Grenades (1)
Terracotta Warrior (5)
Terracotta Warrior (5)

 (exported from CrewFaux)

[Cadaverousbirth]

I haven't played a game with her yet (Tuesday!) but after slobbering over the new book for a week I think I have a good feel for things.-

Most of Asami's upgrades will really depend on who you're fighting and what you need to do. Heavenly Design will be amazing for schemes but not needed if you don't plan on taking those. I love Convict Labor so it will likely be my auto-take upgrade. It can also be countered by Parker Barrows so that will need to be considered when facing Outcasts.

Nefarious Pact is a maybe for me, depending on how much you care about your summons surviving more than one turn. If you're going the "fire and forget" route it won't be that necessary, but if you want them to last more than a turn and you know what your opponent usually brings (Johan, as you said, is common) then it would be worth it. Right now I would rather have Johan shout at my 'free' models than smacking Asami with a Relic Hammer  but the card draw is legit. Worth 2SS legit? Maybe.

Kamaitachi with Terracotta Warrior will be amazing. Add McCabe in there and things start getting ridiculous. I'm looking forward to trying that out.

 

A list I've been throwing out as a general Asami crew will be:

Asami 7ss- Heavenly Design, Misdirection, Servant of 5 Dogos

Amanjaku (gotta try this guy out first to see how he does. 3ss isn't a big investment and he might be clutch in certain situations)

Ohaguro Bettari - Death Contract, Recalled Training

Shadow Emissary - Shadow Conflux

Mr. Tannen - False Target (could be switched around, it depends)

Obsidian Oni x2 (All the WARRIORS! Hanging out with Shadow Em. for  to get those scrap markers down field.)

 

blahblahblah everything depends on strats and schemes blahblahblah

[Cadaverousbirth]

Maybe it seems obvious but Killjoy could get some big usage here. Summon a Tengu 6" away from Asami, hopefully in cover to not immediately get killed and fly it 5" into the opponent's face. If they kill it and waste AP, great. At the end of the turn Killjoy pops out and says hello anyway. Add Sensei Yu to push him around to set up/avoid getting charged just in case. Hunting Party just got easier.

[Yvarre]

I really am liking the combination of Feigned Weakness and Heavenly design, especially in pools where there are early game schemes your opponent is likely to pick up some points for and schemes that your sacrificed summons dropping scheme markers for you can incidentally grab with no possible retaliation except wasting AP on something that's gonna die anyways (though preventing VP isn't technically a waste).  From a standpoint of high level competition, though, I wouldn't bank on Feigned Weakness, as playing down on differential can cost you the tournament, but it is definitely a nice insurance policy when things aren't quite going your way.

All in all, she seems extremely versatile, even with such a limited summoning pool.  I'm pretty excited to ambush models through terrain with O. Betty for 1 AP.  I also think that Asami combined with our new 'faux rider is going to get disgusting.  I'm unsure, though, of what directions of sheer numbers vs. elite to go when hiring.  Theoretically, with the aid of Sensei Yu and some stones, Asami can get pushed, teleport, and summon in up to 4 models to all charge for a serious alpha strike.  Some modicum of advance activation control can make this an extremely devastating move, though cards are going to be at a premium.  I'm wondering how Recalled Training is going to combine with summoning; you'll still want to burn a stone unless you have the right suit in hand, but it seems like it can certainly help keep your hand a bit more.  I'm also thinking of card drawing mercs like Hannah or Sue as well as this neat combo with the emissary and Monks of Low River.  I see myself hiring enforcer or henchman oni and possibly Yokai with their flicker tricks, but I think I'd mostly stick to summoning the Tengu, Obsidian Onis, and Death Spiders, focusing my hiring slots on other support and offensive roles.  I think she can also benefit from having a killy tarpit to hold the line for her a bit and play bodyguard; I do so love Ototo with his 3" reach... Ama is just a bit less survivable.

I definitely see her working well of Turf War and Extraction, throwing in hordes of disposable summons.  I'm not so sure about squatter's rights or Stake a claim; the slow summons don't really support these schemes.  Having extra models to help clear out a stash marker can be good; so I can see her going for guard the stash, especially with Search the Ruins in the pool.  With summoned minions coming in at full wounds, I can see her working for Collect the Bounty.  I'm not so sure about Reckoning, though, especially as Death Spiders are only Ml 5.  Then there are Interference and Reconnoiter...  O. Betty has a cute way to potentially make extra corpse markers, and Feigned Weakness seems like it could be great support to get an extra model or so at some points, but I've really yet to see her fully in play to anticipate how easily one can get more flicker on a model.  I certainly don't think she'll be anywhere near as busted as Ramos, Nicodem, or Dreamer at these Strats.

As far as schemes go, Search the Ruins, Convict Labor, Plant Explosives, and Set Up all seem particularly easy with her.  I'd possibly avoid using her with Hunting Party in the pool and especially avoid the play style of throwing in disposable summoned minions. 

[horvagab]

Out of curiosity, do Obisidan Oni explode when Flicker countdown goes to zero? Unsure about the exact wording, but depending on that, Obs. Oni could be disgusting shock troppers... decent damage, then explode, maybe even heal another non-Flicker model while they're at it. Good at both range and melee, and destroying it takes some effort.

[solkan]

23 minutes ago, horvagab said:

Out of curiosity, do Obisidan Oni explode when Flicker countdown goes to zero? Unsure about the exact wording, but depending on that, Obs. Oni could be disgusting shock troppers... decent damage, then explode, maybe even heal another non-Flicker model while they're at it. Good at both range and melee, and destroying it takes some effort.

Remember that the card for Asami has been published for reference:  http://www.wyrd-games.net/asami-tanaka

The Flicker Condition sacrifices the model, explosive demise says "... when this model is killed (not sacrificed)".

So Flicker ending does not cause Explosive Demise on summoned models. 

[Cadaverousbirth]

I wish we could get Obsidian bombs but I understand that might have been a wee bit too powerful. They can still be great summons and if the opponent uses AP to kill them only to get 'sploded on, that's good enough. 

[Da Git]

Lot's of great ideas here!

I really like @Skitt_Happens idea of using the Malifaux Child, I hadn't thought of that!  Will be amazing to walk him up the Reaching Tendrils Asami or hand out double Focus!

I also really like the idea of the Emissary.

For me, I think the Monk of High River could be a good inclusion for super reliable Burning for the Obsidian Oni to drop rocks on!  The Super Weasel could also do this but I don't actually think he'll be that good with Asami as you'll largely miss out on his upgrade mechanics. 

Tannen also looks great too... not sure where I'd fit him in though...

[asrian]

Just putting this here for anyone as I didn't see an Asami Tactica post yet. Someone on Facebook was kind enough to make a nice looking non-official Summoning card for Asami.

 

[Tokapondora]

I honestly don't see the point of the Malifaux Child here. His copy action requires a 9 in an already very card intensive crew, and his only other use requires a 7 Rams, also a specific high card. 

Nor do I really get the weasel. Sure, with a Terracotta Warrior he's getting some use, but that's still 9 SS for that little trick and besides that trick he doesn't bring particularly much. A push. That's it. Compare that to the Effigy who can give Asami some decent defenses and I'm really struggling to see the point. 

And I can't see the Terracotta Warriors be thát useful. The swapping upgrades is nice, but without his other action it's not worth it. And his other action allows him to shield minions and enforcers from damage. Enforcers they're gonna have to babysit and minions are gonna disappear after a turn or two anyways and probably won't get huge focus on. 

 

I'd say some must-haves, besides the summons, would be...

Ama no Zako - Becomes an absolute beast with focus. She largely replaces Bete except against Arcanists.

Tannen - Ignoring the +2 to masks, his anti cheat and interact auras provide some nice extra defenses for Asami.

Low River Monk - Removing slow and healing is always nice, and though I'd naturally favour Chiaki's range the 4 SS, 0 SS upgrade and lack of TN beats her by quite a bit.

Sensei Yu - Positioning Asami and her crew in summon or charge range is going to be key here, and besides pushes/fast/slow, you also get to aggressively manipulate scheme, corpse and scrap markers, which is going to provide some major setup for her. Also since her upgrade gives her a 0 placement action he'll get to use all his AP to push stuff.

Rad Rider guy - With 10 Cg and two extra attack triggers, he's gonna be amazing with Asami. Seems like the closest thing to an auto-include to me.

[D_acolyte]

I just finished assembling her box and some other onis. I like her totem mostly for protecting her from shooting. I do not think she needs to start with any minion onis. As for other models that go with her I like the fallowing:

Samurai: Nice model that can help hold off the enemy before you start running your oni bombs.

Obsidian oni: I see Asami using a good number of enforcers and henchmen so this guy healing will be handy.

Snipers: basically a point cheaper samurai that can be given focus 2.

Torakage: good flexible scheme runners

Buraku: to bring people closer

Lust: to do all the movement tricks

Any ancestor because they are all good at there roles.

[mythicFOX]

I'm not all that sure you want to be hiring all that many Oni with Asami.  They don't drop corpses or scrap so you're not going to get any 'cycle' out of them.  I'm thinking I'll just start with Ohaguro and an Obsidian Oni and make the rest work with models who's deaths I can turn to flicker. 

Has anyone looked at Toshiro for all his minion synergy? Buffing everything you can potentially summon in.

Should be getting my first games in with her on Thursday so I'll report back.  

[Yvarre]

Just now, mythicFOX said:

 Has anyone looked at Toshiro for all his minion synergy? Buffing everything you can potentially summon in.

This is definitely an interesting proposition.  If he sticks close, slow as he is, that's quite a bit of free focus for just a medium card and a scheme marker, which can definitely be in abundance anyways, and that will seriously go a long way to improve card quality of those minion alpha strikes.  He can also negate slow on a death spider at full wounds- nasty, and lucky we don't have access to instinctual.  I find Toshiro to go down pretty easily, though, so positioning and managing flicker and engagement will be key, though something already present to keep Asami alive.  Nothing like setting yourself up for a turn where you lose initiative and everything charges your master or main support henchman cause your front line vanished.  While he'd be competing for corpse and scrap in summoner mode, he won't be competing for suits, as I believe he is on a crow and a book, thereby covering more summoning bases as well as possibly creating ridiculous activation control.  Do resser players stack summoners in their crews in such a fashion?

I feel like I take Toshiro too infrequently because I usually don't have enough minions clumped to maximize him, and my resources end up being scant when his summoning comes on line, being as we have little support for getting the markers other than straight up murder outside of a Mei crew.  But damn, a death spider or two and a couple other onis charging for 1 with a free focus!

I can also see myself attacking my own summoned obsidian oni with a samurai, letting better damage happen by possibly cheating low cards to blow up the oni and banging the walking fire triggers....  That's the closest thing I can think of for an oni bomb.

 

[Gort77]

Had one game with her so far, it was a terrible game.  Combo of bad flips with wrong models for the Strat.  I hired 2 Yokai because i wanted to see if hiring them was worth it, and honestly their Flicker +5 was not much of an issue.  My opponent had no way of removing conditions so i didn't have to worry about that.  I think at 5SS they can be a solid piece to take out scheme runners, or even run schemes since at the end of the turn they can be placed 3" from the lowering of Flicker (but they have nothing to give someone who loves TT Bros any reason not to take a Bro over a Yokai).  My feeling for them is they are an ok 5SS model, nothing amazing, but definitely not worthless when hired.

As for Asami herself, managing her hand is really important.  I was able to summon a Spidey twice (one per turn) but that put me in a bad spot when i needed to make attacks since i didn't have the high cards to cheat my horrid flips.

My first game with her was definitely not a good experience, duo to my bad crew and bad flips, i will be trying to use her as much as i can for a while though to try out all types of crew builds.

[tomjoad]

My concern with Toshiro is that he and Asami could end up competing for markers too much. I'm not sure how big an issue that would really wind up being, but it's something to consider at least.

[D_acolyte]

17 minutes ago, tomjoad said:

My concern with Toshiro is that he and Asami could end up competing for markers too much. I'm not sure how big an issue that would really wind up being, but it's something to consider at least.

that is only if you take summoning Toshiro, I might not in this crew or I might say what Asami summons can die this turn.

[PeregrineFalcon]

I see Asami being used in a very forward position. She has a lot of movement tricks (and can even give her more with "On Wings of Wind"). 

My initial thoughts on key upgrades for her are:

• A Heavenly Design
• Grasping Strands
• The Fate of Mortals
• False Target/Death Contract
• On Wings of Wind
• Misdirection

Grasping Strands seems like something that she will be using a lot as she will be placing models near her and getting that free attack is nice. Every time I see her being engaged at the end of her activation I expect to save that one last attack to trigger her push 3" away. That means that things trying to charge her are going to have a tough time getting enough attacks to really nail her down. 

A Heavenly Design is also quite important for her because it gives her another options for getting out of the way. Plus she loves scheme markers (i.e. her (0) Insatiable Hunger) to heal so I don't see leaving home without it. It serves many a roles and for 2ss it gives her some good options. 

Now I know some will balk at the idea of The Fate of Mortals on her, but I see being aggressive with her and her minions nearby. So this really boosts giving her back cards she's used early in a turn after her crew gets some kills. 

 

A key model I do see with her crew is Oha. Mostly because I think her "Hunting Song" attack action. I think this and her Drawn to Essence make it so she can help setup charge lanes for Asami's summons. Along with Oha, I see the Shadow Emissary as a key model in this crew. It does so much 1) Give fast to Oha 2) + to attack for minions 3) Card cycling. Finally, I do see Sensei Yu and Monk of Low River as eventual includes in her crew but those will take time. I think if you take Yu you don't need Monks of Low River (since Yu will take Wandering River Style). 

Finally, I believe that you actually want to start off with quite a few minions in her crew to start. I think 2x Tengu + Shadow Effigy are SOLID way to get your corpse/scrap marker engine going early. My initial plan is 2x Tengu, Shadow Effigy (this package is just SO good), and 1x Komainu. These are initial scheme runners, and get help disrupt stuff. The Tengu starting on the board mean we can hand out some regen to the crew as necessary and more importantly getting some scheme markers down early to help Asami have mid/late game healing available to her. The beauty is that they'll be placing markers (and interacting to place them) also when they die we'll be dropping more. The idea is to get enough out there to give Asami some super heals when she needs em, remember there is no limit to how much she can heal.

So yeah that's my initial list ideas.

 

I have some variants where Ama No Zako is in there and she will just be a machine if she is (giving her Focus +2 and fast/push from Shadow Emissary is bonkers). On top of that giving her some regen is in no way a bad thing

[Kbonn]

I like either Asami or someone else in the crew taking the new 0ss upgrade for low river monks and taking two of them.  I fear she will need a good amount of healing the list due to her own models doing damage and being rather vunerable.   This way the low river monks can heal her and drop schemes near her for her to use.   Also they can be placing markers or removing conditions(slow) on other models.  I think she also likes having some cheap activations early in the game.

[InvokeChaos]

mSo i've been theoryfauxing her a lot and I've played a game with her. That being said take this with a grain of salt. I'm going to be doing two posts here as I wanted to address a few things other people have said and then will put my own comments in a separate post:

On 8/14/2016 at 4:38 AM, Skitt_Happens said:

While I'm waiting for Her Oniness to ship over the pond, I've been watching out for snippets of book 4 information and am starting to build crews in my head. Would appreciate some community thoughts:

Upgrades - for me Nefarious Pact is a must. Johan is too popular a merc to ever assume your opponent will not have condition removal, and card draw is massive for summons,  even if it is to fuel the rest of your crew or shape next turns hand. Other than that, I like the idea of Servant of 5 Drags. What are other people thinking about upgrade wise? The appearance of Terracotta Warriors means situational upgrades can now be taken and swapped out if not applicable.

Totem - I think Asami has 3 legitimate totem choices: "Our Man, Jack" looks like a good cheap activation. Hard to shift and hits surprisingly hard late game. I like the  to sh aura, but... 9...? And I'm not yet convinced I'll care too much whether my summons last till the next turn. Interference and Reconnoiter, I guess.

Child: thematically, I love the idea of Asami adopting a Malifaux Child! In practise it's another cheap activation that allows you to get off the movement shenanigans or focus tricks that are really good on Asami's card, but I imagine you just don't want to spend her AP on... plus, heal!

Kamaiachi: at first glance, not a strong option. Bit more expensive, doesn't do massive amounts. However, add in the Terracotta Warrior (I know we are now at 9ss) and it gets mental! Wonder Weasel counts for Strat, draws a card, gives a heal, gives a small push, gives a big push, hands out burning, charges for 1AP and makes use of Betti's flay aura. I think this could be utterly disgusting, particularly if you then add in Shadow Emissary! Summon a model and charge with  attacks against an opponent with -2df...

What thoughts are other people having?

 

I am not a fan of Malifaux Child nor Super Weasel for only one reason: they are gimmicky. Malifaux Child requires a high card to use any of her coolness, and that's directly competing against all her TN and high card requirements. Super Weasel requires 9 points (you need a terracotta warrior) to do what basically the Emissary with general conflux does for 10: Emissary gives pushes, fast, hands out armor, has card cycling, improves minion attacks and can focus+2 for a bad card to try to lay waste with it's meaty attack, while being hard to shift. 

Not saying they aren't considerations, but I'd probably be adjusting how I play Asami if I went with either of these options and I feel that the Super Weasel has way more value than the child.

 

On 8/14/2016 at 6:31 AM, Cadaverousbirth said:

Nefarious Pact is a maybe for me, depending on how much you care about your summons surviving more than one turn. If you're going the "fire and forget" route it won't be that necessary, but if you want them to last more than a turn and you know what your opponent usually brings (Johan, as you said, is common) then it would be worth it. Right now I would rather have Johan shout at my 'free' models than smacking Asami with a Relic Hammer  but the card draw is legit. Worth 2SS legit? Maybe.

2SS gets you 4 cycled cards (draw 2, discard 2; twice) or just draws you 5 cards with this upgrade (depending on if she survives). I think it's worth it but you have to consider is the two turns of cycling 2 cards better than being able to just fluff your hand by a card a turn. Remember she also has rush of magic, so I think Nefarious Pact is a solid option for the 2SS. Also keep in mind that Nefarious Pact prevents ALL condition removal... not just for flicker. So defensive, focus you may have handed out, fast... it's really potent. 

 

On 8/14/2016 at 4:19 PM, Cadaverousbirth said:

Maybe it seems obvious but Killjoy could get some big usage here. Summon a Tengu 6" away from Asami, hopefully in cover to not immediately get killed and fly it 5" into the opponent's face. If they kill it and waste AP, great. At the end of the turn Killjoy pops out and says hello anyway. Add Sensei Yu to push him around to set up/avoid getting charged just in case. Hunting Party just got easier.

Obvious? Sure. But still a fun and useful idea. I was thinking more of sending in a Doom Spider that eats something, and then pops out Killjoy. For more holiday fun, throw a Chiaki into the mix and end your own flicker with her ranged condition removal. Flicker triggers at end of turn or if it's removed, so you can use that to pop Killjoy when you want during the first turn instead of at end of turn.

 

7 hours ago, mythicFOX said:

I'm not all that sure you want to be hiring all that many Oni with Asami.  They don't drop corpses or scrap so you're not going to get any 'cycle' out of them.

I can't like this more than once, so I wanted to quote it and "like" it again!

 

51 minutes ago, Kbonn said:

I like either Asami or someone else in the crew taking the new 0ss upgrade for low river monks and taking two of them.  I fear she will need a good amount of healing the list due to her own models doing damage and being rather vunerable.   This way the low river monks can heal her and drop schemes near her for her to use.   Also they can be placing markers or removing conditions(slow) on other models.  I think she also likes having some cheap activations early in the game.

All this, though I only really want the one monk, as I think that's plenty. But that one monk can probably keep her topped up all game as long as he's not removed.

[Pyrflamme]

I think Kang's stock is going to rise in general with more constructs and undead, especially their growing number in factions that don't usually feature them (see the dead Outlaws in Outcasts, most of Titania's box plus the werewolves), but more importantly he's going to be key versus Terrifying. With spending cards on summons plus the timer on our summons, you don't want to be futzing about with Horror duels, whether it's spending cards to pass or failing that one duel on the Jorogumo bomb you were trying to pull off.

I think my "base" is going to be something like Asami, regular totem, 2x Obsidian, Katanaka Sniper, Ohaguro. Fill out the rest against my opponent/to schemes as necessary. Take condition removal protection upgrade and teleport upgrade on Asami at the very least, maybe the card draw on kill one on either her or Ohaguro.

[InvokeChaos]

Ok, so my commentary that doesn't involve quoting other people's awesomeness:

I'm going to go quite controversial right out the gate and cause people to question my sanity (especially considering I'm the one who started a post devoted to the following):

Consider leaving Bettari in the case with Asami.

I know... I know! What nonsense am I talking about? Quite possibly the best model 10T got this book, with AMAZING synergy with oni and here I am saying don't take her with THE oni Master.

But here me out; Black Betty has some amazing abilities that are justifiable because of her relative ease of death. She's a solid df/wp but only 8 wds on a melee hench that WANTS to go deep into the enemy. And that's a problem. She has no other defensive tricks. And her support requires good cards in that granting the ability to cheat off negatives is meaningless if you don't cheat, haha.Her melee is a solid 6, but her min/mod are a measly 2/3.  You need severe to get the goods, and again, you are competing with Asami there.

Now I know the argument here is, well duh, that's always the problem with a summoner and your beatsticks, but the number one flaw of Asami currently is that she's easy to put down and everything she does has TN's of requiring 6's or better, including her focus pump. That makes me more leery to have card intensive crewmembers. I want models that can handle being on a low hand, so that I can devote it to Asami.

That's why Betty has become a point of contention for me. I played Asami with her and she did WORK. But I also felt that I was always really playing a sophie's choice with my hand the whole game.

My henchman of choice for Asami is currently tied between Toshiro, Yamaziko and Ama no Zako.

Toshiro for the obvious minion summoning synergy. This will not be a sumomining toshiro as again, I'm trying to not compete for cards. But his ability to pop scheme markers to pass out a bunch of focus is a great way to make use of LRM's new upgrade (an auto-include with Asami for me) and to free up Asami's AP for summoning. 

Yamaziko is really underrated in my opinion, and she brings a lot to the table for an Asami crew. She's a great carrier for the smoke grenades and the LRM upgrade. Her brace yari action is DISGUSTING. She's nimble, min dam 3, can pop blasts, and is a Master killer. She's a nice tarpit, something that Asami really wants.

Ama no Zako does what Betty does in a different way. While not being able to scalpel, or go across the board in a single turn, her damage profile is monstrous and REALLY benefits from the focus that Asami can pass out. Which is my major reason for taking her. Also the one you want to carry The Fate of Mortals.

As to minions, I don't like the idea of hiring oni for reasons that have already been stated. I do think Shadow Effigy is near to an auto-include as is LRM. 8ss for 2 activations and both give tremendous survivability to Asami. I really like the concept of using Samurai and Snipers to shore up the range weakness of Asami's oni. Plus they are self sustaining minions that don't need much, if any, help from your control hand. Tannen and Yin are strong enforcer options for me; Tannen for summoning, Yin for tarpitting if you don't bring yamaziko or a terror check for Ama no Zako's kill attack. The shadow emissary is a strong option for me as well what with summoning minions and him granting additional card throughput.

My auto-includes right now are LRM, Effigy and Sniper. Then a henchman and an enforcer plus stuff. Cuz stuff.

Here's a couple of my current lists:

Ten Thunders
50ss Crew

Asami Tanaka -- 5ss
 +A Heavenly Design - 2ss
 +Nefarious Pact - 2ss
 +Grasping Strands - 1ss

Amanjaku - 3ss
Katanaka Sniper - 7ss
Monk Of Low River - 4ss
Mr. Tannen - 6ss
 +Equality - 1ss
Shadow Effigy - 4ss
Shadow Emissary - 10ss
 +Shadow Conflux - 0ss
Yamaziko - 7ss
 +Smoke Grenades - 1ss
 +The Peaceful Waters - 0ss
 

Ten Thunders
50ss Crew

Asami Tanaka -- 5ss
 +A Heavenly Design - 2ss
 +Grasping Strands - 1ss
 +Servant of the Five Dragons - 1ss

Amanjaku - 3ss
Ama No Zako - 9ss
 +The Peaceful Waters - 0ss
 +The Fate of Mortals - 1ss
Katanaka Sniper - 7ss
Monk Of Low River - 4ss
Samurai - 8ss
 +Favor Of Earth - 0ss
Shadow Effigy - 4ss
Yin The Penangalan - 8ss
 +Smoke Grenades - 1ss
 

[Definitechoice]

Amanjaku might make the Emissary an auto include for me. Being able to use Prophecies in Thunder on turn 3, turn 4 and turn 5 is just insane. 

[OneLittleThunder]

@InvokeChaos: I like where you're going! Don't forget that Yamaziko's Master Tactician ability is DEVASTATING with the all-hidden GG2016 Schemes. Hit the enemy Master with this early and they are severely neutered.

Also, Tannen's anti-cheating aura can really boost Asami's survivability...particularly if Yamaziko has hammered the opponent's hand.

@Definitechoice: 

That is vicious and brilliant.

[InvokeChaos]

8 minutes ago, OneLittleThunder said:

@InvokeChaos: I like where you're going! Don't forget that Yamaziko's Master Tactician ability is DEVASTATING with the all-hidden GG2016 Schemes. Hit the enemy Master with this early and they are severely neutered.

Also, Tannen's anti-cheating aura can really boost Asami's survivability...particularly if Yamaziko has hammered the opponent's hand.

Yeah that's kind of where my head is for Asami. I really like the multi layered defense thing with a bunch of not useless models:

Effigy gives her Into Shadows and provides scheme running and activation control.

Yamaziko nukes control hands and discourages charges.

Tannen nukes cheating and provides summoning support.

LRM provides tons of healing and condition removal.

Add in Grasping Strands to make charging a wasted effort (also adds layered protection to the LRM and Tannen).

Suddenly Asami is basically hard as nails to kill except by focused ranged, which I can probably heal through (unless it's like... Perdita or something lol). Two triggered bops from LRM is 2-6 damage healed plus 2 scheme markers for 4 more on Asami's turn.  That's a full heal at max values. Yes please.