Talk:Katana World/@comment-1952385-20170105075630/@comment-26290163-20170106115329

Zanryu has always been quite intersting, at least to me. It took me quite a while to find the 5th copy, but that was a while ago, so perhaps he's easier to get now.

Okay, first, about your ratios. If you've playtested it and it works like you want it to, then it doesn't matter how many monsters, spells, items, etc..., you have. I've been successful at 18 monsters, but not powerful, but I've never tried your build either. As the saying goes, "A person with an experience is never at the mercy of someone with an argument." So, everything I post is just conjecture, and might be useless for what you're doing. On to your build:

While I like Shokai for retrieving from the drop, if he is getting in the way by knocking Zanryu off of the field, you might consider Water Ploy to recycle size 1's and less. Of course, if you use Shokai to retrieve Zanryu, then you may think about reducing him a bit if you want to keep your monsters at the same number, and adding a size 1 or 0. Someone like Goishi would certainly get Zanryu out to the field quickly and you could even reduce some of your Gauge-Plussing Monsters. Obviously there are plenty of great size 1's, Hundred Face is pretty great with Mooncircle, has a great ability and is uncosted. You could even add monsters or items with good Power, Defense, &/or Critical, depending on how you wanted to use him. Right now, there are several cards that make him a 5 Crit size 1, and since you don't need to use his ability until the attack phase it can keep your opponent on their toes. Again, he also may be horrible for what you're doing, this is just top of the head brainstorming.

If you're not against bringing in Generic, something that could help the clock tick faster with Poison Mist, help with the life used by Zanryu's ability, and also negate an attack would be Benefit. If you haven't used or seen it yet, the cast cost is tossing a Size 2 or less monster into the drop, and it's a Counter and gives you a gauge and 2 life. That may also free you up to remove Setsui. Not like I don't see uses for him, but if you were to remove one of those, I wouldn't want to remove Hidden Sword. Since you're running Formless, it's just too nice of a combo to up the critical, have soulguard, gain gauge and  attack through the center.

In my experience, Poison Mist can certainly win games. Not just because of the clock and 1 life, which is great as many Katana builds lose or win by slight margins, but it's the psychological pressure that the opponent goes through. However, if you keep it, then I'd think about the possibility of puting in Sky Ninja Yamigarasu as a size 1 for a few reasons. One, he deals damage when the opponent attacks in front of him, and two, he has Move and that may let you remove some or all of Heat Haze, depending on how you're using it.

If your build is consistent with gauge, then for draw, if you want to stay away from Shiden, in my experience, Shinobi Scrolls works quite well. First, you have a ton of Ninja Arts spells that can go underneath and act as separate hands to cast from, and even when I've had to use a monster or cards without Ninja Arts, it's given me needed draw power. I usually go 3 or 4 and maybe once every 3 or 4 games, I draw into 2 of them which allows me to place 1 under the other, then set the 2nd and draw again.

Obviously, Akeshigure can help if you want to go that route, it mills and would help Formless, but you may not want milling. For more draw power, since you have a lot of Size 1's and Formless, which looks important to your build, you may want to try Ninja Arts, Art of Bursting Machine Gun. Again, it's a Ninja Arts, so you can place it under Shinobi in the Main Phase, pay a Gauge and draw, and then in the Final Phase,  pay 2 Gauge and Tutor the rest of the copies of any Size 1 or less that is one the field, which would make the 19 monsters easier to get and compress the deck as well. I use other methods I can throw at you, but they're less straight-forward and may hinder more than help.

Looking at all of your Counters, I would suggest either replacing or mixing Geppakugiri with Dodan. Since you're running Ninja's, the trade off would obviously be not having the ability to destroy Size 3's with Geppakugiri, but being able to destory all other sizes and get rid of problematic spells. Plus, if you do decide to go with Shinobi Scrolls, it's another Ninja Arts and would replace a Demon Way. If you find they both work well, then you could cut ratio's and place extras in your sideboard so that you can change according to your opponent.

So, I mentioned Items briefly when talking about Hundred Face, but in my opinion, I do see a place for Chirizakura in your build. First, it costs nothing to equip, and can help if the Zanryu/Mooncircle combo isn't working or you haven't pulled them at the right time. With all of your field removal spells, your soulguard with Formless and Heat Haze, etc..., letting you up your weapons' power during the attack phase, while triggering any of your removals that you have in hand or under Shinobi (if used) may prove quite powerful.

Since you use it in the attack phase, you can pull off attacking with your Center monster first, then destroying it to gain +5000 power and open the middle at the same time. And, since it can be used as many times as you want in the attack phase, the +5000 continues to be added for every monster you take out, including any soulguard you toss into the drop. And since it does proc many of your spells, if you did add Water Ploy, since it would proc as well, you could take the monster that you just destroyed back out of the drop. When used well, it's impressive. By destroying 2 monsters (or removing soul, etc...) you'd proc spells and have a 12000 Power Weapon with the same Crit as Mooncircle.

This may look all scattered as it'svery late where I am right now. So if anything wrote is terrible, I'm blaming father time.

Goold luck with your deck, I hope you post your results once you finish it.