GAUNTLET deck, tier #9 Board control. Undistilled. The only reason this isn't my tier #10 deck is because a variety of cards exist that shut down your Stronghold's ability, and allow a military deck to crush you (if you don't prevent that). Furthermore, the tier ranks are based on "how frustrating can it be to play against this", and in that regard the Phoenix corruption deck can be just marginally more frustrating. Anyway, the plan is simple. Avoid battles and all that mess by PKilling, Chi Killing, dueling, or discarding every threat your opponent brings to the table. THEN, once the board is clear (and, preferably, you've inspected your opponent's hand with Emperor's Under-Hand), start taking provinces with your recursible uber-units, all of which can be bought from a Ninja Stronghold. Since your game is designed for the long haul, Shrine of the Sun is there to nix annoying ongoing effect events that hit the table (such as The Hidden Emperor or Wanderers Revealed). Red Crane Dojo is a good solid holding as a 243 that also protects against corruption kill. Bayushi Sunetra xp2, with her innate Chi death engine, is generally your number one choice of personality to fetch with Boundless Sight (and protect with The Way of Shadow). You *need* Hantei Sensei because the following cards will shut down your Stronghold, which leaves you extremely vulnerable and may well cost you the game: Open Warfare, Sap the Spirit, Interference, United, and Storms of War. Know which one your opponent is likely to have, and name it early. The event Winter Warfare also wipes your defense, but as an event it should be more sporadic, and not always reliable. Once you have Sunetra and Shinzo set up and are killing 3+ peeps a turn, there shouldn't be much you need to defend against, military-wise.