Welcome to week four of the strategy articles! This week, I am focusing on a card which has recently found a home in my personal deck.  Most people would think that Stand Against The Waves is a card in which only follower intensive decks would be able to utilize effectively.  I however, find it to fit quite well into most Lion Decks.  Let's see what this card does shall we?

-Stand Against The Waves
0 Gold
Battle: Play only during a battle when you have units in the battle, and all of the units in your army have attached Followers. The opposing player must bow as many Personalities in his army that have no attached Followers as you have units in your army. If he is unable to do so, all Personalities without Followers in the opposing army are bowed.
3 Focus

Alright, like I said this card is generally seen as an effective card with follower intensive decks (generally Toturi's Army).  Lion Decks can find a great use for this card for many reasons.  First, it has no gold cost making it useable anywhere, anytime.  It also has a 3 focus value, another helpful booster in Tactician Decks, Duel (although Duelist decks generally don't have a lot of followers), and you can turn it into three gold for a purchase towards Morishigi, Gohei, Yojo, or Mori.  Many of these are the building blocks of nearly any Lion Deck.  Also, Lion Decks (namely speed) utilize a fair amount of followers anyways.  Elite Light Infantry, Spearmen, and Ashigaru are the most commonly used followers for Lion Decks. The total is about 9 followers, which is more than 1/5 of your deck.  This garuntees a fair amount in your first hand, and further draws with the Imperial Favor or the standard draw at the end of your turn.  A great way to back this card up is by using 2-3 Farmlands in your deck, making it less reliant on drawing the followers you need.  The card's ability is a great way to get rid of pesky attackers/defenders.  Since it can be played as the attack or defender, it becomes a disposable version of Ken'o with the fact that you can use him for force rather than his ability.  As before, the only kicker is that all of your personalities *must* have followers attached.  Remember why you put those Farmlands in?  Pairing those Farmlands with an Ancestral Standard of the Lion Clan gives a real punch to this card as well.  Something else I had noticed is that you may play as many of these as you like (as long as you have them in your hand).  Play it to bow 4 opposing personalities without followers, and do it again if you like (clearing most ANY army).  Plus the fact that it is Jade Strict Legal makes it useable ANYTIME.  While this card does have an exceptional drawback, it works wonders in the long run.

FINAL OVERVIEW:

-3 Focus value, again handy for those Tactician decks.

-Great ability to bow multitudes of personalities, saving Ken'o the trouble.

-Works nicely with Farmlands/Standard

-Jade Legal

Try this one out sometime.  It's a useful punch card which your opponents won't expect!