Grove of the Five Masters--Strategy

Purity of Spirit (Kiho, Dark Journey Home)
Kiho Battle: Bow one of your Shugenja or Monks to bow an opposing Personality with a lower Chi. The Shugenja or Monk need not bow to perform this Kiho if the target Personality has the Shadowlands trait.
Hurt me? Oh, no, no. Not at all. He's quite gentle, really, once you get past the teeth..." -Ikudaiu

Is that hoppin' mad Oni no Akuma about to take a province?

Is that Experienced Hida Amoro with two Heavy Infantry giving you trouble?

No problem.

Purity of Spirit is one great Kiho. In the second example above, a single Togashi Yoshi can take down the entire enemy unit. And the sick part is, your opponent can't do anything about it. It's not a terrain. It doesn't send your opponent home, so A Test of Courage won't do anything. All you need is a Shugenja with more Chi than your opponent's attacker...and what Phoenix deck doesn't have Chi in spades?

So say you don't have enough Chi in any single one of your shugenja. What can you do? 2 things:

#1. Reduce your opponent's Chi. Did someone say Iuchi Shahai? Or Bloodstrike? Or Flameseeker?

#2. Increase your own Chi. This can entail stuff like duelling with your Shugenja with a Bloodsword, using a Spell like Biting Steel, or any number of other things.

Well and good, but what if your opponent's not playing Shadowlands? A couple of ideas:

#1. Make him Shadowlands. Jama Suru, anyone? Enough Phoenix decks have the Bloodspeakers already that the addition of Purity of Spirit can be a big help.

#2. Don't worry about it. So your Shugenja has to bow. If you're over 40 Honor, saving a Province is worth more than saving a Shugenja, even one with a lot of Chi.

As an extra special bonus, the guys at FRPG decided to give this harsh Kiho a 4 Focus value, useful in almost any case. There you have it: Purity of Spirit in a nutshell.