Choosing themes for your Kenjutsu Kata can be a difficult task.  Up until recently, DT hasn't publicly listed all of the themes that they are using.  Some of them are obvious, others are not.


Crab Shugenja have never had a Stronghold printed yet they do have 31 personalities printed in the game's history.  The problem lies in the fact that there are 2 Soul of personalities and 8 personalities who have multiple Experienced version making it difficult to get a good foothold on a decent deck.  It is still possible but difficult.

Crab Siege only has a certain number of cards for its themes due to it being a relatively new theme but they seem like a better choice than the Crab Shugenja.  They have 18 personalities only 2 of which are Soul of.  That gives them 16 unique personalities on the Dynasty side.

There are 19 Castle holdings / fortifications in the game's history, 17 of which are playable by the Crab Clan and 15 of which produce gold.

Now let's examine the Fate side.  There are 11 different Followers with the Siege trait, 9 different Strategies with the Siege trait, and 2 Items with the Siege trait.

Besides just the obvious cards with the correct traits, any card that increase or decreases province strength, like Kaiu Fortress are welcome additions.

Other cards like Kuni Kiyoshi Exp 2, who bows or straightens a card with less force than the current battlefield's province strength, also fits the idea of Crab Siege.

You actually have 3 different strongholds to choose from to finish off the theme: The War Fortress of the Crab, Carpenter Castle, or The Great Carpenter Wall.

Let's take another theme that is not easy to build.

Lion Deathseekers have 23 personalities, non of which have any experienced versions.  The problem with the theme is that they really don't have a stronghold to really call their own.  Most of the options for the strongholds would have to be mostly generic.  Great Hall of Records, Shiro Matsu, The Ancestral Home of the Lion, or The Halls of Ancestors are probably the best bet here.

There are only 11 strategies that deal with Deathseekers most of which have an honor gain attached like Honorable Death.  These help you reach one of your win conditions and most of them help both of your win conditions.

A card like Duty helps you keep your big unit out while continuing to have your Deathseeker personalities die to gain your honor.
Followers like Deathseeker Troop and Hida Defenders also expand upon your win conditions.  Items like Blade of Fury, Ancestral Urn, and Chrysanthemum Blossom are also welcome additions.

Creating Tension

This is an important aspect of designing a Kenjutsu Kata.  With so many clans and overlapping themes, players are going to be fighting over similar cards.  For example, both Crane and Dragon have Duelist and will be fighting over Dueling cards and Focus Effects.  You would also want something like Dragon and Spider fighting over Kensei cards and weapons.  Without this, each player would be able to draft a deck unimpeded which is no fun.