12 players attended the tournament which meant only 4-player tables, something I thought would be good for my deck. That was today's first mistake. To see my decklist and expectations, read this.
Round 1
Anders Löf (Nos/!Nos with Dominate) - Me - Alex Ek (G3-4 Lawfirm) - Archibald Zimonyi (!Tor Aus/Cel Guns)
Anders brings out Julio Martinez and try to by some time playing Pentex on him but he has a Sudden Reversal at hand. My setup works okay but I soon suffer a Canine Horde from Anders. He quickly grows powerful as he has no pressure from Archie who suffers a serious red card hand jam. Alex also builds up and goes a little too low on pool, exactly where I want him.
When things start to look hopeful and I have started my forward hurting with a new chainsaw Anders finishes his series of Ashur Tablets and brings his Canine Horde back on hand and shuffling his one copy of Sudden Reversal back into his library. He now has three minions and two of them with dominate. I am pretty low on pool since I have suffered some bleeds and paid for a lot of equipment. I try to Pentex backwards again but Anders has drawn his Sudden and I have to oust Alex in two rounds to not die to Deep Song and Govern bleeds. I need Codex of the Edenic Groundskeepers but have no Magic of the Smith in hand so I go for heavy card cycling. Unfortunately Alex manages to oust Archie but I still have one more chance with Fame and Magic of the Smith in hand.
Then I play like an ass. I have Heidelberg out and play Villein as a safety play if Alex somehow manages to stop my ousting plan, leaving 2 blood each on Mictlantecuhtli and Jayakumar (my only two minions). I play Fame on one of Alex's vampires and play Magic of the Smith with Mictlantecuhtli to get the Codex. Only I should have left one more blood on him to be able to Freak Drive and take the needed action but instead I fail to oust and I'm dead in Anders' next round. I don't think ousting Alex would have been enough to get my deck on its feet again for the game win but it was a terrible mistake.
Anders 3, Alex 1
Round 2
Rune Eriksson (Tor Guns) - Anders - Erik Cardell (Nos Royalty) - Me
Erik plays some early Zillah's Valley and hands me some pool damage before I get Mictlantecuhtli out. I play Pentex on Lord of the Clog and Anders helps me rushing Erik's other vampire to keep him from doing too much damage to me. I struggle a bit to get my chainsaw out and am dangerously low on pool when it's time to go for some action. I manage to cripple Erik and it looks like a Victory Point for Anders but my next plan is to get him and play duel against the guns deck, a battle I should be able to win.
Then Erik plays Temptation of Greater Power on Kikayaon who has Talbot's Chainsaw and Ivory Bow. Erik and I have 5 pool each but Rune and Anders have somewhere above 10 each. I of course bids my maximum 9 pool but Rune and Anders keeps bidding and Anders wins with 13 pool. Erik goes out in style and I'm quick to follow. Rune struggles a bit but Anders has grown too powerful.
Anders 4
Round 3
Simon ? (Aus/Obf Disguised Agg Weapon Rötschreck) - Alex - Me - Erik Torstensson (Large cap Master Card Galore)
If I struggled in the previous game to get the chainsaw this game it was even harder. I tried to equip it the old fashioned way but was blocked by the lawfirm. I got a Freak Drive DI'd and another saw DI2'd. Meanwhile my cross-table buddy goes low on pool and eventually gets ousted. I should have interfered with him influencing out his last minion because I know how heavy Erik's deck bleeds but I made the mistake believing he had more intercept and wake than he actually did.
Now a loose deal was formed between the two musketeers Erik and Alex wanting me (who eventually equipped the saw via The Sargon Fragment and having three minions) ousted. I had to destroy them both quickly to stand a chance. I got Giant's Blood Washed and didn't have enough blood to rush enough times to neutralize Alex. Instead he could bounce Erik's stealthed bleeds to me and yet again game over with no victory points.
Erik 3, Alex 1
Conclusion
I'm very disappointed. I got 0 victory points and unfortunately I don't have much of an analysis to give you. This deck is too weak. There are way to many things in the game that stops it from working properly. Sure, it is scary and a killer if it's allowed to do it's job but problem is it isn't. If I had played better I would have gotten at least one victory point and maybe more but I would not have had a chance in the finals with two decks packing Canine Horde and one deck packing Heroic Might. Not to mention all DI's and other tech that works against it.
One thing I actually did learn: Always calculate your whole turn and don't just have two blood if you are planning in playing Magic of the Smith followed by a Freak Drive.
I realise this is a pretty mediocre analysis but I will make it up to you by making another better one next time. That's a promise.
Round 1
Anders Löf (Nos/!Nos with Dominate) - Me - Alex Ek (G3-4 Lawfirm) - Archibald Zimonyi (!Tor Aus/Cel Guns)
Anders brings out Julio Martinez and try to by some time playing Pentex on him but he has a Sudden Reversal at hand. My setup works okay but I soon suffer a Canine Horde from Anders. He quickly grows powerful as he has no pressure from Archie who suffers a serious red card hand jam. Alex also builds up and goes a little too low on pool, exactly where I want him.
When things start to look hopeful and I have started my forward hurting with a new chainsaw Anders finishes his series of Ashur Tablets and brings his Canine Horde back on hand and shuffling his one copy of Sudden Reversal back into his library. He now has three minions and two of them with dominate. I am pretty low on pool since I have suffered some bleeds and paid for a lot of equipment. I try to Pentex backwards again but Anders has drawn his Sudden and I have to oust Alex in two rounds to not die to Deep Song and Govern bleeds. I need Codex of the Edenic Groundskeepers but have no Magic of the Smith in hand so I go for heavy card cycling. Unfortunately Alex manages to oust Archie but I still have one more chance with Fame and Magic of the Smith in hand.
Then I play like an ass. I have Heidelberg out and play Villein as a safety play if Alex somehow manages to stop my ousting plan, leaving 2 blood each on Mictlantecuhtli and Jayakumar (my only two minions). I play Fame on one of Alex's vampires and play Magic of the Smith with Mictlantecuhtli to get the Codex. Only I should have left one more blood on him to be able to Freak Drive and take the needed action but instead I fail to oust and I'm dead in Anders' next round. I don't think ousting Alex would have been enough to get my deck on its feet again for the game win but it was a terrible mistake.
Anders 3, Alex 1
Round 2
Rune Eriksson (Tor Guns) - Anders - Erik Cardell (Nos Royalty) - Me
Erik plays some early Zillah's Valley and hands me some pool damage before I get Mictlantecuhtli out. I play Pentex on Lord of the Clog and Anders helps me rushing Erik's other vampire to keep him from doing too much damage to me. I struggle a bit to get my chainsaw out and am dangerously low on pool when it's time to go for some action. I manage to cripple Erik and it looks like a Victory Point for Anders but my next plan is to get him and play duel against the guns deck, a battle I should be able to win.
Then Erik plays Temptation of Greater Power on Kikayaon who has Talbot's Chainsaw and Ivory Bow. Erik and I have 5 pool each but Rune and Anders have somewhere above 10 each. I of course bids my maximum 9 pool but Rune and Anders keeps bidding and Anders wins with 13 pool. Erik goes out in style and I'm quick to follow. Rune struggles a bit but Anders has grown too powerful.
Anders 4
Round 3
Simon ? (Aus/Obf Disguised Agg Weapon Rötschreck) - Alex - Me - Erik Torstensson (Large cap Master Card Galore)
If I struggled in the previous game to get the chainsaw this game it was even harder. I tried to equip it the old fashioned way but was blocked by the lawfirm. I got a Freak Drive DI'd and another saw DI2'd. Meanwhile my cross-table buddy goes low on pool and eventually gets ousted. I should have interfered with him influencing out his last minion because I know how heavy Erik's deck bleeds but I made the mistake believing he had more intercept and wake than he actually did.
Now a loose deal was formed between the two musketeers Erik and Alex wanting me (who eventually equipped the saw via The Sargon Fragment and having three minions) ousted. I had to destroy them both quickly to stand a chance. I got Giant's Blood Washed and didn't have enough blood to rush enough times to neutralize Alex. Instead he could bounce Erik's stealthed bleeds to me and yet again game over with no victory points.
Erik 3, Alex 1
Conclusion
I'm very disappointed. I got 0 victory points and unfortunately I don't have much of an analysis to give you. This deck is too weak. There are way to many things in the game that stops it from working properly. Sure, it is scary and a killer if it's allowed to do it's job but problem is it isn't. If I had played better I would have gotten at least one victory point and maybe more but I would not have had a chance in the finals with two decks packing Canine Horde and one deck packing Heroic Might. Not to mention all DI's and other tech that works against it.
One thing I actually did learn: Always calculate your whole turn and don't just have two blood if you are planning in playing Magic of the Smith followed by a Freak Drive.
I realise this is a pretty mediocre analysis but I will make it up to you by making another better one next time. That's a promise.
Ouch, sorry to hear that things didn't go your way. Heavy preparations and expectations makes for a hard fall.
ReplyDeleteAhh magic+freak and only 2 blood. It's those small mistakes that keep you up at night (this is best cured with a fine lager!). Like recently in the Eden Storyline when my prey had 1 pool left and Tension in the ranks was in play. I forgot about Tension and didn't press against his minion with no blood. Had I pressed I'm sure the minion would have gone to torpor, and the methuselah being ousted.
I really liked the deck I must say. Rad star vamp and the Talbot-tech seems like a lot of fun. Always cool to see someone bring a deck like that to a tourney. It's always difficult playing a deck which needs build-up for it to work when in a competitive environment. Lord knows I've been frustrated playing Tariq decks. Especially if relying on equipment the deck becomes extra fragile.
Better luck next time!
With some more time between now and the tournament I realise that I could have made a better performance if I was more diplomatic at least in the last game. Simon gave up too easy believing Erik had more stealth in his deck than I knew he did. I should have tried and convince him to defend against Erik when I should've been focusing on back-ousting Alex for him. But I guess I wasn't "loud" enough when needed.
ReplyDeleteThis is not my last attempt at a deck like this at a tournament but I doubt I field Mictlantecuhtli again for a while.
Thank's for the pep-talk!