Disclaimer(s):
1. I sometimes spoil but will TRY MY BEST NOT TO. If you have specific questions please feel free to ask, but I can’t guarantee you will get an answer either because I can’t remember or because I don’t want to spoil other’s techniques and strategies.
2. Long post/ (detailed player report) below - read at your own risk!
3. I am STILL addicted to the overuse of parentheses because I like commenting on my own comments… and I am tired and at work for some reason – oh yeah, tax season…
Well, this was a great start to the major events that I’ve been highly looking forward to this year. Great thanks to Steve, James and all of the other FFG staff for working so hard to make my stay in Minneapolis memorable.
This event was special to me because it was the first time I was able to convince my playgroup to attend a major event with me outside of Canada! And, really the first singles event experience at a high level of play for the two that came with me. I want to thank everyone at the event for welcoming the two from my playgroup like you did when you first met me 10 months ago when I was introduced to this great game at Origins 08.
As indicated above this is a 2009 tourney log and as of now I foresee future attendances to be…
log #3 : Winnipeg (middle Canada regional’s) mid May
log #4 : Toronto (Canadian nationals) late May
log #5 : Columbus (US nationals) June
log #6 : European nationals or equivalent – a possibility I attend???
log #7 : Gencon (Worlds)
Anyways, on to the Path of the Master!!!
The plan was to arrive in Winnipeg, rent a vehicle and drive across the border to Minneapolis on Friday, leaving Winnipeg at 10am and getting to Minneapolis for as early as 4:00pm, check in and hang out from 6 to 10pm at the event center. Well… the flood plains had another plan for us, and we didn’t arrive in Minne until after 6:30pm after a 3 hour detour to reach the American border.
Now, the car ride itself was a blast and I would go on and on about my two driving buddies from Calgary, both of whom were highly entertaining, especially with respect to the rising waters and their behavior while we trenched through the 2 feet of water on the road just over the boarder… But I won’t go into details, I think I will leave that to Evans (forum name Kiit) to spoil at his leisure and with video tape or pictures…
As per usual, I arrived not having any clue what deck I would settle on running. I really wanted to run death Blanka for this event, but I just didn’t pull the right stuff from the limited set 12 I bought. I also wanted to run a loopy spinta and high damage dealing Raphael but after putting him together Thursday night I wasn’t prepared to play something entirely brand new for such a large tournament. Instead, I went with a deck I had only played once or twice back home but knew it was a solid competitor because of it’s strong ability, promo Alex. The following was my monstrous deck (really should have cut this down, as it definitely hurt me despite my rampant draw and turn 2/3 deck cycles in some cases):
Alex ***
Action cards:
1 X Siberian Training
3 X Yoga Adept
4 X Kung-fu Training
= 8
Assets:
4 X Olcadons
2 X Heirloom
1 X Lynette’s
= 7
Attacks:
4 X Dark Force Mirage Body
1 X Neo Raging Storm
2 X Cammy’s Spinning Backfist
1 X Ryu’s Shin Sho
1 X Travelling Man (split action)
1 X Rush Down (split action)
2 X Kurzyo-Reppa
2 X Pommel Smash
2 X Crack Counter Vaulting
= 16
Foundations:
4 X Deadly Ground
4 X Searching for a Real Challenge
4 X American Made
4 X Chester’s Backing
4 X BRT
4 X Antisocial
4 X Saikyo-ryo
4 X Lord of the Makai
4 X Fight or Flight
3 X Whirlwind
3 X Controller of Souls
3 X A Prominent Noblewoman
3 X The Hero King
2 X Father’s Tragedy
2 X Flames of Fame
1 X Black Belt
2 X Torn Hero
1 X Tira’s Contract
= 56
Total (too **** big) = 8+7+16+56 = 87 card deck…
Sideboard, not that useful cuz of size of deck: more lynette’s, tag alongs (should have mainboarded – dummy), siberian trainings for things that shouldn’t deal damage, algol action cards for early and evil hacks.
Favorite tech. Staging area advantage was gained with antisocial and yoga adept. If I didn’t get at least one of these in opening I would mulligan. If I pulled antisocial and yoga, chances are, even when my opponent goes first, he/she would max out at 3 foundations in staging to my 1 by the end of turn 1. Sometimes I would have 1 foundation and my opponent 2. Follow that up with an Alex draw and spam turn and I usually had 3+ foundations out on my opponent after 2 turns without a problem.
The basic strategy was to go off with Dark Force Mirage Body on turn 2 or 3 (which I did 99% of the time if Alex’s ability wasn’t tagged and I wasn’t playing against a 5 hs character - - - more on that later). Pushing the Mirage Body through was easy with kung-fu/searching/black belt for speed or BRT as hack or saikyo as discard. Ideally turn one I would drop Deadly Ground so I could speed pump and draw with the Dark Force. But it also worked fine Dark Forcing, then dropping the Deadly and speed pump, then attacking with something else, use Deadly, draw, drop, rinse and repeat. Card pool clearing with flames or Whirlwind to get the attack and anything else out of the pool making the drop of drawn foundations pretty much guaranteed.
I had a bunch of kill cards as you can see. Sometimes it was a flight or flighted Dark Force Mirage Body, sometimes the Kuryz-Reppa, sometimes the Neo Raging, etc.
I never had problems with hacks, early or late. Earlies were dealt with by dropping first turn with anti-social getting that foundation out there to beat out forethought and anti-k with consistency. Lates were handled with Chesters and Hero King without much of a problem.
The little bit of life gain with Cammy’s Backfist is so effective I can’t say enough about it. Especially against the 7 handsizers (see Tira/Chun-li/Mignon).
Problems arose against late-game lock down when my combo didn’t kill or go off fast enough (left the 25 life rock howard with 2 life as well in games I could have finished had I not been subsequently locked down). BIGGEST PROBLEM – despite the 3 controller of souls, was asset control battles. Olcadon really owned me because of the size of my deck and the 4X copies of useless (comb-only) foundations and difficulty with getting to the Controller of Souls and Heirloom on time to mean anything.
The American Made was probably the least active of any of my stuff. I had put it in because I wanted the spammable 1 difficulty and wanted to do a lot of blocking what with all the reversals I had in the deck, i.e. needed speeds to be manageable. Sadly, I think I must have forgot to respond with it when blocking multiples (i.e. speed to zero). It also meant absolutely nothing against the contenders that beat me, seung mina used control and hack to push things through, rock used throws (see defender loop) and hack to push stuff through, and mignon used chun li to push things through – jk, also used a ****-ton of multiples and as I said I forgot to reduce speed to zero on em and often didn’t have the shear number of blocks needed anyways.
To techy… With all the card draw, and need to drop a second attack between first and neo, Travelling man was really interesting. Pretty much, if I blocked with it I could look at the top 7 and find Dark Force or any other reversal to hit back with. All the cards in my opponents hand from Deadly Ground would vanish turn end after I hit him with crack counter, and Rush Down would go off right after the attack to draw me a number equal to what he had in hand. Add Father’s Tragedy to the mix and my attacks were guaranteed to draw me cards, thus continuing the foundation drops, more attacks, more draw, more drops, more attacks, etc.
I could talk forever about what and why things are in my deck so on to the event… on to part 2.
Things started off with an introduction to the 3 World Champions by Steve, all of which gave well thought out, entertaining, and humbling speeches. Shortly following some brief mingling and match postings Steve was shouting ROUND 1 – fight!
Diversity: I quickly found out that there were two other Alex players, one running a Turn it On deck and also using Dark Force, Kin apparently thinks a lot like me. For the record my early Alex build used Turn it On among other low difficulty actions and Luna’s Encouragement after I used to use Turn it On with Huitzul + Dark Force + Ibis + Manji I knew it was the sickness… With my Alex though I decided to change it up, I hate the 2 check on turn it on (I wanted to use yoga and with the 1s and it this would be too much), and needing two cards in the hand (Dark Force and Turn it On) was something slower and more difficult for me to manage competitively and aggressively. The other Alex was Scott Gaines. I still don’t know what his attack line up was, except that there were only 9 attacks – as Steve aptly pointed out. All I knew was that he had an equal amount – actually one win greater amount of success – with Alex on Saturday so it must have been solid as I expected.
First Match-up: vs. Al Crocker Tira with a side of Chun-li (air)
I had never met Al before, nor did I recall anything more than having heard his name but not associating a face or play style to it. This was also my first ever matchup against a Tira, the new set just dropping, and no one in my area having enough support or time to build it. I took some time to read Tira and knew she had some different sides to her worth seeing, so after winning the toss and him starting all gloomy, I read some more ?
After assessing the situation and playing out a first turn against a bunch of wind drops I new I had to attack quickly with my combo to avoid huge multiples and wind control off Chinese and Chester’s. Turn 3, after BRT’ing some spinta in Al’s second turn, I was able to push through a Dark Force Mirage Body with speed and Deadly Ground. Sadly, and not sure if it was weird nerves, I forgot to enhance with the Mirage Body and wasn’t able to go off. I dropped some nice stuff I drew and decided the next turn I would try to hit again (I had drawn another Mirage Body). The 4th turn I didn’t mess up and I went off with it, remembering to enhance, the kill shortly followed.
Game two he switched into Chun-li, I wasn’t the least bit surprised… I was however, concerned. I didn’t have a lot in my deck to deal with Chun-li, in fact all I had were two Pommel Smashes. I do have some experience with Chun-li, and I hoped to use it to my advantage this game. And I did…
I played a bit more defensively this game, building up some fight or flights to deal with multiples, holding onto high blocks, and again BRTing spintas left right and center.
After about turn 5 or 6 I had a number of attacks in hand, Kurzya – Dark Force – Neo Raging etc. and I hadn’t succumbed to too much damage off of Chunsters r: on my turns, Al was also playing slowly as there was time and I’m sure he didn’t want to make any defensive mistakes against a damage dealing Dark Force like last game. He was able to drop the new Wonderworld asset which I had seen only half an hour before after trading Kirk Polka for some it. It really didn’t help him that much though except for the card draw. I was using it to my advantage to use my Makai momentum to change the block zones to match what I had in my hand…
Finally, he attacked with Chun-li’s r:, exactly what I had been waiting for. He multipled out his Tira’s thing for 4 cards in the card pool. And I took it and liked it, all 20 damage, leaving me near death but still breathing. He ended up with a 4 card pool and half committed staging area. Needless to say, I dropped 3+ attacks on him ending with the storm and finished him 2 games to none.
1-0-0
Second Match-up: vs. Jeremy Ray Seung Mina (order)
Well, having just started last summer I had only heard of Jeremy, but did see him but did not meet him at Gencon 08. Having heard of his exploits and recent use of Mina I was interested in seeing this in action. I wasn’t surprised at all by the make-up of the deck. It wasn’t cookie-cutter order by any means, but it was a natural line-up for Mina. What I was surprised at (well not really, but having never played him) was Jeremy’s play style and decision making ability. Sure, I’ve only played a few months and at 3 or so competitive venues, but man – Jeremy is by far the most focused and diligent UFS player I have had the honor to meet. I also knew that he would have a SERIOUS advantage against my character… Seeing that a) he ran Alex a hell of a lot himself and with great success, and b) Mina has a 5 handsize. The latter really started to get to me with respect to me being able to find my pieces in my ginormous deck and aside from Jeremy’s great play is the number one thing I attribute to my downfall in this match.
Anyways, despite my underdogness I got off to a pretty **** good start. I don’t think he was expecting Mirage Body, and he left himself open on turn 2 (no/few cards in hand) and I was able to jump him with Dark Force. Sadly, I didn’t draw into a second attack what with 10+ cards in hand… So my combo stopped after 8 damage and a lot of foundation drop. Had I drawn another attack, this game would have been very different, especially if I had drawn the crack counter to drop down his hand – alas I did not and settled for foundation advantage. His turn came around and he applied what he called my ‘magic’ (well the Dark Force magic) and followed up with spinta, spinta. I took away tenacious and something else so that he wouldn’t be guaranteed the spinta in his hand in the following turn and he took away what was the only 4 good cards I dropped of 15 or so the turn before… Another turn, Dark Force still active I knew this was my last chance to actually hurt him. Damnit!!! No attacks again, and the form with Alex got me two lousy foundations. I played all my 6+ foundations out and waited to be destroyed by his Olcadons (no attacks + no controller + no answer for programming = death). I should have folded the game after his next turn because it was clear he had the ability to give me the 20-30 worst foundations in my deck what with Olcadons ad spinta running rampant. He also managed to drop the forethought limiting my ability to get 2-3+ foundations out of value, what I would have needed to slightly beat the Owl…
The only reason I didn’t fold the game was because he wasn’t drawing anything either. He checked all of his other 3 spintas, finally got attacks through to makai back the one in his momentum from turn 1 and went on to slowly kill me. I gave one last hurrah with a dark force that I would have fight or flighted and sped through to bring him below 5-10 life, but I hit the last Dark Force in my deck as the check…
Great game, Jeremy. I thoroughly enjoyed it, you’ve done Seung Mina well and any non-believers need only ask me.
1-1-0
Third Match-up: vs. Don Schaeffer Juni (order)
Duh, this was a spiral arrow deck and one that got off to a slow start. I comboed for a lot of damage and nice pieces including a lot of BRT and Chesters. The game took some time because I wanted to be sure, and I ended up taking it.
Game two he was aware but couldn’t stop the Dark Force magic and I pulled through with a fight or flighted one.
2-1-0
Lunch Break!!!
Well, I find out that one of my Calgary buddies is doing just as well as I am and is 2-1 as Mignon. He tells me that there is another Mignon user, one siding into Chun-li, I am like – what is his record? He doesn’t know…We found out soon enough.
We talk about the other 2 Alex’s both with a 2-1 record and we figure that I might hit a mirror match come round 4.
Fourth Match-up: vs. Kirk Polka Mignon with a side of Chun-li (air)
Well this was the other Mignon. My buddy was paired up against Kin’s Alex… Craziness!!! I tell Evans (Kiit), beat Kin and I will beat the Mignon, let’s do this. I was pumped, but I wasn’t ready for the nastiness that was Polka’s deck. I knew Mignon could be built off of air. Hell, I built it for the Ottawa Regionals the week before. But I wasn’t expecting what Kirk had for me – he had TURNABOUT!!! Evil. Anyways, I lost the die roll and lost the first match more or less because of it imo. It was an evenly matched battle, chesters and inhuman vs. chesters, BRT, and prominent. I fell to a second or third spike after underestimating his defense ‘and turnabout’ on the 6th or 7th turn and going all out.
Well, at least I get to go first. I was expecting him to grab Chun-li. And maybe he didn’t because he didn’t think that he needed to, after all I was poking a bit at him for having the Chun-li side. After he deliberated he stayed with Mignon.
Going first I hit a bad check (the one). On his turn I dropped some stuff with antisocial and got back in it kind of. After some back and forth and some blocking of multiples on my part I split him with Dark Force some draw and enough attacks to down him. Yay!
He grabs Chun-li duh. I am frightened. I know his deck is very well constructed; I played 2 games against it, and with Chun-li as the helm and the option to go first, I knew this would be difficult. I needed him to make a mistake. He didn’t… I Yoga Adepted his first turn momentum generation device (makai) knowing that the switch from Mig to Chun meant he needed to play cards to generate momentum instead of the static I was facing. 2nd turn I BRT’d his Makai Drop but couldn’t stop the 2 white magic. He gained his momentum and Chester’s etc. On my second turn, i.e. Chun’s response, he was able to drop Lord’s and I was hooped for him not having momentum. Sh1t. I pretty much have to play defensive and wait for an opening. He builds like a maniac with the 6 checks in his deck and goes off on turn 4/5 after hitting me on my turn 3. Him going off is a fully multiple Chun-li kick and Tira’s fully multipled and a heel snipe as the 8th card in the pool. I hold onto a high block, surviving the last of the Tira multiple but having nothing to say about the low zone Heel Snipe = GOOD GAME KIRK!!!
In other news my buddy drew with the Alex… ****.
2-2
Fourth Match-up: vs. Craig (Umi) Rock Howard (order)
Air,order,order,air,order … lucky me
Another 5 handsizer, and one that outdraws me… great. Craig’s is typical lock down off spiral arrow but with the defender loop as well. If I had to guess he had 3 arrows and 4 mega spikes in the deck.
I went off with my Combo on turn 3, hitting with Dark Force and drawing into more attacks. I went all out, committing everything but falling short with him at 2 life. He turns around and arrows me… I am officially locked down for the rest of the game, but force him to work and cycle a few times before he finally kills me. My other attempts at his life were killed by a looped rejection off of defender = yay…
Game two we have like 5 minutes left to play and I quickly set up and Combo again. This time I only drop him to 10 life or so, but I know he doesn’t have the tools for lock down. He DOES have the tools for defender loop and does it. With one foundation left to commit to pass the mega he kills me.
Nice game, I knew that with this loss I was done for any chance at top 8.
2-3
Fifth Match-up: vs. ??? Tira (air)
This was a relatively new player in Danni’s playgroup. Very nice guy adequately dejected about his 2-3 rank thus far. We talked and went slow but I ened up easily taking the win 2 games to nil.
3-3
Well, no ties. That is one thing to be glad about. I did go off well and early, but I did get it handed to me by 2/3 order decks (both 5hs characters) and Polka’s chun-li, err mignon. All three losses were to top 8 competitors, 2/3 of them top 4, so I wasn’t too mad with myself. I was beaten by people better than me and with symbols that harbored more consistent answers. I had a TON of fun though ^^
Sunday I watched most of the top 4 pairings and top 2, all I can say is they were all deserving and very strong players. Herr’s player card looks innocent but plays like a dream and at the end of the day I knew evil would take down order, what with the amount of control Jon had over his deck that eventually permeated to the board. I wasn’t too surprised both wins were mill in nature. Sure Jon’s deck ran a LOT of attacks for a competitive deck, but without an agro character ability, and 99% of the foundations and assets dedicated to control and counter control, getting through 34 vitality is easier said than done.
Props:
- Jeremy Ray for more than living up to any expectations I had for a champion player
- Jon Herr for using a card I didn’t know existed to win the event
- Jon Herr for being the classiest UFS player I know, an amazingly nice guy, and just the epitome of what you would want to be a winner at a major event
- Antigoth for running a mill deck that is not for the weak of heart or mind…
- Legacy Ukyo ran by Scott for reminding me why I’m happy I started playing UFS near the end of block 2
- Mark and Evans for making 20 hours of travel funny and great times
- The wedocows.com billboards outside of Minneapolis near Albany
- Steve and Hata for putting their time and effort into a game I love as well as all of the other FFG staff
- Brian for lending me his Alex on the day of (I left my character card in the hotel… dummy)
- 2 Chun-lis in the top 4, 3 the top 8, but NONE of them making the top 2.
- Me, for coming up with a forum name for Mark, the Calgary player not on the forums… wait and see!!!
Slops:
- me not running tag along for Chun-li or Seung Mina for that matter
- XBOX SF4, ummm PS3 is better lol
- Andrew Olexa for retiring from UFS to play Apocolypse Voltron style – yeah right ^^
Hope you enjoyed the read!
- dut
and I am retired see me sig? Your Alex deck sounded cool and I like the idea of the mirage body I bet that caught some people off guard besides Jeremy. 