*** If anyone wants the detailed deck list below (excel format) with symbol, check, block, and difficulty breakdown please do not hesitate to contact me at gesb83@hotmail.com
So a recap on what I hope will be the logs to come (money and time permitting):
log #5 : Columbus (US nationals) June
log #6 : European nationals or equivalent – a possibility I attend???
log #7 : Gencon (Worlds)
Well… It sucked that I had to work on the Friday, meaning our flight out was at 6:30pm and that we didn’t arrive in T. until after midnight. My company was tired, and Tanner was fidgety to say the least, but we still stayed up finishing last minute revisions to our decks and playing some games.
Speaking of company they were the following:
Myself – ended up running Alex (more revisions post Regional win the weekend before), now with a splash of life (all life)
Sebastien – ended up running Chun-li again (air water)
Tanner – using Astrid (order)
Rob – Sakura (all void)
The day of the Nationals arrived, and, after standing in line from 830-930am for Anime North entry and seriously bleeding my eyes at the sight of some of the costumes (brrrrr…. Teenage male dressed up as Misty from Pokemon, so so so wrong), we registered for what turned out to be a 40 player national event.
And here is what I went with.
Alex ***
Actions:
4 X Kung-fu Training
3 X Tag Along
= 7
Assets:
4 X Seal of Cessation
4 X Olcadon’s Mentoring
= 8
Attacks:
4 X Darkforce Mirage Body
4 X Kuzuryu-Reppa
3 X Monster Lariat
2 X Pommel Smash
1 X Ryu’s Shin Shoryuken
1 X Chikumurri Kurwwa
= 15
Foundations:
4 X Blood Runs True
4 X Antisocial
4 X Chester’s Backing
4 X Bitter Rivals
4 X Saikyo-ryo
4 X Controller of Souls
4 X Fight or Flight
4 X Lord of the Makai
2 X Prominent Noblewoman
3 X Deadly Ground
3 X Researching the Past
3 X Whirlwind
2 X Genius Alchemist
3 X Abellia’s Friendship
2 X Visions of Destiny
3 X Revenant’s Calling
= 53
Total card count = 7+8+15+53 = 83
Deck comments: Well, this is my 4th version of Alex (3rd played at a tourney) and it is sitting well with me except for the Olcadon’s (useless card in this deck).
The sideboard consisted of 3 X Calming the Mind (for ira spinta), 2 X Torn Hero (for committal decks), 1 X Tag Along, 1 X Prominent Noblewoman (for Chester’s wars), and a third Pommel Smash (Chun-li this one’s for you). I sided into the Pommel once, and that was it. Honestly though, with an 83 card deck siding isn’t nearly as viable as it is in a 60 card deck, even with my rampant draw.
So, the changes to this deck post regional are the following: No more Hidden Beastly Powers, although it is my fav card it isn’t needed in this deck, no pigeon games, that was an experiment gone wrong, no fatherly, one more abelia’s and lord of the makai, one less noblewoman (one sideboarded), and the 3 Revenant’s. Basically, the Revanant’s gave me the answer I needed to control wars (with all that I draw) and it gave me an answer to things that needed to deal damage.
My deck still had no mainboard answer for order commits, but it didn’t need it because with the draw it outbuilds order without much problem (except for bad checks in turn 1 or 2).
Oh, I also added the 4th seal because my deck lacks any repetitive enhance negation.
My first matchup I got paired against Mike Lowe (and his Chun-li that went 4-2-0 and won the three-way tie, i.e. the one that got to play in top 8). This was also the only match loss my Alex suffered since I built the regional one (from which this one was only slightly changed).
So, yeah; I don’t have to say much about this match. Mike’s deck was strong, and wasn’t an altogether typical Chun-li, i.e. there were some foundations I wasn’t exactly expecting. Anyways, the prime reason I lost had nothing to do with his build; it had to do with Mike’s strong play and my exceptionally poor checks. I checked the ‘1’ 3 times in the first game, the first time playing my second foundation, the other times on my tag along and kung-fu (pivotal times…). In game 2 I checked the ‘1’ again on my second foundation. I was not impressed, but it’s expected to happen every now and then, and I wouldn’t have had it happen against any other player. Mike is a truly good player, and for all I know, had I checked well, his deck could have potentially beaten mine anyways.
From a play standpoint I was hit with a couple willful when I BRT’d his biggies/blocks and this hurt. Normally my deck is great against willful because I have bitter and Saikyo to look into the hand before trying to use it, but in a game where I check poorly I had to take risks and they did not pay off.
0-1-0
The computer loves me (sarcasm), I get to play against Brian (Antigoth) in round 2, and he had to play Jon Herr round 1. Quite frankly it was probably the worst first round loser to be paired up against for me, granted he lost to someone who would inevitably be in top 8.
Hmmm… Brian was running a Cassandra deck that pumped speed, did poke damage and then ended it’s turn fully committed. It wasn’t really a fair matchup, he didn’t off symbol tag along (i.e. he was complete LIFE) and Alex just ruined him with a 10-7 hand size after the form.
I played a friendly right after with Brian who had brought along another deck that he was obviously torn over for what to run. It was a water Herr deck and it was very strong. It wasn’t evil, but it was strong. I am left wondering how Brian would have done with this deck as opposed to his Cassie.
1-1-0
Well, at least I am back in the swing of things. Guess who I get to play next? Yes! Another Chun-li!!! And from my playgroup (my Scout actually) Sebastien Fontaine. Well, I beat his deck 2-0 in the regional and I beat it again 2-0 here. Mind you, I’m sure I would have been going away with the win anyways granted he with a 1-1 knew he had a tougher time with diversity than me with the 1-1 and a ‘only one’ character and Sebastien is the type that would rather see his players win than he himself.
My deck went off pretty early in both of these games, like turn 3 and 4 I think. I drew well, and I checked well, this Chun-li was Alex soup.
2-1-0
Lunch break!!! I find out who else is 2-1. Shajir, Andre, a few others I know. I am hoping to face Andre (because I so badly wanted to play his – he’s a great player – and I was confident Alex could kill him). I got my wish; I was facing the Akuma and the Oshawa regional winner. I was again fazed by the sheer stamina this Akuma had, I mean it had a rating of 7!!! Ultron in an Akuma disguise is really not cool.
This was a really good game. And went 10+ turns of him smacking me for 10, me gaining 5, him smacking me fore 15, me gaining 5, and then me going for the kill once assured with the foundation base advantage. He got off to the better start, and got an Olcadon’s out early, me with no controller of souls. He took away one of my two Saikyo-ryos and gave me Abellias??? Uh yeah, I was fine with that, him with no Oral Dead out. I had to bait a lot to win this game, and I credit the victory mainly to the sheer number of attacks I ran. Well 15 is kind of a lot. Had to bait the Akuma, had to bait the BRT, and then had to bait the first enhance, it was not easy.
The second game ended in a tie as the Akuma could not kill me turn 3 and that was that.
3-1-0
Well, now I was really trucking, and who do I get to face… Let’s see, the eventual winner of the event and a rematch of my PotM round 3 – Kirk Polka!!! Man I was pumped, time to kill Mignon and get my revenge for my 2-1 loss against Kirk at PotM. I knew my deck was better now, and I knew I could take Mignon and Chun-li, all I needed to do was play smart.
I won against the Mignon pretty handily (I killed him with a Pommel Smash for 1 damage, he was not impressed), he checked poorly once and I bounced and killed. Immediately he was siding into Chun-li again. A little jokingly I asked him, ‘don’t tell me you are changing to Chun-li again’ (because at PotM he claimed not to do it, and didn’t do it until round 3), his response as she was face down ‘no, it’s ken’.
So yeah, I was able to keep up with the build against this Chun-li too, in fact I had the upper hand (or so I thought) and with him at 16 life (later in the turn I think it might have been lower, but I had no proof) and me near full I decided this was the turn to do it – and hence commences the craziest turn ever!!!
This was such a crazy turn I lost track of his life total, so I might be forgetting other silly things here to, but this is how I am 99% sure it went.
He had three cards in hand, Willful, Spike, and Turnabout. I start with Dark Force Mirage Body and start with fight or flight hoping to immediately bait the use of either Chester’s or Healer. He immediately responds by using healer to return it to 8. I then use Darkforce’s enhance, followed by bitter rivals to see that he had no low block, I choose keyword. Somewhere in the enhance chain he commits Lord of the Makai, and as suspected he draws back Felon Spike after taking the 8 damage. He is down to 8 life, with a couple cards in hand, I know that with no answer to Chun-li this turn I needed my second form to be an attack to kill him (or he would respond and multiple feline spike against me).
My second form is a Kuzuryu-Reppa. I do this kind of hastily (and perhaps this was my bigger mistake here – second only to attacking this turn) and bitter rivals as my first enhance (I was hoping he would let this through, knowing that he could Chester’s my second and final fight or flight thus surviving with few life and also letting me draw less, etc). He negates it with Chester’s Backing and is back up to 11 life – **** it!!! And I now he can half block it if he wants to… Anyways, I fight or flight thinking 6 on half block and the multiple will kill him – nothing is wrong with this picture yet. And if the multiple doesn’t kill him I can play foundations down as 3rd+ forms with him with cards in his pool and no attacks (i.e. he blocks with Felon and with Willful). He is able to half block the Kuzu-ryu Reppa and I draw 6 cards and he is OUT of momentum (which is it for the felon spike in my mind granted he committed his last lord of the Makai and any momentum gen).
He is down to 5 life, I have a mitt full of lovely cards. And what does he do? He reversals with a no momentum Felon Spike. I chuckle at the lack of multiple and 8 damage but still think blocking is best and maintain my own 12 life balance WTF!!! He isn’t done there, he turnabouts my Kuzuryo Reppa. I’m like… hmmm, He has no momentum and this still won’t kill me, no big problem and I was expecting it. Anyways, I now have 4 cards in my card pool (Mirage, Kuz, Multiple, and Block) and 3 ready foundations (one is whirlwind and my form after all of these attacks was going to be to clear my pool and play all the foundations I saved + whatever I draw with Alex after this mess)… I know that I try to block the turnabout Kuz I will not be able to finish my kill turn if he survives the multiple of my Kuz. Chances are, I would have needed a 9 and would have had to check a 5 or 6 anyways (the former I would have committed Alex too…) and would have failed. I take my turnabouted Kuz and lose my momentum… Kirk’s like you think I’m dead, but if I draw another turnabout I can respond again off of your Kuzuryu, I’m like – YIPES@!!!
Well, he didn’t draw another turnabout; there were 30 cards in the deck and one turnabout so yeah I wasn’t surprised. But with his 6 cards he did draw a) another off block and b) his final Felon Spike… !!!!
On my Kuz multiple I do all I can, I bitter and see the stuff, if I Keyworded he would have simply dropped the Chun-UR that he also drew into so I made the attack as hard to block as possible, I also enhance with Alex pitching a card for another damage and speed. He took 4, leaving him at 1 life. At this point I was seriously debating the damage he had taken – or rather the life he started out with. We talked for a few minutes and I conceded that during the turn I lost track of a lot of it and was in no position to argue. He has to pass the Spike and checks a 6 of course and makes it without a problem. I can’t block the spike after his stun and I lose taking a final 8 damage.
We tie 1-1. I made a few mistakes in the sequence above, but he played it well and hit the exact cards he needed to kill me on my turn… even while I was so very close to killing him.
My record is now 3-1-1
I know that I am in for it… If I don’t win this next match I am probably not top 8. Well yay – somehow I get to face Jon Herr, and his 3-1-1 record…
Jon is a class act as always. I thoroughly enjoyed these games. The first one I checked semi-poorly and couldn’t come back after getting a bit behind in the building (what can I say, he rigs his checks with that character card of his lol).
I do know that I can beat him though, I’ve beat his pretty much exact deck 5-7 times in practice. So I play the second game with some optimism and it pays off. I decide after my 2nd turn to try to kill him, he rejects my Darkforce and takes 1, but that is enough for my combo and I go off playing foundations and Kuz’s and more. 1-1 with Jon Herr.
The final game we both build like banshees and after 5 turns (both with 2 skulls out, me 2 controllers, him 2 revanent’s, me only 1, etc.) we draw at time.
I finish with 3-1-2. A loss to a Chun-li and two ties with the day’s winner and with Jon Herr. I was satisfied, but I wanted so badly to get in top 8. Well Matt Kohls walks around in customary fashion finding out who had what and trying to predict the top 8, I know I am right on the cusp of it with the 2 diversified Chun-lis.
Sadly, I tie for 7th with 2 order decks nad Herr's updated PotM evil entry (Shajir – Gill, and Danny – Rock, Herr - Herr) after diversity and Shajir gets the 8th spot on Strength of Schedule or SOS, and Herr gets the 7th spot with an even better SOS. I was pretty sad about this, but unfortunately that is life and I should have converted the tie with Kirk into a win.
What was super painful about the SOS was that 2 of my games were against good friends: Sebastien my Scout, who probably could have won another game with Chun-li, and Brian, a really strong player that simply had a bad day (i.e. made some bad deck choice decisions). I was also kind of miffed to find out my other teammate from Calgary gave Bittner a win when they really tied in exchange for cards no less… Those types of things can get to you a bit.
Anywho, my Alex (not counting PotM cuz it is really quite a different build) has a 10-1-2 record over the past two weekends which is good enough for me. I think I will have to retire it (i.e. not play it anymore). Then again, he might make an appearance at US Nats, I really haven’t decided yet.
Props:
- Getting to hang with the Americans at Arizona’s after the Saturday’s events, I will never look at a Canadian Tire the same way again
- Vermillion for introducing me to the game (I am almost there – top 8 at a major event) and for Sebastien my scout for picking up where he left off and generally being a great mentor
- The group from Michigan for being so **** awesome (Jeremy, Olexa, Kirk, Al, et. al), 3 of you top 4’d which is simply amazing, and 2 out of 2 top 2’d
- The 2 Canadians and the HALF CANADIAN Jeremy Ray – boooyeah!!!! For getting into top 8, the latter into top 4 only to lose to the evil Mignon thingummy
- Mr. Platinum (Wagner) and Brian and the other volunteer who kept giving me bad promos in between rounds and anyone else who helped with the running of the event
- Foxhound, in particular Shajir for his leadership in that respect, but honestly, all of the Eastern UFSers are awesome
- Andre and his friends, they always put up a great battle
- The Team Phail for entertaining Tanner on Sunday and for always being such good sports
- UFS House for 2/3 of them topping, well really all 3/3 but for diversity
- Nick A for some great trades and also more or less top 8ing with Chun-li, I really liked the Yi Shan action in the deck
- Polka for simply always giving me a crazy-ass match, I swear this one topped the one at PotM and I didn’t even think that was possible
- Tanner for smiling after playing against almost every Sakura in the event on Saturday (I feel your pain)
Slops:
- Umm, the cos-players. There needs to be a rule, you can only cos-play if you are guuud looking, please abide by this rule for the sake of my eyes and sanity
- The SOS and not making top 8, funny that I list the cos-players on top of this, yes they were that bad
- The taxi (sorry limousine) driver who had the nerve to call me and my group poor, it was actually kind of funny
- Rob for not being able to find drinks Friday night – wtf! And for forgetting about the action side on Psycho Style – really???
Thank you again to everyone for reading!!!
