Team Tapout this time consists of Shaneth, Chubbs, Hughes, and Bob. No MickyD because of work.

Tuesday, June 23rd

Bob comes up from Maryland and picks Chubbs and myself up from Hanover and takes us to Hughes' work, where we chill in the projector room and get to watch The Hangover for free. That movie is BALLIN!!! We then go to Hughes' apartment where we sit and chill around playing cards and whatever. Bishamon Mill is the shiznitz. I also downloaded Final Fantasy 7 onto my PSP yeah boi

Wednesday, June 24th

We wake up and chill some more. We end up going to Hughes' other house where we originally planned on going to see Transformers 2 but decided to swim instead. Monkey in the Middle with an innertube is HILARIOUS!!! Especially when your trunks fall off when you jump in the water We then play cards and finalize what we are going to play. It came out as:

Shaneth - Evil Hanzo Kick
Chubbs - Air Olexa
Hughes - Guy Spiral Lock
Bob - Gill Spiral Lock (originally Fire Akuma)

Thursday, June 25th

We leave really early and hit the road. We stop to get gas and stock up on Gatorade. Bob drives while Hughes, Chubbs, and myself play Mario Kart DS. Luigi is the CHAMPION in the 32-race challenge. I get some FF7 in until we feel a large bump in the car followed by loud and violent klinks. We immediately pull over to the right side of the the road coming from the left, swerving under three 18-wheelers and almost dying
We pull out the donut from the car. Hughes sets up the jack while I proceed to crank the thing multiple times, risking my life to save the crew (and the car). I seriously almost died twice with two 18-wheelers driving right past me at 90mph at about a 1ft distance. Hot as balls and lucky as a pine needle, we broke down by a rest stop, so we got info to the nearest tire shop. $300 for two new tires was completely unscheduled. We hit the road again about 3 or 4 hours late.

We arrive at our hotel around 7:30pm. We drive to the con to get our badges which took quite a bit of time. We stroll on down to the CCG room to see who is all there. Nobody shows up, so we decide to sit around and play UFS hoping that somebody shows up and also not wasting the trip to get the badges. About an hour later, Jeremy Ray and friends show up with Shajir and them. UFS House is also there, and Jon gets aquainted with Chubbs. Chubbs also tries to choke out J-Ray to get $10 but just ends up pissing him off Sadly it's time to leave, so we all say our goodbyes and part ways.

Friday, June 26th

I end up sleeping in and missing continental breakfast at the hotel. I quickly pack, snagging three muffins to go along with my empty morning tummy. We drive to the con and quickly move in for the CCG room. We get reunited with everybody from past events and then sit down to write our decklists for teams. This time, it's Chubbs/Shaneth/Bob on the team while Hughes found two other people to team with. Steve anounces the pairings and HERE WE GO!!!

I don't need to list the list of characters in the teams. In short, 80% of the 14 teams were Hanzo/Gill/Chun-Li or characters fronting those symbols.

1st Round vs Kirk Polka's team
1-1 draw

2nd Round vs i forgot
2-1 win

3rd Round vs I forget
2-1 win

4th Round vs UFS House
0-2 loss

We end up with a 2-1-1 record. They only did 4 rounds of swiss with cuts to top 4, so we ended in 6th or something. We stick around until teams is over, seeing UFS House beat Foxhound in the finals. They go get drunk or whatever to celebrate, not sure what they did, but I know Foxhound got drunk. I was pretty dissapointed with the Hanzo; I think I lost twice and only won one matchup. After all, Hanzo Kick is the least best of Gill Lock and Chun-Li. We stick around and mess with people until we decide to leave around midnight. We get back to the hotel and get some sleep.

I'm up thinking of something to run for singles. I was really pissed at the meta because of how stale it was. Everything was Gill, Hanzo, or Chun-Li. Whatever I tried to build other than that always ended up losing to those decks. Whatever you build that is not those characters or symbols ends up losing. I really wanted to run Jon Herr because of how much fun it could be, but I decide to stick with the plan and play Hanzo. I replaced what I changed for Teams with what was originally in the deck. Drydecking the deck, I realized that I would always end up early with 2 foundations and the rest necessary for the kill turn in the future, so I decided to increase the deck count to 63 by adding 3x A Beautiful Nightmare, which I mainboarded for Teams that proved really useful.

Saturday, June 27th

I end up sleeping in AGAIN and miss continental breakfast. Just like last time, I quickly packed and snagged three muffins to fill my tummy. We get to the con and immediately write down decklists. Same character as last time, stick with the plan. I will list my swiss rounds and opponents but not my games because each game was the same kill with the Kick.

Round 1 vs Kirk Polka w/ Mignon
2-0 i found this not too hard cause Rootless and Infected doesn't hurt Hanzo

Round 2 vs Don Shaffer w/ Ibuki
2-0 he got shafted really bad with Anti-K's and Yoga Adepts

Round 3 vs Garret Buett w/ Alex
2-0 i got lucky game 2 when he BRT'd my block. Flipped an Adept and checked a 5.

Round 4 vs Mike Lowe w/ Chun-Li
1-1 real close, he couldn't draw what he needed to kill with

Round 5 vs Matt Kohls w/ Chun-Li
2-0 surprising cause he beat me in Teams the day before

Round 6 vs Paul Bittner w/ Akuma
0-0 intentional draw

So my overall record was 4-0-2. Undefeated with Mike Lowe, the swiss champ. Top 8 was:

Mike Lowe - Air Chun-Li
Shane Duckworth - Evil Hanzo Kick
Paul Bittner - Evil Akuma Fury
Magnus Carrena - Evil Ibuki
Omar Chavez - All Zangief Mill
Jon Herr - Order Gill Lock
Jeremy Ray - Order Seong-Mina
Garret Buett - All A lex

So the top 8 was kinda predictable. A very hilarious event happened when Steve called my name. I screamed at the top of my lungs as usual followed by Hughes and Chubbs picking me up on their shoulders. That was definitely the loudest we've ever been. Steve had to stop talking before he could announce who I was playing:

Steve: "In second place, Shane pla---"
Tapout: "YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!"

Chubbs went to pull up his pants and accidently dropped them ALONG with his boxers, so A LOT of people saw his bare ass. I totally missed it, but when I turned around, Matt Kohls had this funny emotion and just paced around smiling and shaking his head cause he got mooned by Chubbs. Osei, Will, and Magnus were all laughing because half of everybody saw Chubbs' ass and maybe some more things I can't go into detail with Steve stopped for sooooo long that when I actually got myself together, I asked everybody, "Who got 3rd?!?!?"

We get an hour break. I get congratulated by my teammates and lots of other people. We go down to the food court to get drinks and stuff while we talk outside while Bob chainsmokes 4 ciggys, like he did for every break we took. We end up talking for awhile when we realize we had 15 minutes to get back to the tournament. We decide to screw around and see if all 4 of us would fit into the rotating doors that the Hyatt had, so in goes Bob, Hughes, Chubbs and myself as we turn our way through. Chubbs' bag gets smushed as my shoe ends up getting stuck and the door bites at my foot. I immediately yell "I'M STUCK!!!" so we had to back the door up to release my foot, then tiptoe our way through the outside. If we were really stuck, I would have had to call Omar or somebody to tell Steve to hold the tournament cause I was stuck in a rotating door with my teammates

I get back and realize that they are deck-checking. I organize my deck for Hata and he quickly reviews it. "WTF? Lollipop in your sideboard?" While Hata is checking Jon Herrs decklist, he sees that there are 3x Aquakinesis in the deck but only 2x written down. He informs Jon who probably wrote it down wrong or something, but gets a game loss in top 8 for it. Like it matters cause he plays Paul, but it was the first time I've ever seen that. We then receive the pairings:

Mike Lowe w/ Chun-Li vs Garrett Buett w/ Alex
Shane Duckworth w/ Hanzo vs Jeremy Ray w/ Seong Mina
Magnus Carrena w/ Ibuki vs Omar Chavez w/ Zangief
Paul Bittner w/ Akuma vs Jon Herr w/ Gill

Top 8 vs Jeremy Ray w/ Seong Mina
I was really excited for this matchup as I piloted his Mina deck for months, so I knew exactly what it did and what it needed to win.

Game 1 - I lose the dice roll. He plays two foundations and fails the 2nd one. At least he gets a Charismatic out. On my turn, I play Evil-Doer Destroyer knowing it'll take me far. I flip an Adept and he cancels Hanzo with Charismatic. Turn 3 of the game and still no board out for either of us. Jeremy says "Wow, we're really bad at this game..." and we laugh like crazy. A couple turns later I establish a decent board and go for two kicks. I magically only flip one bad check for my 12 checks I needed to win.

Game 2 - Jeremy sides in Warriors Path. He mulligans his only Reppa but established a GREAT board with 2x Cursed Blood in it. I went for the win when I had it, but he made this fantastic play where he Forethoughted my Kick and Evil Plans'd it so it did 5dmg, then Evil Plans'd it again so it did 6dmg. It was downhill from there as his board was always one control piece better and he Spinta'd me to death.

Game 3 - Jeremy sides into Gill for the faster buildup. I establish a great board while Jeremy stuggled first turn. Our boards end up looking great, but he has no Makai High against my Olcadan's. I end up playing two Kicks when I had the chance, scoring a win with making him use his Evil Plans as a block and then making him ditch down to 1 card with Ways of Punishment. Having to only flip 7 cards instead of 12 was real nice.

Hughes picks me up after I won and lifts me into the air for an airplane spin, but my heel ended up going straight into Chubbs' balls and I almost got dropped cause it was so funny. A lot of people said that if I didn't beat Jeremy Ray in top cuts then he would have taken the whole thing. Kinda sucks that I was paired against him because I picked him to win the whole thing. I overheard Osei, my Hanzo rival, talk to my teammate Hughes about my deck. He wondered why I played A Beautiful Nightmare instead of the Zhao D foundations and why I played Yoga Adept and Seal. He then said "It must work for him because he's right there and I'm over here." I felt really good about myself after hearing him say that. Magnus and Omar finish up playing and we have the results:

Chun-Li over Alex
Hanzo over Seong Mina
Zangief over Ibuki
Akuma over Gill

Top 4 vs Paul Bittner w/ Akuma
We played a fun casual game in swiss although we ID'd and he beat my ass. I knew my chances were slim going into this match.

Game 1 - I lose dice roll. He sets up a really good board with Scroll, Lynette's Shop, Chesters, and other goodies. I am always behind about 9 miles because of his Olcadan's use and correct Shopping. He Tiger Furys me for the kill.

Game 2 - I go first and set up 2x Seal, Ways, Glare, and another foundation with an Olcadan's, effectively playing out 6 cards in my hand. I think I Anti-K'd one of his foundations, that or Yoga Adept'd it. Second turn I played more control out while he played more stuff on his 2nd turn. I look at his board and sees he has a bunch of jank, so I Olcadan's first to remove an obstacle. I Kick one time to remove his hand with Ways and Glare and he ends up getting rid of one Kick with some kind of method I forget, but then I Kick him a 2nd time and proceed to kill turn 3.

Game 3 - I apologize for how long this game was. It must have taken about 2 hours. It was a huge-ass control battle as his control was always better than mine because of Akuma's Psycho Style, effectively making that whole deck. I try to think of multiple possibilities on how I could win, talking up probably 5 minutes a turn, which I do apologize for again. I wasn't stalling because there was no time limit, rather thinking very hardcore, leading me to asking Paul, "Are all your matches as hardcore as this?" I scare him multiple times by poking at him with Kicks. He gives me a real sh*tty board with Olcadan's and there's nothing I could do for the 14 or so turns this game took. He proceeds to Tiger Fury me and I can't do anything about it due to 4x Bitter Rivals on the field. I could have Cutting Edge'd my entire board but it wouldn't have mattered as he would have BRT'd my Kicks I would have tossed on my turn and recurred a Tiger Fury to demolish me again. Thinking back I guess I could have milled him out forcing him to BRT my kicks and getting the advantage because of Cutting Edge to increase the size of my deck, but it still didn't matter as he would go for Cutting Edge for Olcadan's.

Tough game, I congratulate Paul. Hardest game of UFS I've ever played.

Chun-Li over Zangief
Akuma over Hanzo

I get congratulated for my efforts, everybody shakes my cold as balls hand, reminiscent of Worlds 2007 where I last made top 4 at a major event. I ended up getting prizes from Steve that included:

1x Binder Set of DS02 and SF08
1x UFS Nationals Life Counter
1x UFS Nationals Plaque (what I aimed for)
1x Artwork of my pick (Kazuya baby!!!)
1x Promo Pack

Hughes and Bob leave to get food and chainsmoke 4 cigarettes again while Chubbs and I stay and chill with Olexa and friends. Chubbs took a Maternal Instincts and drew both himself and Olexa on it and gave it to Olexa. Breaker 50 and the unstoppable ability. Yeah boi!!! We then go to the food court to meet up with Hughes and Bob when we see them coming down the escalator, so we walk ALL THE WAY back to the CCG room again. We sit tight watching the finals between Paul and Mike. We left when Mike won the first game and we were in the middle of the 2nd game when we got back. We watched Paul kill with a Tiger Fury. 3rd game didn't last too long as Mike was crowed the US National Champion with Chun-Li!!!

Final Results:
Chun-Li over Akuma

We all congratulate Mike for winning. He gets thrown around by Chubbs, Omar, Ben Shoemaker, Loki5k and other friends. I remember he went CRASHING into a table. Later on I caught up with Mike and talked to him about Chun-Li. I remember the exact words from his mouth. "I play Chun-Li for the ability. I absolutly HATE Chun-Li, but I play her because she's broken." Mike and I have been good buddies ever since Worlds 2007, so I asked if he'd hook me up and it was no problem. That's why I like traveling because you meet sooo many new people and gain sooo many new friends, and that's what the UFS community is all about; People who have your back and deliver teh funz to the table.

Side note: Chubbs finally gave Scott Gaines that lap dance that he owed him from last year at Nats. The interest was well worth it as we got many foily commons and other stuff. Best moments were when Chubbs went to wrap his leg over Scott's head and ended up kicking Scott where his glasses were and when Scott slapped Chubbs' ass and put the rest of the foils down Chubbs' boxers. What was REALLY funny is when I went to remove the foils from Chubbs' boxers and they all fell down through his leg and got trapped by the spandex stretchies.

We say our goodbyes to everybody and hope to hell we'll be there for Gencon!

Props:
My teammate Bob for driving us.
Hughes for making multiple signs for me in top 8.
Chubbs for writing "GO SHANE" on his stomach.
UFS House, the coolest you guys have ever been.
Voltron Kitten Force, we'll always be tight homies.
New York crew; Magnus, Will, and Osei, you guys are Tapout's booty poppin buddies!
James Hata for being extremely nice and giving Tapout 7x new Hata, 2x Old Hata, and 2x King's Games.
Steve for listening to Tapout's opinion on the game and prize support. You're the reason we like this game!!
Paul Bittner for joining our boy band.
Giving Mike Lowe his only non-win of the tournament!!!
Finally playing against all 3 members of UFS House.
All of my opponents for being good sports.
1x Lollipop in my sideboard which took me to top 4.
Nobody made fun of me for wearing swimming trunks in singles!
Everybody who showed up. Thanks for making this years Nats a blast!

Slops:
Prize Support for people who didnt top was utter crap.
The meta for being so stale. Goodbye Spiral Arrow.

Our Boy Band - From left to right:
Shaneth, Paul Bittner, Scott Gaines, Chubbs, Booty-Poppin' Will

I really just wanted to make myself known during this event. I want people to look back on events and think "Remember that Shaneth guy? He was ballin as a penguin on ice skates!" What I really hate is that some people won't even consider what you say or they won't care what your opinion is on something unless you do really well or win a major event or have a character card. I know my opinions on this game and card selections are some of the best, but I have to be known really well or else people won't care what I say. I'm glad Steve talked to us personally and we got closer with UFS House, a great team who everybody knows of and we've really never held a full-fledged conversation with. After all, Jon tried to avoid Chubbs like the plague, but now they are buds like owls in beanies. Paul and many others said I already am known, so that mean't a lot to me.

Thank you all for reading, and I hope to see you all at Gencon!

PS: I dunno if I'll still be playing Hanzo after these bans. If you guys want the decklist I'd be more than happy to post it, although I believe it is getting posted anyways later on.

Shaneth said:

Have heard of Spiral Arrow... anything else getting nerfed that you can preview for us?

Shaneth said:

And this man has just now expressed THE reason why I started shooping cards.

Shaneth,

To repeat what I said, you and the rest of team Tap Out are all the real deal. You are all good players and continue to improve each time I see you play. This time I played all members of your team minus Chubbs and all were hard fought games that came down to the wire.

As far as our game, I've never thought I was dead man so many times as when I played you in top 8. Each turn I was extremely nervous as you thought out whether or not it was possible to kill me. Also I felt like such a stiff, because while I'm there sweating it out you are on the other side making faces at me, shifting it into reverse, and booty poppin! Haha.

The struggle over that lynettes in game 3 was epic.

Your deck was very well designed and well piloted. It seems to me that the way you built it, it's more deadly early game than other Hanzo decks, but not as bad if you can live past turn 4 or 5 (For hardcore control decks anyway).

Not only are we now in the band together, but we are blood brothers as well.

Last, it was great to play you finally in a tournment. I really hope you guys can make it to worlds this year. Try hard as it's always great times. Finally thank Chubbs for not doing anything crazy to Jon, I am sure he wont seek to avoid him anymore.

Paul

Antigoth said:

They haven't announced anything else, but Steve said he'd talk with Hata about the stale meta and ways to fix it, so probably expect at least 3 cards banned including Spiral Arrow.

PaulBittner said:

Thanks for your words, Paul. They mean a lot to me and the rest of my crew. And haha, I found it funny how I was making faces and moving around while you sat there with everybody thinking "How's this guy so happy playing in top 4? Shouldn't he be concentrated more?" BOOTY POPPIN!!

And thanks for the comments on my Hanzo. I built it with all options and situations in mind. One thing I didn't like about many Hanzo builds was that it didn't pack the appropriate control necessary to finish the game in the long run. Many Hanzo decks can't kill control decks past the 4th turn. Mine actually kills on average turn 5 because I usually won't throw the kick unless I know I have it. Plus, running 2CCs forces me to play that way. The way your Akuma ran, it was really the worst matchup ever besides Gill Lock because of the ridiculousness of Akuma's First E. My only loss at Nats, right?

Thanks again Paul. One more thing, not saying this to hook onto you or anything, but this seriously was said. All members of Team Tapout said you were one of our favorite players in the entire UFS community. From looking stoned out of your mind to playing a 130-card or whatever Juni to being in the band, you're a class player all around. Tell the rest of UFS House that we're glad we got closer to them as people rather than players!

Shaneth good job on topping man, that was so epic! Yeah paul and shaneth that boy band is hot! "YEAH, YEAH, YEAH!!"

Shaneth you are a great player man, good stuff on tops!

That lap dance was so hot, i mean good lord. When chubbs smacked me in the face with his thigh like the whole room just lolled. Chubbs crotch is hot though

Scott GAINES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i enjoyed it that thigh smack was alswome and everybody watched that lap dance tooo! And Jon i told u u couldnt avoid me, but am i really that bad? anyway it was a ballin ass weekend, but too bad i didnt top. I do feel better though that me and my son running the same character didnt make though, and like Olexa said " Its better that way." O and if ben reads this ur crocidile almost saw way down under . And i hope to see all u at Gencon, and hopefully have more fun then Nats.

Shaneth said:

At least 3! I did see you guys talking with Steve for quite a bit on lunch break, which is a great thing, player/designer/manager communication is essential to a healthy environment.

I'm all for bannings if it is healthy for the games growth. And I'm fairly certain that is what this mini-block is more or less all about. Namely, the 4 pointers or current block is markedly different than what we have seen from the 5 pointers so far and the two just aren't gelling, which was probably expected.

In other words, short of prematurely forcing a cycle, FFG has created the mini-block to create a second meta that isn't 'stale' as you put it. And this also gives them flexibility in the future if they mess up and this time next year 5 pointers are stale... i.e. they release 6 pointers creating a new meta that is supported with prize, = fresh mini block...

To this extent, I think a few bannings (even as much as 3) won't freshen up the block 3 meta A LOT, it could make worlds a lot more bearable. But at the end of the day, only the cycle will truly have a refreshing impact on the game. Not to name names, but Evil needs to lose any ability to 'one card kill', whether it be Tiger Fury or Kick, we are seeing that Evil can hide behind it's great control game and build to the one hit kill turn = stale. Order also needs to lose this, which is what Arrow was/is. Air too, needs to lose this, which is Spike. In other words:

CONTROL DECKS SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO OneTK, this is what they should sacrifice for control. And this is why CSS was banned, and it is exactly the same reason we will see Arrow banned. Ideally we will see a part of Hanzo's loop banned too, as much as it is fun to build a deck designed to control followed by a one card kill, you would probably be the first to admit it is slightly degenerate or stale. On the opposite side of the spectrum, decks need to be able to 0TK or the life gain in block 3 allows a defensive deck (Zangief, or rejection + team) to easily live forever. So, we are at a crossroads... This is also why Void/Life/Death/etc. have not seen top finishes lately - a) they don't have 0TK, or b) they don't have control. All of the top decks have both of these things.

Sadly, I think that one or more of the 3 things that needs to go is/are characters... It is why we see Tag Along in every deck, it is why we have 3 decks diversified, it is why we get 6 of the character with the simplest kill condition ever known to man (Hanzo). Sometimes, characters are the problems.

I really feel for Hata here, who has been making the new block with one eye on the old. i.e. he has had to dedicate some new cards to combatting the problems with the old (see Willful, any anti-rejection card, Siegfried's support, etc.) while making the others in the mould of his envisioned block of cards, that will promote greater diversity, a faster paced game of attack-counterattack. You can see him trying to give an answer for Chun-li with the witch card that stops character responses. If he made it not destroy itself, would Chun-li be managable by 3 symbols? But, then can you give characters any sort of meaningful response ability in the new block... I think the only type of card that could have been created that stopped Chun-li effectively would be a card that says, 'your opponent cannot play forms on your turn', which then takes away cool mechanics from A New Low, Valerias, Temporary Being, etc.... but eh.

Hata is doing a good job.

I'm done partially derailing your thread, but you do make strong comment to the stale meta in your OP.

Back on topic, team Tapout is a Blast, and the gear you guys were sporting and Chubbs himself is worth the trip alone ^^ I also got to play Chubbs in teams, and he is also the real deal, I knew it before too, just like UFS House said, you guys are on the verge of greatness, and do have a name for yourselves (not just becuase of antics, but becuase of play).

I was happy with Nats, if only becuase I got to play Shaneth and Chubbs, two players I met at Gencon last year (leant them some cards) and that I considered quality competitors. I still do

- dut

Hopefully I'll be able to catapult Death into a winning state with these new bannings going into effect. I won't have to lose to Owlface anymore.

Well done, Shane. =)

Shaneth said:

I can't agree with this more.

Great job @ nats man can't wait to play you again!

And I know how you feel about your opinions not being listened to but it's good to see the underdogs win both national events let's see what happens at worlds

Thank you all for your kind words. It really does mean a lot.

Scott)) the boy band is gonna be tight. Chubbs and I will make up some lyrics before Worlds and we'll have each member sing/rap a couple times

HDC)) Sad that I didn't see you at Nats, but hell, you better be at worlds! Thanks bro

Kirk)) Yeah man, excellent games we had. I hope I can play you again at worlds!

Garrett)) Thanks a lot, bro. Our games were hot stuff, and if it wasn't for that lucky Yoga Adept being flipped for BRT, you wouldda had that thing! I hope I'll see you at worlds just like last year!

Oh yeah another prop is that once again I killed diversity. The most played character was Hanzo at 6ppl playing him.

You should rub some of your diversity abilities off on Kohls.

Stale meta? We haven't seen what the meta will look like after Chester's, Owl, and Makai got banned. The only reason the meta is stale right now is because those bans didn't go into effect yet.

I would have loved to gone but honestly I cant stand where the game is at right now. After enduring the boredom of Can nats' ocean of air spinta then spike you decks, and order lock you down and loop decks I just couldn't subject myself to more torture. If it wasnt for how awesome set 12 is I'd be gone.

I'm pretty sure the meta will look much the same July 1st with the 3 cards leaving us. Air willl substitute a few cards and still use chunners to spike people to death. Evil will be just fine without chesters. With the loss of spiral though, Order will be in the hunt for a new kill condition.

Dut made some excellent points. If they ban the one shot kill conditions it will be immpossible to kill people. It is just to incredibly easy for people to wall up and then one shot people. Cards like abellia's, Morgan, Battle prowess, the gief, amy's etc... To make matters worse the decision to add increddibly good blocks to all foundations hurt this game incredibly. This point has made by others and it is one that Hata no doubt understands. Look at set 12 foundations. Terrible block modifiers everywhere if there is even a block. Now look at the attacks. See the difference?

Three cards banned, at a minimum, could help to relieve some of the staleness. However, this game wont be back on track until rotation. And yes Hatman that is what people say every year...hopefullly this year is different.

Not that I have a problem with arrow leaving the meta but why would Steve base his judgement of the meta based on a event where the new bans are not in effect

Sol Badguy said:

None of the bannings effect the Arrow Lock deck. The deck exists in it's full glory outside of Chesters, LotM or Olcadans.

One of the things Steve is trying to do is open the game up where both players play the game back and forth. The Spiral lock deck completely eliminates that. It turns the game into a slow plodding affair where one player plays one attack per turn until it wins.

Is the deck beatable? Yes. Is it annoying to play against?Absolutely.

The amount of decks that fielded the combo in teams, plus who knows how many decks ran it at nationals. If a new player finds themselves against a Spiral Lock deck, is there a single card that they can throw into their deck to to help prepare against it? Not so much.

I get the feeling he doesn't want to see a worlds where every third deck is spiral lock. And from what I can gather, that's what's going to happen.

Antigoth said:

so they spinta lock which is the same as spiral lock, but doesn't need to do damage to work, easier to play pretty much always going to deal damage, and if you somehow get out of it, you pretty much have no staging area compared to your opponent's full board.

kiit said:

Single cards like Calming the mind completely neuter Spinta lock.

Spiral Arrow lock is not negateable by a single card, and necessitates an entire play style as once the lock is in place you can't block the attack.

Spinta lock is also hurt by the loss of Lord of the Makai.

Congrats on 4th.

Will one of the new singles be the full version of the John Macek rap remix?

Antigoth said:

Too bad that Calming the Mind has bad stats, an effect centered only on stopping Spinta (because it is currently useless in Mini-STD) and a symbol spread that is quite iffy to use.

Other than that, it's a really awesome card though.

Woooooooooo!!!! Awesome go you congrats OK so do you want to trade me a signed Hanzo lol? i love my Hanzo deck but it hates me so before UK Nats i can have some etc luck from you it worked with the Yun seong you sent me sorry about the Rubbish spelling lol its 2am here and i cannot sleep lol

MrBump said:

Wait WTF Eggle i wante dto use Hanzo. You ***.

Don't make me knock you out of diversity