Bump.

This weekend people, are you ready?!?!

Where will you be when the next Grand Maester of CaliCon is crowned?

...dont worry mid-West,/East Coast, with all the new advances in video conferencing, its only a matter of time before we can host an event like this from multiple locations remotely. (although I am not sure how we will get the maester's chain links to you?)

cha0s said:

~Crying and waving my hand while giving thanks to the academy for this tremendous award. It's on!!!

cha0s said:

~Proudly holding up my Sansa Prize, I expect!

Time to make the 7 hr drive up the road.

Calicon here I come!!!

Transmission went out on the car about an hour into the trip =( Unfortunately that left me down and out for the count. Hope everything goes swimmingly and that everybody has a wonderful time!

I'm so sorry to hear that Fox, we were looking forward to meeting you.

Well, we're on our way here, see the rest of ya all soon.

Tourney Report to follow, but here's a recap of the joust:

Cut to top 4 (out of 8 players):

1) Jeff "Freerider" w/ Lanni Shadows Agenda (4-0) defeats

4) Jon "cha0s' bro." w/ Greyjoy (2-2)

2) John "Deathjester26" w/ Baratheon (3-1) defeats

3) Dan "cha0s" w/ Lanni (2-2)

1) Jeff "Freerider" defeats

2) John "Deathjester26"

Houses:

Grejoy x 2

GJ (KoW) x 1

Bara x 2

Bara (KoS) x 1

Lanni x 1

Lanni Shadows x 1

Congrats to Freerider for building a very unique and utterly destructive Lanni Shadows deck!!!

As for the Maester's challenge, I'm currently winning with 16 links (only cause I rigged it), but people are catching up!

A big thank you to cha0s for organizing yesterday's tourney! And to deathjester for the Maester's challenge -- a fun metagame on top of everything.

The attendance wasn't as large as past years, I know, but for those of who are new players, it meant a lot. Thank you to both of you for the work you put into it!

So, initial tourney report while I still remember at least some of the details (please be aware it's after midnight and I've had only 6 hours sleep since early Saturday, so take this all a grain of salt):

First, and absolute foremost the weekend was a blast. Anytime you get a group together for more than one day of AGoT is just a great experience. Danny deserves some serious kudos for organizing this thing as does John (Deathjester) for the maester challenge. Further thanks to Danny and Christy for inviting us to their home and allowing us to stay the night.

Day One: Took 1st place in joust 6-0

Day Two: 4th in Multi (I think?) 1st in multi taken by Danny (Cha0s - again I think right? Multi scoring is kinda funny) Grats

Grand Maester Challenge: Won by Danny (Cha0s) - Congrats again

Total: Took 1st overall

Specifics - Day One

Posted my deck at Tzumainn for anyone that wanted to take a look:

http://tzumainn.com/agot/decks/deck.php?current_deck_id=16734

Tunnels of the Red Keep were very impressive in play. I really didn't expect it to be as strong as it was or to be able to keep as many cards in the shadows as I did. This might be because the deck was deceptively slow, and the longer the game goes the more gold and card draw builds up and thus the more cards I could afford to keep in the shadows. Most of my games I got up to at least 4 shadows at some point and by then even the lowliest refugee was an army. In my first game Darren's (new player - boardname?) Baratheon deck got out x2 renown Robert with a Vigilant Banner and a Targ Tears of Lys and nearly worked me over(All icons vigilant, deadly, x2 renown is scary), but got a couple lucky non Castellen kneel effects that allowed me to delay long firmly establish control via Tunnel Shadow bonus and kneeling effects. In another real close game with Jon's (Deathjester) Bara deck I had to resort to a Lion's gate and Carrion crow reshuffling to start picking off renowned characters before I got overwhelmed by renown. In general I had poor draw luck, but was always able to control long enough to get the Tunnels and shadows and then the strength bonus just became too much for everyone to fight.

Specifics - Day Two

Again, deck is at Tzumainn:

http://tzumainn.com/agot/decks/deck.php?current_deck_id=16729

Ah, multiplayer, love it or hate it, it's always interesting. Took first in all of my placement pods. Never actually won, just timed out with the most power. In the final game the lack of speed in the deck really showed and I was almost completely shut out despite a nice array of characters, resources, and more draw than any Stark player has ever imagined (Seriously, at the end of one draw phase I managed to clear 16 cards in hand- still wasn't enough). Less durablity clearly would have been good, and maybe the cancel Eddard a very clear MVP in Jon's (Deathjester) deck.

Other Notes:

Lumpy's Diner = yum

I'd also like to thank everyone at the tourney for being very kind, patient and encouraging with Zoey. Jen and I were a bit worried about bringing her along, but everyone was real patient about the fact that we've only just started teaching her and she had a great time which means more Thrones in our future is looking more and more likely. I'm always very imressed with how kind, mature and just plain wonderful Game of Thrones players are. It's not every gaming group that can survive the active participation of multiple eleven year olds. You all rock.

Speaking of which: Never ask me to play guitar on Rock Band. Seriously, I suck.

Much thanks and great props to Danny and Christy for once again hosting an excellent weekend and Jonny for running the very fun Maester's Challenge complete with colored chain links. Even having not played Thrones in 8 months, this was once again one of the funnest gaming experiences to exist on planet earth. Shame a few old stalwarts were not in town this weekend but great to see some newer players join the Greatest Gaming Community. Hoepfully we will get down to San Jose to play with some of those guys. Also very cool to see Brent and Jen bring their little ones.

Recovering still from illness I could not participate in the Joust but thanks to Jen providing some real life Tears of Lys I joined the Melee and with my hastily built Targaryen deck I think I finished second at all the tables I was at. Deathjester26's Stark deck was at two of my tables and was my nemesis (cant wait till I can the use the Red Keep again Jonny ). Great to see Freerider's Shadows deck.

Hopefully with the HBO series and GRRM FINALLY publishing A Dance With Dragons, AGoT lcg will be around another 10 years.

Syd, Cisco,Black Sword, Ram and Bruno we missed you guys. Dormouse I discovered moved to Texas, I hope you are doing well there.

So, just some brief final totals:

Joust winner was Freerides (6-0) with his crazy shadows deck (see results in previous above)

Melee results:

1) cha0s playing lanni (4th seed at final table)

2) Deathjester26 playing Stark (2nd seed at final table)

3) Darren playing GJ KoW (3rd seed at final table)

4) Freerider playing Stark KoW (1st seed at final table)

For over all points on the weekend:

1) Freerider with 39

2) Deathjester26 with 35

3) cha0s with 33 (had cha0s played out and won his 3rd/4th match against his brother he would have passed me with 36 points)

For overall links on their maester chain:

1) cha0s with 27

2) freerider with 25 (or maybe 26 if he ever got that pick up game in )

3) Deathjester26 with 24

Again, thanks to everyone who showed up and to cha0s for hosting. I can't express how much this was a possitive experience for me after the poor showing at Kubla. We didn't quite have the numbers we wanted for the Joust on Saturday, but the decks that were there were all challenging and diverse. A really possitive experience overall. It was awesome to see all the newer players coming out, and I have no doubt that in the future there will be more. Thanks again!

My Joust deck for Calicon 2009:

Take the Initiative - Joust - Baratheon

----- Plots (7) avg income: 3.7 -----
After the Mummer's Ford x1 Kings of the Sea F48
Siege of Riverrun x1 Kings of the Sea F49
An Empty Throne x1 Kings of the Sea F53
A Song of Summer x1 A Song of Summer F20
Wildfire Assault x1 Core Set L191
Rule by Decree x1 Core Set T206
Fury of the Stag x1 Ancient Enemies F27

----- Characters (31) avg cost: 2.2 -----
* Eddard Stark x1 The Tower of the Hand F41
* Robert Baratheon x2 The Tower of the Hand F46
Royal Entourage x2 The Tower of the Hand F47
Highgarden Refugee x3 Refugees of War F86
Arena Knight x2 Refugees of War F87
River Bandit x3 Refugees of War F95
* Renly Baratheon x1 The Raven's Song F64
* Walder Frey x1 A Change of Seasons F51
Carrion Bird x3 The Winds of Winter F35
* Selyse Baratheon x1 Core Set B70
* Stannis Baratheon x1 Core Set B72
* Ser Davos Seaworth x1 Core Set B75
* Brienne of Tarth x1 Core Set B76
* Edric Storm x1 Core Set B79
* Devan Seaworth x1 Core Set B80
Old Red Priest x2 Core Set B84
* Maester Aemon x1 Core Set T151
House Florent Scouts x3 The War of Five Kings F14
The Fox's Teeth x1 The War of Five Kings F15

----- Locations (17) avg cost: 0.5 -----
Bay of Ice x3 Kings of the Sea F30
Kingswood Trail x2 City of Secrets F8
Stormlands Fiefdoms x3 Core Set B93
* King Robert's Chambers x1 Core Set B94
Aegon's Garden x3 Core Set B95
Great Hall x2 Core Set B98
Narrow Sea x3 Core Set B99

----- Attachments (6) avg cost: 0.3 -----
Motley x2 Core Set B67
Milk of the Poppy x2 Core Set B145
Bodyguard x2 Core Set T150

----- Events (6) -----
The Hand's Judgement x3 The Tower of the Hand F59
Missing Recruit x3 Scattered Armies F115

You get the idea… renown, vigilant, Bay of Ice for card draw. I generally tend to go first, capitalizing on any vigilant characters I might have to kneel my opponent’s characters and pop back up ready to defend, grabbing power with renown where possible.

Quick and dirty Calicon 2009 Joust Tourney report:

Round 1 vs. Geoff playing GJ

Geoff was running a GJ deck with Power of Arms and War crest characters. I managed to flop 5 cards, but was heavily out gunned by Dagmar and Randyll Tarlly, both with War crests. I managed to draw into a Motley and a Milk of the Poppy, but was still getting beat down early on. The turning point came on plot 3 when I revealed Siege of Riverrun and managed to win a military challenge to weaken Geoff’s dominance on the table. He played Valar as his forth plot, but by that time his hand was very small compared to mine. It came down to me having more characters to play after that.
1-0

Round 2 vs. Jeff (Freerider) playing Lanni/Shadows

Jeff always impresses me with the decks that he puts together and he would not disappoint. Early he got out King Joff from Kos, along with KLE Cersei and about 3 cards in shadows. My main mistake was letting Jeff go first the first couple of rounds. Cersei was kneeling 2 or 3 characters a round. Eventually Jeff drew into his Tunnels of the red keep, which beefed up the numerous weenies he had played. I was locked down early, and could never recover thanks to Tunnels and Jeff’s +2/+3 strength on each of is characters.
1-1

Round 3 vs. Darren (Arma Virumque) playing Bara

Darren’s deck was more of a Summer deck than mine, but he was without the KoS agenda. For the third time in a row I managed to flop 5 cards, but Darren managed to get out to an early lead. Eventually he got up to 13 power, but after launching an all out attack against me, forgot that my vigilant guys could stand after I won any challenge as the attacker. I left Devan Seaworth standing in order to win an Intrigue challenge against him and after my other characters stood, I was able to swing the game in my favour.
2-1

Round 4 vs. Dan (cha0s) playing Lanni

If I remember correctly Dan got a horrible flop in this game, while I got 6 cards. I saved a motley in my hand for the first Castellan of the Rock he played, and managed to discard 4 cards out of his hand with Rule by Decree on the second plot. In the third round I played wildfire and killed 3 of Dan’s character while only losing one myself. With lots of renown on the table I was able to sprint off to victory.
3-1

Semifinals vs. Dan (cha0s)

This match was much more hard fought. Dan got Jalabhar out early on, forcing me to win power the old fashion way without any renown. I Played Rule by Decree early before Dan got 2 GTMs and about 1 million cards in hand. Luckily for me, Dan never saw any gold in order to play all those cards. I managed to control the few characters Dan had with Kingswood Trail, and ended up winning with lots of help from An Empty Throne and After the Mummer’s Ford.
4-1

Finals vs. Jeff (Freerider)

I knew I needed to win this one quickly before his control was able to set itself up. I did a pretty good job the first few turns and manage to get up to 8 or 9 power. Eventually Jeff, with about 6 cards in shadows, found his Tunnels of the Red Keep and shut me down. My power slowly bled away from my house card over the next 2 or 3 rounds.
4-2

Overall, I was happy. I’ve never really played Bara, and found it was quite different from what I was used to. Thanks to cha0s and AIM I was able to figure the deck out with some games on line, and things went pretty well the day of the Joust. Most of all, I was impressed with the game play and the decks that I saw (especially Jeff’s). I walked away with the feeling that AGoT was about to make a come back in Cali. A VERY good thing

Nice report, Deathjester. It sounds like some good games were played there.