So as I sit back and relax in my much missed computer chair I can't help but grin at the whirlwind that was the last four days. In that time I did almost 32 hours of plains, trains, buses and automobile travelling, managed to scrounge up about a grand total of 12 hours of sleep, and had probably the most fun I've ever had at any type of major event, regardless of what it is.
Yes folks I spent Canadian Thanksgiving weekend in sunny (and humid as hell lol) Fort Myers FLA, and I have to say I had a blast.
Being the type of guy that I am, I decided to do a report of my journey, not having ventured this far south since I went to Disney World when I was one. So let's begin shall we?
Thursday:
Having spent the majority of the day with my girlfriend, I decided it was finally time to swing on down to my local game store World's Collide for some last minute deck testing/picking up of some cards.
I had decided upon building Astrid, having had the most experience playing her than any other block 4 toon at the time. So after borrowing some Paid to Protects, Stand Offs (I only have 1 Standoff at that point lol, now I'm up to 2 *flex*), and Path of the Masters I finally left to catch my train to catch my bus. Ah... Maybe I should explain:
The original plan was for me, my girlfriend, Shajir, and Mike Lowe to drive to Detroit and fly out of there due to the fact it was about 300 bucks cheaper. Shajir and my girlfriend had to back out, so Mike and I were planning on taking the Greyhound to Detroit then flying out. Well Mike had to back out after I had bought all my tickets. After some thought I decided that I had already to spent the money, and dang it I was going. So off I left Oshawa at 9 30pm on the Thursday night. After an hour train ride to Toronto, and a 10 minute cab ride to the Greyhound station, I left for Detroit at 1am on the Friday.
Friday:
The bus trip itself was uneventful and I sure got a weird look from the border guard when I said I was going to Florida to play in a card tournament. Anyways the border was easy and I was off in Detroit.
Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy the US. But I absolutely loathe and despise with every fiber of my being the way you people designed your cities. Everything is so gosh darned spread out. Had I of known that the Detroit Metro Airport was over an hour away from Detroit; I might've planned things differently and gone to Buffalo.
Anyways after passing out three times in the terminal (I had gotten maybe an hour of sleep on the bus), I managed to get on an earlier flight to Houston, where we were to stop over. Now I asked what would happen to my luggage and they said it'd be in Fort Myers when I got in. No problem there right? Pfft!
After putzing around in Houston for an hour I got back on a plain and arrived in sunny Fort Myers a good four hours ahead of schedule (I was sposed to get in around 10 15pm, and it was like 6). So I wander down to baggage claims to snag my suitcase (I brought my backpack with my deck and books onto the plain with me... Smart am I), and low and behold it wasn't there. I talked to the luggage retrieval girl and apparently Detroit messed up and my luggage was still in Houston! Fuming at the prospect of standing around in the airport till 10 30 I was given a little reprieve when the luggage lady told me they'd deliver it to Awaken's house for no charge!
So with that hassle (so far it being the only one of the trip) outta the way, I got picked up by Jay (Awaken's) awesome wife Christie. We chatted in the car, she voluntold me that she would be practicing some of her horror makeup on me (she's a cosmetic teacher if I remember right). Thankfully that never happened.
Anyways we got to Jay's house and man it was a blast. The ATL crew (ALL of them) was amazing to hang out with, as we all had Papa John's, threatened Vik with naked garlic butta wrasslin, and played UFS till something like 3 am. It was my first real taste of the American meta, not having been to an international event before. Vik and I had some epic battles, as Astrid managed to stand tall against the mighty James Hata, and even took a game lol.
Saturday: The big day! We left Jay's house around 1030ish for 2d10 Games (a phenomenally run store) and were quickly set up and running. Jay ran the tournament well, and we didn't have any sort of delays... It was so strange yet great at the same time. I ran Astrid, and the deck is up on the forums right now. I didn't have a lot of confidence going in, as during testing I was getting beat... A lot. I held my own, but in the end I couldn't do enough damage, or just simply didn't have enough steam. To make matters worse there were two other Astrid's, both rocking the promo version as well. None the less here we went:
Round 1: John Knapp from ATL playing Fire Astrid:
WTF?!?!?!?! Mirror match round 1?! Thought UFS didn't do that kinda stuff! Anyways I was away, wary of reverse Pommel, as I'm sure John was as well. The first game he overextended and tapped out, so I smacked him upside the head for a Mark of the Beast for 21 to take game one.
Game two he roared back, pretty much bringing my slightly higher hopes back to earth in a crashing thud.
Game three he once again overextended, and much to my relief my attack string went Pommel Smash, Tyr's Warding Smash, and then the kill with a Pommel Smash for 21. A good start...
Record 1-0
Round 2: Efferin (MajinCats) playing Life Tira:
Tira's one of those funny characters, and me and Dave Wagner had a nice discussion about how she requires a LOT of thought to play correctly. Needless to say, Eff sure knew what he was doing.
Game one he got a terrible draw, which allowed me to build up Fire's wall of defense (more on that later) and led to a killing turn of Tyr's Warding Smash, First Rite, 12 damage Fire Shadow, followed by a 10 damage Fire Shadow
The second game was much closer, as Eff went in for the kill with a Base Holded Vibrator for 19 (which I thankfully blocked), another Base Hold followed by a failed Vibrato. Seeing as he over extended himself and was after 5 life, he scooped and I went 2 and 0
Record 2-0
Round 3: John Martin playing Fire Ragnar:
Ahh the emo viking. The ability to throw out 30 damage throws with little effort scared the pants offa me. Anyways game 1 we went back and forth. Ragnar cutting himself helped me out a lot as I was forced to play terribly defense (Astrid's specialty thankfully). He threw a Crushing Embrace at me for some ludicrous amount of damage, which I blocked and reversed with First Rite... He had no low blocks in hand. That was game 1.
Game 2 I sided in my Wonderworld Warriors to deal with his attacks and it was probably the best move I made all tournament. Game 2 I was down to around 4 life, and didn't have an attack in sight. I thumbed through his discard and found a Pommel Smash. After checking my deck and RFD (I mulled an opening hand which had a Pommel in it) I found I had one left in deck. I snagged it with WW, threw it had him for a gross amount, and luckily he didn't have a high block. PHEW!
Record 3-0
Round 4:
Drew Maffei (SeppunJusomething or other) playing Earth King:
I have a rather long rant at the end of this to describe my feelings on King so I'll be brief on this one. Drew's an amazing player and his deck was probably the best King build I've seen since he came out. So being behind the eight ball that I was I simply got thrown around by too many free 15 damage throws and lost both games.
Record 3-1
Round 5: Keenan Meadows (Makingsenseofus) playing Chaos Heiachi:
Now Jay had a fire build for Heiachi and when Keenan threw him down, I thought "ok just another generic big smash fire deck." Well needless to say when he started dropping Need to Destroys and Chasing After the Power I kinda blinked. I won't be able to do our epic matches justice as I forgot to write down our results. I'm pretty sure the first game I got turned 2'ed and nearly wet my pants at the awesome power of Heiachi. Game two I was at 3 life turn 2 but managed to come back and beat him. Game 3 He kept trying to pound on me, but a well timed Mark of the Beast block of a Dark Geodude pretty much sealed his fate.
Final Swiss result: 4-1
Top 8 results were the following:
King of Swiss Drew Maffei playing Earth King
Ben "French Toast/I fights better drunk!" Shoemaker playing Fire Zi Mei
Moi playing Fire Astrid
Keenan "Dur what's fire?" Meadows playing Chaos Heiachi
Alex "My hair sets off metal detectors" Marco playing Fire Paul
Vik "Ef you Drew for killing my sex drive" Sareem playing Fire James Hata
Effrain "Silent but deadly" plying Life Tira
Aulden "Walk quietly but carry a hot chick" playing Fire Cassie
So happy with myself at my decent showing of 3rd place after Swiss I was feeling pretty confident until I saw who my opponent would be. Vik (Vikramis) had scrubbed the first couple rounds, but roared back to finish 6th after Swiss. I nearly cried. We must've played a good 10 games or so the night before, and I won one of them. I knew my deck COULD beat his Hata, but it'd be a war. And boy was I right
Top 8: Vikram Sareem (think that's his name
) playing Fire James Hata:
And this went just about as I thought it would. Both games were absolutely epic, with moves and counter moves to the max. Vik gets so serious, and sure brings out the best in anyone that he plays. I had him one game, but he was able to spin a good check to block my 15 damage Pommel Smash. Needless to say I ended up getting splatted both games.
Final record: 4-2 which was good for 5th place.
I got a cool art cell of all the Street Fighter Alpha bosses, and I got to show folks what Canadian UFS was.
We went back to Jay's house to talk what the heck we were gonna do tomorrow. Knowing that we'd only get like 4 or so team we opted for a second singles event, which I was perfectly alright with. Now having been playing Astrid for a few months now I was growing bored with her, so I was tossing around the idea of building a different deck, as many folks were.
Now before I continue I just want to say that American UFs players are some of the most trusting and amazing people out there. They let a complete stranger borrow cards (Drew let me borrow the Wonderworld Warriors for the first tournament having only known me for around 10 hours). That evening both the ATL and Florida crews let me dip into their card pools to build probably one of my most favorite decks of block 4 so far in Kazuya (which is also up on the forums).
As folks started to filter to bed myself, Drew and Vik migrated out to the porch so Vik could smoke, and we talked UFS till around 5 in the morning. Even after we came inside around 5 30 me and Drew talked for another good ten minutes or so before finally passing out.
Sunday:
We all staggered into 2d10 around 11- 1130 and went right to work, setting up another singles event. I was armed with Kazuya, only having play tested it in four games against James Hata.
Round 1: John Martin playing Fire Astaroth:
So a character who excels on a small staging area, against someone who blew up staging areas... Yeah that's fair >< Well needless to say he threw some monster attacks against me, but I managed to hold out and with some well timed board sweeps, I managed to double Spinning Demon, pitching and retrieving a character card for Kazuya's E each time, oh yeah and throw path of the master in there.
Game 2 was a bit more one sided, as I managed to Spinning Demon him to two, then on the same turn nuke the world and then throw a 3H2 Wheel Kick (FRENCH TOAST!) at him for the win.
Record 1-0
Round 2: Ben Lambert playing Fire Astrid:
If ever there was a case of kharma kicking someone in the ass, it was this match up. All Saturday folks were bitching about reverse Pommels, and I was steadfastly defending myself... Well after this match I joined in the chorus of OP bitching. Every single time in both games I wanted to get something going, I was blocked and them Pommeled. So yeah, needless to say I lost.
Record 1-1
Round 3: Phil Watson playing Earth Rashotep:
Ok seriously? Go from someone who commits me on my turn to someone who blanks me on my turn? Sigh. Anyways game one I blew up the board FOUR times to get rid of his Torn Heroes, Standoffs, and whatever Rasho card that lets him blank keywords. I ended with Double multiplied out Spinning Demons to take game one.
Game two was a little better, with a kill turn going Hell Lancer, Demon, Path of the Master on the multiple for 7 (bringing it to 13 after Kazuya's enhance with 2 characters), followed by another Demon for the win.
Record 2-1
Round 4: Alex Marco playing Paul Phoenix:
Yet another rant at the end of the report came from this match. The first game he won quite handily, controlling my board with his ridiculous amount of stun. Game two was more one sided in my favor, as double demon+ Path= dead Dan rip off. Game three he commits me out, and proceeds to throw
FIVE ATTACKS AT ME WITH TWO FOUNDATIONS READY!
What were those two foundations? For the Money (see rant below)
Record 2-2
After some problems and me being a dumbass and thinking I'm 1-3 and not 2-2, it turns out myself and Josh (who's name I can't remember) were literally tied in everything. Because the OP program is absolutely TERRIBLE (as we found out yesterday when it tried to solve tiebreaker by alphabetical order) it was decided that we'd duke it out for 8th.
Tiebreaker: Josh (Lord Hamaru) playing Fire Jin:
Game one he gets a jump on me and after I mull a hand of four attacks (two of which are Spinning Demons), a Jin and a Hunt is on, I soon find myself eating Launcher/Breaker for breakfast. Game two is much the reverse, as I get set up first, blow up the World, and proceed to beat him down with a 16 damage demon. Game three he once again gets a god jump, and while it's closer than game 1, I end up eating a buncha huge attacks for the lose.
Final record: 2-3
Not too bad for a deck built at 5 am with very little play testing. Kazuya has potential, he just needs a bit more hard control.
So after the tournament we headed back to Jay's house, where we all relaxed, talked some more UFS shop, and I managed to get the base for my Kazuya deck. After some more chatting with everyone I crashed around midnight, absolutely exhausted. It was a great goodbye, as I know I've made some amazing new friends who've invited me back to stay with them if there was ever another big OOFS tourney in either South Florida or Atlanta.
Monday: I got up at 6 and Jay's wife Christie and his sister (who's name I forgot) drove me to the airport. I hopped on my plain and eventually, after a near scare of thinking I missed my Greyhound in Detroit, I ended up back safe in the Shwa around 930 pm, content in the fact I had probably one of the most enjoyable weekends in my life.
Props:
Anyone and everyone who played/organized the tournament. It was all well done, professional, and sportsmanlike.
Jay especially for letting us all crash at his place for free.
Not being able to get into a southern hick argument with Ben Shoemaker
The UFS communities for being so incredibly generous in helping out a lonely Canadian feel incredibly welcome.
The ATL crew, for imbedding into me new terms for various cards (HEIMAN BUSTA!)
The dear James letter. Ben my e-mail is [email protected]... Send me that damned letter! lol
Slops:
The OP software: If ever I saw a worse piece of tournament software, I don't remember it
American cities: Whoever designed American cities should be shot. I swear I couldn't find a bank machine or a corner store ANYWHERE
Country Time buffet (or whatever it's called)... So much food... I swear I gained 10 pounds
WHERE WERE ALL THE FLORIDA WOMEN?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Special Thanks:
One reason I've always enjoyed playing UFS was the people who play it. With the exception of a few people, everyone has always been amazing and it was reassured to me on Sunday. Vik and Jay were saying they were like, yeah we've got like 20 or so Stand Offs. I jokingly (and I stress this) said something along the lines of "rub it in why don't ya? I have two." Well Vik was like: "You know, Brad here came all the way from Canada, and his collection is real small (which when it comes to block 4, is really true)... Why don't we give him a couple of Stand Offs?" Jay fully agreed and I was completely gobsmacked for lack of a better term. I very humbly and politely declined but they seemed rather insistent. Rather than accept (I never like stuff like that, prolly just stupid pride getting in the way) I managed to get the topic away from that. Thankfully they forgot, and while don't get me wrong Jay and Vik, no disrespect meant at all, y'all can get some good stuff for your binder full of Stand Offs
Use em. I thank you guys so very much for the offer though, and it won't be forgotten when we meet next at World's (cause dammit I'm going this year).
Rants!:
Alright normally I don’t like to rant in reports but I felt I had to this time. There were two things I noticed this weekend, and they aren’t good. Those two things are King and For the Money.
King: He’s just too good. The fact that Earth can just hide behind Rasho’s support and Stand Off, then throw out FREE (yes free. Turning King sideways is not a cost) Close Throws for 15+ damage is just ludicrous. You can’t touch his board, you can’t negate his ability, and you can’t negate Path’s damage pump.
For the Money: This is worse than King. As I reported, Marco was able to smack me with five attacks with nothing but two For the Monies out. Yes they can be negated by committing two foundations, but when the majority of Fire’s attacks being thrown out are usually started with Hammer of the God’s/Wheel Kick and a bunch of stun (coupled with Best Friends and Paul if you’re running him) you quickly won’t have any anything left open to blow up the For the Money.
And that's pretty much it for my report. I added as many people who went on Facebook as I could recognize off the top of my head from Drew's friend's list. If I missed anyone, feel free to add me via Drew's friend list. My FB name is simply Brad Penstone
Thank you again to everyone who helped me feel welcome, who helped me build a deck with cards that weren't my own, who let me crash in their place having only had a thirty second conversation prior with me on the phone, and just thank you to everyone who made this past weekend one of the best I've ever had.
Cheers,
Brad
hahaha! oh and John Knapp is from our local group