Well, I had a soccer game and I'm not sleepy so everyone is lucky and I will type this up now!
After a bit of debate, but more teasing (I told people I was going to run Astrid - OMDB lol), I decided to go with tried and true and see if my Hilde could pull off her 10th in a row store tourney victory (10th played in a row, in between various forays with King, Omar, Heiachi, Algol, Nina, etc.) this time with the plaque on the line...
Please see my decklist (won't be up until tomorrow, Monday the 23rd) to better understand the below. Summary, I played a tri-symbol Hilde taking advantage of Torn Hero from Good and Cursed Blood from Order (yes, Cursed Blood also has Good but, ~90% of the deck was Fire, 75% Order and like 40% Good, so there were many more Order chains to drop Cursed Blood turn 1/2 than there were Good chains).
We had 18 players play in our store tourney and what a tourney it was, the meta is fresh and crazy close, every game a nailbiter!
Swiss rounds:
Round 1 of 4 - Hilde vs. Algol
So, there really isn't a lot to say about this. This player has a pretty complicated Algol going on, I was afraid of his ability to get attacks on any turn he needed them granted I had nothing to stop his form... I ended up going defense up and killing on turn 3 both games with unblockable speed attacks.
(1-0-0)
Round 2 of 4 - Hilde vs. Hata
Um, I hate the computer. This was a rematch of our regional finals, myself vs beer-hat Mark, only this time he didn't have Felicia! I know what Hata does, and I admit a large reason I symboled into 3 Torn Hero mainboard (4th side) was because of matchups against him and practically anyone that used stun, and likely for the money thereafter. Mark has my number, he always checks well against me and I check like s1ht against him - it is a rule.
In any case I lost the die roll (duh) and checked both my 2 checks (of 69 cards...) on turn 2 and 3 of game 1, severely limiting my build. He played Hammer turn 2, Hammer turn 3, and then Hammer - Launcher - Launcher turn 4 to kill me.
Game 2 I checked my 2 on my first turn of the game failing my first foundation (Ulti Team)... Mark played out enraged and 2X P2P. I played 4 foundations chaining off Good and getting a Torn Hero. He started his turn 2 with another Hammer changed it to a low, speed pumped, and I 'just' passed the check to block using an Ultimate Team in the process. He played a Launcher and I ate 7, he then played 1 more foundation. I built more and walled up the best I could... On turn 4 after being beaten to as much as a pulp as possible (i Had 4 or 5 life left after his turn 3) I dropped lethal on him commiting out one of his two P2P (the other started comitted from his assult the turn before) and he took 30 or so to die.
Game 3 I sided into the 4th Torn Hero and 2 Leg Slash to try to get more High Blocks with breaker to boot into the deck. He isn't nice and got out Standoff, P2P, For the Money, and Brooding Turn 1. I responded with Shadowar, Torn Hero, and Cursed Blood. Turn 2 he started with Pommel and after choosing to commit my Shadowar (I had no momentum to protect with Torn) he accidentally called stun, I comitted Hata and FtM(barring this mistake I probably would have lost this game). I took 1 and liked it ^^ I got out some fire stuff the next turn including P2P. I used P2P to block anything with rough speed his turn 3. Turn 4 came for him and time was called after he failed to kill me, 1 game a piece tie.
(1-0-1)
Round 3 of 4 - Hilde vs. Astrid
Still hating the computer!!! I hate Astrid, sorry everyone who likes her. Okay I win a die roll - booyeah. I don't check a 2 first turn, and I am off to the races. I take game 1 pretty easily blocking his early attacks and generally outbuilding him despite his first turn 2 relentless shenanigans ^^
Game 2 it goes long and I decide not to go for the kill on my turn 4 (I didn't have enough redux to out beat his shield and other redux!!!). His turn 5 (after outbuilding me 13+stacker to 10) he drops 5 attacks on me, all of them with +8 +2 just off Astrid and her ancestors, toss in the +1 +2s from the Broodings and +1 +2s from the axe asset and I ain 't likeing it. I eat 2 of 4 attacks and dieeeee.
Game 3 I check well turn 1 and 2 including some Cursed Bloods. Turn 3 I kill him not having redux or an answer to speed out yet.
(2-0-1)
Round 4 of 4 - Hilde vs. Omar/Heiachi
I had overheard this guy was wrecking people with the rights, wheel kick, and spinning demon. First game he got to go first but drew like crap (after we both mulliganed he still only had attacks/characters) he attacked with first rite, I blocked with first rite... He failed his second attack. I outbuilt him HARD in game 1 and took it very easily.
Getting complacent I expected the change to Heiachi, I didn't expect to have to block first rite turn 1 again and took it for 3... In any case that was the killer, because with momentum his turn 2 he dropped 3 attacks, first 2nd, 3rd right all with +6 damage from character cards... I died.
Game 3, okay me going first I am still freaking complacent and after only getting 2 out (hitting an innopportune 3 check on foundation 3) i was kind of behind. My luck he got out FtM his turn 1 and I didn't seem to find my torn heros... I blocked some stuff turn 2 and was pretty much half dead (took 9 of 20 damage or so). I continued to build but it wasn't enough, on his turn 3 he dropped another 30 damage on me discarding character cards left and right and having his way with the one momentum he got turn 2..., I took 10 of it missing my 3rd block when I checked another inopportune 3... game.
(2-1-1)
So I finished 4th after Swiss, had a pretty good SOS playing against the guys who finished 1st, 2nd, and 7th.
Top 8 rounds:
Round of 8 Hilde vs. Sigfried
I was confident about this match even though I lost the dice roll I was still able to get enough out turn 1 to reduce his 12 damage worth of throws + block to take 3 on his turn 2. I built up, his Earth foundations meant I had to get a little more than usual out to kill him. Turn 5 I dropped lethal on him after dealing with his answers, I comitted certain things but the Dragon's Flame with +12 from the preceding cards still was enough to drop him.
Game 2 he was quite dejected from only dealing 6 damage to me all game 1 (redux got to him I guess, my P2P were going off for -6/7 damage after turn 2)... Anyways, he played poorly noting that he was happy to top 8 and get Kilik, his primary goal, and I beat him.
Round of 4 Hilde vs. Omar/Heiachi
Great. I lost to Cal in Swiss and knew it wasn't going to be easy beating him... I lost dice roll but got a pretty decent matchup going against him in game 1, I think I was a little too 'confident' I could take Omar and I had Torn Hero out... I couldn't block his multitude of low zones that got to me and I died turn 4 or so.
Game 2 I went first, he switched to Heiachi, I took/sided in the Leg Slash and 4th Mark of the Beast (to block his multiple attacks and wheel kick with breaker). After a relatively grueling game I counted 3 or four time and did 28 damage with the one unblockable attack to him turn 5 to kill him.
Game 3 Heaichi going first... He built 3 foundations and passed to me. I mulliganed hard for torn hero scared of his FTM and mass stun. I didn't get it so I just played out some standoff stuff turn 1 and the Shield. He stunned me his turn 2 (duh) and I took the 7 damage wheel kick but responding with action card-> pommel to get his Heiachi and effectively ending his ability to tear me apart. He ended with me having taken 7. I played out more Fire foundations, I couldn't find the Torn Hero to save myself. In any case I had enough foundations to survive the stun and block 2 out of 3 of his attacks, I ate the 3rd one for 6 or so and was left with 5 life. Still no real great damage redux out I couldn't kill him turn 3 in any way shape or form, despite him tapped out but for the foundations played after his 3 attacks. I still had to try to attack (I had 5/7 cards attacks in hand) and not giving stuff too much speed I only had a Dragon's Flame going at him as 6 speed for 6. Umm, he checked a 6, comitted his only foundation and fully blocked with a character card. I then thought for like 3-5 mins about wtf to do. I had an Ultimate Team in hand and a From the Hawk... The Ultimate Team was my only low block, and he had 8 low attacks in the deck (spinning and first rite) one of them with +6 from a discard and +4 or more from his foundations and a half block meant death... I needed the Ultimate Team though in order to get enough redux out to try to kill him at all on turn 4. I ended up playing the From the Hawk and stopping with 5 cards in hand and lots of blocks... He attacked with a low attack for 12 and I managed to block it fully. My turn 4 I again had the dilemma, I had another Ultimate Team and some Cursed Blood. I again saved the Ultimate Team and a Cursed Blood playing out some Order cards. Thank GOD I kept two low blocks he attacked with multiple spinning demons after a wheel kick and I full blocked everything. Finally I had enough confidence to play an Ultimate Team, having grabbed a different low block, my own first rite, (him now without momentum). After surviving another turn I killed him turn 6 or so (long 3 games, like 1 hour and 20 mins for it or so).
Top 2 Hilde vs. Zi Mei
I was half-expecting to have a regional rematch and have to try to take down Hata run by Mark... News travelled to me that he lost to the ZI Mei and a 5 multiple Fury after being stunned out and not able to block any of the 5 damage peggers, he died barely game 3.
I love playing vs. Zi Mei, (intense SARCASM, see my worlds experience...). Also of note, Hilde's only weekly store loss (she is now retired at 10/11 wins) was in the finals vs. Rob and his Zi Mei way back in September (my first Hilde build left his Zi Mei at 1 vitality in 2 games in a row on turn 2 lol, it was a bit too agressive). In any case, I was more prepared this time around, where as last time I had 3 Mark of the Beast in the side, this time I had 3 Mark of the Beast in the main and a 4th in the side!
Ok, he won the die roll and having played PotM turn 1 and 3 foundations tried to kill me turn 2 after stunning me for 2 with a first rite as a first attack. Sadly for him I enhanced with Shadowar and took 1 damage from his first rite. He blew up his 3 foundations for his turn 2 Fury and I blocked with a Mark of the Beast with the +2 from Shadowar helping me out. hehehe. I then outbuilt him and killed him turn 4 after ensuring I had everything I needed to tackle his fire damage redux, standoff/shadowar.
Game 2 he went first again and tried killing me turn 3 this time but my breaker from my shield asset had him too commited to try it. My turn 3 I was behind in build and decided to try to kill him, I had drawn into a Siren's Call and Dual Wielding... I played the Siren's Call checking a 4, comitted 2 of my 4 foundations. After using a P2P to get -7 out of it I tried to pass the Dual Wielding, had I passed it I would have had 7 + 1 + 8 + 8 +2 -2 (to commit his P2P) -2 (from his Shadowar) = 20 and a dead Zi Mei hehe, I checked a 3 for my Dual Wielding!!! Boo. I couldn't commit the last foundation and Hilde - duh, and had to let it fail. Whatever I decided to try to kill him anyways. I enhanced with Shadowar and dealt 16 damage to him, 7+1+8 + 2 + 2 -2 -2. He did something incredibly stupid... He played his action-> wheel kick (I have no idea why he did this I was comitted out anyways), he didn't even have pump and I took 1. I guess he wanted to get me as low as possible because he didn't have a Fury in hand and wanted to try to kill me (I was then at 10 life) with his other attacks... So, he filled his card pool with 2 cards. I then played first rite, checked a 3, but the floating +2 from my Shadowar on the Siren's Call meant I passed. He had mid blocks in hand but they were all +2 and couldn't half to survive with 1... He ate all 3 from my first rite and died exactly.
Yay! Hilde won a store Championship!!! I think I will retire her for now... But if I think of anything amazing she might try to repeat come December 5th ^^ hehe.
Anyways, I have my eyes on a few other characters and want to see if I can build a Padme : ) or a Cassy (how dare she not be run out of 18 players, well maybe only 4 have her lol, not including me, Olexa has mine lol).
Hope you all enjoyed the report, questions, comments - - - fire away.
- dut
