Great tourney reports! All the folks back home really appreciate it.

Deathjester26 said:

I was not at this table, nor do i play lannister. I think you mean Ben. I am surely not James' meat buddy.

JD

Lol... sorry Fieras... that should read META buddy..... lol. I was really unsure who it was, and gave it my best guess. I was finally able to picture who it was this morning.

My memory sucks. I feel especially bad for Adan, since I can't even remember what house he was playing.... I'm aweful.

Here's my report from an amazing weekend. I would like to apologoze if I get any facts regarding my opponents wrong...I was running the event as well as playing in it, so things were quite hectic at times.

Regional CHampionships (Joust).

I went with Martell, because they were the only house that I was confident enough to play without making mistakes. Other houses were beginning to appeal to me, but I had just run through a lengthy league with my playgroup running exclusively Martell, so I felt I had a real handle on them. In that regard, I was successful throughout the regional: I never made a single glaring error with the cards in my hand and on the table. My losses were not due to my own failures, but to the exceptional skill of my opponents. I want to say up front that John (fieras) and Jim are two fantastic Throners that together de-throned me and kept me out of the top 8 (seeded 9th!!! So close!).

Round 1 Vs. Gareth.

Sorry Gareth, I cannot for the life of me remember your house. It was the first game of the tournament, and my mind was on a hundred different things. I do remember that Gareth was a pleasure to play with. I was able to get the Red Viper out early with a Lost Oasis. Through timely use of the Orphans in my deck and certain events, I was able to push the Viper into the win. He was strongly supported by Arianne Martell, Darkstar, and Ellaria. I was running multiple copies of all these characters. The idea was to keep it simple, keep it unique, and keep it duped. I think the Red Viper closed it out in 4-5 plots.

1-0

Round 2 Vs. Joey K. (Devastacia)

Joey was also running Martell, though his deck seemed to be a little more themed towards House Dayne than mine. This game was neck-and-neck the entire way. Lots of events, lots of cancels, lots of power characters. Again, most of my power was safely on The Red Viper with lots of protection in the form of dope and Bodyguard. Joey just couldn't get him, and I was able to eek out 15 power. I think this one went to 6 plots (and almost time). Joey can correct me if I'm wrong.

2-0 (at this point I am feeling pretty good. Joey is a skilled player and beating him gave me some confidence...that is until they announced my next opponent).

Round 3 Vs. Jim

Jim was running the dreaded Lannister deck...no shadows Agenda, but lots of Shadows cards. I got off to an early lead, hoping to get the win before Jim could get totally set up for the lock and pin me with his City plots. I came close, and Jim was telling me the whole game how I would be winnign soon. But I knew better...as soon as he knelt out my Viper with two plots in a row, I felt it all slipping away. Drawing one copy of Taste for Blood would have meant a win for me, but alas I couldn't get one, and Jim was able to chain unnopposed challenges against me with his kneeling. A close game, but props to Jim for staying in it for the big comeback.

2-1

Round 4 Vs. John (Fieras)

John was running a Baratheon deck, and right away I was scared. My fears were very quickly realized when John put out a bunch of characters, stole mine (and used him to beat up on me) and in all ways worked me over the first plot. From there I made a show up puting up a long fight (if not a good one). After the first round I was on the defensive (which is a losing position against Bara). John played expertly. We played until time, and he was able to get the win to prevent a draw with a challenge that put us at equal STR. As you all know, tie goes to the attacker, and John claimed his 15th power. If I had had one more STR for the challenge we would have tied, and possibly both made the cut. But I came up lacking against a player that played good from plot flip one. Nice job John.

2-2

So I end up in 9th place, not making the cut once again. But I was actually a bit relieved. I was able to judge matches and set up for the Draft event without having to also worry about playing my own games. It was one of the few breathers I got all weekend.

Next up, Drunk Draft!

I had a blast at the tournament and convention, and here is my recollection of the events that weekend.

Round 1: vs Jeff - Freerider (Pretty sure thats his board name). Stark Shadows Winter.

This one was very short. I attribute the loss to 3 things. My inexperience, a good flop for my opponent and (don't worry i am not making excuses) an excellent opponent. He got 3 carrion birds on the flop and immediately played fear of winter. I only got one creature out of the flop, and played one in marshalling. He went first, and I quickly realized that with 2 claim, I was losing both characters in the challenge phase. In my inexperience, I was not playing a Valar, and he got too far ahead. I think I may have ended with 4 power or so, but this match was never close. 0-1

Round 2: vs the Younger Machado (Cannot recall his name for the life of me) Also playing Stark Shadows agenda.

We had a pretty good match here. I had some pretty good draws and I don't recall him Valaring me. I ended up winning by about 5 or 6 power, and felt like he just ran out of answers by about the 3rd round. My opponent was a good sport, and a lot of fun to play against. From what I gathered, he has been playing for 2 years, but was trying out a new deck, which should explain my success against him. 1-1

Round 3: Trevor Taylor playing Lannister Kingsguard

I have played Magic with Trevor in Chico for several years, so getting to play against him in this tournament was an unexpected surprise. Trevor learned how to play AGOT the night before this tourney, so needless to say, he hadnt quite mastered the game yet. I overwhelmed him with characters, and he unpleasantly experienced some of the more broken combos of baratheon such as Kingswood trail. Trevor shows promise, but definitely needs to play a few more times before he has a full grasp on the game. 2-1

Round 4: Luke (Syd) Martell

This was easily the most exciting and close match I had all tournament long. Luke's martell was tricky and considering it was my first time playing against them, I had no idea what to expect. 2 "counterspells" caught me by surprise and Lost Oasis was a beast. I think this came down to one thing. I came out strong and forced him to Valar earlier than he wanted to. With the valar gone, I ramped back up and eventually eeked out a win at the buzzer. Luke was a solid opponent, and I enjoyed playing him. 3-1

Top 8 Round 1: Deathjester - Greyjoy Winter

Lockdown is an appropriate term for this one. Blockade on turn 1 was wicked and I was able to get about 8 power on my house, but he was making me discard all game. When he finally valared, I was left with little to no threats, and the game was over. Excellent play, and excellent opponent.

I guess theres a wiki up about the joust tournament. Fill in the blanks if you have time/info

http://agotwiki.com/index.php?title=KublaCon_2010:_Joust_Regional#Results

Oh, sweet -- thanks, guys, for starting to fill in the house/agenda info; I was going to wait to post a link to the forums until Syd got me a full list of houses/agendas, but it hasn't come my way yet.

Sorry guys! Busy week back at work. I am going to put up my exciting draft report now (yay!) and then post in the deck breakdowns in the Wiki.

So the draft. This was an experimental event, and with a few tweaks I think it could be perfect. We decided to build our own draft pool, in a game where draft is not really feasible. Not an easy task. I decided to create a format where players could experience the old cards of the CCG era, in an environment where players could have fun and build quick decks.

With the invaluable help of Cha0s, we put together 74 packs of cards. 11 cards each, with the following breakdown:

6 House Specific characters (one per House)

1 Neutral character

2 events (mix of house specific and neutral)

1 location (mostly tech location, not resource based)

the last slot was either dedicated to an attachment or a plot card.

Each player also played with the expanded Draft packs full of all the necessary resources for any deck. We ended up doing 6 packs per player, and I think we had 9 total for the event. It was small, because the Joust ran long and many people were tired. But the hardcore stuck around, and I think it really has the potential to be a great format. You just need the dedication to put it all together. It ended up going until about 2:30 am though, so next time I think we'll run it at an earlier time!

I ended up drafting Targ, single House. We went for a 45 card min for decks, which allowed players to focus on just one House if they chose, or to go with a beefier treaty deck. My MVP was easily ITE Pyat Pree with an out of house Seal of the Hand to use him twice a round. Add in my burn mechanics, and I usually got him working. The REALLY crazy thing was I drafted 5 Massings, which I could not believe my opponents were passing on. Incredible.

I will also say that this tournament quickly became my personal drunk draft. I was beat after the Regional Championships, and quickly slugged down two pints to take the edge off. Then while playing Jesse in my first game, I bought another round to celebrate it being our first tournament match together.

To be honest, I do not remember my games so well. I know that Jesse and I played to a draw, then I can't remember my second opponent, then Jeff L. worked me over with the Eyrie in a tough treaty Stark/Greyjoy (I think).

In the end Dan (Cha0s) won the final four playoffs to become Kubla's Saturday back-to-back champion, earning himself two awesome playmats in one day.

If older players have the card pool, I would really suggest trying to create the All-Star draft. It was so much fun to use the older cards in congress, like the good old days without subverting the current LCG state of the game. It's a tangential format, but one that is extremely fun.

Syd

Syd said:

~That's funny. I thought it was 5KE Davos that won the event

And that was me you played 2nd round I believe.

Deathjester26 said:

Ah yes! I was half-drunk and you had no voice...it was like an Abbot and Costello routine! It's coming back to me now. You worked me over in that game if I remember correctly. I distinctly remember you killing Pyat Pree, and things going downhill from there.

ROUND 1

James S. - Stark

A newer player from Chico, he was playing a Stark Kill deck utilizing Bear

Island and House Umber Beserkers, luckily for me I had a refugee or other

weanie to sacrifice each time the beserker hit the table and Bear Island never

saw play. Later James hit me with a Deep Freeze to slow me down but I

subsequently played Maester Cressen and discarded it. Also to make matters

worse for James my King Renly was on the table to cancel his King Robb's

ability. It was a well designed deck and he played it perfectly despite a few

bad draws. It just couldn't keep up with the rush and my Bara's took it in 3

plots.

1-0

ROUND 2

Arma Virumque (Darren) - Greyjoy

I knew GJ would be a tough opponent and I did not look forward to all the UO

challenges I was anticipating giving up. He played a fantastically designed GJ

deck built for Rush and I knew I had to outpace him. I was hit with 2 fishing

nets during this game which slowed down Robert and the Knight of Flowers but I

was fortunate to pull some key characters from his hand on the first 2

intrigue challenges (Euron and then Balon). Without his top 2 characters, his

rush was slowed significantly and I was able to pull out the win.

2-0

ROUND 3

Deathjeaster26 (Johnny) - Greyjoy (Winter)

Another GJ deck?!? Luckily for me (and This was a GJ control deck where he

used Winter and cards like Ice Fisherman and Blockade to choke his opponent.

Luckily for me, my Seat of Power + a Lord/Lady and Royal Entourages made

getting characters out easy. Plus a key turning point was when I strategically

played a bodyguard attachment first in anticipation of him using his Scurvy

Cutthroat, then I hit his Marauders with a Motley! He played well but after I

seductive promised his Marauders victory was secured.

3-0

ROUND 4

LaughingTree (Jim) - Lannister

This game started favorably for me. I quickly established board control and

Jim could not get a character to save his life. He had plenty of cards in

shadows but they were hiding (in shadows) too well that even he could not find

them when he needed them, so I unleashed the Rush and overpowered him. A well

fought battle for Jim although with such unfortunate draw he struggled early.

4-0

I made the cut to top 8, seeded number 1 as the only 4-0 record.

Quarter-finals

J Mac (Jon) - Stark

I was very glad to see my brother in the top 8 however I was determined to

teach him a thing or two about Bara rush. I had the upper hand because I

taught him everything he knows about Thrones and I knew his tendancies. I

started strong with good board position including double renown Robert and

then he became vigilant. The rush proved too much for the slower shadows deck

to withstand.

Semi-finals

Devastacia (Joey) - Martell

I was very concerned about this match-up becuase I know Martell is quickly

becoming a powerhouse in Control deck building and Joey's deck was no

exception. Joey proved to be my toughest opponent, perhaps because he knew my

deck in and out due to all our play testing before the Con. I started well as

my deck does and then anticipated the Valar early. Joey held off on the Valar

long enough to get me to burn through 2 Power of Bloods. I wasn't too

concerned because I had Robert and Stannis both with dupes. Then the Valar hit

and to my surprise Joey had a He Calls it Thinking to cancel one of my saves

and then a Blood for Blood to kill off my other character and to make it

worse, he managed to save Ellaria and Darkstar both with dupes. At this point

I was nervous, Joey had twice as much power as me and board control although I

knew I still had my ace in the sleeve and I had to time it perfectly. I played

my Fury plot 2 turns later and won initiative. In an all out power challenge I

caught Joey offguard and stole Ellaria with 6 power on her for the win!

Finals

Deathjester26 (Johnny) - Greyjoy (Winter)

A dreaded rematch but this time everything was at stake. I knew I had to play

perfectly to be able to beat Johnny again. I got a great flop and quickly

gained board advantage playing double renown Robert with a dupe and I am

almost certain I gave him Vigilant too. He was too much for GJ and I had 8

power after the first turn. Second plot I went for the throat and never looked

back. It was unfortunate for Johnny because the Thrones gods were smiling on

me that game and my deck probably had its best performace of the day against

him. An extremely tough loss but Johnny was a very gracious opponent and as

classy a player as I've met.

Congrats again Chaos/Dan!

Glad you guys got a drunk draft off...1st one I have missed

That game vs. the Martell deck sounded epic.

cha0s said:

~It's because I live in San Diego and Ron Burgundy told me too

cha0s said:

LOL. This was an inside joke, since Dan actually loaned me the deck, which he had built himself and tested against his own Bara rush.

Thanks, Dan! I couldn't have made it to the tournament without your help.

I should have posted my own tournament report earlier but I can't remember all the matches that well at this point, so i'll just give a brief summary.

3rd at Regionals Joust (3-1 swiss, lost in semi-finals to Cha0s)

3rd at Draft (2-1 swiss, lost in semi-finals)

5th at Melee (3rd, 1st, 2nd finishes)

Maester's Chain Challenge winner. (28 links)

Cha0s and Syd both were awesome matches in the joust that I played some of my best AGOT in (and still managed coming up on the short end of the stick in the end). Congrats to Cha0s for a truly impressive performance all weekend. I think the semi-finals between him and myself was the true finals of that tournament...sorry Deathjester but you kinda got worked.

I wish I could make it out for GenCon. I'm feeling pretty confident in my game after that tourney and would love to step up to the next level of competition, but there's no way time/money will allow for it this year. I'll have to keep being a big fish in a small pond for another year I suppose.

phoenixember said:

eh.... slow deck, fast deck match up with cha0s getting all the right cards early. There really wasn't much to do.

Deathjester26 said:

Yeah, not the greatest matchup for you, especially when his deck ran like that. S'alright though, was good to see Greyjoy represent in the top two. I definitely wasn't picturing a Bara/Greyjoy final. If you'd asked me before the con, I probably would have said Martell/Lanni.