So! We had our Water patch tourney today...unfortunately, a small turnout of 6, but good Lord did we have some great games.

I had originally planned on playing Huitzil, because he's one of my favorite characters. However, after a good deal of consideration, I decided that looping Agohani probably wasn't the best way to go, especially since I knew at least two people would be likely to play Pull of the Tides. Sooooo...I landed on Luise. Sweet card pool clearing with good speed pumps (one thing Water is a bit lacking in), and a great way to pass Darkness Blade as a reversal. And as I happened to have 3 of them, it sounded like fun (and a reliable way to play it all the time).

I played against all of the other decks at some point in time: Ibuki, Dee Jay, Seong-Mina, Alex, and Kilik. I started against Kilik, whose general setup was a bit of momentum gain, face-up Killer Vortex, and general attack spam (mostly Kicks) for a big attack at the end with Maximum Wear. I came very, very close to getting taken out in both games due to my deck's total lack of card draw...vs. Old Reliable, Shotokan + Shinobi. Ultimately, Tag Along to bring up a DBlade, then enhanced with double Misdirection and Schmetterling for +5/+10, followed by a Dee Jay's Crouching Roundhouse and an Ukyo's Short Slash sealed the deal in one game (DBlade as a Reversal then as a regular attack pretty much clinched the other). I sided in Jingu Staffs for an ironic laugh - didn't get them into my staging area, which is a bummer, since he almost always had at least 5 momentum. Dadgum Land Walk loops.

Next up was Dee Jay, typically with double Flying Feet into an extremely lethal Dread Carnival. I managed to land a very quick aggro rush in game one before the carnival came to town, and as I sided in Strife's Patronage, I partial blocked the 28 damage Carnival and reversed with DBlade. From there, it was a turn of setup (no attacks, sad face), and then another aggressive turn of Clones, Crouching Roundhouses, and a Short Slash.

Next was Seong-Mina. The really awesome 5/34 version...stacking the others. Nothing like having your attacks removed from the game for playing abilities, then your opponent drawing up to their handsize (or looping Shadow Blades with her Form; big fun!). Anyway, I knew this was the only deck that would be packing Feline Spike, so this was one to worry about (not QUITE as much as Ibuki, but almost). So it was all about landing Darkness Blade as a Reversal to tap out my opponent, and then using a big attack rush on my turn to try to finish the job. It worked like a charm game one, but I swapped to new promo Ukyo game two to help protect against Feline Spike. Yeah...that didn't work so well. Not because of Spike, really...I was doing a bad job of actually drawing my foundations and recurring and whatnot (if only Ukyo were a girl). Looped Shadow Blades will be the death of me someday. Switched to Morrigan for game 3. THIS one worked beautifully - I know how fond he is of playing Tag Along and other forms/enhances. It pretty much shut my opponent out of the game due to his enhances being very control oriented (Chinese Boxing, etc), and his forms (like Tag Along/Bigger They Are) getting me more cards. Add in higher health, female gende, and the Pull of the Tides I finally got into my hand (I never got to play one, except as a block!), and this one was wrapped up...except we went to time right as my kill turn would have started, so while we did play it out for giggles, it didn't officially count.

At this time, Mina (played by Jacob) and I are tied for second, right behind April (Ibuki is at first - shock!). Jacob and April threw down, and I took on the new Alex of Shelby's. I took a tremendous beating from Alex, but somehow (still not sure how I managed it) sealed it in both games without swapping characters. Good ol' Darkness Blade! Shelby switched to Sogetsu, which was annoying. And I forgot that I could copy Sogetsu's Form for two turns >_<

Meanwhile, Jacob has beaten Ibuki, so Jacob and I are still tied.

Lastly, I take on Ibuki. This one was a desperate run to kill her before the Suzakus hit (and I'd already seen first turn Suzakus from her). Essentially just hit Ibuki with Darkness Blade at least once, and then mopped up with other attacks, mostly Clones and Dee Jay's Courching Roundhouse. I managed to reversal off of her first attack of game two to tap out the staging area, and then drew into a Tag Along on my turn, when I happened to have Schmetterling out.

Ultimately, Jacob and I tied for the patch, and good fun was had. I think my favorite play was when Jacob played out Cagemaster's enhance and multiple'd it out, knowing Kilik would die from a single direct hit. He had one card in hand and a ready Primitive Instinct. However, as I was a bystander, I was aware that Kilik was holding on to Run Away...it was almost as good a moment as the Orbital Blaze at this year's GCC. Turn ended =]


Later, I got in more games against Shelby's Alex, though set up off Fire. Jesus, that thing's a nightmare to play against, and it's not even finished yet. I think we played three matches, two of which Luise took, and the other of which Alex rampaged all over her. Best moment of it, though, was blocking a turn one attack with Kung-Fu Training and then Reversaling with Darkness Blade, using Luise's response to pass the check (duh). Good times! I can't wait for Alex to be finished...just makes me kinda sad that Luise is going to rotate. I like her =/

How does the water Alex run? I had a decklist posted a bit ago, and was wondering if they were similar. I think this Alex has a lot of potential.

So you actually got a patch right?

Becuase if you both tied and nobody claimed it then what's the point of playing 5 games?

Water Alex was not bad at all, especially considering he wasn't able to play Ready for Anything, which is the card that inspired the deck to begin with. I do so love being pummeled with 3H8 attacks over and over again >_<

Yeah, both Jacob (Seong-Mina) and I got the patches. All I have to do now is get Air and Void, and find my Chaos patch, and I'll have collected them all and become the ultimate Pokemon master!