It’s hard to believe that I’m writing a tournament report as the winner. I think this may be the first tournament I’ve won since my LOTR days. What a day!

I want to start off by thanking Dewayne at Dewayne’s World Comics and Games for hosting the tournament. Dewayne’s is the premier gaming store in the tri-cities area of northeast TN and is located in Kingsport.

Secondly (and most importantly), I want to thank Greg (Dobbler) for designing the winning deck and letting me play it. I’ve play-tested more over the last few months than I’ve ever done and it seemed I hadn’t got any closer to deciding what to play than when I started. So many good decks out there. The night before the regional I decided on Greg’s build because it could hold its own against most decks and I felt reasonably sure I could play it with a minimum amount of mistakes. However, as with Ned, there are some people that just can’t be saved from them self.

Round 1 vs Kenny’s Stark/Siege Army deck.
Kenny’s deck was a beast. He jumped up to a 9 or 10 power lead very quickly. It was amazing how fast he could get a board full of armies out there. By the third plot I finally got a Wildling Horde and maybe Orell (not sure, could have been a Skinchanger) on the board and was positioned to turn things around when I made a hideous mistake. I seem to make at least one of these during every tournament (just ask Dobbler) and as usual it costs me the game. Ugh. 0-1.

Round 2 vs Nate’s Stark Direwolf deck.
I got a good flop here and was able to get some wildlings on the table a little sooner. Nate got Rob all direwolfed up, but I was able to avoid losing too many characters while whittling his down until I got control of the board. Things are looking up. 1-1.

Round 3 vs Jayke’s Greyjoy/Winter deck.
I really hate choke decks. Fortunately for me Jayke wasn’t able to get his choke going very well. Again, my opponent jumped to an early lead, but once I was able to turn winter off and get some big guys out there to turn off the intimidate, I was able to turn thing around. I believe this one went to 6 plots and finished very close. I think Jayke was up to 13 power at one point and when the game ended it was something like 15-12 or 15-13. Ser Eldon Estermont was huge this game. Very close, tense game. 2-1.

Round 4 vs Tony’s Martell/Summer deck.
As anticipated, I once again fell behind quickly. Martell/Summer is a fast moving deck with lots of answers. The wildlings proved to be a good match-up with all the stealth and elevated strength. My card draw was really working well this game and I always seemed to have what I needed. Once I got my board set up I was able to turn the tide and pull out another close victory. Again I think it was something like 15-12. 3-1.

Round 5 vs Jonathan’s Martell/Summer.
Back-to-back Martell/Summer matchups. Ugh. I had another really good flop and was able to keep things closer this time around. Martell’s toolbox was eluding Jonathan this game and he was unable to burn some key challenges. He was forced to Valar early and I lucked into topdecking a Horde, Orell, Street of Steel. Everything started to click for me and I rolled on for uncharacteristically smooth victory. 4-1 and made the cut.

Top 4 Round 1 rematch with Kenny.
Kenny jumped out to a very early lead again and it looked like I was going to make a quick exit. I believe he was up to 9 or 10 to zero, when I was able to drop a Mance (with 2 dupes) and a Horde with a couple of refugees. Kenny had three of the Bolton armies who change sides when the owner loses a Power challenge. I was able to stealth most of his side and win a Power challenge which resulted in a huge character possession swing. I was able to kill off some of his other key characters and ended up with more than 10 characters on my side of the board by the end of the turn. Kenny played a Narrow Escape and I ditched the 8+ cards in my hand. Kenny was unable to recover and I pulled out the win.

Championship Game rematch against Jonathan.
Oh joy, Martell/Summer again. Everything seemed to be working well for Jonathan early. I found myself looking at Ellaria, two Maesters of the Sun, a Lost Spearman and was fortunate enough to pull Darkstar from his hand because that’s how I roll. His board position was good and things were not looking so good for the home team. A second Ill Tidings during the second round got through without a Paper Shield, and Jonathan was forced to Valar soon after. I drew back into a Horde and Orell while he was too choked for gold to play many characters. The game started to turn in my favor after that and I was able to pull out the win!

All in all this turned out to be an extremely enjoyable afternoon. A lot of people outside of our meta came in for the tournament and I made many new friends. The fun continued when several of us moved on to Jonathan’s house to play board games until 2:00 AM. Can’t wait for GenCon!

GO BRUINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Heh, thanks for the report. I laugh at the Bruins comment - you from Boston? Anyway, you should come up to the Beantown and play some games with Bloodycelt and me.

Can you elaborate on the mistake you made in the first round?

He was using Aegon's Hill to look at my hand and kill my key characters. When he looked at my hand he saw that i had Lethal Counterattack in my hand but he thought it was another card. (Winter is Coming, if i remember right.) Instead of attacking in intrigue first to try and pull LC out of my hand he started with a military which allowed me to kneel my Stark's and kill off his Horde.

Very lucky on my part.

Very nice job, my friend. I know you've worked hard at testing and I knew you had this in you. Of course, the downside is that you won't be taking anyone by surprise anymore.

Congratulations there <nickname redacted>... Having seen that deck perform, it certainly requires a deft touch to pilot... even with the mistakes we all seem to make (excepting John Bruno... and some rings).

I certainly on the Tennessee crew a big thanks for helping me tune-up for my own Joust win, and I'll look for you on the Trident at Gencon.

And the really sad part, was driving through WV on Sunday thinking what might have been... had gas been cheap enough to justify me driving myself to my parents 40th anniversary celebration. :/

WolfgangSenff said:

yeah, i grew up in East Boston and went to high school in N. Reading. I don't get back up there very often now.