Card Games | Joy Stuck In The Past

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29
Mar 17

Amonkhet Masterpieces – Abomination Series

In 2 of the last 3 Magic: The Gathering blocks they have included ultra super mega rare cards called Masterpieces. These were of a different theme and style each time. Zendikar had Expeditions. Kaladesh had Inventions. The intention is to do this kind of thing in all Standard sets.

After seeing the new ones for Amonkhet I immediately thought they were horrible.

I’ll make the assumption that you are familiar with normal magic cards, so here are the problems that stand out in order of importance for me:

Font used for the name of the card and typeline

Without knowing the name of this card would you be able to read that and tell it correctly immediately.

If you can, do you think everyone can? Including those with visual problems? There is someone who regularly comes to pre-releases at my store who has to pick up new cards and move them right up to their nose to read them.

What about people in other countries? These are all going to be in English. For someone who doesn’t speak English, or a latin character based language how easy would it be to read what those characters are?

What about a new player who is not familiar with what one of them does? The rationale of Russian foils and Elesh Norn phyrexian language cards being the same falls apart when you realise a new player at their first pre-release won’t open one of them or face it across the table.

Extra characters on the type line

The problem of the font being hard to read is made worse by it being padded by similar characters to either side.

Colour identity of card

It took seeing a number of these cards before I could tell what the colour identity was. Normally the frame shows that, including for multicolour cards.

The other clue of the casting cost is also gone. You don’t realise how much you subconsciously used the colour of the casting cost as well as the symbol before it was removed.

Artwork size

There is a comparison image I found, with unattributed source unfortunately. this shows various printings of Wrath of God. This shows the art to be about 10% smaller. You can also see gradual changes to the style of cards over the years as well as a full art textless one.

Orientalism

Whilst it is great to use sets based on real cultures there is a feint whiff of Orientalism to the whole thing. This may be unfounded so I won’t expand.

Border Colour

There are rules about the border colour of cards being used in tournaments (I’ll leave aside my support for more gold and silver bordered sets). I didn’t initially realise these count as black bordered. Mainly because the border is a mess.

There are some good things about the design though:

It’s good to try out new ideas. One response I saw repeated though was that this was trying too many things all at once. There were mock ups where the font on the name and type line were left using the normal font and they look a lot better and probably wouldn’t have resulted in the same volume of negative reactions. One repeated image on twitter was the car designed by Homer Simpson where he changed practically everything to suit himself and it resulted in a complete mess.

The art is amazing. It’s just a shame it’s reduced in size.

The theme is spot on. Leaving aside my worry about it veering into Orientalism, for a set which is inspired by Egyptian mythology it’s bang on for style.

Centring text looks pretty good. Some of the mock ups of improving text showed the text still centred and it looks cool.

Overall I’m pretty disappointed with these. Masterpieces in the sets they have been included with have been seen as lottery tickets. Ultra rare cards which probably have a high demand and you can throw in a commander deck. These would stand out from every other cards in lot’s of negative ways.

Mostly though, I’m disappointed that the accessibility issues of these cards hasn’t been considered a high enough priority to put a halt to them at some point in the design process. The worst part of this being that even if these are only printed in this and the next set then they will be around forever. They can also be encountered in multiple versions of the game – Modern, Legacy, Commander so we will face seeing them across table and not being able to read them, or recognise them (based on new art) for the foreseeable future.

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01
Jun 16

Magic yearly goals 2015-2016

At the start of the 2015/2016 Magic season I set a bunch of goals for the year. I did a pretty meh job overall.

Goals for 2015/2016:

Grand Prix: attend at least 2, have positive record

August: 1 (London: 5-4-0)
May: 0 (Manchester).

Unfortunately I had to pull out of Manchester due to illness, which also impacted points and ranking etc. Being ill for 2 weeks meant I couldn’t attend the other events either. I was pretty gutted I couldn’t make it along to the second GP as it was all paid for and booked in advance.

World Magic Cup Qualifier: attend all three, positive record in all, top 8 in one

Attended all three, not positive records in all, no top 8s.

Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifier: top 8 at least once per season, win once

Season 1: 2 top 4
June: 1 top 4
July: 1 top 4
August: 0

Season 2: 1 top 8
September: 1 top 8
October: 0
November: 0

Season 3 was then delayed until after Christmas as they readjust schedule.

Season 3: 1 top 4
January: 0 (only 2 events, season started final weekend)
February: 0
March: 0
April: 1 top 4.

Season 4: 0 top 8
May: 0

So over the year I top 8’d 4 times, not getting to any finals or obviously winning any. I spent at least 6 months of the year with next to zero interest in Standard so having the vast majority of events be Standard reduced my enthusiasm somewhat.

Regular constructed: win at least once per month

June: 1st in 2 Standard
July: 1st in 1 Modern
August: 1st in 3 Modern
September: 1st in 1 Draft
October: 1st in 1 Modern
November: 1st in 1 Standard
December: 2nd in legacy and 3rd in a Standard were closest I came.
January: 1st in a Sealed, 1st in a Standard
February: 3rd in 2 Modern
March: 1st in 3 Modern
April: 1st in 1 Modern
May: 0.

Only 2 months let me down. December where there were less local events because of Christmas etc and May where I was ill so had to take half the month off. Even once better I didn’t want to travel to other cities for PPTQs etc for a weekend and then missed the GP too. I think the highlight must be winning the Modern events with colourless goblins (eldrazi). To go from people pissed that I play Goblins or Lantern in modern cos they are shit to be pissed that I am playing Eldrazi cos it was OP was salt-tastic.

Yearly overall: Hit 2250 points again

187.5/Month is on track.

Month, Ranking in Scotland
June: 258 (+70.5) points = on track, yearly 4th
July: 431 (+56) points so far, yearly 5th
August: 1019 (+456.5) points so far, yearly 3rd
September: 1278 (+528) points so far, yearly 6th
October: 1558 (+620.5) points so far, yearly 5th
November: 1623 (+498) points so far, yearly 7th
December: 1653 (+340.5) points so far, yearly 6th
January: 1854 (+354) points so far, yearly 6th
February: 2003 (+315.5) points, yearly 6th
March: 2185 (+310) points, yearly 8th
April: 2403 (+340.5) points, yearly 7th
May: 2632 (+382) points, yearly 9th

So I hit it and had spent the bulk of the year on target. There was one hairy part where the PPTQs were delayed due to the season being adjusted. Finishing 9th was fine. Especially when some carpetbagger is down as Scottish to try and cheat his way to World Cup Team Captain spot.

Scotland Lifetime: Top 50

Highest reached, or standing at end of month, will drop down if other active players are attending more Grand Prixs than me etc.
June: 71
July: 70
August: 63
September: 59
October: 55
November: 54
December: 52
January: 50
February: 48
March: 44
April: 44
May: 43

Once I hit 52 I recognised all the other names around me, so they were definitely active players. The next player with a name I didn’t recognise was about 400 points ahead of me. I thought that I could probably reach 51st at best. I did then manage to get over 50, but some active players were going to Grand Prixs so I wasn’t sure I could sustain it. I did think that hitting 50 would be tight but I did manage it in the end.

Visit other Scottish games shops: Competitive Events at each store once

Venue: Earliest visit
Abbey Games, Arbroath: July
Black Lion, Edinburgh: August
Bus Stop, Largs: No
Common Ground, Stirling: June
Geek Retreat, Glasgow: June
Highlander, Dundee: June
Little Shop, Dunfermline: No
MinMax, Kirkaldy: No
Settlers, Hamilton: No
Spellbound Games, Glasgow: June

I Managed to get to most of the shops. Largs being on the other end of the country meant no on from the North East was ever travelling there. I think Dunfermline must have stopped doing events as I never saw any. A couple of other shops gained recognition to host events throughout the year and I managed to get to some. Settlers event clashed with something so I couldn’t go. Having read the mad ravings of the owner of MinMax I decided to not give that arsehole any money by going to his events.

Goals for 2016/2017

So let’s come up with a list for next year

Grand Prix: attend at least 2, have positive record
World Magic Cup Qualifier: attend all three, positive record in all, top 8 in one – I think top 8 is unlikely so that is definitely a stretch goal.
Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifier: top 8 at least once per season, reach two finals – reduced from last year
Regular constructed: win at least once per month – reasonable given I attend 2.5 events per week – Legacy, Standard and Modern. Stretch would be 2 win once in each format over course of the year.
Yearly overall: Hit 2250 points again – benchmark has been set for 2 byes.
Scotland Lifetime: Top 30 – 2250 points would put me roughly 25 but there are at least 5 players between 44 and 25 who regularly attend events and finish in top 10 points in Scotland.

Not sure if I can commit to trying to travel so much over the next year which loses one goal from last year and probably harms chances to hit points/rank target.

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05
Jun 15

Random Encounter on Kickstarter

Do you like games which make you giggle when you win?

Do you like games which make you giggle when you shoot yourself in the foot and lose?

Yes to both?

Time to pledge for Random Encounter on Kickstarter then!

It’s made by Joyride Games who kickstarted and then delivered Jackpot! which we blogged about previously.

Random Encounter

I first saw this game when Jamie popped into the pub one Saturday afternoon with his new prototype. We quickly named it Battle for Beanville and told him to kickstart it. He refused the name (we only wanted 10% for suggesting it) and has spent the last few months refining it.

Those first few games though, firstly trying to win then just trying to manufacture all the types of interaction for silliness.

At the time of writing it’s at over 25% with 3 weeks to go so fingers crossed it makes it. With pledges starting it £9 including postage there’s no reason not to give it a punt if you are into card games.

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01
Jun 15

A year of Magic

After starting playing Magic at the start of 2013, the last year has seen me improve a lot and play a lot more. I’ve tried to not let it overtake all my other nerdery (board games, computer games etc), but it does tend to dominate.

2014 saw me go to a number of events and for the next yearly period (Jun 02 2014-May 31 2015) I set myself some goals. Time to see how well I did.

Seasonal Score: 400

400 points per season was the marker to get 1 bye at a Grand Prix so I wanted to hit this each season. Wizards then decided to change the bye policy. So don’t know if I hit that or not. I’ll assume I did as my score for the year is more than 4 times that.

Yearly Score: 1300

After the bye scoring was changed I decided I would instead target 1300 points for the year to make sure I then got 1 bye all the next year. I actually hit 2250 so that reached the next target of 2 byes. So for the 2015/2016 season I will have 2 byes at every Grand Prix I attend.

Scottish Season 2014-2015 showing some local players too

Scotland Lifetime: Top 100

I ended up being 75th which was pretty cool. Seeing someone you know a few points ahead of you in the lifetime or yearly standings was a good motivation to keep going to events. I know for lots of people they never even look at these stats but I found it a good marker to keep track of progress.

Scottish Lifetime Rankings

Grand Prix: attend at least two

I ended up attending Utrecht and Liverpool. I did awful at them but that’s not the point :D. They were two different formats: Standard and Sealed.

Pro Tour Qualifier: Positive Record

4-3-0, 1-2-0, 4-3-0
Were an improvement on the previous years 4-4-0 and 2-4-0. I dropped in the second one as the World Cup Trials were happening for the World Cup Qualifier the next day – getting a bye in that seemed more important when my score meant I couldn’t top 8.

World Cup Qualifier: Attend all three

After attending only Dundee ones I wanted to travel to all three.
3-4-0, 3-4-0 and 3-4-1 would have probably been good for me at the start of the year.

When Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifiers were announced I decided I would try to:

Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifiers: Make 1 top 8 per season

I achieved this by losing a final with Red (splash white) Standard in Season 1 and losing a semi final with Goblins Modern in Season 2.

Leave Dundee for some events

The previous year I had only attended events in Dundee, and in Manchester whilst visiting for work. Over the last year I have attended 2 Grand Prixs as well as competitive events in Glasgow (Spellbound and Geek Retreat), Black Lion Edinburgh, Common Ground Stirling and Little Shop of Heroes Dunfermline.

Other changes over the year

I think the biggest downside of the year was the closure of Major Arcana. It left Highlander Games being the sole games shop in Dundee. The ownership of Highlander also changed.

Goals for next Year:

I swithered over whether to publish my goals for next year but sod it. I have set a pile of goals which try to improve on last year without needing me to dedicate the time that would make Wizard Poker take over even more of my spare time.

Grand Prix: attend at least 2, have positive record

London is one, any other UK ones (don’t think there are any) and then at least one in mainland Europe is the plan.

World Magic Cup Qualifier: attend all three, positive record in all, top 8 in one

This time last year I was barely using a proper deck, over the last year I’ve been paying a lot more attention to the meta game and trying to have a standard deck based around it. Instead of trading random bulk rares for more I’ve been trading into staples – for example getting a playset of all the fetchlands early on. Having hit top 8 at some competitive events but with a poor record (2/9?) I would hope to hit 1 out of 3 for these. This is a stretch goal and I doubt I’ll hit it.

Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifier: top 8 at least once per season, win once

Having hit one top 8 per season I think I should try to sustain that, qualifying for one Regional Pro Tour Qualifier being a supplemental goal.

Regular constructed: win at least once per month

Over the last year I have improved a lot at constructed and now almost always have a positive record at the end of the night. I want to make sure this continues by winning at least one event per month.

Yearly overall: Hit 2250 points again

At the start of the last year I aimed to hit about 2/3rds of this. Hitting the same total again this year reduces need to go to Grand Prix Trials for the next year and helps give an incentive to go to more Grand Prixs.

Scotland Lifetime: Top 50

This year I hit 75, so lets see if I can hit number 50 this year. Over the last year I leapfrogged a few people I know don’t play very much any more so if the 25 players above me still play regularly this could be not possible. Right now I am at 3603 points. So if I meet the previous goal that would put me at 5853 points which would as of right now mean 38th so it seems a good midpoint to account for that.

Visit other Scottish games shops: Competitive Events at each store once

I haven’t attended competitive events at Bus Stop Largs, due to the pain in the arse travelling there from Dundee. At least two other shops in Scotland are trying to qualify to be able to host competitive events. So right now it’s Go to a PPTQ at Largs but that may change over the course of the year.

Goal Setting

Goals concept on blackboard

So having made all these it should be obvious that they all feed into each other creating a feedback loop. If I don’t attend many events I won’t get the points total. Without the points total I won’t climb the Scottish Lifetime rankings. Doing less events means hitting targets for wins/top 8s becomes more difficult. I’ve tried to create a list of goals which all refer to each other. If I start slipping in one it leads to failing the others so creates motivation (for me) to keep on playing in the way I am and to improve. I also tried to make them all stretches but achievable if I just do a bit better than I did last year.

How do you set goals for competitive gaming? Do you aim for the same as last year? Do you just note landmarks along the way of improvement?

Lifetime Stats

Now after writing about the last year here’s my lifetime stats (via Xamleeg) so can you see on the scale of new player to great player I’m currently at middle of road player.

Overall record: 485 wins, 517 losses, 18 draws
Win percentage ignoring draws: 48%

So I’m still under 50% and playing catch up from when I first started.

Formats

I’ll take out the formats I’ve played 10 or less matches at.

Regular Constructed:

Standard: Overall record: 210-251-10, Wins: 46%

Still below positive although recently I have been having a positive record most nights so hopefully next year I’ll get above 50%.

Modern: Overall record: 85-82-1, Wins: 51%

So I have sneaked ahead into positive in Modern. Goblins OP

Block Constructed: Overall record: 12-20-1, Wins: 38%

Reflects how bad my deck was during Theros block. Looks unlikely to change as that format is kinda binned.

Limited Formats

Booster Draft: Overall record: 80-94-3, Wins: 46%

Still below positive in drafts.

Sealed: Overall record: 59-51-2, Wins: 54%

Above positive in Sealed. The format has always been my favourite limited format.

Trios – Limited: Overall record: 11-8-1, Wins: 58%

Positive here, although I seem to remember it mostly being down to my teammates in these matches.

Tournament type

Competitive events and their feeders

Magic Pro Tour Qualifier: Overall record: 15-16-0, Wins: 49%

This type of tournament has now been retired so looks like I will forever be negative here.

Magic Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifier: Overall record: 39-27-3, Wins: 59%

Dragged up by two top 8 finishes.

World Magic Cup Qualifier Trials: Overall record: 4-3-0, Wins: 58%

Positive here although I can’t seem to remember doing well at them.

World Magic Cup Qualifier: Overall record: 11-15-1, Wins: 42%

Seems my bad first two tries in Dundee dragged me down a bit. Last year I went to all three which will have improved score somewhat.

Magic Grand Prix: Overall record: 9-13-0, Wins: 41%

Seems about right, I’ve sucked at every one I’ve attended.

Magic Grand Prix Trial: Overall record: 37-45-4, Wins: 45%

I’ve won one and lost a couple of finals so expected this to be higher, oh well.

Public Event at Grand Prix: Overall record: 15-11-0, Wins: 58%

Annoyingly a pile of public events at Grand Prixs went down as casual, like Chaos Drafts, so I never got the points boost from them.

Magic Prerelease: Overall record: 55-44-2, Wins: 56%

These tend to be sealed so that may help explain my positive record there.

Magic Game Day: Overall record: 15-21-1, Wins: 42%

The last year I have barely made any of these which hasn’t helped boost record up.

Friday Night Magic: Overall record: 51-37-2, Wins: 58%

A positive record here which is good.

Magic Tournament: Overall record: 215-275-5, Wins: 44%

The generic bucket for sanctioned events, not positive here yet.

Card Games — 15 Comments
09
Mar 15

A minor lesson for Magic sealed pools

I’m just back from a fun trip to Grand Prix Liverpool for Magic the Gathering.

A good weekend, some fun games and of course the main event.

The way a sealed pool works at an event like this is, you open 6 packs and have 10 minutes to register all the cards against a checklist, removing the basic lands. You then pass to someone else following instructions, so it may be swap with person opposite pass left twice or similar. You then have 20 minutes to check against the registered cards, build a deck and then register which cards you are using. I was quite rushed and ended up making a couple of wrong cuts and sideboarding in some cards in later games which should have been mainboarded.

I built my deck, played my rounds of Magic and ended up winning 6 and losing 3. The cut to make day 2 of the main event was 7 wins and 2 losses so I fell short. My Sunday was spent playing side events before travelling back.

I finished up 353 of 1772 which is top 20%, so respectable but not amazing.

When I stripped apart my deck I noticed something unusual though, I only had 5 rares. Now when I checked the pool I noticed there were less than 45 cards in each set (15 per pack * 3packs * 2 sets) but put this down to the basic lands being removed.

Edit: When I later checked it appears I was missing 1 rare from Fate Reforged and either a common or a foil from Khans of Tarkir. When I was registering I was focusing on building the deck and registering correctly, I didn’t even think to count the rares. So one of three things has happened:

I have lost 1 rare from this pool
The person registering the pool lost 1 rare from this pool
The person registering the pool stole 1 rare from this pool

So it was either down to me being careless, someone else being careless or someone else being malicious.

I don’t know which it is, but I now have a new thing to remember to do and remind others to do:
Count the rare cards in your sealed pool

The kicker though: you aren’t seated randomly, you are seated alphabetically, so the chances of me being seated near this person again at a future large event in the UK are extremely high if we both attend, although the chance of him passing his pool to me are based on the instructions given for the randomisation.

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02
Feb 15

Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifier – Stirling

Wizards in their infinite wisdom decided to change the Pro Tour Qualifier system, now instead of winning a tournament there were a few of a year in Scotland to get to the Pro tour you need to:
Win a tournament there are about 10 per quarter of then
Top 4/8 (size dependent) a tournament that this competition feeds into.

At the first Scottish one ever, in Glasgow, I threw away the chance to Top 8 and it was won by Ferg.
There then followed events in Edinburgh, Glasgow (different shop), Largs and Dundee.

On 31st of January it was the turn of Stirling to host.

I joined the road trip crew of 5 from Dundee and 2 from Aberdeen to make it through. We were stuck in traffic for a bit due to Aberdeen fans making their way through to Hampden to get pumped by Dundee United due to having to cross the city to pick up cards.

We arrived at Stirling and for most of us it was our first visit to Common Ground Games. We were pretty blown away, a large retail space, with kitchen area making teas/toasties etc, massive gaming area with huge wargaming tables plus tables for about 50-60 players.

After the latest set release I knew my Super Aggro Red was in a bad place so I switched to big red devotion. I looked at a few lists online, and annoyingly can’t remember where the one I closely copied from originated from. Apologies and thanks to the mystery brewer.

Round 1 vs Steven Youngson (Green Blue)

I sat down at probably the lowest table to play my first round opponent. This was his first ever competitive tournament and hadn’t been playing for too long. This meant I could be facing someone who net-decked or brewed so couldn’t really play around a known deck strategy.

Game 1 he plays a couple of morphed [c]Sagu Mauler[/c]s and I burn them whilst beating down with flyers and [c]Goblin Rabblemaster[/c] tokens.

Game 2 I bring he goes on the play and I get down to about 14 but his 2/2 and 1/1 creatures can’t race mine and I think I played and [c]Eidolon of the Great Revel[/c] early causing most of that.

His deck seemed ok but he had jammed in a Planeswalker cos he had it etc, definitely a home brew.

Round 2 vs Phil Dalbeck (Blue White Heroic) 1-0 (2-0)

I was worried about this match up as [c]Crater’s Claws[/c] can’t remove lots of his threats and he can give protection to those I can whilst I only had sorcery speed removal.

I win game 1 with some Goblin tokens, flyers and a [c]Purphoros, God of the Forge[/c].

Game 2 I lose with my opponent on 25 life, I think I was flooding out and he put an [c]Aqueous Form[/c] on a dude making him unblockable.

Game 3 got to a point where I was at 3 life, dreading one of his two creatures becoming unblockable.

The turning point was him being on 8. I have a [c]Stormbreath Dragon[/c] and a morphed [c]Ashcloud Phoenix[/c] with 6 mana open. He has two creatures. He, declares attackers, then gives one of them protection from red, saying out loud that means his other creature would kill a blocking dragon.

I block the pro-red creature with my morph and the other creature with the dragon. I then unmorph the phoenix dealing him 2. After damage my phoenix dies, coming back as a 2/2 morph. My Dragon survives – to his surprise. On my turn I pay 1 to return a phoenix from the bin and hit him for 10.

Round 3 vs Scott Gibson (Junk, sorry Abzan) 2-0 (4-1)

Game 1 he drops two [c]Siege Rhino[/c]s, the first of whom I had to [c]Chained to the Rocks[/c] to make sure my tokens could get through, whilst being very worried. I win this with dragons.

Game 2 he wrecks me with Rhinos.

Game 3 I got my [c]Glare of Heresy[/c]s in and manage to deal with his board not taking a point of damage.

Round 4 vs Peter Deane (Blue Black Control) 3-0 (6-2)

Although my deck is the favourite against most control decks I was worried to be facing a player I knew of as a regular in top 8s and the like.

Game 1 I win the dice roll and manage to resolve a Purphorous, he is trying to find an answer whilst Goblin Rabblemaster and Purphoros do the work.

Game 2 I think went down to tokens again, didn’t make enough notes on pad 🙁

Round 5 vs Ross Jenkins 4-0 (8-2)

We were the only players on 4-0 – there were lots of draws due to the high number of control decks. Intentional Draw locks us both in the top 8.

Round 6 vs Andrew Rayner 4-0-1 (8-2-3)

Another ID and we watch for Gary Campbell vs Stuart to see which one of our travel group wouldn’t make it. Gary eventually won.

Looking at the placings going into round 6 shows how well our group had done. Brad added as a former Highlander Games player.

In the end 5 of our 7 from the North East made top 8 with Brad making it too.

Quarter Final vs Duncan Tang (BUG Control) 4-0-2 (8-2-6)

I was drawn against Duncan from Glasgow, based on our decks I expected to do well but he is a very good player, regularly top8s and quite often plays the deck style he had chosen.

In the end I finish game 1 on 20 life, his removal/counters couldn’t keep up with my threats.

Game 2 I bring in Erase, expecting to see [c]Courser of Kruphix[/c] as I didn’t know the deck list and he barely played anything in game 1. I scooped when he had two Garruk wolves and a deathdealer whilst I was on 7 with a 2/2. Even if I block the deathdealer I go to 1 and he then has 4 creatures whilst he is on 19.

Game 3 I come out racing and dash out a [c]Mardu Scout[/c], play a Goblin Rabblemaster and then dash two scouts. He’s on 2 going into his turn 4 – one turn early for the wrath which could save him.

I shake the hand and say I’ll see him in Dunfermline (the next PPTQ) laughing that I won’t progress.

Semi Final vs Bradley Barclay (Black Blue Control) 5-0-2 (10-3-6)

The other semi is Andrew vs Ross so one of the group is making it. I’m facing one of the best constructed magic players in the UK so am not expecting it to be me.

Game 1 is some dashed [c]Mardu Scout[/c] and [c]Goblin Rabblemaster[/c] fun times.

Game 2 I hold up a [c]Crater’s Claws[/c] in hand and gradually bait out his removal/counter spells for him to be tapped out to be able to cast it for exact damage.

Somehow I win 2-0 not dropping a point of life.

Final vs Ross Jenkins (Black Blue Control) 6-0-2 (12-3-6)

My first ever tournament top 8 at a higher than GPT level and I make the final. I’m pretty stoked but not expecting to win. Ross had only dropped one game all day so was at 12-1-6 showing how well he was playing.

In game 1 I get him down to 6 but he either counters or kills all I have and manages to kill me with a [c]Pearl Lake Ancient[/c]. I eventually ran out of gas and kept drawing land. After the game I noticed a Phoenix in the bin I had forgotten to bring back but work out it would have only got an extra two damage in so made no difference.

In Game 2 I dash out scouts to avoid his sorcery speed removal and his Fountain lands gaining life stabilise him at 17 for a while before I manage to break through with a Dragon.

I take Ross’s second game of the tournament.

Game 3 I am on the draw and my opening hand is a [c]Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx[/c], Mountain, 3 drop and then 4/5 drops. I know if I get the 2 lands by turn 4 I am in good stead but if I miss even one of those I’m dead, especially if he [c]Thoughtseize[/c]s me at least once. I make a terrible decision to mull. My 6 contains 1 land so it’s 5 which contains a Chained to the Rocks and 4 land. I know I can play anything I draw and can’t go lower but it’s a terrible hand. I resolve a Chandra on 4, which is killed as my first spell. He has a hand full of answers and I’m drawing no questions. On turn 10 I missed my first land drop as I had drawn a second Nykthos. I ended the game with 3 Nykthos in hand and my opponent on 27 life.

Ross wins a well deserved victory and it’s back to grinding for me.

A good day all round, our team does fantastically, a visit to a new awesome shop, and I am now a single match win away from a bye at any Grand Prix I go to this year or next, and Dundee United get through to the Scottish Cup Final.

All that was left was a spicy haggis pudding and the short drive home.

Card Games — 1 Comment
06
May 14

MtG Grand Prix Manchester

I had been enthused over the upcoming Manchester Grand Prix – my first ever proper magic tournament. The weeks leading up I played around with a few decks and then Pro Tour happened. The meta completely shifted and pretty much every deck I had been trialling was now dead in the water. Black Aggro seemed the most viable but relies on good draws and folds to the strong decks post-board. I completely lost enthusiasm but decided to go ahead anyway.

The 5+ hours travel to Manchester got us to the hotel and Event City with a few hours to spare. Ferg and I headed to the grinders. I got pounded while he made it to the final of one of them. He eventually lost to a guy we saw in the day 2 Grand Prix.

Block Constructed Grand Prix

I was already bored of block so wasn’t really in the right mind set not expecting to do well.

Round 1 vs Andrew Salkeld, Blue White

I can’t remember much of my first round but it was a 2-1 victory. First game I beat down taking nothing. Third game I stabilise at 15 and eat away at life.

Round 2 vs Daniel De Swarte, Red Green (1-0)

Awesome, round 2 and I’m already facing a Scottish player. One who is better than me, a judge and got to the final of the Game Day. I believe this is one of the many games where I flood out to nothing losing 2-1.

Round 3 vs Gary Baker (1-1), Chapin

I can’t remember any misplays from this game so must have just lost to the better deck and player. Ho-hum, *glances at side events*.

Round 4 vs Craig Banach (1-2)

Oh hey there Scottish player number 2. I expected a mirror match and he doesn’t disappoint. What does disappoint is the main deck [c]Hall of Triumph[/c] and [c]Feast of Dreams[/c]. It sits at 1-1 and he has tapped out to attack. He’s on 5 life. I have a [c]Tormented Hero[/c] on board and only a [c]Boon of Erebos[/c] in hand. Now I saw a route to victory last turn but now can’t see what it is. I attack with the [c]Tormented Hero[/c] and blank on what to do to win, seeing only 2 more damage in hand. Idiot.

The time is ticking down taking ages between rounds. I see the schedule. If I win the next round great. If I lose I don’t have time to drop and go to the Modern event. I drop and go to write up the decklist for Modern.

Slightly disappointed but not unexpected for the GP. I should have been 2-2 but was just not into it and didn’t concentrate. I don’t know if I would do another block GP. The games were boring with about 2 decks which worked and everything else a mile behind. With a new set out just a couple of weeks before the GP, changing deck became super expensive or reliant on borrowing lots off friends.

Modern Treasure Chest

I had brought my Modern Goblin deck with me on the slight change I wouldn’t Day 2 *cough*. Joining another 52 players I was really looking forward to playing a silly deck.

What stands out is that in 6 rounds I played 6 different decks. Yay, lot’s of practice with Gobbos do the Jobbo.

Round One vs Alexander Mortimer, Red Blue Storm

I manage to win the match 2-0 with Alex stumbling in his storm. We play a couple of fun games after so I get to see how it goes off.

Round Two vs Matthew Thomson (1-0), Green White Hexproof

I win the first match but fold under a giant hexproof, vigilant, lifelink dude. Sure, I can side in Krenko and spam tokens to block but if you drop a [c]Rancor[/c] I’m trading dozens of cards to stall you. I try and race in game 2 and 3 and don’t succeed.

Round Three vs Joshua Buchan (1-1), Blue White Red Control

All those remands, mana leaks and so on take their toll and I lose. Having great fun doing so. It really can’t be stressed enough. I have more fun getting stomped with Goblins in Modern than I do winning with Mono Black in Standard. I think the first game was flashing in a [c]Restoration Angel[/c] to block and then bolt my dorks. I don’t get his life to single figures in either match.

Round Four vs Branoc Richards (1-2), Ninja Bear Delver

I’m on the play, drop a mountain and a [c]Legion Loyalist[/c]. I can’t believe I’ve lost to fucking goblins states my opponent with his head in his hands. Er, I assume that’s not a concession, we play on. He gets extra card draw but not enough to make a difference. I have tears streaming at one point from us laughing at a silly topdeck. I win the match 2-0. His friend comes over after playing Travis Woo and he tell him the story of the match.

It’s getting late and I’m really feeling tired now. I can’t stress enough how much the bring snacks and drinks advice was useful. Given the heat in the hall it’s great to nip outside between matches too.

Round Five vs Matt Wakeford (2-2) Red Green Tron

It’s all to play for, sitting at 2-2 with 2 rounds to go, got to get in the prizes.

He is on the play and assembles Tron on turn 3. Passing turn, I play the land and [c]Blood Moon[/c] I have in my hand. It always surprises people if they see it game one. Considering some decks play 2-3 basics it’s a no-brainer to me. The few occasions it’s not needed or that I top deck that instead of burn are far outweighed by the number of times you can basically lock your opponent.

Game 2 my opening hand contains 3 [c]Mountain[/c]s and a [c]Blood Moon[/c]. First time I’ve seen it all day and turns up at the perfect time. Fair enough he’s not the biggest target for it, but every little helps.

Round Six vs Simon Smith (3-2), Robots

Simon was sitting next to me in the previous match so I know what to expect. A [c]Blood Moon[/c] shows up again, not the best card against the deck, but still stops the Nexuses being used to kill me with infect. I win through ending up 4-2 overall gaining 4 packs. The winner and runner up get phat loot including fetchlands, legacy lands and a From the Vaults.

Day 2 – Modern Championship

I find out that Brad has made it to Day 2. Fantastic result. Some Scot we haven’t heard of is sitting 9-0 too. We have some time in the morning so we all sit tuning decks. Ray Doyle manages to cut my curve by a buttload after remembering a silly combo that used to exist.

Round One vs Nicolas Debacker, Green White Flash

I win the first match with a [c]Kitchen Finks[/c] being his only play, so I’m not 100% sure what deck he is playing. We wins game 2 after playing [c]Obstinate Baloth[/c] and flickering it twice with a [c]Restoration Angel[/c] so it’s all down to the third match. I eventually get the board state to where he has 2 life, 3 open mana and a [c]Restoration Angel[/c] in hand. Looking at the board I have enough to deal 12 damage, even if he flickers the Baloth and goes to 6 I can get through for 6 damage. Just win on the nose.

Round Two vs Charlie Ringer (1-0), Jund

I haven’t played against the new version of Jund yet so am looking forward to it. A turn one [c]Goblin Guide[/c] reveals a [c]Dark Confidant[/c]. The look on his face tells me he won’t be playing it…

He eventually manages to kill all my guys and in game 2 ends up with Dead Alan time.

Round Three vs Leonard Smith (1-1), The Rock

I hadn’t seen anyone play this deck before, so when he plays nothing but black spells in game 1 I figure he is some kind of control deck. Turns out he’s just mana screwed. So I have no idea what to expect. Game 2 he plays a [c]Phyrexian Obliterator[/c]. Hmm, I have two mountains and three Goblins in play. It’s time for game 3. We go back and forth a bit and I get him to two life with a stalled board. Eventually draw a [c]Goblin Grenade[/c] after chumping with my last Goblin. If any of the last 5 draws had been a burn spell of some kind… Oh well.

Round Four vs Olivier Lejeune (1-2), Blue White

So I’m 2-1 down but getting a lot of practice against decks I don’t normally play. These two side events have been totally worth it.

Game 1 I manage to get a Turn 4 win.

Game 2, turn 1 I play a Goblin Guide, he bolts it. Turn 2 I drop a [c]Legion Loyalist[/c] and a [c]Goblin Guide[/c], double [c]Lightning Bolt[/c]. Hmm what a pain, at least that’s 9 damage not at my face and only stopping him taking 6, but still. I get him to 1 life. He then double [c]Lightning Helix[/c] to clear my board and stabilise beating me to death with a [c]Restoration Angel[/c].

Game 3 I manage to fight through a [c]Wrath of God[/c]

Round Five vs Aaron Lipshitz (2-2), Green White Black

Game 1 treats me to another turn 4 kill, with him being on 12 life at start of turn.

Game 2 is probably a story he can tell. He gets me down to 2 life, clears my board and he is on 29 after a poor removal decision by me following a [c]Blood Moon[/c]. How does he kill me, well with a [c]Noble Hierarch[/c]. How does it get through my Goblins? It doesn’t, it grants exalted to a [c]Birds of Paradise[/c]. Raced and beaten by a 0/1 flyer. Only playing goblins do you get such nonsense.

Game 3 I get him down from 18 to 2 on turn 3. He scoops.

The disappointing news has come through that Brad has lost in the quarter finals. I’m now the only person in our car in a tournament. I figure it will be quick so I’ll play one more round, conceding if it looks like I may be in a winning position so that I don’t knock someone out of prizes then drop.

Round Six vs Jonas Wienand (3-2), Storm

I sit down opposite a guy who has come all the way from Cologne for the weekend.

In game 1 I get him to 2 before he storms off and hits me for lethal with [c]Grapeshot[/c].

Game 2, he slowly eats away at my life with tokens from [c]Empty the Warrens[/c] but I win out.

For Game 3 I get the travel buddies around us to watch. I slowly eat away at live. He salvages the match by killing a [c]Legion Loyalist[/c] I top deck, which would have let me push through his tokens for lethal. I am on 17 and he is stalled on 2 for turn after turn. I just need a burn spell of some kind. He manages to storm off, casting [c]Lightning Bolt[/c] and copying twice, down to 8. He then flashes it back and copies it twice. Oh well. Close though. I sign the slip, drop and wish him well.

Overall a fun weekend. I do wish I had not bothered with the main event though and played a Chaos Draft or something on the Saturday morning instead. I wasn’t up for it and my playing reflected it. Oh well. I really enjoyed all the modern matches and some of the block. I don’t think I met anyone I took a dislike too either which was a bonus.

Card Games — No Comments
01
May 14

MtG Journey Into Nyx Pre-Release

The new Set of magic was out and with the Manchester Grand Prix coming up it was our first chance to see the cards which we will add to existing decks or build new ones.

The first day I opened an absolutely insane pool with 5 Blue/Black cards, a temple and a Keranos which I splashed for. The deck I came up with was this:

With a new plugin which displays cards on hover here’s the Sealed Pool Day One:
[d]
Creatures:
2 Rotted Hulk
1 Crackling Triton
2 Crystalline Nautilus
1 Servant of Tymaret
1 Siren of the Silent Song
1 Sealock Monster
1 Disciple of Deceit
1 Doomwake Giant
1 King Macar, the Gold-Cursed
1 Master of the Feast
1 Tromokratis
1 Keranos, God of Storms

Spells:
1 Read the Bones
1 Griptide
1 Lash of the Whip
3 Pin to the Earth
1 Hubris
1 Asphyxiate

Fixing:
1 Traveler’s Amulet

Land:
1 Temple of Mystery
2 Mountain
6 Island
8 Swamp

Board:
1 Sea God’s Revenge
1 Oracle’s Insight
1 Thassa’s Bounty
2 Dark Betrayal
1 Retraction Helix
[/d]

The removal was pretty sweet so I was looking forward to running it.

Round 1 vs Tom Bull

After a long weekend I can’t remember the details of this match and didn’t write down their decktype so can’t remember it. They mulled in first game and I win 2-0. In game one they scooped on 12 when I had a massive board presence and had cleared theirs.

Round 2 vs Craig Low (Black White), 1-0 (2-0)

My life didn’t drop below 16 in either game and my two [c]Dark Betrayal[/c]’s in the board replaced the [c]Asphyxiate[/c] and [c]Lash of the Whip[/c] to reduce the removal cost.

Round 3 vs James Bulloch (Red White aggro), 2-0 (4-0)

James is a frequent visitor through to Dundee for events so we chatted a bit before playing and then got it started. I had the nut draws and just dealt with every threat he made once I was on 10 life. On game 2 I managed to stabilise on 11. [c]Pin to the Earth[/c] is just so damn good. Sure your 3 drop hasty guy can hit me once and then He’ll be useless. It does miff me that it doesn’t remove flying as that’s the damn name…

Round 4 vs Andy Davies (Black Red), 3-0 (6-0)

Andy is another regular at Highlander so I was pleased one of us would make it through to the final.

Game 1 we slowly beat down at each other and I was finally the victor on 5 life. The [c]Master of the Feast[/c] really did the work despite allowing him to draw more cards. Holding him off until I could take control. The dark betrayals immediately came in from the board.

Game 2 he goes up to 26 life with me on 12 and losing control. I manage to topdeck removal and stabilise on 1 life with him on 27. That single point that changes every combat calculation and is the only one that matters. I get out [c]King Macar, the Gold-Cursed[/c] and a combat trick allows him to get through and then Inspired on the untap step. I remove his big threat and he’s left with a load of small creatures, the same number of dorks as me and 2 guys pinned to the earth. I exile each guy he drops and slowly grind down until I have a board of 6 creatures to his 2 pinned to the earth. The removal suite in this deck is insane and once I stabilised it was all over. An epic two matches. I’m up against Charlie in the final. His game was next to us and finished early and I just see his horrified looks at what my deck is able to do if it runs right.

Round 5 vs Charie Grant (Blue White flyers), 4-0 (8-0)

I go into the final without dropping a single match and an opponent who is scared of my deck. I try not to be too confident though as if he gets his flyers out before I can deal with them I’m toast.

The first match is an absolute grind fest with him recovering his life and slowly eating away at mine. A chump blocker who regains 1 life every turn is pretty good but I just can’t cope with the amount of flyers he has. Bouncing them just delays the inevitable and he wins through.

In game two I keep a hand with two swamps, a load of Bx cards and 2 bounce spells. The next land I draw is a mountain. Then two more swamps and another mountain. The splash for Keranos kills me by colour screwing me. A sad end to an epic match with a pretty insane sealed pool. Charlie deserves the win as his deck is superb and he plays it really well.

I end up in 3rd due to tiebreakers with 4-1 (8-2) being the record.

Final Vs Charlie

Sealed Pool Day Two
[d]
Creatures:
1 Cavern Lampad
2 Pharika’s Chosen
1 Sigiled Starfish
1 Servant of Tymaret
1 Squelching Leeches
1 Cloaked Siren
1 Mnemonic Wall
1 Rotted Hulk
1 Chorus of the Tides
1 Shipwreck Singer
1 Whitewater Naiads
1 Doomwaker Giant

Spells:
1 Viper’s Kiss
1 Bile Blight
1 Pharika’s Cure
1 Asphixiate
1 Feast of Dreams
1 Font of Fortunes
1 Fate Foretold
1 Pin to the Earth
2 Silence the Believers

Land:
10 Swamp
7 Island

Board:
1 Hour of Need
1 Feast of Dreams
1 Viper’s Kiss

[/d]

Round 1 vs Steven Clark (White Black)

In the first match against Steven he said this was his 10th ever match. After we started I felt pretty bad as he was making a few obviously less than optimal plays and my deck was pretty decent. I pointed out his triggers and ability to drain me life at the end of my turn and so on. I also suggested he not play his new creatures before attacking tapped out etc (a bad habit I had from a Portal Starter set until someone pointed it out). This is what pre-releases are for though. New players playing with new sets and learning the new mechanics.

Round 2 vs Fraser Madden (Red Green), 1-0 (2-0)

I win the first game with my two deathtouch snakes holding off the aggro attack. A 2-0 win from some topdecking where I get every answer when I need it.

Round 3 vs Ray Doyle (Red White), 2-0 (4-0)

Great, up against one of the best players in the shop and I expect to lose badly. You know sitting down he will make no misplays. Ray also scoops his cards when he knows it’s done to quickly move onto the next game.

Ray keeps a poor hand and scoops on 16 after I lock his board down. He smashes through me in game 2 when I get mana screwed and draw nothing but fat. Game 3 is a bit more even but then he controls the board and I have nothing.

Round 4 vs Robert Meek (Green Black), 2-1 (5-2)

A decisive win in game one with some fat just blocking his board until I can get through. Get the Exile cards and can wipe it all and smash through.

Game two is a slow one with [c]Servant of Tymaret[/c] eating away at live.

Round 5 vs Simon Larg (Red White), 3-1 (7-2)

Simon playing an aggro deck is a bit of a worry. In game one I hold him off before defeating him with the fat. Game two he smashes through my defences before I can stabilise at all ending on 23 life himself.

It’s all down to game three. A few turns in I get out [c]Shipwreck Singer[/c] and his eyes pop open looking at his field of X/1s. I slowly grind away forcing his guys to attack and either reducing toughness to 0 or blocking with fat to kill whilst holding back bounce spells in case he does shenanigans. By the end of the game his graveyard is massive and when checking he only had 5 creatures left in his deck. A 2-1 win puts me in contention to top 4.

Round 6 vs Fraser Lawson (Black White), 4-1 (9-3)

Fraser has the advantage of me having watched the end of the game. He doesn’t have much to worry about in game one. He kills me in blobs of five ending on 20 life having wavered a bit.

Game two I get some damage in but he get’s 2 final points of damage in before I can get in the 3 I need against him.

Some awesome games and I finish 7th with 4-2 (9-5) record. The deck was nowhere near as good as the previous one and so it seemed a decent finish with it.

Pre-release weekend

Apparently some unlucky chump also opened a pack they dubbed The ByeDeck.dek and scrubbed out only winning the bye. The shop owner looked over it afterwards declaring There’s not 5 playables in any colour. It would suck to be that guy.

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14
Apr 14

MtG -Warsaw Grand Prix Trial

This Sunday saw the Grand Prix Trial take place for Warsaw. I was mostly interested in points to grind to try and get a bye for Grand Prix Manchester. At constructed on Thursday, my Mono Black Devotion deck was pretty poor. This was not helped by three of the four match ups being against Green which has recently been a bit tougher due to hexproof and the card advantage they get. I had a look round and switched to a Mono Black Devotion deck more able to compete against green, closer to one I ran at the start of Theros.

On Sunday there were only 14 players so I knew 3-1 would get me into top 8, 2-2 might scrape in on tiebreakers but I was still hopeful to top 8.

Round 1 vs Jamie Lessels (Esper)

I had played Jamie before but couldn’t remember how the match up went. After mulling to 6 I got a T1 Thoughtseize taking a Supreme Verdict. He still had one and a Detention Sphere which I later stripped too. I managed to grind away winning game 1. For game two I sided in the 4 Duress and dropped a chunk of removal.

Excellent sideboard card

We shuffle up and I feel pretty dirty. Turn 1 Duress removes a counter spell. Turn 2 I topdeck a Thoughseize so use that and the other Duress in hand to remove an Elspeth and Verdict. His hand was all land and mine was an Underworld Connections, third land and 3 drop. It was pretty tense though and he wavered between 1-5 life for a few turns slowly removing things until I managed to win through.

Round 2 vs Neil Cuthbertson (Rakdos Aggro), 1-0 (2-0)

A thoughtseize made sure to leave him with a Doom Blade but there was nothing I could do about the number of threats he made. Neil made a number of good plays and decisions on what to play stopping me getting any 2for1s beating me 2-0.

Round 3 vs John Lynch (Red-Green Aggro), 1-1 (2-2)

I guessed he would be playing green and was worried as it gets a lot of extra draw through Planeswalkers and Courser. My opening hand was 3 * Hero’s Downfall an Underworld Connections and 3 swamp so I was pretty confident I could stabilise. I did and managed to slowly eat away his board presence whilst dropping Demons etc. He scooped on 15 life when he had nothing on board, no hand and with me having 3 Mutavaults and 2 Demons on the field whilst being on 6 life.

Game 2 went similar with a scoop on 15 life with no board. He just got flooded out both games.

Round 4 vs Sion Bayliss (Green), 2-1 (4-2)

Winning this match would make me top 8, losing meant I relied on my tiebreakers which I assumed would be quite poor based on results I had heard from previous opponents.

I think over 2 games I saw 3 Polukranos and 4 Courser of Kruphix. Game 1 at one point ended with me having no board, him with 1 of each of them and two planeswalkers. Welcome to scoopsville, population Alan.

Lifegain, sometimes free cards, great blocker. Bah

Ho-hum looks like it’s down to tiebreakers.

Results are announced and someone had a durdle deck which resulted in a silly amount of draws pushing me into about 5th place. Bizarre.

Round 5 (quarter) vs Sion Bayliss (Green), 2-2 (4-4)

Hmm when the prize packs are put down for the loser I just move them to my side of the table and say we’ll get on with the formality of you wrecking me again then. Having lost every dice roll all day I was facing an opponent higher in the standings than me who had just smashed me.

I somehow manage to curve out perfectly and get the right removal at the right time winning 2-0.

A bit confused I move on to the semis.

Round 6 (semi) vs Neil Cuthbertson (Rakdos Aggro), 3-2 (6-4)

In some cruel jest I now face the other player who beat me in the Swiss.

Game 1 I manage to strip his hand of removal and drop Demons on curve winning the race and forcing him to sac his board.

Game 2 I rip out both his Hero’s Downfall and manage to beat down with a Demon and Nightveil Specter after he turn 4 Slaughter Games for Gary.

Round 7 (final) vs Colin Lawrie (Dimir control), 4-2 (8-4)

Having won an FNM and been in the final of a couple this was my first proper tournament final.

I catch the end of the other semi and see a mainly creature based deck. I keep a removal heavy hand and am punished for it, removal gets countered and a Master of Waves and Mutavault assault leaves me dead with him on 22 life.

1-0 down against a control deck. Baws.

Game 2 I side in about 9 including the Duress and Bile Blight, Whip etc removing some creatures including some Pack Rats and Demons. I think Lifebane, Nightveil and Mutavault might be a better route. I make a horrible mistake early, dropping an Underworld Connections to bring Erebos live. This is to bait Colin into saccing his Ratchet Bomb on 3 so I can start dropping more Connections and a Demon. He does and I have to buy cards to 1 life to dig out of it. I get a Gary and swing up to 7. Buy again to 1 and then get up to 9. The incremental card advantage ekes me out a victory bringing it to 1-1.

Game 3 and there’s fowk in the shop cheering for each of us. No pressure like. I play an Underworld Connections on Turn 3 which isn’t countered. Colin responds by naming Swamp. For this reason alone I run different temples. By turn 5 I have two Underworld Connections on board. He gradually gets rid of a lot of my creatures and uses Jace to take removal and counter spells. At one point I have the choice between a Syncopate and two Thoughtseize. I know he has a removal spell in hand so I let him get the two Thoughtseize. He takes two cards from me leaving himself with no black open. Next turn I swing with Nightveil Specter getting an Opportunity. That goes well with my two blue sources. I end up buying a lot of cards and end the game with 12 mana and two usable Underworld Connections to his 5 mana. There was not a lot he could do really in the circumstance, bad draws on his end and no extra mana from Jaces left him static for a while whilst I was drawing 3 cards per turn.

I somehow managed to win the Grand Prix trial.

I really felt I was punished for every mistake I made in this match up – getting two for one’d every chance he could. Pretty tough going.

So should I want to go I get two Byes in Warsaw. Let’s hope I can do decently at the next few tourneys to earn a bye for Manchester 107 points down, 293 to go.

Board Games / Card Games — 1 Comment
04
Mar 14

This Week, er Month in Gaming

I thought it would be more amusing to extend the delay from posts. The main reason was not many new games being played in the first two weeks after last post. Over the past three weeks or so the fun new games played have been:

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Deck-Building Game was played for the first time and I thought it was quite fun. Not as good as DC Deckbuilder game though.

I managed to get another couple of games of Resistance but unfortunately some of the group made a couple of bad plays so the first two games ended 3-0 to the glorious Freedom Fighters.

At my parents one night and my two nieces were playing Happy Families. I was challenged and managed to beat them both. Yay. I’m better at kids games than children. When playing games against kids I tend to allow a bit of leeway by making a few mistakes/sub-optimal plays if they are beginners to the game but then get ruthless once they know the game. As a kid I remember the joy I had when I was finally able to beat Ben, my sort-of Great Uncle when he taught me to play Chess. But only because he had thrashed me for tens of games beforehand.

Cards Against Humanity appears to have taken over as the beginner game of choice from Fluxx at the pub. When it throws up classics like this though it can be forgiven.

Mancala is a game I hadn’t had a chance to play and it was really tricky to get going with. I have no idea the long term strategy in it and am sure there’s probably a few moves you can make where you are guaranteed to lose 10 turns later if you do them etc.

The highlight of the past few weeks of gaming though has to be DC Comics Deck-Building Game: Heroes Unite.

This works for 2-5 players and is both stand alone and can be mixed and merged with the first DC game. So far I’ve managed to play with all playable counts of players and about half the heroes enjoying them all.

There are some fantastic combos available with recursively playing the same cards again and again. In two player this can get a bit silly.

Ignoring the advice online we decided to just go ahead and mix the two games together 100%. It was stupidly fun but a total trainwreck. Flash got filtering to remove 2 vulnerabilities and then a location early which quickly snowballed into 4 locations and a minimum draw of 7 per turn. We got McCartney’d big style.

I’ll definitely be picking up the first now too.