Dark Sphere 27/07

Went to a Star Wars tournament at Dark Sphere in London yesterday, for a bit of fun.  As it turned out, I finished second overall.

I took the same Navy deck I took the the regionals.  because it often does well.
Light side I took a boring smugglers deck of Han, Chewie, Falcon, Lando and Dash.  Fun went it goes well.  Bombs if you don't see any resources.

Anyway didn't take notes because I'm bad.

Game 1 was vs Roy.  I can't remember the first game, I know I lost it getting the dial to 7.  game 2 was v scum, that I just could not get past.  2 tatooine crash, and 1 slave trade meant fully half my deck was captured under those 3.  But the game went to time.  So a loss, and a draw.

Game 2 was vs Greg.  A new player, who I sadly demolished.  Amusingly in the second game he could of won it.  Yoda had 5 objective damage I had no defenders.  He blew up an objective handily and then could of used trust their feelings for another, winning it there.  But he didn't.  Turn after I could of won it, but missed that one of his objectives had some damage on it already.  Cest la vie.  Full Match win for me

Game 3 was vs Johnny.  I got a match win here, v a great guy.   My dark side win was pretty epic.  I was going to win next turn.  He needed to get two objectives to win before then.  Which he could of done with Home One having just enough damage to destroy Generals Imperative, and the rest of his speeders another.  Alas I had a Battle of Hoth that healed the attacked objective of 1 point, leaving Home One 1 damage shy of getting the win.

Game 4 was vs Spike.  Felt bad here.  As Dark Side my first turn was Veers and an AT-ST.  His first turn was spending everything for a falcon.  He attacked with the Falcon intending to get some damage, bounce in a Yoda, Heroes and Legends into another Yoda etc etc.  But he missed that my AT-ST had 3 unit damage thanks to Veers, and basically passed on the edge battle - the Falcon was going to get it's 2 objective damage regardless and would survive the AT-ST's two blasters.  But the Falcon died, and that was basically it.  He could not come back from that.  Match Win.

So that was the Swiss.  I finished second overall and was in the Final.

The Final v Chris was brutal.  His Dark Side was Sith.  Turn 1 Mara Jade, Turn 2 Vader.  Then a bunch of protectors.  Then Vader lightsaber.  He must of seen every resource in the deck in those early turns.  it was all I could do to hang on.  Dash took out an objective on my first turn.  Only good thing to come from this was that he only destroyed a single objective.  If I could win as Dark Side destroying more objectives than he did I was looking good.  My draw was pretty good.  Tie Attack Squadron, AT-ST's.  He sadly flipped over 2 Across the Anoat, and a Raise the Stakes.  I lost an objective early, then he got a blockade runner and that was that.  No Playmat for me.


Loot!

I won the participation prize which was Rogue Three Full Alt Art
Top two got Grand Moff Tarkin full alt art and a deck box, I got the Veers one.
Chris took home a gorgeous Leia Playmat.  I must have one!

Star Wars LCG, 8th June Regional at Leisure Games

Went to a regional championship last weekend for the Star Wars LCG.  As the title says at Leisure Games in Finchley, London.

Never really expected to get anywhere, so didn't take any notes.  but I was seeded 4th going into the top 8, finished 6th overall.  So really proud considering how little I play of the LCG and an total inexperience of tournament play.

The decks I chose were a really interesting one I played against on OCTGN one time, and one I put together in the train.

The really interesting one was Dark Side, Imperial navy.  Tie fighters and AT-ST's  That went liek this.

2x Defense Protocol
2x Kuat Reinforcements
2x Endor gambit
2x Generals Imperative
1 x Recon Mission
1x Sabotage in the snow 

Two general ideas.  TIE attack squadron is really strong.  With Talon Roll and Fate cards for targeted strike, they totally wreck face.  Secondly Sabotage in the snow comes with Forward Command Post for free objective damage if shielded.  Half my AT-ST's have shielding, and the AT-ST commander can put a shield on any unit.  Makes Tie Attack Squadron even more broken.

Mt Light Side deck was put together in 5 minutes on the train to London.  Just took a bunch of Smuggler objectives, can totally random any 10 Smuggler sets, it will be good deck 99% of the time.  They are pretty broken.  Did lack focus though.  Took Sleuths and Blockade Runner sets, then added Dash Rendar and Lando for more attacking alone goodness.  And then Han because why not, he's good.  Freeholders would of been better, but they sort of killed that with the new restricted list.  So it ended up being

2x Questionable Contacts
2x Against all Odds
2x Trust Me
2x Across the Anoat Sector
2x Raise the Stakes

Nothing special, And 2 of Raise the Stakes, Across the Anoat or Against all Odds is a strong objective draw.  If you get a couple of sleuths or blockade runner with that, you are looking very strong.  If it makes it to late game,  Han, Lando or Dash win games.  Lando especially.

My first match went well, Tie fighters dominated my opponent for a comfortable win.  Should not of won my second game.  All I had all game was 2 sleuth scouts who killed two objectives turn 2 but I never had the force.  He got the dial to 11 on his last turn, and if he had kept one resource back to activate the devestator He would of won, but alas he played some mostly useless units instead, and I played a dash who went in against no defenders to win.

Can't recall much from other other games.  Generally either I got very lucky, and got all my damage dealers out really early.  Or my opponiones just drew nothing.  I went 9-0, 9-0, 0-9, 4-5, 9-0 over my 5 rounds of swiss.  Some highlights.

My 0-9 was so annoying.  I lost as dark side getting the dial to a grand total of 3.  He had a perfect Objective draw of 2 across the Anoat and an against all odds.  I had no chance.  Game 2 was really drawn out.  I could do nothing to get past his AT-AT's due to shielding.  I blew up a forward command post early with a saboteur which killed a loty of offense.  I had a dream team of Han, Dash and Lando out soon after but they were not enough to punch through the legion of AT-AT's and AT-ST and their shields.  Eventually an orbital bombardment hit the table and that was that.

Game 4 was so close. I won the game as Dark Side.  Game 5 I needed one more Objective as light side.  But the turn of victory was not to be, I drew a hand of nothing but events.  I must have of had ~2- cards left in my deck, in those cards was something like 1 Han Solo, 1 Blockade Runners, 2 Dash Rendars, 3 Sleuth Scouts, 2 Lando's.  Any of then would of won it for me, but No.  I then went on to lose the Tie break by one Objective. 

Game 5 was amusing in that everything went my way.  I was able to completely stay on top of a Sith Deck. with Trust Me.  Cancelling A Force Choke and a Force Lightning from killing Han Solo.  Last turn I attacked with Han, with a Lando on the field.  He had a Palpatine who had to block else he was a dead Palpy.  But Lando just took him out the Engagement, so he died anyway.

Going into top 8 Fortune failed me.  Game 1 saw me as Light Side.  he played a Mara Jade, and commited.  if I had a blockade Runner, or two sleuths, the game would of been mine.  But alas I did not.  A couple of bumph units who just got picked apart by Mara.  A thoroughly dissapointing loss.
Game 2 I started of ok, a couple of tie fighters and a talon roll in hand.  He had the almost perfect combo of wookie life debt, Chewie and a Wookie Warrior.  The two wookies could protect each other so activating the Wookie Warrior, or giving the exact amount of damage needed for Chewie to kill my units. Also had a Let the Wookie Win in hand for added insult.  I had 0 chance.

But got a Playmat  Acrylic Damage tokens, and 3 Jabba Promos.  So yay.

Today

So todays day of gaming.

We played Lat Night on Earth.  I like LNOE.  The base game + Growing Hunger was pretty perfect.  Then they just seem to keep adding expansions that do nothing much.  This latest one has woods.  Which seem to add nothing beyond making the map bigger and inconveniencing the heroes.  And making some Zombie cards so bad, it's just silly.

Anyway Zombies won both games.  Lost interest in it with expansion material.

Then we played Star Wars the card game.  Sadly there was three of us, so it meant the challenge deck.  Which are totally unfun unless you have a solid strategy and decks to beat it.
Then played a normal game, but was mostly meh'd out by the challenge game

Then the day devolved into Magic (yawn)

So yeah crappy day all told.

Magic Draft Tournament 13/04

Like the title says, there was a Magic Draft tournament Yesterday which  I played in.  And came 2nd of all things.

I drafted a bunch of Green and Black.  My first pack (Theros)had a Nighthowler as it's rare.  Seemed good, so that set me in Black although I didn't actually put it in the deck.  Then got passed a Bow of Nylea so took that and cemented Green. From Born of The Gods I took the really bad limited Mythic that is Chromanticore.  Casting a five colour spell in limited is difficult, but it worked out.  We also Drafted M14, and I did the slightly dickish move of taking Ajani.  To be fair giving it to a white deck would of been a real bad play.  He can be rather good.  And won me at least two games.  Once I drafted Chromanticore, I set myself the mission of being able to use it.  So I took every single piece of mana fixing I saw.  Which left me with a problem, I disovered I had way too few creatures.  cest le vie.

Deck List
Ajani, Caller of the Pride
Chromanticore
2 Swordwise Centaur
Leafcrown Dryad
Satyr Piper
Elvish Mystic
Bow of Nylea
Karametra's Favor
Commune with the Gods
2 Verdant Haven
Marshmist Titan
Blightcaster
Blood Toll Harpy
Sengir Vampire
Servant of Tymaret
Dark Favor
Read the Bones
Mind Rot
Asphyxiate
Eye Gouge
Darksteel Ingot
Springleaf Drum
9 Forest
7 Swamp

Game 1 was vs Colin
Mostly scuppered by his dirty Blue Control deck.  He countered a verdant Haven, and the only creature I ever saw apart from Chromanticore.  He did however turn one of my lands into a island that let me cast it, so yay.  A few sea serpents later and a Loss

Game 2 was v Daryl
Won this one with one card left in my deck.  We was mostly drawing some mediocre creatures who had would literally bounce of each other.  he did however draw an enchantment that had me milling three every turn.  I did have an Asphyxiate in hand though, and was able to kill it when he tapped out one turn to cast...something.  I was missing over half my deck though.  I dropped a Sengir Vampire which was able to eat his only threat, Serra Angel due to the Satyr Piper.  Then With Ajani cast, spend a few turns, +1'ing some counters on it, and then double striked twice for the win.

Game 3 was vs Travis
A very young lad.  Was not so interesting strategy wise.  I was able to fend of a sliver and a firecat long enough for Sengir Vampire to gain 5 counters, bestowed Chromanticore on him and swung in for 28 damage with a friendly Ajani Double Strike.  Felt kinda bad really doing nothing for so long, but All I literally had was the vampire, Ajani and the bow.

Game 4 (or 5 memory is fuzzy) was vs Steve
I don't know what was in Steve's deck, but I never saw it.  he had a 1/1 deathtouch scorpion which I eye gouged.  And then just ran over with a few creatures for a win.  Played a friendly afterwards.  Which was amusing.  I had the servant and the bow in play.  he had a pair of 4/4's.  He would swing I would block one and regenerate the servant taking 4.  When the servant untapped Steve low a life, I gained one.  And the bow gave me 3.  Would of eventually lost as he had an enchantment that turned my creatures into illusions, but it was funny.
 
Game 5 (or 4, pretty sure it was 5 though) was vs Rob
I only ever got one creature, my vampire.  Which was Chandras outraged.   A major loss.  Fun Fact, Rob did not lose a game on the day.

Game 6 was vs Andy
Expected a loss, but he did not draw into any Islands.  So that was that.
I did win a friendly after though, when he draw into a mana base.  He had the advantage almost all game.  I was down to 2, he was at 14.  But I had enough on the field and a dark favor to swing for a win.

So second.  Yay.  And my dick move of taking two mythics actually helped.  More yay's. I do like Limited, even though I am hamstrung by not knowing or having interest in the Meta

Netrunner

Played in a Store Championship today. Well sort of, there was only 4 players. So I got a playmat by default.

Now one problem I can see with competitive Netrunner is much the lack of variety, although with a such a small sample it's not that indicative of the state of Netrunner, it's still frighteningly similar to the top of any event.
 Heres what everyone was playing
                Corp                                           Runner
Michael - Weyland, Tag and Bag                 Andromeda
Jay -         NBN, Fast Advance                   Andromeda
Becky -    NBN, Tag and Bag                     Andromeda
Me -        HB, lots of ICE                            Noise 

Yep, everyone plays Criminal.  Not just any Criminal, Andromeda who just offers the most consistency with her massive starting hand giving you want you need.

And on the corp side, Fast Advance or the ever present tag and bag.

Anyway long story short, I lost all my matches.  Came close 4 or 5 games, and won once as runner.  My Decks were not super competitive. My runner deck fell flat more that once.  And my very last game I mulligan-ed a hand with no ICE for a second Hand of no ICE.  Went downhill from there.

Meh, should of played Star Wars.  They had 6 players.

Firefly

So Firefly the boardgame.  I'm human being, ergo I like Firefly.  And here be a game based on Firefly, so yay for that.

It's a pick up and deliver game.  You pick stuff up and you go and deliver it somewhere and get paid.  In order to do this, you need to go shopping so your crew and ship is up to scratch.  And here it is dripping with theme.  Everything from the show is here, and does just about what you would expect it to based on that.  And the contacts (Mission givers) are suitable flavorful.  So I was all set to enjoy it.

And my first experience of it was a total let down.  It really is a long game.  And unfortunately if you don't get a good start from your shopping decks, you really are at a disadvantage.  In our game last night, all of the Serenity Crew showed up, bar River Tam.  Darren Got Jayne, Wash and Zoe and dominated the rest of the game).  Chris got Simon (who amusingly enough got arrested), and Andy got Shepherd Book.  Kaylee also showed up for Jason, and I also managed to draw another version of her. But of course only one person can have her so my version was out the game.  My totally nameless crew was mostly ineffectual, and they were poached later on when I had no fuel left to Save some stranded ship or other so they became disgruntled.  I did managed to fluke two misbehave events and came a little cash.  And did start getting some crew, who got killed almost instantly by Reavers.  Another problem which upped the Length, was Andy who took literally forever to take turns.

I do believe I will pass on any game of this with more than three players.  Any more than that and there just isn't enough awesome crew to go around meaning one or two are going to be in a much better position for the 2+ hours this game takes.  And that game length needs shortening a great deal.

Star Wars the Card Game

Can't remember if I wrote about this yet. but Star Wars the card game.

Now when this came out I was unimpressed.  The Core set felt clunky, and I thoroughly disliked the Edge Battles.

Fast forward a few months.  Team Covenant (http://teamcovenant.com/) love this game, and I tend to love that they love.  Heard about those guys back in the Monsterpocalypse days (another miniatures game I adore.) They keep putting videos about the games they support, which are currently The Spoils, Game of Thrones, X-Wing, Netrunner and the Star Wars LCG.  And I keep watching these Videos, and Star Wars just seemed more and more interesting the more I watched.
I don't think it's a good as Netrunner, but it's still pretty good.  And it's Star Wars which means it a 100 times easier to get people to play it.  And the theme carries across quite well.  Coupled with a really quite innovative deck building system. So picked up some cards from ebay, a full play set of almost everything to date for 150, not bad.
 
Was hoping to play a couple of games today.  As it was there was three of us, so we played the challenge decks.  Did both of them, me at the helm of both of them and I somewhat crushed my opponents. (they are massively overpowered, but to be fair I think thats fine, they should be a challenge or there is no point).  After that, Darren got bored (as he does if it's not Magic) and Fish was as ever summoned by the other half, so never got a proper game.

Somewhat despairing of a getting a proper game of anything in this crappy town.