City Championships Tournament Report
Location: Torrance, CA
Store Name: Comic Cult I
Date: April 14, 2007
Attendance: 18
Metagame: 2 Qward, 2 X-Mental/Heralds, Heralds Stall, Kree/VU, Kree/Squad/MoE, Kree/x, AGL, Brotherhood Reservist, Darkseid’s Elite, Hellfire Club, Spider-Friends, Chess (Checkmate/Hellfire Club), War Paint (IG Army), Kang, 2 unknowns

My deck list: Qward Reborn (aka, the Pacifist deck)

10 Shadow Creatures
1 Qwardian Watchdog
4 Quagmire
4 Black Cat – Nine Lives
4 Punisher – Frank Castle
4 Kiman
2 Valentina Vostok * Negative Woman
1 Terrax – Harbinger or Ruin
1 Madelyne Pryor – Goblyn Queen
1 Aquaman – King of the Seven Seas
1 Dormammu
1 Void

4 What Are Friends For?
4 Enemy of My Enemy
3 Level 12 Intelligence

4 Qward
4 Empire State University
3 Slaughter Swamp
2 Birthing Chamber
2 Negative Zone

I was looking at some threads on vsrealms when I stumbled across a deck called waffles. I read the guys tournament report, and I was inspired. I looked at the deck list, and I immediately knew that the deck could be improved and become a powerhouse. All I needed to see was Kiman + What Are Friends For to get me started on a list. Our lists end up quite different, but the goal remained the same. I actually added Punisher, Qward, and Negative Zone to make it have a late game win condition, as well as continue the theme of the Pacifist. I don’t attack, and I only do something if you attack me, lol. Anyway, the deck is basically like our old Qward deck from the Team Realmworx days, which is near and dear to my heart, lol. With the addition of Punisher, Vostok, Dormammu, and Void, you can almost get anyone to 0 defense. Add in What Are Friends For (amazing card), Quagmire, and some other little cards, it becomes almost impossible for your opponent to attack. The engine is Black Cat/Punisher + Empire State University to get the cards you need. Throw in Birthing Chamber and Swamps (for Quagmire recursion!) and you have a pretty consistent deck. If opponents didn’t attack and you have a Qward face-up, they all stun anyway. The ideal turn sequence for the first five turns is Shadow Creature, Black Cat (or 2 Creatures), Punisher, Kiman, Vostok + Creature. By this time, you either have Chamber or Empire, and hopefully a Qward. You will have enough to basically stun the whole board if they attack you. Turn 6 can get tricky. You can either drop more little guys or you can just drop Terrax to deal with the 4-drop and just Qward the 5-drop and 6-drop, or if you stockpiled on WAFF, you can drop Madelyne and force them to attack you, when you Kiman them and clear the board with Madelyne. On turn 7, Dormammu is huge if you have at least 7-8 characters in the KO pile (Black Cat will help here), or if you played all your blues and Quagmire the turn before, you drop Aquaman to return the WAFF and/or Quagmire. If you get to turn 8, you should have Negative Zone online and just drop Void for the win. It is important to note that you do not attack until turn 6 (unless you absolutely have no choice). Ok, let’s see what happened.

Round 1 – Keith Watabayashi (Hellfire Club)

Keith is a friend who is trying to break into the world of Hollywood. He is a very nice guy and a cool cat to hang out with. He takes odds and hits Sage, Mastermind, and Blackheart through 4 turns. I have a much harder time, only hitting 2 Creatures, Black Cat, and Kiman through 4. I have to evade Black Cat a lot to filter more, and I’m lucky enough to at least have Qward, Quagmires, and WAFF. He has Shaw Industries on turn 4 and tries to swing with his guys. I auto-stun Sage, and end up clearing his board after a well timed Negative Zone activation on his Blackheart when he plays Army of One. I play WAFF to stun him and I get his board. Since I missed Punisher, he figured he would just attack with Blackheart since the main threat is gone. Turn 5, he drops Shinobi and I drop Vostok + Creature. Black Cat studies at the ESU and gets me another WAFF. I again, get his board with the Negative Zone messing with his “one visible guy” theme. Going into turn 6, I have my whole board while he has Shinobi. He Soulworlds back Donald Pierce to make it harder for me to auto-stun him. I under-drop with Punisher and more Creatures. After studying at the ESU and gaining life (via Level 12), I eat 15 to the face, and the score going into turn 7 is 18-21, in his favor. He drops Sebastian to go along with Donald and Shinobi, while I opt for the equally impressive Dormammu. With 9 guys in the KO pile, 2 Quagmires in-hand, and Vostok, Kiman, and Punisher + Creatures and Qward, I can easily stun his board when he attacks. After Sebastian is auto-stunned, he scoops. Score: 18-14

1-0

Round 2 – Dan Lujan (Brotherhood Reservist)

Dan has come a long way. He is actually good now! Doood! In all seriousness though, I think Dan has improved the most as I’ve seen him cleaning house at Sneaks, CCs and Hobby Leagues now. Anyway, he takes evens and drops Barnacle, Rem-Ram, Amelia, Senyaka, and Spoor through 4 turns. I drop Creature, Black Cat, Punisher, and Kiman through 4. I also have Qward and ESU to boot! Talk about a good draw. I slowly set-up and start auto-stunning his guys with Kiman + Punisher and his Spoor has a blank text in this match-up. He has Spoor, Senyaka, and Firestar on turn 5, while I have my board + Vostok. More shenanigans occur and he is left with just Firestar going into turn 6. On turn 6, he drops Harry Delgado and I drop Madelyne. He attacks with Delgado and I auto-stun him with Kiman and I KO him with Madelyne. The score is 12-9 going into turn 7, and I drop Terrax and another Creature. He musters Kleinstock and another big guy. But it is my initiative, and he scoops after I Terrax his Kleinstock. Score: 12-8

2-0

Round 3 – Christine (AGL)

Christine is the lady who baked the cookies and lemon bars for all of us! She is one of the few female players in So Cal who still play this game. She takes odds and drops an AGL on turn 1, and I immediately cringe. I know my only chance at winning this match is if she misses Chomin. Through 4 turns she only manages to drop an AGL at a time and finally Faust on turn 4. She has Willworld online to filter, but still can’t find Chomin. I’m still in good health (with the help of a couple of Level 12s) and I have Creature, Black Cat, Punisher, and Kiman through 4. She can’t get Faust stunned due to Punisher’s effect (targeting my own characters), so she only manages to deal three endurance loss to me on turn 4. Turn 5 sees Tattooed Man come on her side, while I drop Vostok and another Creature. After some Quagmires on Tattooed Man, I force her to pop her counters to bring out two more AGLs, but this brings his defense to 0, so I auto-stun him. She is able to do quite some damage this turn, but still can’t get Faust stunned. She plays Die for Darkseid on a Creature, and before recovery, I Kiman her Faust, and stun him with the Qward trigger. She brings out 3 more AGLs (who stick around), but at least they didn’t swing this turn. I am actually dangerously low on endurance so I decide to drop Terrax on turn 6. She drops Xallarap, Chomin, and 2 more AGLs to bring her hidden character count to 7! Tattooed Man is anchoring the visible zone. After Vostok activates, I go and attack his board. Tattooed Man takes bunch, then I Negative Zone out Xallarap and trade with a Creature. I Terrax another AGL and it is her attack. She goes for the team swing into Terrax, but I have some tricks to stun some AGLs. I survive going into turn 7 with the score 7-14, in her favor, but she loses her board after Qward triggers. She keeps Tattooed Man and drops another Faust and Shadow Thief (bringing out another Creature). I drop Aquaman, bringing back Quagmires and Level 12. After she sees that she can’t hit Aquaman and Terrax, she scoops. Score: 7-14

3-0

Round 4 – Dustin (War Paint)

Dustin has taken a hiatus from vs., but he is very skilled at this game. Even with his time off from the game, his mental acumen for the game is incredibly high. As soon as he sat down, I knew this was going to be another bad match-up for me. I won’t be able to deal with WWIII with Zazzala burning me as well. He has a good opening with 5 Infernal Minions, Zazzala, and Mantis through 4 turns. He got extra Minions out via Mantis and Hard Light Storage Tank. I have a sub-par opening with 4 Creatures, Quagmire, and Kiman, through 4 turns, with no Qward, but I did get a Birthing Chamber. He makes a mistake by attacking with Zazzala and Mantis. I end up auto-stunning one and trading with the other. He keeps Zazzala and I keep my board. Turn 5, I drop Vostok and Qwardian Watchdog and he drops Tattooed Man. Things really get going as he burns me by running each Minion into my Watchdog and giving Tattooed Man more counters. He chooses not to use him and just passes his attacks. I was surprised, but he didn’t want to fall into a WAFF + Qward to stun both Tattooed Man and Zazzala during recovery. I pass and just gain some life. We go into turn 6 with the score 16-26, in his favor. He drops Shadow Thief, and in response I Terrax his Zazzala. He plays more Minions and his board is pretty big again. I attack into Tattooed Man, wondering if he would pop the counters. He just powers-up and pops 1 counter and we trade stuns. I swing to the face and he passes his attacks, fearing the auto-stun. The score at this point is 10-9 in my favor and on turn 7, he drops Zazzala and Mantis. I drop Aquaman and return some blues and Quagmires. It is very close and he is able to get his WWIII and Blinding Rages with multiple Chambers and a Criminal Mastermind face-up. He plays WWIII, leaving his board with Mantis and Zazzala, and KO’ing Kiman, Shadow Creature, and Quagmire (what was he still doing out on turn 7?!). He goes for the big swing with Zazzala into Watchdog and plays 2 Blinding Rages and a power-up for the massive damage. We trade and the score is -21 to 6 at this point. I have the counter attack so I just swing into Mantis with Aquaman and swing directly with my Creatures and Terrax. Final score is -21 to -25, in my favor.

4-0

Round 5 – Zack (Kree/VU)

Zack is one of the Lancaster guys who drove quite a ways to play in this CCs (that’s about 1.5 hour drive). That’s impressive. He is playing a pretty standard Kree/Villains United deck. We start out pretty slowly, and he has Minerva and Zazzala while I have Creature, Black Cat, and Punisher. He plays a No Mercy on my Punisher (ouch!) and I’m immediately behind. On turn 4, he presses a little, but not fully. I drop Kiman. He tries to hit him, but I just auto-stun the board, basically. He has another No Mercy, this time for my Black Cat (double ouch!). Turn 5, I drop Vostok and Shadow Creature. He can’t fully press again. We make a comment how he wished Zazzala was Calculator, so he can at least bounce the stunned guys to replay. I take some damage, but I again get most of his board. The game is going snail’s pace, more due to his deck not pressing fully. It’s more of like a half-court press. Turn 6, I under-drop Punisher, Creature, and Watchdog. I have Qward by this point and I see that we are going to get to turn 8 since I’m still in the 20s. We eventually get to turn 8 with the score at 9-2 in my favor when I drop Void and flip Negative Zone. He plays… nothing. I’ve never seen such a bad drawing Kree/VU deck. He didn’t fully press one time, so he couldn’t maximize damage to me.

5-0

Round 6 – Ryan Jones (Qward mirror)

So, Ryan is 4-1 at this point, so I scoop to him so we ensure the top 2 seeds and a chance to play in the finals. I was quite amazed at this point at the deck’s resiliency. We were able to navigate through this pretty diverse metagame relatively unscathed. There is a rule that the first match finished gets to choose from EAs or a vs. t-shirt. So, we play a few turns, and I end up with the advantage as I have Qward and he doesn’t. So, I end up clearing his board every turn until he scoops. That took like 10 minutes so we get up and get some EAs.

Top 8 (seeding)

1 Qward (me)
8 Kree/Squad/Masters of Evil

4 Darkseid's Elite
5 Brotherhood Reservist

3 Hellfire Club
6 Kree/Villains United

2 Qward
7 Kree/x

Quarter Finals – Michael Bean (Kree/Squad/Masters)

Bean is one of the better rogue deck-builders who people don’t know about. He never plays “meta decks” so if you play him; you know you’re getting something new and janky! He’s also one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. BEAN! Ok, so he beat Ryan in the swiss rounds pretty handily, so I know I’m in for a tough match. I take evens and I have 2 Creatures, Punisher, and Kiman through 4 turns, while he drops Minerva and Beetle on turn 3, and presses on turn 4, topping with Poison Ivy to set up his row. The main advantage for me is that I have Qward on turn 1 so I am able to clear his board. He has Stargate to hit his drops, but he can’t keep his board. He does, however, Ego, Living Planets my Birthing Chamber. I have an ESU at least next turn so Punisher can study and get a Quagmire. He presses fully this time, even having a Hard Sound Construct, bringing back Beetle. He has Minerva, Kona, Dylon, and Admiral Galen Kor, while I drop Vostok and Creature. I have tricks and proceed to stun his entire board when he attacks. I even get a chance to swing with Kiman on an empty board. The score is 39-17, in my favor at this point, and I drop Terrax. He presses again, this time going all the up to Nighthawk-5. He has Minerva, Kona, Yon-Rogg, Ultimus, Admiral Galen, and Nighthawk. I have my entire board. After Vostok backs up, I send a Creature to Minerva for the trade. I then team attack with 2 Creatures into Yon-Rogg for the trade. I then send Terrax into Nighthawk. He teams-up Squad/Kree and flips and activates Hala. In response, I use Terrax’s ability. He stuns Ultimus, bringing him to 10. We trade and he’s at 0. I swing with Kiman into Galen and he scoops. Score: -3 to 33.

Top 4:

1 Qward
4 Darkseid's Elite

2 Qward
3 Hellfire Club

Semi-Finals – Travis (Darkseid’s Elite)

Travis loves him some Darkseid’s Elite. He has played and tweaked this deck for 3 CCs now, and I think it’s a solid deck. The disruption power of the deck is second to none. This game turned out to be one of the best games I’ve been a part of. He has Malice Vundabar, Dark Firestorm, and Darkseid through 4 turns, and I have 2 Creatures, Punisher, and Kiman. I have Qward, but that gets War of Attritioned on turn 3. On turn 4, he plays Created from Hate, I chain an Enemy from row (he draws a card with Darkseid), which triggers Ancient Throne. I search for a drop; he flips down War of Attrition and blows up my Swamp. I blow up his Ancient Throne. He also flips and uses Dark Matte Drain on my ESU which I got through the War. In combat, I get the trade with Darkseid. On turn 5, I drop Vostok and Creature and he drops Dark Superboy. I have all facedown resources at this point. I pass my attacks and he sends his attackers in. I auto-stun Darkseid with Superboy, and his effect goes on the chain, targeting Kiman, I flip some stuff, but it just gets Dark Matter Drained. Kiman stuns and I lose Punisher at the end of turn. H has Dark Superboy going into turn 6. He drops Dark Kryptonian and I drop Madelyne. At this point, my row is decimated and I have no engine to draw cards with, so I only have two cards left (one of which is Void). Travis is also running low as he has been using Ancient Throne and Dark Matter Drain throughout the game. He attempts to swing in, but I flip Negative Zone and bring out Madelyne. He team attacks her, and I auto-stun Superboy, who targets Kiman again. I flip ESU and another Swamp to fizzle his Vengeance. Going into turn 7, I have Madelyne, Kiman, Vostok, and 2 Creatures while Travis has Dark Kryptonian. Turn 7 comes and I realize that I discarded both my 7-drops (I’m known for that…*sigh*) and my alternate 6-drop (Terrax). I have no more Swamp because they keep getting blow up. Since I have an ESU, I decide to play Punisher, Black Cat, and another Creature. He drops Darkseid-7 and quickly I realize his defense is really high, lol. After Vostok backs up my crew, I send in Madelyne into Darkseid. I burn, Punisher shoots him a few times, he tries to power-up out of it, but Punisher keeps shooting. I achieve the trade. I follow that with a team attack Kiman and the Creatures into Kryptonian and trade. The score is 6-4, in my favor going into turn 8. He drops Darkseid-8 to go along with his 7-drop (after a Throne activation). I drop Void. I flip up Chamber to draw cards; he empties his hand to flip down a flying kick. Everything on his side is face-up so I know what he has. Vostok backs up, I auto-stun Darkseid-8 via Void’s ability during the build phase and it’s his turn to attack me. He sends his 7-drop into punisher with a 17ATK. I mistakenly use ESU with Black Cat, so Punisher eats it all, but not before shooting down his defense. I’m at -13 and he is at -4. I send Kiman into the 7-drop, I get burned, I drop his defense to 4 with 3 Quagmires (Quahog’s finest!) and he takes 10 and I take 4. Void swings directly while a Creature gains me life (Level 12) and the final score is -17 to -33.

Finals:

1 Qward
3 Hellfire Club

Finals – Keith Watabayashi (Hellfire Club)

Ryan was steamrolled by Keith in the Semifinals. So, a Qward mirror match in the Finals was not meant to be, lol. It was fitting that the first guy I played in the day was the last guy I played. We decide to split, with me getting the win so I can submit the deck in, but he gets most of the schwag (box of MTU and VS hoodie and EAs).

So after a long day, the Qward deck is the winner. I didn’t think it would get me an undefeated record, but I guess the deck is resilient. Mad props to Comic Cult and Chris for putting on a PC-caliber tournament. Here are some of the highlights:

-Tables were numbered with a little picture of the CC playmat on the sheet
-Free pizza for everyone
-Christine baked cookies and lemon bars
-plethora of EAs for everyone
-each round, the first match finished got to pick from EAs or a vs. t-shirt
-looping comic book movie previews
-pad and pen at each table for each player
-the insane prizing all the way down to last place (from a box of MTU for first to a playmat for last)
-Archive packs for 3rd-4th
-VS hoodies for 1st and 2nd!
-Erick donating a pack of Legion for each participant

This just goes to show how much passion and love some people still have for this game. UDE, please don't ignore the OP for this game. It truly is too good to just drop.

Congrats on the win, and nice deck. Thanks for the detailed report, it's very much appreciated.

very good write up. and nice additions to the waffles deck. it's just too bad that the guy who originally put it together is a douche and cheated at our cc, but hey no one called him on it. but great job with it.

This is simply one of the best write ups I have read. Sounds like a great time. Write ups like this point to what an intricate and great game VS really is...only problem is I will probably spend three hours tonight deck building rather than studying because this has motivated me.

chao

Damn! I reped you for your other report!! I'm sooo jealous!! Here we don't have anything:( Can anyone offer me some hospitality for a weekend just so I could play in a CC?:p

Patrick's tourney reports are so...

... majestic.

Bleh! How's that for corn?

Grade A cornbeef.

Also, nice report and deck.

Great report, you saved me a lot of typing.

I'm glad you all had a lot of fun. Remember I'm trying to get polo shirts for the next CC. See you all there.

Erick: *sigh* *shakes head*

Rosenberg: I gotta give you props for showing me the turn 5 play of Vostok + Creature at that one Silver Age PCQ a while ago.

I have to say, the hoodie is probably one of the best and most unique prizes to give out at a tournament. Thanks again, Chris.

This also goes to show how good Kree/.whatever is. It got 3 Kree decks in the top 8, and all were different builds (2 were janky!), so Kree is still the deck to beat. Just a note to Kree players, if you want to almost auto-win against the Pacifist deck, just recruit Yon-Rogg and that will be the end of his shenanigans...

I'm glad you like the hoodie. Congrats again.

Yeah, who plays Kree/X with Beetle>Mach 4 and Ronan>Supreme Accuser? Oh yeah, the guy who loses to Jonesy in the semis due to a huge mental error. Oops.

For those keeping score at home, the Kree decks that did well weren't just Kree/VU or KreeMate. Kree is insanely powerful, and is one of the few decks that can effectively deal with stall decks with the proper tools. Yon-Rogg and Bron Char are incredible control tools. Adding a couple 6 or 7 drops to the mix can give you the last bit of oomph needed to push through for the win. I won a game in Swiss with Beetle against Spiderfriends and a game against Darkseid with Ronan 7. I would have lost either of those games without the big guns.

Heh you lost probably because you went pass pass on the first two turns. No one can really fault you for not making the .1% play that would send it to the next turn on which you still probably would have lost due to your slow start.

Unless your name is Chao, I think you're trying to say ciao, just fyi, oh and i'm a dick.

Oh yah, and props to patrick for building a sweet deck and the cult for being such a great host.

Slops to patch for being a coward.

Yeah Patch sucks. You heard me I said it when you were there I'll say it now. Go on to your WOW. I'll stick with the stiff competition. Beating down an old cripple lady in the street aint much of a victory. I'll step up to take my licks in a good ole Super-Heroic Showdown.

Jonesy you are a dick and yet I never noticed in all the games I've played against or around you, you really hide it well, but there it is, and better watch out my wife has analysed her mistakes and will be ready for you next time.

Chao

Oh and Chris....you are the man.

Man.... Patch is getting "slighted" all over the place... "is that wwwrrrrrrnnngg?"

To be fair (man I hate that phrase), if UDE would continue to do something with PC Points and not use rating as the only way to get into the PC... Patch might have played.

He would have played ONLY if the EW crew didn't show (are our shirts that intimidating? I mean, come on, reading the letters elicit that look, ewww!). It's a sad, but brutal truth. I liken it to a basketball player dominating the local courts, but when "out of town" players come, you don't want to play because you're scared you might lose, or worse yet, they might be better than you...