There hasn’t been a lot of new stuff going on in vs lately, so while I know not everyone likes tourney reports, I thought I would let you know what was played in our city championships.

What you should know about me is that I like to win. While playing something different is a lot of fun, and I enjoy trying different types of decks for hobby league, etc, once a tourney starts, I want to win. That’s just me with anything.

So, my decision was to play a Darkseid/Inhuman deck that I had been testing and working on or run the IG concealed that is good. The D/I deck had been running great, but on the day of the tourney, I sat at school and goldfished the deck about 10 times, and it only hit twice. I decided to run IG.

We had 8 people for our city championships. This is a normal turnout for us. We always have a few guys who come in here and there, but can never seem to get them all there at the same time. We have about 12 players that play at different times.

The rundown on decks was:
Ed with Villains United / Secret Society
Nick with an x-men with a focus on wolverine
Devin with CheckRock
Richard with Juggernaut
Mike with Darkseid
Shen with Ninjas
Ryeland with Bizarro
Me with IG concealed

Here’s the list I played:
4 x Catwoman
3 x Penguin
4 x Superwoman
3 x Johnny Quick
3 x Black Manta
3 x Owlman
4 x Jemm
1 x Ultraman
4 x White Martian
2 x Prometheus

4 x Hunte Castle

4 x Blinding Rage
4 x Secret Files
4 x Crime Syndicate of America
4 x Savage Beatdown
3 x Flying Kick
4 x Skree

Game 1 was against Ed. His VU/SS deck can swarm out a ton of people on 7. His plan is to play Luthor with boost, putting 2 ivys into play who each bring in another 1 drop. Charaxes can join the fray for free. Unfortunately Ed missed on 4 and underdropped on 5. On 6 he hit deathstroke, but it was my init and a skree let me hit Deathstroke and give him no chance.

Game 2 was Nick with the x-men. His plan is to swarm out until 5, then go off with wolverine attacking a bunch. He draws lots of cards with Jean grey and get multiple men into play until 5 when he can swing with wolverine and adamantite claws a bunch of times. He plays the x-men press the attack card to really go off. With fastball special, he can usually get the exhausted guys with no problem. I knew I was in trouble since I had nothing to stop him from swinging to my dome a bunch of times. But I did have the voodoo. I put the voodoo on the cut. Nick hit Multiple Man on 1. Nothing on 2. Nothing on 3. This allowed me to take full control. He was still able to knock me from 45 to 13 on turn 5 by a free swinging wolvie, but it was too little at that point as my swing backs put him at -10.

Game 3 was Devin. Devin is the store owner who loves vs. Since he loves vs we get all kinds of vs love. Devin gives out as much as he can and tries to take care of all his players. He gives us great deals on boxes and packs to play. He gives us lots of swag. He had enough Royal Flush Gangs to give us each 5 for playing. Thanks Devin, now we can hold a Royal Flush Gang tournament.  Devin has been playing CheckRock for a long time. He won an elite series with it and knows the deck very well. All you need to know is that at the end of turn 5, he was at 1 life. I know that means I lose. Because on turn 6 he drops Darkseid and gives me his Rock of Eternity which means I don’t get to attack again. He drops Darkseid and I scoop.

Game 4 was Richard. Richard was debating playing the IG concealed, but decided to play Juggs. So Richard was kind enough to loan me 3 CSAs to replace the Crushing Blows I had subbed in. CSA is so much better in this deck because it can be used anytime even on defense. That’s right. Did you miss that you could play it on defense? If someone does attack in to the hidden area, you can use it to stop a stun or stun back. I did get one stun back with it in one much during the tourney. Richard has this deck based on Juggs and Magneto to keep your field clear. He stuns a guy with Magneto and plays finishing move to get him off the field. He kept my guys off the field every time I attacked and got stunned, so I was playing the match without many guys on the field. At the end of turn 4, I had a 1 drop left. This means he’s not doing damage to me, but he’s just trying to wait for the later turns anyway. I had build on 7. As I’m thinking about playing Secret Files, the expression on Richard’s face gives it away. I don’t secret files and play the 3 drop I have in hand. Richard doesn’t play anyone and I attack for the win. I’m not sure if I could have gotten by a 7 drop that turn or not, so it worked out for me.

So, we cut to the top 2 and I have to play Devin again. I was one point away last time, and I know that I have to finish him on 5, or I lose.

Game 1 he wins the roll and takes odds. Devin hits Atom Smasher on one who gets bigger every turn to absorb damage. He misses two. Hits Ahmed on 3 and Adrian Chase on 4. With the 2 concealed guys and only one visible guys, I’m able to hit him hard enough and end the game on 5.

Game 2 Devin starts off with complaints that the tourney is over. But what he doesn’t realize is that I miss characters on turns 1, 3, and 5. At the end of turn 5, he’s only at 26. But he doesn’t hit Darkseid to give me the Rock so we go to turn 6. But missing so many characters only allows me to get him to 3 and his hidden guys can swing to my face with Brother Eyes to finish me off.

Game 3 He thinks he’s lost again. He doesn’t see my hand though. My opening hand was a castle, a 6 drop, and 2 attack pumps, so I mulligan. I get 2 black cats, a castle, and some attack pumps. Next turn I get a penguin and an attack pump. Next turn I get 2 black cats. Next turn is a castle and an attack pump. So going into turn 5, I’ve played a black cat and a penguin. I finally hit Martian this turn. But with only 2 char I haven’t done much damage. We go to turn 6 where he swings in for lots and knocks me to -28 to his 25. I look at what I have and know there’s no way I can do anything and extend the hand.

So, as you decide what to play for your city championship, don’t forget about a classic. CheckRock.

We have a great group of guys and a great store owner. I get a Flash shirt and some JLI guy that stuns 3 drops. Seems good.

The math teacher in me has to wish you all a happy PI day on Friday. Don’t get it? Think about the date and some of that high school math you learned. Oh, and if you are interested in that Darkseid/Inhuman deck, I’ll be posting that in my blog. It really does have the potential to be pretty good. Now I just have to start a blog. :)

*edit: You can now check out Darkseid/Inhumans at http://gator7870.wordpress.com

Check/Rock is one of my favorite decks.

Out of curiosity: why 4x Hunte and not 2x Hunte/2x HFC?

Haha. Good one. Clever.

No Mobilizes??

I'm guessing Secret Files is a little less pricey.

His missed drops in the last two games show why it's a good idea to play both (Mobilize and Secret Files) if you have them.

When did pi become 3.142008?

Yep... unless you got uber-card draw... 7 character tutors minimum... or more characters ala Avengers style.

PI IS EXACTLY 3!!!

Did no one catch the Pi joke in my article?

The hits on my blog beg to differ. Drastically.

You were right, advertising really works!

I didn't run mobilizes because in testing i never needed them. If I missed a drop, I could usually underdrop 2 char and the attack pumps more than made up for it.

Hellfire Club would have been a good call. Thanks for the info a day late. :(

Our school does a celebration for PI day. I'm one of the teachers who gets smacked with a pie for a donation. Can't wait.

LoL :p

I've always wanted to do that, throw a pie at someone. You should get that youtube'd or something so we could all see it. ;)