Cactus Game Design Message Boards

Who is coming to Southwest regionals this Saturday in Arcadia?

Eric

 

The Kramers will be there.  It also looks promising that we can be there Friday night for T2MP, so that should be a full, multi-round category again this year!

Huh, I must've been dealing with some musicians and didn't hear that conversation.  I don't see a change on Cactus or Bryon's site.

I think there were plans for us to stay in the area overnight (as we did last year to dodge the Friday traffic), so can we get an update as to when it all is?

Regional Tournament is Saturday only.  I've updated my website to reflect the change.  Sorry for the confusion.

Southwest Regionals (as selectively remembered by sk)
(This ended up a lot longer than I expected, as I threw in a bunch of deck and play examples, but figure ya’ll might like it.)

Block 1: Type 2, 2 Player (2 rounds, 4 players) + Type 2, Multiplayer (1 round, 4 players)
My T2 deck for the day was a TGT/BTN/CTB offense with Romans on defense (parts inspired by some deck testing I did online with Justin over the last week, parts left over from my unreliable Prophets/TGT/Egyptian and Genesis/Rome Type 2 decks)

Type 2, 2 Player
For the first round, I was facing my brother, which put Kurt against my dad.
Andrew v Scott: Andrew was using a Genesis/Splash deck.  His ignore offense was a big problem for my dual color defense, as I had no way to stop Asher's recursion of RTC after using CM on Zebby.  This slowed my drawing speeds, as my d2's and Heavy Taxes were unused almost the entire game.  My TGT gave his splash defense a headache until he drew enough Deceiving Spirits to make me mad.  The CTB helped me stay ahead for quite awhile, but strong lost soul control and the hiding of my Son of God in the bottom 3 cards saw Andrew pull off a close win by a single soul.
Kurt v Ron: Let's put it this way: Purple and Pale Green vs Purple and Pale Green.  More AoCp's flew than I can remember (8, perhaps?), and Kurt came out with the win, again knocking my chances of playing him in the category.

For the second round, Andrew and Kurt played for first, while I played my dad for either second or third.
Scott v Ron: The Garden Tomb got me most of my souls, and Provisions pulled in the rest.  Dad managed 2 AoCp's on my Romans, but having the Color Guard soul in Prison, along with plenty of Heavy Taxes, held him off long enough for me to get the win.
Kurt v Andrew: Lois was too small for 0/3, 3/3, and 4/4 characters to even hope to stop, so AoCp again ran the show.  Kurt pulled off a quick victory to win the category.


Type 2, Multiplayer
Seeing as how T1 2P was only beginning their third round, Bryon had T2 MP moved from the second block to the first since three of the four of us were also interested in playing either Sealed or T1 multi.  Everyone continued with the same decks, except for dad who swapped for a ignore offense and Confusion/Sin in the Camp defense.

Kurt's at the point that he knows playing 3 Kramers in multi leaves him with a very low chance of placing, and this was obvious by the whopping one lost soul he rescued during the game.  His Son of God was discarded by Ron on the opening rescue (my PM was wrong, Kirk), leaving him with little chance for success.  My BTN posed an early problem for all three of them until Kurt activated Confusion of Mind, which forced my TGT band and BTN to take a back seat to my Provisions until CoM was removed.  Andrew and I quickly managed four souls apiece (Andrew was picking up nearly all of Kurt’s souls after he lost his hand [to Sin in the Camp, along with a decision to face my Galba and his Heavy Taxes], and my deck was drawing very well).  Kurt and Ron were both stuck at one soul rescued (dad’s ignores didn't pan out as well as he had hoped, one of which allowed me to tear a Haman’s Plot that I burned simply because I was tired of discarding them all day, as I never got to use them on Kurt).  I again got the TGT women to walk in for free souls from the zero-card handed Kurt or my dad's often empty territory (his characters weren't intended to win battles, just to destroy decks).  I came out with the win, with Andrew and Ron taking second and third, respectively.

Funny moment: I drew the Revealer LS on one of the final turns, revealing a Falling Away from both Kurt's and Andrew's decks.

During the lunch break, I saw something amazing that I can’t discuss.  All I’m saying is that it's something that many of you want.  And though it is in the Redemption world, it was not a list of spoilers on TxP.

Block 2: Sealed Deck (3 rounds, 10 players)
I got the H deck and chose 2 Patriarchs and 1 Kings pack.  My opponent chose 3 Priests packs.  He opened a Judas (pt), which fit with the crimson defense, but only the Jethro’s Wisdom I opened was otherwise notable, though he chose to bring his deck to 63 cards.  I got Jephthah, Jephthah’s Tragic Vow, Egyptian Wise Men, and Moral Decine, and traded for his Wasting Disease.  Not bad.

Game 1: My opponent’s only lost soul for much of the game was trapped in a teal site, while mine were all seen within several turns.  Golden Calf showed early, though, so Moses wasn’t an issue until near the end of the game, and I quickly removed Aaron with Zelophehad’s Sin to stop the band, so my defense worked decently while GC remained.  Begging to go Back got rid of Red Dragon, but the lack of lost souls left me with a loss after a short attempt at a rally towards the end.

Game 2: My opponent had the same deck as me, making demon discarding worthless, which weakened both offenses.  He set aside John with Listening to God, and I did the same with James, hoping for the uber band, but ended up having to reset John when I was at a weak point defensively.  My own band of the two did fine, however, and a use of Jephthah cleared his defenses, giving me a strong win.

Game 3: I was facing Katya Wolfe*, who also had the same deck as me.  I set Jephthah aside with Listening to God, and used Widow for souls (she only had Pharaoh and Egyptian Charioteers) in the meantime.  Jephthah was able to nuke two small numbered heroes, plus was too big for her biggest guys, allowing him and Widow to get me all the souls I needed, with me not playing much more than a convert to back them up.  Her offense had trouble defeating Egyptian Wise Men + Pharaoh (or another big Egyptian once Angel of the Lord killed him), so I was able to hold her to no more than a couple souls before pulling off the win.

When it was all worked out, I finished the category in 4th of 10... not bad for only my third go at the category, especially since the main reason I placed at state was because only 6 were playing.

Funny Moment: Knowing that he wasn’t in the running for placing, Brandan Abbott goofed around a bit during game 3, which was fine since he was playing the humorous Pastor Marcus.  This included Brandan actually looking at Marcus’ hand for no good reason, revealing Angel of the Lord.  As Marcus pointed out, there might’ve been a reason to complain to Bryon, but neither had any true cares about whether they won or lost (no shot at placing).

Round 2
The win ended up pairing me with four of the best Type 1 players in the state.  Seeing as how I’m always at the Type 2 table, the fact that the only T1 2P game I’ve won in the room was a game for kicks that had the greatest draw of my life, and the fact that I was the only person at the table that wasn’t sharing a name with another player at the table, I knew that I had no chance.  I figured I could at least help Brandon & Brandan take down the Wolfes.

Brandan Abbott attaced me with the blue Ahimaaz, and looked at my hand (I think I just had numbers).  I blocked with Legion from territory, and he played Pillar of Truth to ignore gray.  I’d’ve given him the tournament right there, but apparently, that’s not how it works.

Michael Wolfe brings back a Provisioned Eleazar from set aside.  Brandon West is suddenly excited, just now realizing this is the Eleazar that Dodai is referring to.  Mr. Wolfe realizes that he just gave Brandon West, who was looking to be a contender for the win, a CTB band, and immediately goes about using up the ability with an rescue at the defenseless Brandon.

I had no enhancements to back up my 8/9 Agur, which wasn’t going to beat much of anything since defenses had begun to stock up.  I had Jephthah in my hand, however, but only having 7 on offense wasn’t going to work if they had someone in their hand (as such experienced players would).  I considered risking it, shaking it in my hand as I was deciding whether to use him, but foolishly dropped it, allowing Michael Wolfe enough sight to identify it before I picked it back up, and he said something to the effect of, “You got a Jephthah?”  Everyone at the table (except Brandon, who I had already told) was surprised/scared, and I quickly realized I could use this to my advantage.  I put him back in my hand and attacked (I think) Leeza for my fourth with Agur, who bought my bluff and quickly surrendered the soul.  Brandan Abbott then accurately predicted that I had been bluffing, and I confessed.  At this point, I had 4, the others had 3.

Brandan attacked me with the hero that bands to a Deacon, banding to my own Timon.  At this point, I started to fear him pulling off the win with another combo win if I failed, and thus I decided to use my Legion + Balaam’s Disobedience to block him, and not Michael Wolfe, for the lost soul I still had available.  Again, sorry, man.

Michael, Brandon, and I all had four.  Brandon and Leeza both had souls for me to rescue, and Brandon began taunting me, trying to get me to attack his The Rabsaris + The Assyrian Spoilers, rather than take the likely free soul from the much-attacked Leeza that had just given one away.  I promised him we could have the epic battle in a moment, but that I wanted to have the guaranteed win.  He approved, and I won the game with Agur.  I quckly pulled Agur back to my territory, and Brandon excitedly asked me to attack him.  I said okay... and placed Jephthah into battle, discarding my top card and his banding characters.  Everyone laughed.

Two category wins in one day was pretty awesome.  Figure if I’d won the other two as well, I might’ve known how Justin feels, but it’s a good place to start.    Thanks again to Bryon, who was awesome to figure out some conversion rates to let me use the winnings for TxP boxes once they’re released.

Oh, and Brandan?  “Locust from the Pit”.

* I thought I had their names straight until someone confused them during Booster Draft, which confused me, so I now have no idea if this was the sister I was playing the round... apologies if I’m wrong.