Player Deck name Theme Factions ------ --------- ----- -------- Alex Wargacki Fascist State Cop A.F.... Andrew Davidson Dosi-do Power-mad .D.H... Andy Holt ...H.L. Anil Das-Gupta Light Armour BK/HMT ....J.M Arthur Howlin Gun .D..... Bill Dawbarn Hoods A...J.. Daniel Vandenburg Orange ...H... Dave Martin Paper Curtains Discard A....L. Hedley Coppock 21st C. Monkey Boy ....J.M Ivan Hartley Cuddly Toys Ski troops ..F...M Mark Wheelhouse Gas & Mirrors HoM/CotNF .DF.... Nithiyan Thiruudaian .DF.... Robert Lee Dark Rain Traveler ...H..M Ron Wheelhouse Holding on for a Hero .D..... Stephen Biggs DNA Viv/TM ..F..L. Thivyan Thiruudaian AD..... Tom Kassel .DF.... Yuit Sum Vong Lapdog .D...L.Dragons and Architects are still the most popular factions but not quite so prevalent as last time.
Here is a summary of round 1:
Alex beat Andy, Anil & Hedley
Andrew beat Daniel, Mark & Ron
Dave beat Arthur, Robert & Steve
Tom beat Ivan, Nithyan & Thivyan
Mark beat Daniel, Ron & Yuit
Mark's victory was very swift - up to 4 FS sites quickly and then an unstoppable attack with Plasma Trooper/Cellular Reinvigoration. That table played another friendly while I got the other games started and that finished early too. I saw a chance to get myself some play and so played a game against three of these speedy players while the other games ground on.
The results from round 2 were:
Alex beat Nithiyan & Yuit
Bill beat Andrew & Robert
Daniel beat Anil, Arthur & Tom
Ivan beat Andy, Mark & Steve
Ron beat Dave, Hedley & Thivyan
Bill had now arrived and with 18 players, I went for a 3/3/4/4/4 split.
The usual 90 minutes was allowed for this round but hardly any of the games
finished in time. On my table this was due a strong defensive combination
of Rob's recycled events and Bill's muscular Hoods. As the time limit bore
down, Rob then unleashed a torrent of recycled Killing Rain (a Dark Traveler
deck) but, as he destroyed all his own FS sites and most of mine, this
just gave Bill the tie break. Grrr.
At this stage we just had one double-winner, Alex who was given a bye
while the other 8 winners fought it out.
The semi-finals were:
Ivan beat Bill, Daniel & Tom
Mark beat Andrew, Dave & Ron
Ivan is still fairly new to the game and so did well to make the final. I seemed to be the tall poppy in my semi-final and attracted a lot of attention from Ron in particular. He should perhaps have focussed more attention upon his son who used Satellite Intelligence to trump first my Fox Pass and then Ron's Fox Pass to win the game. Mark is perhaps eleven years old and so is easy to underestimate.
Meanwhile in the consolation games:
Hedley beat Andy, Anil, Nithyan & Steve
Ron beat Andrew, Bill, Daniel & Dave
Yuit beat Arthur, Robert & Thivyan
The final was:
Alex beat Ivan & Mark
All finalists were using decks with a heavy Architect element and was a fairly bloody affair, I believe. Both Mark and Ivan are still new to play at this level while Alex has played in 5 out of 12 finals at Flashpoint Finchley. Alex's victory is therefore not too surprising but was nevertheless well-earned - three straight wins on the day. As Alex won with a Cop deck, the Thing with 1000 Tongues was defeated after 6 months of being instrumental in every victory. Accordingly, Alex's prize was a signed Thing with 1000 Tongues. Well done.
The Queen's Head will be being redecorated at the end of next month
and so there will be no Shadowfist event there then. Marcus and I are scouting
out alternate venues - favourite is the Catcher in the Rye on the other
side of the road. In any case, priority will be given to EuroGencon which
also takes place on the last weekend of August in Loughborough. My current
plan is to run a sealed deck tourney on the Saturday and a prepared-deck
tourney on the Sunday. I will be away at the US Gencon this week but will
be keeping in touch by email and will confirm all these details upon my
return. In the meantime, please keep your non-net friends updated with
this news.
Last modified: January 16, 1998.
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