We met again at the Catcher in the Rye as the Queen's Head is now definitely
out-of-bounds to card players. I think that the landlord of the latter
never understood us and wasn't comfortable with such strange folk. It's
his loss.
We had a bit of trouble with the Catcher too - they were enforcing
their age-limit. Bart was just ok at 14 but Mark Wheelhouse, here on his
13th birthday as a special treat, was barred. After a bit of thought, an
off-site table was set up at Leisure Games and opponents were sent up the
road to do battle with Mark there. Many thanks to Tony Berry, the proprietor
of Leisure Games, for accommodating us at short notice.
Given these problems, I am going to see if we can't find a better venue.
First choice is the palatial Tally Ho pub - about a mile north of the Catcher.
Other suggestions are welcome. The numbers were down on last month's record
- not so many Magic players this time. Still, we were pleased to have a
singles dealer in attendance - Karen Anne Johnson. She seemed to do a reasonable
amount of business - I bought a Kinoshita House for 4 pounds (about $6)
myself. Thanks to her for coming and I hope that she will come again -
there are plenty of players who still want particular commons or uncommons,
let alone the rares.
The players were:
Alex Wargacki .D.H... Holy Alliance Andrew Davidson A.FH... Tickertape Andrew Trickett .D.H... Sleeper Andy Holt A.f..Lm We will control the vertical Anil Das-Gupta AdfHjlm A bunch of wimps Bart Sobieszczuk ..F.J.. Tonguelash Bill Dawbarn ..FH... Soulspawn Colin Burton ..F.... Dancing Architects Daniel Victor Ad.H... Shadowhand Dave Martin .....L. Deep Ones Ivan Hartley ..F...M Cuddly Toys Mark Wheelhouse .DF.... Dunkin Donuts Nithiyan Thiruudaian ..F...M Blightman's Jewellery Ron Wheelhouse ..f..LM Four Fates Thivyan Thiruudaian .....L. Five-minute Thumper Tom Kassel .DF..L. Return of the Woman Yuit Sum Vong .D...L. Stick InsectsUpper case indicates a major faction presence, lower case just a splash. Typical splashes are Hacker, Plasma Trooper and Queen of the Ice Pagoda.
Faction Popularity
8 Flesh Architects
6 Guiding Hand
6 Lotus
5 Dragon
4 Ascended
3 Monarchs
1 Jammer
1 Peacock
A lot of time was allowed for the first round - 2 and 1/4 hours - but still two games had to be called to a halt. I have the impression that some players, like Anil, were being excessively defensive - too much pure denial like Iron & Silk. Still, I'm all for players playing the game in their own way, even if they are a bunch of wimps <g>.
ROUND 1
Nithiyan Thiruudaian beat Alex, Colin, Yuit
Ivan Hartley beat Anil, Thivyan, Tom t1 (2nd tie-break)
Dave Martin beat Andy H, Bart, Bill t2
Mark Wheelhouse beat Dan, Ron
Another two hour round this time but this time all the games finished properly. I was playing myself in this round and my rambunctious Tickertape deck made sure of a result in my game - Nithiyan stealing the win with a couple of 1 point characters.
ROUND 2
Tom Kassel beat Dave, Thivyan, Yuit
Daniel Victor beat Alex, Andy H, Ivan
Mark Wheelhouse beat Bill, Colin
Nithiyan Thiruudaian beat Andrew D, Anil, Ron
After two rounds, we had two double winners - Nithiyan and Mark - and 4 single winners - Ivan, Dave, Daniel and Tom. Normally, we would have had a 4 player semi-final and then a three player final. With Mark unable to join the rest of us though, he was awarded a prize for his fine performance - a Ting Ting power counter and the rest would play a 5-player final. The remainder then played consolation games:
CONSOLATIONS
Thivyan Thiruudaian beat Alex, Andrew T, Colin
Bill Dawbarn beat Andy H, Anil, Yuit
FINAL
Daniel Victor beat Tom, Nithiyan, Dave, Ivan
Starting at 16:00, I allowed 2.5 hours for the game. Ivan got off to a slow start but the others did not hang back and after 30 minutes, I took a snapshot of the game:
Tom - 4 feng shui sites - Sacred Heart, Whirlpool, Proving Ground,
?
Evil Twin of a Eunuch Underling!
Scorched Earth
3 power
Nithiyan - 2 feng shui sites - both ?
1 Drug Lab with Dan's Fox Outfoxed on it
1 Vivisector
1 Scorched Earth
2 power
Daniel - 3 feng shui sites - 1 Fox Pass, 2 ?
1 Orange Senshi Chamber
0 power
Dave - 3 feng shui sites - 1 Fortress of Shadow, 2 ?
1 Kun Kan
1 Eunuch Underling
1 The Hungry
4 power
Ivan - 1 feng shui site - Rainforest River
1 Art of War (Dan's)
Tom played a Ting Ting and a Friends of the Dragon but, with a Fox Pass
and plenty of power out there, this was not enough for a winning attack
and the game went on.
In fact the game went on for another 2 hours without a result. I called
time at this point because Ivan had to leave. Nithiyan was winning by the
tie-break rules at this point, having burnt two sites for victory. This
would have been his third tournament win in a row but he very sportingly
agreed with the others that they should play on to a conclusion.
The game then ran for another 30 minutes - 3 hours in total. Dave had
been amassing vast amounts of power with Glimpse of the Abyss, Kun Kans
and three Hungry. Players were starting to run low on cards and so he launched
a major winning bid which just failed. This was not a set-up but it provoked
more action and when the dust cleared it was Daniel that had the brass
ring.
In the light of discussions elsewhere, it's worth noting that Dan was
the only player not to be using Pocket Demon or Violet Meditation. The
bulk of his power came from a site structure of 5 or 6 sites while the
Swiss Bankers and Foxed Outfoxed were gravy. Note also that he used 90
of his 108 card deck - you need plenty of stamina for a win here.
So congratulations to Dan on his first Shadowfist tournament win. Dan
is a major contender on the Magic circuit in the UK and so continues the
trend of top Magic players starting to dominate our tournaments. Will the
Old Guard fight back ...?
Last modified: March 11, 1998.
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