Torrance - September 1998 Report
by Stefan Vincent
September 20, 1998
The Cast of Characters:
Mike Nickoloff, "Macho Guys With Guns" Dragons/Monarch
Tim McCann, "Toast and Jam" Lotus/Monarchs
Ray Clouse, "Tanked" Dragons/Architects/Lotus
Lissa Vincent, "Chickadee" Dragons/Monarchs chicks
Jason Jung, "No" Dragons big thugs
Stefan Vincent, "DMZ" Architects/Hand Battleground sites
Mike Schlofner, "The Rush" Lotus/Monarchs Dark Traveler
Anthony Orozco in his first tournament appearance, borrowing "I'm Huge" Ascended
leaving us with a huge pile of Monarchs, a decent showing from the Dragons,
and a resurgence of Lotus (!). Where did the Architects go? (my deck was
Architects only to get the Arcanoseed and Spawn of the New Flesh; it didn't
really count as Architects). The lack of sudden denial really showed in
the games - once the big trucks were on the board, they stayed out and
whupped butt. And with all those Monarchs around, the royalty visited often
(even from the non-Monarchs decks).
Round 1
Round one was random, as usual. Table one saw the pile-up to stop Lissa's
bid for the win, leaving Jason a clean shot with his Queen of the Ice Pagoda
on his turn and taking Tim off the board completely. Table two timed out,
much squabbling over my Battleground sites (and few feng shui sites) while
I waited (and waited) for any character larger than a 1. Mike S.'s 4-body
sites were also pretty popular; he never did get the Dark Traveler thing
going in that game. Mike N. edged out Ray on the tie-break since Mike had
burned two sites that game. Scores after round 1:
Jason J. (1) 9 Mike N. (1) 7
Lissa 7 Ray 6
Anthony 4 Mike S. 4
Tim M. 1 Stefan 2
Round 2
Second round sat by score, sending Mike N. and Ray to the wiener's table
and Tim and Anthony to the play with the kiddies. My deck stalled looking
for a Hand resource, Mike S.'s once again didn't get started, and none
of us could do anything about Tim's Queen of the Ice Pagoda (even Anthony's
Shadowy Mentor was useless...). At table 1 Jason won again, leaving Lissa
with a single site. Scores at the end of round 2:
Jason J. (1) 18 Tim M. (1) 10
Ray 13 Anthony 10
Mike N. (1) 12 Stefan 5
Lissa 9 Mike S. 5
Round 3
With Tim and Anthony tied at 10, a little random selection action put Tim
at the head table and kept Anthony with the kiddies. Tim once again got
the Queens rolling, and amazingly his Inauspicious Reburials were *working*
even with three Dragons players at the same table. Wow. At table two, my
deck finally got going but ended up in a bit of public service trying to
keep Lissa's hitters dead. In the end her big assualt led by the Queen
of Darkness and Silver Jet got through and just barely took my site for
the win (I was resigned to being whupping boy at this point). Amazingly,
none of Mike S.'s sites were even damaged in the game... Scores at the
end of round 3:
Tim M. (2) 19 Lissa (1) 18
Ray 18 Anthony 16
Mike N. (1) 14.5 Mike S. 9
Jason J. (2) 20.5 Stefan 7
Final
Final round pitted the four high-scorers against each other while the rest
of us had fun playing with the demo decks (at least I did - that was the
only game I won all day!). Tim again outran everyone for first, leaving
Lissa second and Jason and Ray tied for 3rd. Congratulations to Tim!
Tim M. - 1st
Lissa - 2nd
Jason J. / Ray - 3rd tie
One honorable mention goes to Jason for actually playing with Joey Paz.
Amazing. And even more amazing, Joey gave his life in a blaze of glory
as Lissa's Discerning Fire took him ("Escrima Master") and Tim's Queen
of the Ice Pagoda ("Netherworld Mastermind"). Poor Joey - if only he hadn't
studied so hard to get that Master's rank...
Last modified: October 2, 1998.
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