Torrance Fisting - December 1997 Report
by Stefan Vincent
December 15, 1997
The tournament on Saturday was pretty meager - five players, plus we
coerced Brian into playing with us to make an even number. Not that we
really expected many folks, with the holidays so close and finals going
on. But Brian was nice enough to award the full prizes, even with
the limited attendance. Here's the scoop:
Matt - Architects/Monarchs "Shiny Pink Deck of Fun"
Tim M. - Peacock "Peace, Love and Shopping"
Garrett - Dragons "I Choke Hard"
Stefan - Architects/Lotus "Night of the Sneaking Dead, Part II"
Jeff - Architects/Monarchs
Brian - Dragons (borrowing Matt's "Smak Bak Yak Attak")
Round 1
We played 3 rounds of three player games, with random seating in all three
rounds since we had so few players. I foolishly thought that we wouldn't
have to worry about the time limit, but...
Matt 9 (1) Brian 9 (1)
Stefan 7 Tim 4
Jeff 5 Garrett 3
Brian crushed Tim and Garrett, then they played a couple more games and
sat around while the rest of us struggled like those scenes where the two
duelists have their swords locked together and they aren't budging each
other. I thought Matt was running away with it, but Jeff and I slowed him
down enough that Jeff could deploy both Fox Pass and Kinoshita House, and
then we were all at 4 sites for about 5 turns... Agh. Matt finally got
enough together to grab one of Jeff's sites for the win. That was really
a ainful game, and we should have called time on it, but I hadn't
looked at my watch when we started. Who would have thought a 3 player game
could go more than 1 hour?
Round 2
Round two went a little faster. Brian, Jeff, and Matt ended first, with
Matt again on top and Jeff as whupping boy. Tim's peacock deck kicked in
(Orange Senshi Chamber early, with a hand size of 11) and managed to keep
Garrett and I at bay. Ok, well, me at bay; Garrett was stall boy again.
Matt 18 (2) Tim 13 (1)
Brian 14 (1) Stefan 12
Jeff 7 Garrett 8
Round 3
Round three saw Jeff totally shut down Garrett and Tim. His first Monarchs
resource was the Queen, but she stuck around for the entire game and liberally
abused everyone. Matt finally lost one - hard - against his own deck...
Brian 23 (2) Jeff 16 (1)
Stefan 18 Tim 17 (1)
Matt 20 (2) Garrett 11
Final
Since we had no ties at this point, we pressed on to a four player final
with Jeff just missing by 1 point, and Garrett, well, it wasn't Garrett's
day. The final was another knock down, drag-out fight. Matt & Stefan's
Nerve Gas and Imprisons popping up at the right times to ruin each other's
day; the Yaks not quite Smakking once Matt's and Tim's Fox Passes were
on the table. Sacred Heart Hospital popped up three times (including one
auction) and I saw it get discarded once, too. Nobody packed any Smart
Missiles except Jeff, and I didn't see any Whirlpools at all, so those
sites were turning, turning, turning... We went around the table, alternating
who was closest to winning and hence the whupping boy, until I took advantage
of an odd attack by Tim against Matt that left them both in relatively
more open positions (no position is ever actually open with two Fox Passes
on the table). Add a little non-help from Brian - since he was playing
a borrowed deck, he didn't see the Back For Seconds combo that could have
put another interceptor in my way. Hey, I'll take it - the Walking Corpses
walked right in for the win, returning the Proving Ground that Tim had
grabbed from me several turns earlier... Matt took second, and Brian with
Matt's deck took third on the tie-break with Tim.
Last modified: March 11, 1998.
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