Ah Shadowfist, I predicted after 2011, and that year’s kicking ass by me, that I would have it done to me in 2012 (and probably for a long time after). This weekend, I lost the right to call myself the big cheese as we were beaten in a heated final at Plattcon to Jim Sensenbrenner and a deck he made that morning (!?) (featuring a rather unique alternate power generation engine that I will go into once he releases his decklist). Due to my own laziness, I just used the same deck I won with last year and though I never got my meaty combo out in any of the games (big bruiser has to come out, and he only did once) I was still able to get into the final with the rest of the jank stuff in the deck.
The final had TWO Ascended-only decks in it which is a milestone for the faction, at least from what I’ve seen. They haven’t been competitive as a stand alone faction for over a decade now since their domination in the early days of the game. While Op Killdeer is still the best card in the game, it has to be saved for the absolutely most important moments or it’s just wasted on trifles. The rest of the faction (alone) typically does not have the punch through to win in the fast, power stealing, denial heavy environment these days. Yet, it warmed MY cockles to see the EASTERN KING hit the table in a tournament. The raw shock and awe to have a size 11 Golden Gunman ready to lay some beatings was awesome. The only answer the table had was a Neutron Bomb when he brought his huge fighting to bear on the Architect player. I’ve been collecting Eastern Kings for years now, but have yet to put him in a deck that worked so I think it’s about friggin time.
All told, it was a great tournament with a pretty good turnout (8 players) and a lot of intense and friendly Fist. Now I hope to actually get some games in to practice and even make a new deck before Gencon rolls around and I defend my other 2011 title.