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The way I see it, I have 2 options for this report:
1. A short report with my decklist and the games from the top 16
OR
2. A complete report, which would be fairly lengthy.
I don't remember enough about my qualifiers or the semifinals to write much about them, so here comes #1.
And before I get started, I had no idea I was going to have this happen, so I didn't write ANY of my opponents names down. Sorry if I don't remember you.
We assembled at 3:00 AM in the parking lot of our local game store, Visions Cards and Games, to get everything packed into cars for our 16 hour drive to Milwaukee. At this point I had a borrowed shadowlands dueling/pk deck and a Crab honor runner deck built.
Fast forward 18 hours.
The Crab deck was just plain awful, and I didn't have the cards with me to fix it. I guess I would just have to play Shadowlands the next day. It bothered me a little, since I was going to be playing with the bad guys, but my only other option was to not play, which wouldn't have been much fun at all.
I chose to sleep in a little and play in the 2nd qualifier. Somewhere in between my 3rd and 4th round I walked up to see the higher end of the 1st qualifier. It was right here that I 1st saw the Goblin deck. I was amazed at Wutho's ability to take 4 provinces in 5 turns.
By the end of the day I was 4-2, having lost a close game to a scorpion player in my last round. I stood around for a while and talked to people. I asked the Goblin player (despite the fact I asked you something like 4 times I still don't remember your name, sorry) from before if I could take a look at his deck, since it looked really interesting. Later on, I looked at Shimekiri's art work (which is amazing by the way) and found out he was playing with goblins as well. I asked to look at his deck as well, since his goblins had qualified that day while I had lost to the Scorpion.
Well, I missed qualifying by one game, and I didn't have a Crab deck to play, so after much begging, I managed to convince Eric Neuman to let me borrow cards out of his playset to build my deck.
The next day I went 5-1, hoorah! Qualified into the semifinals, we went out to dinner at Benihana's and waited an hour for a table. In the semifinals, I started out with a loss to another Shadowlands player who got Kyoso no Jackelope (I mean Oni) Experienced second turn..
Then I started to win, and I won the 2nd game, and the 3rd and the 4th and the 5th and by my 6th round I was a nervous wreck. My hands were shaking all during this game.
My 6th round opponent was Jeff Hicks, the monk Warlord, playing a Crane military deck. I gave Jeff's deck (and I quote Jeff) "the swiftest most severe beating of the entire day."
Now I was qualified into the top 16, so instead of going out for a long celebration dinner I opted for a good nights sleep at the hotel.
TOP 16
Round 1 vs Jeff Hannah playing Scorpion with Tsudao.
This game was very very close, The major turning point came when our armies tied at 17 force and we eliminated each other's ancestors. By the time he recovered enough to begin blocking again he had Chian with a Spearmen and Heavy Infantry as well as a Paneki with Heavy Infantry and my kolat mastered Gakochun. I attacked and snuck a fear affect onto Churai with Face of Fear. He played street to street, but there wasn't much he could do other than that. He sent Churai home and shook my hand. This was a tough game, and Jeff played extremely well.
Round 2 vs Sau Hoang playing Crane with Sezaru
This game was very close. I managed to take an early province, but then Sau went for Bitter off of his Imperial Gift. Bitter had me worried, a lot of the personalities in my deck have personal honor, but Bitter is none-the-less a game swinger. I attacked with 3 personalities with followers, he blocked with Hachi w/ Bitter, but as Scott Hadsall pointed out to Sau, it wouldn't work against my goblins with personal honor. Sau's first action was to Superior Tactics his Hachi out of the battle, disappointing me because I had a Frenzy in my hand with his name on it. Sau now had 2 provinces. I took the second-to-last province by Standing against the waves to bow Doji Kurohito. Sau had 1 province and an army of little people. He had snagged Judgement and a Secrets on the Wind a turn earlier and had killed 2 people so far. He ended his turn at 40 honor with only Hachi unbowed.
Yasuki Hachi, the Emerald Champion.
Yasuki Hachi with Bitter and the Imperial Standard (Rich, please pay attention).
Yasuki Hachi, who had been dishonored twice in his battle with the Crab at the challenge booth.
Yasuki Hachi who was sent into a Frenzy during a Sneak Attack and suffered massive heart failure, thus allowing the goblin horde to frenzy it's way over Sau's province strength and win the game.
Round 3 vs Britain Babione playing Shadowlands with Sezaru
I did manage to pull a Take this game, but Britain took it back away from me. True to my luck, Britain was cursed by a horrid first turn of 2 Ogre Bushi's, a Fushiki, and some corrupt gold. Once I started rolling he was just beginning to get some gold, and my followers were beginning to show up. The last climactic battle occurred when I sent my army at one of Britain's 3 provinces and Thuk-Kigi and his Goblin Madcaps at another. Britain blocked Thuk-kigi with his Kyoso no Oni only to have her bow to a sneaky stand against the waves. The next turn Britain flipped over gold and the goblins rolled over him.
Conrad won his game against the Scorpion and there was a 20 minute break for us to walk around and get really nervous in.
Round 4 vs Conrad Jackson playing Lion with Tsudao.
A lot of people have asked me if I was nervous during this game. With all the people watching the game, I still wasn't nervous. As soon as the game started, the only things in my mind were myself and Conrad. The rest of the world ceased to exist. I took the initiative and turned over Suspicions, Big Stink, Corrupt gold, and Gakochun. The next turn I bought more gold and a Warmonger from the Big Stink. One follower from my hand made sure I took a province and I bought another Warmonger from the Big Stink. Conrad bought a Hataki. I took 2 provinces on the next turn, and Conrad took one back from me with Hataki and 2 Elite Spearmen. My final attack had me sneaking to fear the followers.
One last thing before I get to my decklist:
Conrad, when everyone started chanting "Scrub" at the end of our game, they weren't talking about you. My nickname around the local store is "Scrub", I just wanted to clear up any confusion that might have come up from that.
Props
- Everyone at Gencon who played a Goblin deck, for letting me see 5
different incarnations of the same deck and thus build my own version of
it.
- Dan Dineen, for holding Yoritomo's Funeral.
- Eric Neuman, for letting me scavenge his playset to build my deck.
- Everyone at Visions, for brainstorming and playtesting for a month
before Gold even came out.
- Jeff Hicks, for being really cool.
- AEG, for holding a great tournament with awesome prizes.
- John Ling's van, for having more storage space than the hotel.
- Rich Wulf, for an incredible story at the end.
- Travis, Andy, Carrie, and Sal, for carrying me out on your shoulders
after I won, one of the most unbelievable occurences of an unbelievable
weekend.
Slops
- Myself, for not writing down or remembering anyone's names (I hope
you know who you are, becuse I sure don't).
- The seatbelts in Ling's Van, for trying to saw my head off while I
slept.
- The event badges, for not having our names on them like last year.
- The TA Warlord, for stalling Hazel Warde out of her victory. All you
had to do was draw your card, but NOOOO, you just couldn't admit defeat
could you? Hopefully next year Toturi's Army will be represented by
someone who knows that L5R is about a little more than winning.
- The soybeans between Alabama and Milwaukee, for spinning around when
you looked at them (I'm not kidding, it's CREEPY!)
Fate deck
Actions
3 A Test of Courage
3 Charge
3 Frenzy
3 Magic Mud
3 Poisoned Weapon
3 Sneak Attack
3 Stand Against the Waves
3 Take the Initiative
3 The Face of Fear
Ancestors
1 Yokai no Mizushai
Followers
3 Goblin Madcaps
3 Goblin Mob
3 Skeletal Troops
3 Zombie Troops
Dynasty deck
Events
1 Revering the Past
1 Proposal of Peace
1 Imperial Funeral
1 Suspicions
1 New Year's Celebration
Holdings
3 Corrupted Iron MinePersonalities
3 Corrupted Silver Mine
1 Festering Pit of Fu Leng
3 Jade Works
3 Small Farm
3 Hida Wukau
3 Gakochun
3 Goblin Warmonger
3 Goblin Wizard
1 Thuk-Kigi
3 Voitagi
3 Wutho
Regions
1 Big Stink
1 Plains of Otosan Uchi
1 Shadowlands Marsh