After Action Report for August 11

So we got a group together at Epic Quest Games in Hartland to get some trials in before Gen Con.  It was Willow, Tim, Chris, and me.  I delayed publishing this so as to not give away any secret tech before the convention.  We played two four player games and one three player game that Tim sat out.

Game 1:
Willow - Dragon Hitters w/ Unturning
Tim - Lotus Exploding Demons
Jim - Jammer
Chris - Asc/Lotus "Terrible"

I won this game taking four sites on the final turn.  I played King Kung and took Willow's Hanging Gardens and LaGrange Four with one attack.  LaGrange Four then used the sites to attack with the big monkey two more times taking the remaining two sites needed for victory.

Game 2:
Willow - Modern Monarch
Tim - Lotus Exploding Demons
Jim- Dragon/Monarch Discard
Chris - Asc/Lotus "Terrible"

I started well.  I was killing off opponents foundation characters and damaging sites with my foundations backed with Eagle Mountain and Nightclub.  I got up to having Silver Jet out.  Chris put a Shadowy Mentor on him.  Tim got out White Ninja.  Chris then put a Shadowy Mentor on her and won the game.

Game 3:
Willow - Dragon Hitters w/Unturning
Jim - Ascended "Piece of the Action"
Chris - Asc/Lotus "Terrible"

I won this game with a Shadowy Mentor on Willow's Bei Tairong.  Bei seized Willow's LaGrange Four which was exposed using my Endless Corridor.  I then played Claws who took two sites using the LaGrange Four.

Empire of Darkness

Here is a deck list for the first deck I played at our get together at EpicQuest Games in Hartland.  It went up against a siteless 7 Masters / Monarch deck, another Darkness deck, and a Jammer / Dragon ROTU deck (BIG)

Empire of Darkness

Foundation (13)

Skin and Darkness Bats (x5)
Darkness Priestess (x5)
Darkness Warriors (x3)

Characters (14)

Avenging Darkness
Priestess of Itzcoliuqui
Palm of Darkness
Floating Teeth (x3)
Shadow Seductress
The Keeper of Hearts
Queen of the Darkness Pagoda
Chamberlain
Xitllali
Mistress of the Blotted Moonlight
Darkness Golem

Events (15)

Pocket Demon
Ice Blessing (x3)
Blood Lust
Avenging Thunder
Wriggling Skin Suit
Ritual of Death
Stolen Thunder
Brain Fire (x2)
Discerning Fire
Mark of Fire
Lateral Reincarnation
Transmogrification

States (6)

Consuming Darkness
Curse of Itzcoliuhqui
Obsidian Dagger
Ming I’s Chosen
The Crystal Skull
Prisoner of the Monarchs

Edge

Blanket of Darkness

Sites (14)

Darkness Pagoda
Disco
Bamboo Forest
Fox Pass
Devil’s Mountain
Hot Springs (x2)
Gambling House
Floating Restaurant
Mirrored Lake
Temple of the Angry Spirits
Waterfall Sanctuary (x2)
Family Home

This deck was built to try out the Darkness cards introduced in Empire of Evil along with the pre-existing Darkness cards.  The first iteration of this deck was unfocussed and did not have enough synergy to be effective.  Sacrificing is usually only worth it when you get multiple bonuses.  It takes a dedicated deck for that.  So the deck had to be tuned to the version above.  Some of the cards that did not make the cut were General Fung, Fanaticism, and Skin and Darkness Zealots.  Darkness decks seem to be very popular, so I’ll probably shelve this deck for a while now that I’ve gotten to be functional (not necessarily optimal).

Gen Con 2010 Ritual of the Unnameable

Sunday's only event was a Ritual of the Unnameable.  I had two RotU decks made before GenCon, a BAD Architect deck and a BAT Monarch deck.  I got an idea for an Ascended OMG deck, but did not have time to pull it together before the event.  I ended up playing the BAT deck, which I have fun playing.

Nine people showed up for the tournament, so there were four rounds of 3 3-player games scheduled.  My first game was against Red and his CDCA deck and someone else's Monarch BAD deck (I think.  It's amazing how much I forget in two weeks.)  I was able to win this game with the Thunder Bird in Butterfly Armor leading the winning attack against Red's Devil Mountain.

In the next round, I faced Josh's Monkeys In Black deck, and I think another BAD deck.  If memory serves (which I would not bet on at this point), Josh won this game.

The third round I faced Willow's PMS Jammer deck and Daniel's CAD Architect deck.  Willow won the game, but I had one of my favorite in game moments here.  On Daniel's turn, he played an Abomination Serum on my Butterfly Knight.  In response, I played Bear vs. Fox to start a Faceoff with Dr. Klaus Herrbruck.  Daniel tried to save the good Dr. with a Cellular Reinvigoration, which I Brain Fired onto the Butterfly Knight.  The Knight won the Faceoff and played Daniel's Arcanovirus to smoke Willow's Professional Killer.  I love being able to mess with other peoples plans in unexpected ways.  It is one of the best parts of the game.  Later in the game, Daniel attack me to the right.  I told him was going to use everything to stop him and leave the board open for Willow.  He continued with the attack.  I stopped him.  Willow won.  (Willow, I have one of your Safety Third cards from this event.)

After this Willow left thinking the tournament was only three rounds.  So for the final round, I ended up in a four player game with Braz, playing a DIE Lotus deck; Joey, playing a PIS Monarch deck, and Red again.  I'll give Braz credit for playing the most interesting deck in the tournament.  I started fast, but could not maintain the momentum.  Red cleared the board with an Arcanovirus, and I couldn't come back.  We went to time.  It was a fun game, but I don't remember who won.  Josh, I believe, won the tournament.

I apologize for the inaccuracies that I am sure are this report.  By this time all events were blurring together along with who I was playing and what decks were being played.  Any corrections people have are more than welcome.

Blood And Thunder

Foundation (12)
Thunder Gladiator x5
Thunder Knight x7

Characters (14)
Thunder Squire x4
Thunder Captain
Butterfly Knight x4
Bonebreaker Jun x2
Thunder Bird x2
Avenging Darkness

Events (15)
Blood and Thunder x5
Bear vs. Fox x2
Tiger vs. Crane
Brain Fire x3
Blood Lust x3
Avenging Thunder

States (3)
Thunder Sword
Butterfly Armor
Bandolier of Throwing Knives

Edges (2)
The Book of Wrath
Blanket of Darkness

Sites (2)
Thunder Pagoda vPAP
The Thunder Dome

FSS (13)
Birdhouse Cafe
Bird Sanctuary
Blessed Orchard
Ancient Stone Arch
Temple of the Angry Spirits
Temple of the Monkey King
The Blue Moon Club
Thousand Sword Mountain
Turtle Island x2
Turtle Beach x2
The Pinnacles

A simple straight forward attack deck.  Build an army and attack using Blood and Thunder to pump it up and avoid a lot of redirection / damage reduction denial.  In this tournament, I avoided redirection from Devil's Mountain, and damage reduction from Diamond Beach and Puzzle Garden.  About half the games I have won with this deck have been with the Thunder Bird with Butterfly Armor.  I really like that this deck lends itself to the out of faction Faceoff events. 

Casual Play Report

After a long hiatus due to a little family accident, I was able to get together with Willow and Tim for a few games.

Game 1:
Willow played her willing deck from Plattecon featuring Jade Willow.
Tim played his standard detonating Destroyer deck.
I played a 7 Masters / Ascended deck that I was going to take to Plattecon.  I'll post the deck later.

Willow got out the White Ninja but wasn't able to muster enough fighting to take a site.  Tim Tortured Memories the Ninja and burned Willow's front row site for power.  This let Willow drop Jade Willow for free.  I dropped the Queen of the Ice Pagoda (old) and attacked the Ninja.  We exchanged Monkey Fools the Tiger and both characters were smoked.  Jade Willow then got Fortune of the Turtle and went on a rampage.  Shortly after that Willow won the game. 

Game 2:
I played a Darkness Deck,
Willow played a Syndicate Deck
Tim played a Dragon Deck

Willow got a fairly fast start using a Bird Sanctuary to good effect to get an early Song, the Little Dragon.  I could not get a second Monarch resource to save my life.  By the time Tim was able to play a Big Bruiser, Willow had Hirake Kazuko in play, which would make the Big Bruiser a big mistake.  Again, Willow was able to win this game in short order.

Game 3:
I played a Jammer Deck,
Willow played an Architect Tank Deck,
Tim played an Ascended Tentacles of the Squid Deck.

On Tim's first turn, he played a Gangster and attacked Willow's undefended Feng Shui Site.  I played Out of the Barrel to drop a free Cocktail Waiters.  I joined the attack with the Waiters and Just Another Consumer.  I thought putting 5 damage on the site would soften it nicely for me to take it next turn.  Nope, it was a Maze of Stairs!  Tim got a burn for power on his first turn.  Fortunately, for Willow and me, he could not get a second resource right away.  I was able to get some more cheap characters and burn Tim's front row site and was lucky that Tim did not have a Bite when I burned it for power.  After that I was able to roll to a quick win.

Game 4:
Tim played Willow's championship Punchy Hand deck
Willow played her Monarch/Dragon deck
I played an Ascended Wisdom of the Owl / Discard deck

I was able to play a Wisdom of the Owl on my first turn.  Willow and Tim attacked it repeatedly, but were foiled with multiple Operation Killdeers.  I used a Coral Reef, Coil of the Snake, and the Palace of Virtual Light to cycle through my deck to get to some big characters.  Finally I got Adrianne Hart and went for the win.  I was decimated with the denial that came out.  Willow came on strong with the Queen of the Ice Pagoda (new) with an Ice Sword.  She took some of my sites over then next few turns, but stalled at victory conditions.  Tim had two damaged sites in his front row, and Willow's front row site was also damaged.  I was able to superleap "El Tigre" over the Queen to take Willow's site.  I then played a site to put me at victory.  I then dropped Liquidators and Tentacles of the Squid who were up to 10 damage at this point.  They were able to take a site from Tim for the win. 

Overall a fun night after not playing for 3 months.