Gen Con 2010 New Heroes

Friday night was New Heroes.  I was here to defend my victory from last year.  I fell into the alluring trap of trying to play a Syndicate deck as they look like they have even footing with all the other factions in this format.  I, however, think the Ascended with all of the additional power generation available and Shadowy Mentor are the faction to beat.  Mars Program Executive looks to be the key to ramp up the power with the Syndicate at this point.

Games were three-player games (Daniel is particularly fond of 3-player for conventions as fewer games go to time).  My first round was against two other Syndicate decks.  John Merrill ended building an unassailable fortress of Great Walls backed by The Steam Laundry Company.  From here he was able to fight to victory.

I don't remember the other rounds well.  John Wengler was playing Ascended.  Daniel was playing Hand.  Greg Zimmerman was playing Ascended/Jammers.  A few people were playing Monarchs or Monarch / Lotus.  Overall though Syndicate was the most popular faction.  Purists and Dragons were absent from the tournament as best as I can recall.  I believe John Merrill went on to win the event, but I'm not sure.

My Syndicate Deck:

Foundation (13)
Mars Colonist x5
Triad Punks x5
Street Racers x3

Characters (19)
Mars Program Executive x4
Street Doc
Rei Okamoto
Tattooed Man x2
Nihilist x2
Song, the Little Dragon
Akamatsu Mitsusuke
Devendra Chalal
Hiroshi Kata
Xu Mei, the Dragon
Salaryman
Zero-G Sumo
Jessica Ng
Hirake Kazuko

Events (11)
Data Theft
Reprogramming x5
Smoke and Mirrors
The Price of Progress
Catching Bullets
Inconvenient Debt
Data Mining

States (4)
Synchronic Beam Emitter
Hyper Alloy Blade
The Hegemeister
Platinum Upgrade

Edge (1)
Corporate Warfare

Sites (2)
Cybermod Parlor
The Wireless

FSS (13)
LaGrange Four
Moon Base
Hydroponic Garden
Rainforest Ruins
Mah-Jongg Parlor
Ancient Stone Arch
Martyr's Tomb
The Iron Palace
University Library
Endless Corridor
Bamboo Forest x3

The deck really needs a 5th Mars Program Exec. and another Martyr's Tomb.  If you can continually recycle the execs, the power can keep on flowing.  I also really like the Reprogramming in this format because almost every character has some special ability that is worth canceling.  The best cancel I had in the tournament was Shao the Killer, which allowed my winning attack through.  Platinum Upgrades also paid the bills in this tournament.  Some people were questioning if this state is overpowered.  For me it often made a Mars Exec into an impromptu hitter.  Cost 5 for 6 fighting with toughness 3 is not over the curve.  (But I suppose if you discount the Exec by the 3 power he paid back, it was cost 2 for 6F with Toughness 3.  I think this points more to the power of the Exec than the Upgrade.)

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.