London City Champs - Tournament Report - Part 1

Its bizarre, but I’ve spent more time testing for this tournament than any tournament previously, despite it being only a City Champs. Maybe it was because all the members of Team Demon were going to be decked out in matching shirts, maybe because we were filming an event outside of Maidstone for the first time, or maybe because I was finally going to get to meet and play Steve ‘Kamiza’ Garrett in person….who knows.

Anyway, four of us set out from Maidstone East to make the journey up to Euston, we had arranged to meet the other three members of Team Demon up there. I’d had tweaked my SS Grodd Control deck till it squeaked ( see blog entry, City Champs - Decklists for my list) and was confident in its ability to finish the day with at least a winning record.

We’d misjudged the train journey time so had to hang around a while for James, Amy and Dave, but once they arrived headed over to the County Hotel, the intended venue for the UK Nationals, a short walk from the station. On arrival we found that with our seven there would be 12 for the event, Team Demon, old adversarys (Gary, Amit, Roy) and a couple of guys I’d been speaking to on forums and via email for a fair while, but never had the pleasure to have met (Steve ‘KAmiza’ Garrett and Stephen ‘Shotz’ Jularbal).

So, after jotting down decklists, whilst feeling a little sorry for James with his Insanity deck, we were paired up for round 1 with my opponent being Steve.

Round 1 - Steve Garrett - Super Troopers
To be honest despite this game running on till turn 7 I always felt in control. Steve’s Super Trooper deck is an X-Men/Outsiders team up that has the ability to pull double stuns out of combat due to Kimiyo Hoshi and Fastball Special, thus readying all attackers when the Special resolves.
Here is how the game panned out:
T1- I recruit and activate Riddler having chosen odds, Steve recruits and hits me up with Jubilee
T2- Steve recruits Jean Grey, I play StTG putting Deadshot and Path of Destruction in the Ko’d pile. I follow this up by activating Riddler, then playing Forced Conscription, fetching and recruiting Deadshot. Steve hits me up for a few again.
T3- I Mobilize for Dr.Psycho, activate Riddler, to which Steve responds with a Recruiting Drive. I recruit Dr.P whereas Steve drops Dazzler and Jubilee. I respond with another StTG. Some combat ensues.
T4- A key time in the game as Steve plays Faust, Grace and Techno to my Grodd. I activate Dr.P to take out Technocrat (a thorn in my side in my matchups with James Outsiders/Titans build). In the combat phase, Steve declares a team attack with Faust and Grace on Grodd, combined with a Batman and the Outsiders to return Riddler. When the fastball hits to take out Grodd, thus readying the attackers I respond by removing Grace with Deadshot.
T5 - Here is where I take control. I recruit Manta compared to Steve’s Forge and Cable. I declare Manta into Cable, he plays Time Breach, I flip Anarchy. Insert sound effect here (Groans from opponent). Dr. Psycho adds his KO effect on a member of his board, to which Time Breach is also the response, fetching Kimyo. After the attack step is over Steves board is depleted although he does have plenty to recruit for the next turn, in hand.
T6 - Steve recruits Owen (dealt with by Dr.P), Wylde and then attampts to recruit Kimyo. I respond by paying 3, fetching a Coup D’Etat out the Ko’d pile and KO my Psycho to prevent the recruit. I then drop Deathstroke. He is dealt with by a Fastball Special but the board is still well in my favour as we have a similar number of characters, yet mine pack WAY more punch.
T7 - I play King Shark after dropping him into the Ko’d pile with a Remote Facility, fetching and playing the games MVP Dr.Psycho yet again. The rest of the turn isn’t pretty for Steve
1-0

Round 2 - Gary Hewitt - Another Brick in the Wall
My matchups against Gary have never gone well. When I won the elite series in Maidstone, I lost to Gary. When we played at GenCon I lost to Gary. This tournament was no different. I lost to Gary. He was running the JLA/Team Supes deck detailed in his QQ blog entry.
T1- Nothing for both
T2- Chemo for me, nothing for him
T3- Bad play on my behalf. Steel for him, Ivy for me with nothing to fetch from the KO’d pile. For some unknown reason I team attacked allowing him to stun Chemo, then swing back with Steel to Ivy, forcing me to lose board presence and potential location hate.
T4- Power Girl for him Grodd for me, his initiative and my guys go down without stunning his back. Ouch.
T5 - By the end of this turn the game was effectively over. I had all my potential drops in the KO’d pile, but with no SS character to discard, I’m screwed. I tried blowing up my own resources with Chemo in an attempt to hit a Forced Conscription or Mobilize, I stole John Henry with Grodd. All was to no avail.
T6 - Ugly, He drops MM. I cant go for Deathstroke as I need something visible. so Freeze is the only course of action. It doesn’t help. Game lost.
1-1

Will continue this tonight.