AGOT Sunday

I woke up Sunday more ready to get the day's gaming over with than to play. I've relished the time I've had to play games lately, but it seems that it's all coming pretty fast. With a Friday night session, and all day Saturday... all day Sunday didn't seem like as much of a treat. Still, this was something different, AGOT CCG. So, I got up, gathered cards and boardgame (Warrior Knights-just in case the ccg event didn't come off), and headed over to Critical Hit.

After John Bruno's recent success with Greyjoy characterless, and knowing Jerod had been playing a deck like that, I set out to make my first Greyjoy deck, a simple, no-agenda deck with a lot of extra location destruction. I finished up a little late, but just fine on time as Jeremiah decided to play, using Jerod's deck, at the last minute.

First Round
I played Jeremiah this round, and I'm afraid it was no fun for him. I squeezed his influence sources hard from the beginning, and he could only try to stay in it with his warhorse, until I took care of the tourney grounds and finished him off. If my deck gets a decent draw here, it should be a good lock. The axeman who sacs to cancel events is really good here.

Second Round
Thomas won the battle of the Hafner brothers, and slid down the table to face me. He was playing Greyjoy, another simple deck build, without location destruction. This worried me a little, as I thought I'd have a disadvantage with fewer combat characters. He opened well, with Theon and some warships, and then the Bannermen of the Kraken, getting up to 9 or 10 power. He didn't have many resources, though, and I out-developed him. I destroyed his warships, and slowly whittled him down with military claim. He stayed in the game with Wildfire Assault, but I was holding characters (and had the location/character guys in play), and finished him off.

Third Round
I got a chance to play my first game against the younger Hafner, for the final round of our little four man tournament. He was playing Lannister Knights of the Realm. He got a decent flop, with Kevan, but couldn't back him up and lost both his characters to 2 claim off Gathering Storm on turn one. He kept trying to get back in, but could never really swing enough resources to put down significant strength. He drew some extra cards off knights, but, as the game rolled into the fifth plot, he was cleared out, and I searched for my one knight (THE Knight), and neutered his draw and finished him.

Overall, a decent performance for a deck that I built in half an hour and had never played. Each of the other guys went 1-2, so I hope it was a successful day for them in their first tournament.

It was a couple hours until the draft, so I hung around with Roger and Tim(who won the MtG Legacy tournament), just chatting, and went to Taco Bell with Tim and Steve. Arriving back at the store, we had 5 players, so Tim graciously agreed to join in, having only played the game briefly. We had a decent draft, with, I think, everyone doing all right. It was certainly a learning experience for Thomas, I'm not sure that he's ever drafted a ccg.

I usually work hard to play Stark in Winter draft, but their house was thin for me early here. I did end up passing Arya's Revenge and Huntress in the Swamp in pack two, for what it's worth. I took Targ early, although the best two cards, by far, in my first pack were both Targ. I went into Lannister, and stayed with those two houses throughout the event. I ended up with five endless guys, that were a huge pain for people, Cersei, a Festering Wound and a Blood Magic, and some armies.

Round One
Jeremiah again. I think he was playing Stark Targ. His deck was pretty solid (6 card flop), and he got up around 13 power before I stabilized the game. I drew a Lannister Iron throne late, and emptied his deck, although not until the turn I won. MVP (of the whole tournament=Blue Lipped Warlock with War Council). This was a tight game that went down to the wire, with Jeremiah having to read all the cards and consider every move, being a new player.

Round Two
I got paired down to play Thomas. Thomas had Baratheon Greyjoy. He had a big flop (5), but didn't have a lot of characters. I managed to get ahead on characters, and from there he was always chasing the game, trying to get back in. He played Bloody Trident, which kept his house card blank more than mine, but forced me to play differently, as I just couldn't afford to let unopposed challenges get through. I just had too much for him.

Round Three
Tim sat down with me for this one. Tim is an excellent MtG player and boardgamer, so I knew this would be very competitive. Tim made several good plays throughout the game, and made it very interesting. His deck was mostly Martell. He had a little of Baratheon, too. We had similar starts, with Tim's a little better than mine. We went back and forth a bit, with deadly armies and such. Again, old Blue Lip came through bigtime. He got down his Warmonger, but a little late to save him. He just didn't have enough characters over the course of the game to defend himself. I also was quite lucky to have an early Blood Magic for his first turn Student of Subtlety, who would certainly have changed the game.

A good day, with a couple of good light tournaments. I had fun, but am still wondering where the numbers are - where are the old players? I need to set a schedule leading up to Regionals, and send out some big emails. We should be having twenty people for our supported events.

GG, GL