A Game of Thrones CCG Booster Draft, Friday, May 5th, Critical Hit Games

It was the beginning of another long gaming weekend. CHG was hosting the North Central Regional Tournament for AGOT CCG on Saturday, and this draft was supposed to be the warmup event. It didn't start off very well for me. I had a long, stressfull day subbing for HS PE. The kids were really squirrelly, and it took a lot out of me. Soccer practice was also sub-optimal, as the athletes just didn't seem to have a good attitude about things. I showed up to the draft a little flustered, and was disappointed to see so few people from abroad in attendance.

There were two guys in from out of town, Dan and Kevin, who came from Missouri. This was actually a little depressing, as we were expecting several players from the Madison and Chicago play groups, as well as, possibly, some people from Minnesota.

We had ten players for the draft, but we only played 3 rounds due to time. I don't remember a lot about it. I was seated next to Kevin from Missouri. I ended up going Targ with my first pick, taking Blood Magic. Unfortunately, the house unded up being a little overdrafted at the table, and didn't pay off for me. I picked up a fourth or fifth pick Arya's Revenge, which sort of amazed me. That was all the Stark I saw in pack one. In pack two, I picked up a Jojen, and then Stark dried up. As Targ was thinning out, I ended up going into Greyjoy, as I was getting passed a lot of characters. I don't think I went in on anything strong - just repeated characters. I did get a Damphair's Chambers, which I like a lot. I splashed some Martell - Deadly Seduction and Student of Subtlety. I got a late Festering Wound to add to the removal.

First game - Tom Hafner

I honestly don't remember which houses Tom was playing. He got a pretty good start with some big characters, but I hung on, and stabilized the board. I got Jojen out early, and decked him in a few turns. This game was pretty complicated, as we both had pretty high quality characters out, and, since we were both running wildfire, the game was getting repeatedly reset. I got the advantage, and took the lead in power. Unfortunately, as time was called, I could only get to, I think, 18 power. He had no deck, and no hand, and only 14 power, but time was up and there was nothing for it but to take the draw.

Second round - Amanda

Amanda is a relatively new player, who has picked up the game quickly and done pretty well. I can't remember what houses she was playing either. She had only a two card drop - big army/reducer. I knelt her army, and won 3 challenges and dominance. She was in trouble from the get go. I had early Jojen, too, and decked her. She ran out of options quickly and the game was mine.

Third round - Jeremiah Duggan

Jeremiah is another relatively new player who's picked up the game quickly and done well. He has the advantage of having been a long-time, moderately competitive Magic player. He was Stark/something. Not sure about his second house. Baratheon, I think. He got a pretty good character start, but I had the advantage and jumped out to a 9-2 power lead. He stabilized the board and started to catch up a little. We were back and forth a bit. The game got very complicated, with multiple deadly characters/Damphair's Chambers/etc. He drew Edmure's Van, and it took me a couple minutes to get rid of it with Deadly Seduction. We knew time was running out, and we were both trying to force points through. I drew Band of Free Folk, but couldn't play it, because I had to get rid of some Night's Watch. The next turn, time got called. I got to 18 power, but couldn't punch the last couple points through. He was, I think, at 14 at the end. We each had about 8 cards left. My next couple cards were Jojen and some random creature, and I had Festering Wound coming up. I felt pretty silly, drawing two games I felt I should have won. I resolved to make sure to play faster/keep better track of the time.

I ended up in 5th place, but got some decent rares out of it. Overall, it was a decent time. I went home hoping to work on my deck for the next day a little, as I hadn't thought about AGOT constructed for weeks. Unfortunately, Kristin had been out celebrating with friends, and they were at our house, intoxicated, watching a movie, and needed rides home when the movie was over. So, I didn't get anything done, and didn't get a lot of sleep, which would end up becoming pretty obvious the next day...

GG, GL